Chapel of St. John the Baptist (Eupen)

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Mountain chapel with calvary

The chapel of St. John the Baptist in Eupen in the province of Liège / Belgium , generally only known as the mountain chapel , is a Roman Catholic church building in the lower town of Eupen. It was built in 1712 to replace an older, ruined chapel from the 15th century in Romanesque style on the same site and was dedicated to the preacher John the Baptist and St. Francis of Assisi . It has belonged to the parish association of Eupen-Kettenis in the diocese of Liège since the 1990s and the facade and roof of the building have been a listed building since 1994 .

history

Mountain chapel before the redesign

In the early modern period , when Belgium was still under Habsburg administration, Eupen-Unterstadt consisted of sparsely populated little hamlets, the residents of which built small chapels for their religious needs, as the main parish, St. Nikolaus, was across a ridge in the center of the Eupener Oberstadt lay and was difficult to reach. A small chapel already existed in the 15th century for the so-called mountain district above the Weser valley . In 1692 another chapel was to be built for the Haasviertel in the valley, but for inexplicable reasons it was never completed. As a result, the church administration decided in 1712 to tear down the old chapel on the mountain and replace it with a new, larger one for the residents of the Berg and Haas districts. Because all residents committed to actively participate in the construction and the further maintenance, the new building was now in no time mostly with building the unfinished Haas Chapel realized and on 20 December 1712 by the Liège Bishop Ludwig Franz de Liboy by the competent diocese Liege consecrated become. Just a few years later it became apparent that the chapel had been designed to be too small for the growing population and that it had to be extended by a yoke to the west in 1729. The new consecration took place on October 14, 1729 by the Liège Auxiliary Bishop Jean-Baptist Gillis (1729–1736), who had consecrated the Werthkapelle on the same day and the renewed Nikolauskirche the day before.

During the time of the French occupation of Eupen, from 1797 the services in the mountain chapel were initially forbidden by the new rulers, but could be resumed in 1803 after the chapel had been recognized by the French as an auxiliary church. During this time the organ gallery was expanded in 1806 and a new barrel vault in half-timbered construction in place of an old flat ceiling in 1812 .

Under Prussian administration and thus belonging to the Archdiocese of Cologne , the mountain chapel was equipped in 1850 with an organ from Roetgen , which was restored in 1852 and expanded by four stops. Between 1867 and 1882, the chapel received a fundamental redesign and redesign in the Romanesque style as well as a dignified interior and a new high altar. During the same period in 1872 it was incorporated as a branch church of the new St. Joseph's Church , which was built in the Haasviertel, which had grown significantly due to industrial settlements, and was inaugurated in 1864. Finally, around 1885, the outer east side of the chapel was provided with a life-size crucifixion group by the Aachen artist Gustav Angelo Venth .

During the First World War the mountain chapel served temporarily as a prison camp and during the Second World War it was badly damaged by bombing raids by the German military on the American-occupied Eupen on Boxing Day 1944 during the Ardennes offensive . Since the annexation of the Eupen district to Belgium in 1920 as a result of the Versailles Treaty , the parish initially belonged to the diocese of Eupen-Malmedy and has been part of the diocese of Liège since its dissolution in 1925. The last extensive renovations of the chapel finally took place in the 1960s on the initiative of Pastor Joseph Hilligsmann from the St. Joseph Parish and on the occasion of the 300th anniversary celebration in 2012.

Nowadays, in addition to its regular church events, the mountain chapel is available as a meeting point for several Eupen associations, including the Spanish community, the Johannis-Bürger-Schützengesellschaft, the Catholic youth association and the Kolping family. It can also be used as a space for temporary art exhibitions if required.

description

The single-nave church building made of irregular sand rubble with a three-sided apse was originally two bays long and was extended by one bay to the west in 1729. The corners of the choir and the apse are equipped with cuboids in the shape of a tooth cut , which, like the portal and window frames of the arched windows, are made of bluestone . At the top, the choir closes with a gable roof , while the apse is covered with a hipped roof. On the roof ridge sits a small roof turret , which is crowned with a wrought-iron cross with a weathercock from the 18th century.

On the south side of the chapel are the additions built around 1877 for the sacristy and the side chapel, while the north wall is characterized by the neo-Romanesque portal from 1879. This massive bluestone portal is flanked by a triple row of columns, which merge into a round arch, which in turn spans an unadorned tympanum. Above the lintel, two coat of arms stones and an inscription stone are embedded in the walls and a clock in the middle above them. The coat of arms stones were only made during the expansion in 1879, but show the coat of arms of the Berghe and Schyl families in memory of the patrons of the old chapel, Wilhelm Heinrich von Berghe, known as Trips (1661–1736) and his wife Franziska Arnoldine Schyl von Walhorn . On the inscription stone the lines: " JESU MARIA JOSEPH - RAEDIFICATVM ANNO 1712. " and " ANNO 1599 ANTIQVVM RENOVATVM ET DILATATVM EST Anno 1712–1729 " are engraved, with which on the one hand the new building is documented and a reference to the first chapel from the year 1599 was made.

Crucifixion group

Crucifixion group

The crucifixion group attached in 1885 to the outer wall of the apse shows the crucifixion scene with Mary on the right and the apostle John on the left of the cross on a stone base painted white . The figures are also chiseled from stone and painted white. On the base is the inscription: " XC EFFIGIEM CHRISTI, SI TRANSIS, PRONUS HONORA / NON TAMEN EFFIGIEM, SED QUEM DESIGNAT, ADORA " (" If you go past, bowed honor the crucified image. Not the image, but rather the crucified one." 'at. ") engraved.

A triangular canopy-like and elaborately decorated wrought-iron roof with the typical shapes of the 19th century gives the crucifixion group the necessary visual and spatial protection. The stone forecourt of the group, which was carved out with masonry like a pedestal over the sloping slope and can only be reached via side stairs, is delimited by a wrought iron fence with integrated stone posts in neo-Romanesque style. Two old cast-iron lanterns on the forecourt, attached to the side of the crucifixion group, provide atmospheric lighting in the dark.

Furnishing

inside view

The single-nave, relatively unadorned interior is covered by a flattened barrel vault that rests on a profile cornice running all around . The walls are structured at the distance of the yokes by pilasters covered with profile strips , which support the load-bearing capacity of the ceiling as a round arch from one side to the other. The vaulting and mounting of the pilasters are dated to the early 19th century and were obviously incorporated in the course of the ceiling restoration around 1812.

Lead glass window west side

A total of nine lead glass windows from the post-war period, three each on the north and south sides, as well as two windows in the side walls of the apse and one on the west side under the organ gallery, provide atmospheric lighting inside the church. Of these, the left apse window and the west wall window were made in the Linnich glass painting Oidtmann .

Pietá
pulpit

The life-size statue of John the Baptist, carved from oak wood, attached to the wall to the left of the main entrance, and the Pietà , placed in the side extension, come from the furnishings that were newly acquired around 1875 . The latter is a true to scale copy of a work by the sculptor Wilhelm Achtermann from Münster . In addition, 14 pictures of the Stations of the Cross from the same period are hung on the walls of the apse , processed in oil on canvas and scaled down copies of the original works by the history painter Joseph von Führich . The existing wooden furniture in neo-Romanesque style, the doxal parapet , the communion bench, the confessional and the pulpit decorated with evangelists with a doxal staircase also date from the years 1877 to 1881 . On the other hand, the bell, which was delivered from the August Hönig bell foundry in Cologne in 1846 , was confiscated by the Germans during the Second World War, but was found intact in 1947 and re-inaugurated.

As part of the modernization work in 1961, a simple sacrificial table in the style of the early church was set up in place of the former bombastic altar building and a simple cross was hung instead of an oversized apse painting. At the same time, to the side of the altar, the life-size figures of the Mother of God and the Sacred Heart statue were placed on consoles on the apse walls.

The organ acquired in 1850 was expanded and strengthened to eight registers in the Müller brothers' organ workshop in 1883 , repaired in 1947 and overhauled in 1961 by the organ builder Kühn.

In addition, the sun monstrance from the late 18th century and two donated silver chalices from the early 18th and late 19th centuries are of historical importance from the small church treasure.

literature

  • The Chapel of St. John on the Mountain , in: C. Rutsch: Eupen und Umgegend , C. Jul. Mayer, Eupen 1879, pp. 103-108 ( Chapter II / 3 digitally or as a pdf ).
  • Johann Gerhard Heinen: Parish history of Eupens, with special consideration of the local history. Chapter The chapel of the h. Johannes Baptist auf dem Berg , pp. 294–301. Published by the editor himself, Eupen 1896
  • Karl Janssen-Hauzeur: 250 years of the mountain chapel St. Johannes Baptist zu Eupen 1712–1962 , a contribution to local history, Marienchor Eupen (ed.), Buchdruck Braun, Eupen 1962 ( pdf )
  • Jean-Jacques Bolly, Norbert Kreusch: Photographic Directory of Sacred Art in Belgium , Royal Institute for Art Heritage, Eupen 1981, pp. 28–29 pdf
  • Alfred Minke: The chapel of St. John the Baptist on the mountain in Eupen , commemorative publication for the 300th anniversary of the mountain chapel, Eupen 2013

Web links

Commons : Chapel of St. John the Baptist (Eupen)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eupen: renovated mountain chapel shines in new splendor , video and audio contribution on BRF-regional from December 14, 2012
  2. ↑ Andrea Thomas: A quiet island in the steady flow of everyday life , in story (s) from the mountain district, 2017 edition on ephata.be
  3. ↑ Wappen Schyl & Berghe , on ostbelgien.net
  4. ↑ Works list of the Müller brothers' organ building workshop

Coordinates: 50 ° 37 '28.6 "  N , 6 ° 2' 2.8"  E