Chapel of the Mother of Beautiful Love (Koblenz)

The “Mother of Beautiful Love” chapel in Koblenz-Arzheim

Interior with the fresco by Franz Ittenbach

The Chapel of the Mother of Beautiful Love is a Catholic chapel in Koblenz . The chapel, consecrated in 1846, is located in the Arzheim district and is a war memorial for the fallen of the two world wars.

history

A chapel was first mentioned in 1547 in Arzheim. The construction goes back to a legend according to which a mother had the chapel built after she and her child survived a terrible storm in the Arzheim forest. During the siege of Ehrenbreitstein Fortress by the French, it was destroyed in 1796.

Today's Chapel to the Mother of Beautiful Love was built in 1844–1846 by the Arzheim pastor Nikolaus Weller. The inauguration took place on July 26, 1846. After the First World War , the chapel also became a war memorial chapel. The last renovation took place in 2006.

Construction and equipment

The chapel to the mother of beautiful love is a small hall building made of exposed stone with a 3/8 choir and a small wooden roof turret . The outer wall is structured with edge pilaster strips that support a circumferential arched frieze on spherical consoles. The windows and the entrance door are rounded off. The entrance has a porch with its own saddle roof , which rests on four columns with cube capitals .

The interior is decorated with a fresco that the painter Franz Ittenbach created in 1847 while he was working on the Apollinari church in Remagen . It bears the caption “I am the mother of beautiful love” and shows a portrait of Our Lady in the form of an apocalyptic woman , who hovers over a view of Ehrenbreitstein . The motif and the name of the chapel are relatively rare and refer to the book Jesus Sirach . Ittenbach painted the motif in several versions, the Arzheimer being the oldest.

In the choir, nameplates with fallen soldiers from the First World War hang on both sides. In addition, stained glass with praying soldiers under the cross and a picture of a fallen victim by Christ were inserted into the choir windows . The words " In gratitude, the community of Arzheim " were carved over the entrance . After the Second World War , another four name boards were added.

Monument protection

The chapel to the mother of beautiful love is a protected cultural monument according to the Monument Protection Act (DSchG) and entered in the list of monuments of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . It is located in Koblenz-Arzheim on Kreisstrasse / Unterdorfstrasse .

Since 2002 the chapel to the mother of beautiful love has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley .

literature

Energieversorgung Mittelrhein GmbH (ed.): History of the city of Koblenz. Overall editing: Ingrid Bátori in conjunction with Dieter Kerber and Hans Josef Schmidt. Theiss, Stuttgart 1992-1993;
- Volume 1: From the beginning to the end of the electoral era. 1992, ISBN 3-8062-0876-X ;
- Volume 2: From the French city to the present. 1993, ISBN 3-8062-1036-5 .
Ulrike Weber (edit.): Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany. Volume 3.3: City of Koblenz. Districts. Werner, Worms 2013, ISBN 978-3-88462-345-9 .