St. Maria of Loreto (Westheim)
St. Maria von Loreto auf dem Kobel in Westheim near Augsburg , also called Kobelkirche , is a Roman Catholic curate and pilgrimage church . It is located on the Kobelberg in the west of Augsburg , embedded in the Kobelwald nature reserve .
Its structural core is a Loreto chapel , which was built in 1602 in the exact shape of the "Holy House" of Loreto. The chapel, to which the probably oldest Loreto pilgrimage in southern Germany, perhaps also Germany, developed, was enlarged to a church, whereby today the actual Loreto chapel takes on the function of the choir of the church.
The Kobel Church is still a popular pilgrimage destination today . The high season of the Kobel pilgrimage is the thirty-something woman from August 15th to September 15th.
history
Construction of the Loreto Chapel
The starting point for the Kobel Chapel was a replica of the figure of Our Lady of the Cathedral of Loreto in Italy, which the merchant Count Anton Fugger had carved for the chapel of his castle in Hainhofen in 1582 . When the Hainhofen estate was sold to the Protestant patrician Wolfgang Paler the Elder in 1601 . J. came, had the chapel torn down and gave the figure to his Catholic neighbor Karl Langenmantel von Westheim . He had a piece of land cleared on the Westheimer Kobelberg, which was his site, and a chapel built in the exact shape of the "Holy House" of Loreto, which, according to legend, was the house in which Mary, the mother of Jesus , grew up and in which the angel announced the birth of Jesus. Angels are said to have carried the “Holy House” from Nazareth to Loreto in Italy in the 13th century . Regensburg canon Heinrich Welser obtained a drawing with the exact dimensions of the “Holy House” of Loreto from a pilgrimage to Italy. The Loreto Chapel on the Kobel, built according to this plan - its builder is unknown - was consecrated in 1602 by Bishop Heinrich V of Augsburg (altar consecration). In the context of the increasing veneration of Mary during the Counter Reformation , this southern German copy of the House of Loreto itself became a pilgrimage destination. The Langenmantel family , the local lords of Westheim, supported the maintenance and expansion of the chapel in the following centuries.
During the Thirty Years' War , in 1624, a sacristy was added behind the chapel. In 1641 this sacristy received a wooden pulpit on the outside, which can still be seen in the engraving from 1720; today this pulpit no longer exists. From 1632 to 1633 the miraculous image was hidden from the Swedes and thus saved.
Enlargement to the church
After the Thirty Years' War, the pilgrimage developed into a chapel, in which the Augsburg Jesuit College played a major role. Around 1657, a nave was built in front of the chapel to accommodate the stream of pilgrims. In 1670 the building got a roof turret church tower. In 1699 a permanent pilgrimage priest was installed.
In the late baroque , from around 1730 to 1740, the Kobel pilgrimage experienced a new boom. The nave was torn down again in 1728 by the dean Leopold Ignaz Langenmantel and replaced by a longer and higher one (built by Johann Paulus ). Many works of artistic decoration of the church date from this heyday. In 1758, Wolfgang Anton Langenmantel added the “Painful Chapel”, a confessional chapel, as a side extension from a foundation made by two women from his family. 1766 awarded Pope Clement XIII. an indulgence , the Herz-Mariae-Brotherhood was introduced in the same year. In 1935 a new papal pilgrimage indulgence was awarded.
Renovations
The church was repaired in 1858/88, 1891/92, 1902, 1928 (interior renovation), 1933 and 1955. In 1902 the west facade with the entrance portal was redesigned, in 1933 the roof turret. In 1965 another interior renovation took place; 1973 an exterior renovation. The sacristy was also rebuilt. In 1981-84 there was another interior renovation. Part of the ceiling painting that fell was reattached in 1991–93. In 2008 the Kobel Church received new interior lighting.
Furnishing
The late baroque fresco painter Johann Josef Anton Huber created the main ceiling fresco , Johann Rieger , Johann Wolfgang Baumgartner and Johann Josef Anton Huber created other frescoes. Carvings in the church are made by the sculptor Ehrgott Bernhard Bendl .
The graphic opposite gives an overview of the floor plan of the church and the construction phases.
ceiling
The ceiling fresco , painted in 1793 , was made by the Augsburg baroque painter Johann Josef Anton Huber and represents the English greeting . It is accompanied on both sides by five cartouche images with symbols of the Immaculate Conception and the dignity of the Virgin Mary with Latin inscriptions:
Left:
- Candida semper (always white) - shell with pearl
- Nescia rimae (Without a crack) - A perfect vessel of grace
- Devia numquam (never absurd) - circle of perfection
- Undique firma (always fixed) - pyramid
- Proxima primae (closest to the first) - In the alphabet, A stands for Christ, B for Mary
Right:
- Destruit una (Destroyed by one) - A single broken string destroys the sound of the lute, symbol of flawlessness
- Caesaris ista (Of Caesar's) - The stag belongs to the emperor as Mary belongs to God
- Pura triumphat (The pure triumphs) - Like the military symbols of the Romans
- Nulla nucebunt (Nothing will hurt) - Crowned eagle in lightning bolts, Maria as Queen of Heaven
- Unica viva (only alive) - phoenix from the ashes, birth of redemption from Mary
Longhouse
The stucco work on the nave was carried out by the Augsburg sculptor Andreas Hainz . To the left and right of the Chapel of Mercy, which forms the choir of the church, there is an altar each with four Corinthian columns in walnut grain and with gilding. In the left altar there is the oil painting “Homage to the four continents before Mary”, in the right altar the picture “Death of Mary”.
In the middle above the choir arch is a plastic coat of arms of the Langenmantel family with a branch and crest ; on both sides of it the Latin inscription:
- V ER I REF V G II L O CV S D O MV S L A V RETANA
The inscription (translated: "The Loreto House is a place of true refuge") is a chronogram : its capital letters indicate the Latin year 1728.
The prayer benches have rococo cheeks from around 1785. On the right wall is a crucifix (around 1730); opposite on the left wall the wooden statue of Our Lady of Sorrows (around 1740). On the walls there are the following baroque wooden figures: St. Sebastian , St. Rochus , St. Catherine of Alexandria , St. Barbara . There are also the following counterpart figures : Guardian angel with child - Archangel Michael with soul scales and flaming sword ; Abraham and the three angels - John the Baptist (by Johann Josef Anton Huber ).
The organ on the rear gallery is a work by Bittner from Eichstätt from the year 1897. Its case corresponds to the style of the early 17th century.
There are various grave and memorial inscriptions in the church, including a linguistically rich echo poem in Latin (1632/1650) and the memorial inscription of the family crypt of the Langenmantel family (1677).
Chapel of Mercy
The “Chapel of Grace” is modeled on the “Holy House” of Loreto and consists (inside) of exposed brickwork. It was renewed in 1751, 1855, 1928 and 1965, the pavement is from 1965. The main altar is only a tabernacle table ; above are two small carved busts of Saint Joachim and Saint Anna , Mary's parents; probably works by Ehrgott Bernhard Bendel .
Above the main altar, the miraculous image of Our Lady with child is hung in a column frame . It is made of dark tinted wood and covered. According to local legend, the picture is said to have been blackened by a lightning strike ; but it was probably modeled on the model of the Black Madonna of Loreto. The figure could have been carved in Augsburg around 1580/82. In 1965 Mary and the Christ Child received new crowns and a scepter . Above the miraculous image there is a dove representing the Holy Spirit , above God the Father and behind him a wall fresco with angels.
In front of the main altar is a modern celebration altar from 1965.
Painful chapel
The "painful chapel" is a confessional chapel and is located to the left (north) of the grace chapel. It was built in 1758 by Joseph Ott from Augsburg and renovated in 1857/58. The Sorrowful Chapel is directly connected to the Gnadenkapelle via a door, but it also has its own outside entrance.
The ceiling of the Sorrowful Chapel is adorned with three vault frescos, which Johann Wolfgang Baumgartner created in 1758. In the middle picture, angels, floating in clouds, carry the “Holy House” of Loreto through the air. Above to the left, Mary is enthroned with the Christ child; two angels hold a yesterday's crown over their heads. Mary points with a scepter down to the figure of the "Church on Earth", which Mary pays homage to as the "Ark of Salvation". There is also an inscription: “The place where you stand is holy”.
Four small gusset pictures in shades of pink elaborate the comparison of the Holy House of Loreto with Noah's Ark :
The ark as a shelter for ravens and pigeons.
The raven leaves the ark and looks for carrion.
The ark stands in peace.
Now the world is blooming again.
The right side picture shows the pilgrimage of Hannas, mother of Samuel , to the ark of Silo . The left side picture shows a pilgrim in front of the miraculous picture of Our Lady.
On the southern wide wall there is a rococo altar by Balthes Rankl (1755). On the side there are two confessionals (1754?) And two prayer benches by the same master. Two stone holy water basins on the north wall bear the coat of arms of the Langenmantel family ; one of them the year 1737.
Connected buildings in the area
North of Kobel church was built in 1666/67 a Mesnerhaus , which later became the pilgrimage priests house. The benefit house that is located there today , a two-story saddle roof building, was built in 1747 by Joseph Ott. Like the Kobel Church and the Stations of the Cross , it is now a listed building . In 2011 the building was renovated by the diocese of Augsburg for around € 100,000.
In 1936 and 1937 a way of the cross for pilgrims was added on the western slope of the Kobel . The 14 carved wood works by the sculptor Josef Beyrer were released during a restoration carried out in Augsburg Cathedral in 1934 . The first twelve stations were divided into four image sticks , derived from Anton Kinseher, (each of the image blocks each containing three stations) along a slope of the Cross on Kobels housed. The 13th and 14th stations are located on the garden wall of the Benefiziatenhaus.
literature
- Norbert Lieb: pilgrimage church St. Maria von Loreto on the Kobel near Augsburg. (Schnell Kunstführer), brochure, Schnell & Steiner, 1980
See also
Web links
- Kobelkirche in Augsburgwiki
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 48 ° 23 ′ 1.4 ″ N , 10 ° 49 ′ 17 ″ E