Way of the Cross (Kronach)
The Way of the Cross in the Upper Franconian town of Kronach is a 14 stations comprehensive Wallfahrtsweg that the suffering of Jesus Christ replicates.
location
The Way of the Cross begins at the confluence of Mozartstrasse and Kreuzbergstrasse in the northeast of the city and leads along Kreuzbergstrasse up to Kreuzberg, east of the city, where it ends at the Catholic pilgrimage church of the Holy Cross, built in 1638. The first nine stations are in the district of the Kronach core city, stations 10 to 12 are in the area of the Kronach district of Ruppen and the last two stations are in the municipality of Marktrodach . The individual stations are each about 100 m apart.
history
Efforts to set up a seven-station Stations of the Cross to the chapel on the Kreuzberg already existed in 1671, when the dean Benignus Moser made a request to the city council. Although several citizens agreed to have some of the stations made, the project failed due to a lack of financial support from the city.
Today's Way of the Cross with 14 stations goes back mainly to the initiative of Baptista Krebs, a priest of the third order of the Franciscans , who from 1729 lived as the first independent beneficiary and hermit on the Kreuzberg. With the support of various foundations from the citizenry, Krebs collected the necessary funds for the Way of the Cross, which was finally built in 1739.
In 1871 the sculptor Johann Georg Grebner renovated all 14 stations and made new relief panels from sandstone; previously painted metal panels were presumably attached to the picture niches. In addition, damaged parts were replaced by simple new products.
description
The individual stations are designed largely identically. The rectangular shaft stands on a stepped base plate, on the face of which there are two fields with engraved inscriptions; in the lower field the station is named, for example “the first station”, in the upper field in the form of an auricle cartouche the depicted scene is described: “Jesus is condemned to death”. The first station is also the only one of the 14 stations to be marked on the lower part of the shaft with the year "1739". A ledge platform protruding on three sides separates the shaft and attachment from one another. The top is closed by a drawn-in, cornice round arch and crowned with a stone cross. The arched picture niche on the front, in which a sandstone relief is embedded, is flanked by strong volutes . The back of the shaft and attachment are smooth.
During the renovation in 1871, three of the stations were partially or completely changed by repair work. The shaft of the sixth station lacks the otherwise common auricle cartridge, the attachment of the twelfth station, which differs in design and is framed by suggested masonry, has significantly smaller dimensions and the ninth station has been completely redesigned in a simplified form.
The stations of the cross are registered as architectural monuments in the Bavarian list of monuments. Due to their location, they are included in the list of monuments of the city of Kronach as well as in the list of the Marktrodach market .
Stations
I. Jesus is sentenced to death
( location )
II. The heavy cross is imposed on Jesus
( location )
III. Jesus falls under the cross for the first time
( location )
IV. Jesus meets his mother
( location )
V. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross
( location )
VII. Jesus falls the second time under the cross
( location )
VIII. The Daughters of Zion Weep Jesus
( Location )
IX. Jesus falls the third time under the cross
( location )
X. Jesus is stripped of his clothes
( location )
XI. Jesus is nailed to the cross
( location )
XII. Jesus dies on the cross
( location )
XIII. Jesus is the cross taken down
( Location )
XIV. Jesus is laid in the grave
( location )
literature
- Roland Graf: wayside crosses - picture trees - memorial stones . Ed .: Working group for home care (= Heimatkundliches Jahrbuch des Landkreis Kronach . Volume 7/1979 ). S. 43-49 .
- Denis André Chevalley: Upper Franconia . Ed .: Michael Petzet , Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments (= Monuments in Bavaria . Volume IV ). Oldenbourg, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-486-52395-3 .
Map with all coordinates: