Katharinenkapelle (Hechlingen)

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The Katharinenkapelle , also called Kappl , was a late Gothic sacral building used as a pilgrimage church on an elevation near Hechlingen am See , a district of Heidenheim in the central Franconian district of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen , ( Bavaria ).

Kapellbuck with the ruins of the Katharinenkapelle
The ruins of the Katharinenkapelle with the bell tower and information board
The ruins of the Katharinenkapelle, view to the east
Ruins of the Katharinenkapelle

location

The ruin stands on the Kappelbuck ( Kapellenberg ; 585.5  m above sea  level ), a flat hill northeast of the Heidenheim district of Hechlingen in the Weissenburg-Gunzenhausen district in Central Franconia . Its distinctive silhouette is a defining element of the landscape around Hechlingen.

description

The chapel, a single-nave structure with three bays and a choir closure in five sides of the octagon, was 20 meters long and ten meters wide. The east wall of the choir and the south wall of the nave with the south-west corner of the chapel have been preserved up to a height of around four meters. Ribs show that the chapel had a net vault. The church was raised from limestone. Ribs, consoles and window frames were carved out of yellow sandstone.

A wooden bell tower was built north of the ruins in 1999. The "little bell" comes from the original tower of the Katharinenkapelle.

The chapel is designated by the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments as an architectural monument (D-5-77-140-43) and as a ground monument (D-5-7030-0048).

history

The chapel was first mentioned in documents in 1457, when the Eichstätter Bishop Johann III. von Eych confirmed an early measurement foundation; the style shows it as a building from the first half of the 15th century and thus from the late Gothic . Martin Winter suspects that the Enhöfer, a lower aristocratic family, used the ruins of their castle on today's Kapellbuck to build a pilgrimage church here. That the sacred building of St. Catherine of Alexandria was consecrated, can be deduced from the fact that the mountain where it is located in 1448 is called Sankt-Katharinen-Berg. In addition, an Enhöferin named in 1364 was called Katharina. That it was a pilgrimage church can be deduced from its location on the mountain and its size. However, the pilgrimage to the Katharienenberg was probably not very pronounced, as neither foundations nor miracle reports were known. Nor do you know anything about an image of grace .

Even after Martin Luther's Reformation , which was finally carried out in the Margraviate of Ansbach in 1533, the pilgrimage church is said to have been visited by Catholics passing by. The chapel has been in ruins since 1760 after farmers used the previously undamaged structure as a quarry. Remains of Gothic wall paintings were still visible in 1761. In 1880 the tower collapsed during a storm. The dilapidated ruin was supported in 1887 by adding new buttresses that were only half as high for the broken buttresses . Further renovation work took place in 1903 and again in the 1980s.

Others

  • In 1976, during an exploratory excavation in front of the northern front of the chapel at a depth of two meters, the foundation walls of other buildings were found that Martin Winter assigned to the former castle of the Knights of Enhofen.
  • Every year the Kapplfest takes place at the chapel ruins .

Beer cellar

The beer cellar

A former beer cellar is located on the northern slope of the "Kapellbuck" directly below the chapel . The Hechlinger Hohlweg leads from the village directly past the cellar. The cellar has existed for centuries and the Hechlinger Brewery Müller stored its draft beer there for secondary fermentation and maturation. In the beer cellar, which was in use until around 1900, cellar festivals were held at Whitsun . The Hechlingen Tourist Association repaired the dilapidated cellar. About twelve meters of the former facility are freely accessible.

literature

  • Martin Winter: From the Katharinenkapelle. In: Alt-Gunzenhausen. Contributions to the history of the city and the surrounding area. Issue 48/1993, pp. 62-67.
  • Catherine Chapel. In: Karl Gröber and Felix Mader (editor): The art monuments of Middle Franconia. VI District Office Gunzenhausen , Munich: R. Oldenbourg 1937, pp. 121–123.
  • Gottfried Stieber: Historical and topographical news from the Principality of Brandenburg-Onolzbach , Schwabach 1761, p. 464.
  • K. Stark: Chronicle of all the localities in the Gunzenhausen district , supplement to the Gunzenhauser Advertisement Sheet 1903, p. 38.
  • Information board, downloadable at [2]

Web links

Commons : Katharinenkapelle  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ card services of BfN
  2. ↑ a b c d Gröber / Mader, p. 123
  3. ↑ Katharinenkapelle (Kappl). on: pointoo
  4. ↑ Information board at the chapel
  5. ↑ List of monuments in Markt Heidenheim , accessed on May 23, 2020
  6. ↑ Gröber / Mader, p. 123; Winter, p. 66
  7. ↑ Gröber / Mader, p. 121
  8. ↑ Winter, p. 63
  9. ↑ Winter, p. 64
  10. ↑ Winter, p. 66f.
  11. ^ Karl Ried, in: Gröber / Mader, p. 3
  12. ↑ Information board at the chapel
  13. ↑ [1]
  14. ↑ Winter, p. 61

Coordinates: 48 ° 58 ′ 46.2 "  N , 10 ° 44 ′ 31.6"  E