Kunigunden Chapel (Burgerroth)
The Kunigunden chapel near the Auber district of Burgerroth is an important late Romanesque building. It was a pilgrimage church and church for the villages of Buch, Burgerroth, Niedersteinach and Brauneck Castle .
location
The Kunigunden chapel is located in the southern part of the Würzburg district , about one kilometer south of the Auber district of Burgerroth. It stands on the Alter Berg , a plateau spur above the steep drop of the Gollach , a right tributary of the Tauber , near the Baden-Württemberg border. It is owned by the Catholic Church Foundation in Buch .
Even before the First World War , farmers from Burgerroth found numerous broken pieces, animal bones and Stone Age tools while clearing the municipal quarry . Subsequently, excavations were carried out between 1919 and 1931 by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation and the Franconian Luitpold Museum in Würzburg (today the Mainfränkisches Museum ). These provided evidence of ten places of residence in a Neolithic settlement of the corded ceramics . There were also numerous prehistoric finds on the opposite Eulenberg . There in 1970 a farmer discovered a grave from the Hallstatt period while plowing . Although there is no concrete evidence of the existence of a pagan place of worship, other finds confirm the continuity of the Old Mountain as a place of refuge.
Even today, a pilgrimage route called the Bamberger Weg or Kunigundenweg leads from the chapel via Aub, Bullenheim , Scheinfeld , Schlüsselfeld and Burgebrach through the Steigerwald to Bamberg . Today there are fewer pilgrims who set out than hikers and cyclists. The Franconian Marienweg also leads past the chapel .
Building history
The Kunigunden chapel, which is dedicated to the Kunigunde of Luxembourg , who is particularly venerated in the region , was built around 1230 during the heyday of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. Probable builders are Heinrich von Hohenlohe and his son Konrad von Hohenlohe , who resided in the nearby Brauneck Castle. From 1608 to 1609 extensive repairs and modifications were carried out under Prince-Bishop Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn . This reconstruction was intended to strengthen the Counter Reformation . A stone tablet from 1614 indicates this renovation. In the middle of the 18th century, at the time of the baroque , the walls and the ceiling were decorated with stucco . In 1762, today's main altar with the depiction of the Holy Family was donated by Thomas Klee from Buch. The last renovation took place around 1900. Regular church services were only held on Kunigundentag (March 3rd) and on the third day of prayer . After the cemetery was no longer used since 1945, the Kunigunden chapel lost its importance. From 1961 to 1962 excavations were carried out in the chapel and the following thorough repairs restored it to its present state.
Interior
The chapel has largely retained its late Romanesque character. The wall paintings uncovered in 1960 indicate a strong and richly rich color, as it reached its peak around 1220. The equestrian image on the north wall of the chapel already shows the impending Gothic style . It is probably a representation of St. George . The window niche next to it was and is again painted in strong colors. The altar table stood in the almost square presbytery . On the south wall of the choir, next to a small, arched window corresponding to the time, a representation of the baby Jesus with three figures with outstretched hands can be clearly seen. The presbytery door led out to a covered outer pulpit , from which the sanctuaries of the chapel were displayed. In the semi - underground, barrel - vaulted lower chapel, which did not serve as a crypt , there was another altar. The heart of the chapel is now the three-part late baroque altar. The richly decorated antependium symbolizes with a golden ploughshare and the three clover leaves the legend according to which the holy Kunigunde is said to have run over glowing ploughshares to prove her loyalty and innocence.
Depiction of St. George
Picture on the south side of the presbytery
Main altar (behind the presbytery)
Remains of the outer pulpit with the door from the presbytery
Plaque above the entrance
Legend of the foundation
After her canonization in 1200, St. Kunigunde became one of the most popular saints , especially in Franconia . According to legend, the burgerroth chapel was built directly on her. She had vowed to build three churches and wanted to leave the choice of building sites to divine providence. She let three veils fly from Bamberg Castle: wherever these were found, a church should be built. One of the veils was carried by the wind to the Old Mountain , where it got stuck in a linden tree that still stands there today. The little church was supposed to serve as a parish church for both Burgerroth and the neighboring town of Buch, but the place seemed too far away for the Buchers. They took the building material to Buch on their own, but the next day everything was back in its intended place. A carpenter is said to have even lay down on the stones in the evening and woke up the next morning on the stones on the Old Mountain . The Bucher gave up their resistance and the chapel was built here.
- Kunigunden stone
At one point 150 m southeast of the chapel in the direction of Gollach, the saint is said to have prayed and left her hand, knee and footprints there.
Kunigunden linden tree
Right next to the chapel is the “millennial” Kunigunden linden tree, also named after the saint. According to the founding legend of the house of God, it should be the identical tree in which Kunigunde's veil was caught and therefore the little church was built under her. Since the historical Kunigunde died in 1033, this would confirm that the linden tree is over 1000 years old. However, the actual age of the tree is highly controversial and very different information can be found in the literature. A dendrological determination of the age of the distinctive tree is not possible because its trunk is completely hollow and the core of the trunk is missing. Quite often the assumption is made that the linden tree was planted at the same time as the chapel was built, which would at least give it an age of 800 years.
The linden tree itself is a summer linden tree and a protected natural monument . Their trunk has split into four parts over the centuries and is completely hollow inside. The remains of the trunk shell are supported by massive iron bars. To prevent it from breaking apart due to the weight of its crown, a radical pruning is carried out approx. Every 25 years - the Kunigunden linden tree has been completely decapitated several times during renovation work in recent decades.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Peter Högler: The Kunigunden Chapel. A remarkable building from the Staufer period (1230) . Schnelldruck Wingenfeld, Ochsenfurt 1977.
- ^ "Summer lime tree 'Kunigundenlinde' next to the Kunigunden chapel in Burgerroth" in Monumental Trees at monumentaltrees.com
- ↑ "Kunigundenlinde Natural Monument" at www.br.de/franken, the BR's online service
- ↑ "Kunigundenlinde bei Burgerroth" in the tree register at www.baumkunde.de
literature
- Peter Bräunlein: Franconia. 250 mysterious sites in 180 locations . With an introduction by Lutz Röhrich . Eulen-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 1987, ISBN 3-89102-123-2 , ( The Black Guide ).
- Stefan Fröhling, Andreas Reuss: Kunigundenweg between Bamberg and Aub . Bayerische Verlags-Anstalt, Bamberg 1990, ISBN 3-87052-560-6 , ( routes over land ).
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 31 ′ 39 ″ N , 10 ° 2 ′ 11 ″ E