Magdalenenkapelle (Staufen)

The Magdalenenkapelle in front of the Schlossberg

The St. Magdalenen Chapel is a chapel built on older foundations in 1586 for the residents of the former leper house in Staufen im Breisgau , Krozinger Straße 1 a. A visit is only possible after registration.

Good people

The Leprosy is an infectious disease caused by the skin is changed and the face and other body parts can be completely decomposed. The cause of infection, poor hygiene, malnutrition and a weakened immune system was unknown in the Middle Ages . Treatment was not possible until the discovery of the pathogen by the Norwegian doctor Armauer Hansen in 1873 . This fact and the repulsive appearance of the sick led to them being separated from the healthy and, although they were actually only slightly contagious, transferred to institutions outside the cities: They became lepers. Her illness was also named as misel addiction, her dwellings as misel, (special) infirmary or manor house , although the origin of this word is unclear. The term "leprosy" and thus the name "Leprosorium" did not appear until the middle of the 18th century.

The Magdalenenkapelle (right) with the Rinderlehof

History of the Leper House

The Leprosenhaus in Staufen is one of the oldest foundations in Baden, although no exact date is known. There are two mentions from the early 14th century. The 13th century is also mentioned because it can be assumed that the Lords of Staufen could not have limited themselves to donating a building to the Lazarus Order in the small village of Schlatt in 1220 to establish a Lazarite house.

Leper with warning clapper, engraving from the 16th century

The manor houses were mostly where country roads met, like here the one from Staufen to Krozingen on the one hand and to Kirchhofen on the other, to enable the lepers to beg. They had to draw attention to themselves with a warning clapper , keep strangers away from them with a stick and use a sack to receive the alms. Poorer houses in particular were dependent on this income, even though foundations or benefices usually provided their maintenance. As early as 1522, Staufen had significant assets, from which it can be concluded that the foundation was very old. At that time, several new foundations came into being due to a new leprosy epidemic. From the year 1576 there were also house rules based on those of the leprosarium "Siechen am Felde" near Freiburg. After that, the property management of the house was entrusted to a groom who, together with a maid, ran the sick household and had to maintain order in the house.

Around 1600 the manor house was uninhabitable - possibly due to a fire - so that the special smokers had to sleep in the chapel for a few weeks. In the Thirty Years' War it was burned. Because it was only needed for a few families, it was only rebuilt in a smaller form. From 1720 it was empty; only in the middle of the 18th century it had to be made habitable for three people suffering from leprosy. They were the last lepers to be buried in the Gutleutgottesacker next to the chapel after their death in 1756/58 . In 1756 it was also used for the coppersmith Joseph Kauffmann, who was beheaded for embezzlement and who, according to local tradition, was an uncle of the painter Angelika Kauffmann , who was not tolerated in the bourgeois cemetery .

From that time on, the manor house remained uninhabited. The suggestion of the government of the Upper Austria to turn it into a spinning mill turned out to be impracticable. In 1786 it was sold by auction to the hereditary builder Josef Rinderle, who demolished it and built a house on the foundation; In 2018 the building yard of the city of Staufen is located there.

History of the Magdalenenkapelle

Original chapel and new building in 1586

Visiting the city was not entirely forbidden to the lepers. So they were allowed to participate in the service, marked by their staff. The city cemetery was not available to the deceased, they were buried in their own cemetery at the Gutleuthaus. The Gotthard Chapel, first mentioned in 1353 as a branch church in Krozingen, was part of this even before the Thirty Years War . Because of the great distance and the location on the mountain, however, it was hardly suitable as a cemetery chapel. That is why there was a second chapel there, the age of which is unknown. In any case, in the 1580s it was so dilapidated that it was almost completely rebuilt on the old floor plan, with its foundations being preserved up to a height of about one meter. The date of completion is indicated on the door arch as 1586. The chapel has an east-facing , rectangular floor plan of 9.10 × 5.84 meters.

Baroque remodeling 1721–1738

According to a dendrochronological examination from 1995, the steep gable roof with a reclining chair in three transverse axes was not erected until 1721. In the course of the subsequent baroque redesign, the interior was given a plaster ceiling with frame stucco and the two side windows were enlarged. There is no information about the age of the coupled Gothic window behind the altar. The chapel was then repainted, with an older painting on the walls being covered by multi-colored, ornamental foliage. On the occasion of this extensive renovation, a small entrance hall vaulted with a basket arch in the style of the time was added to the building . “It nicely structures the chapel facade and gives it dynamism.” In 1738 the work was completed, so that the Constance Auxiliary Bishop Franz Johann Anton von Sirgenstein could rededicate the altar and the chapel on August 14th.

Dedication in 1827

After the manor house was abandoned in 1786, the chapel was no longer needed. It was profaned and also sold to Josef Rinderle in 1827, who had already acquired the cemetery for garden use in 1804. In the following years it served as a wash house and schnapps distillery. For this purpose, a kiln with a large chimney was installed in place of the altar after the Gothic double window on the east wall had been bricked up.

The west wall with the entrance portal

Restoration around 1960 and rededication

Eckart Ulmann (1914–1996), mayor from 1946 to 1969, discovered in 1955 paintings in the building, which was now only used as a storage room, under the plaster, which was covered with a thick layer of soot. The restorer Adelheid Ueberwasser (died 1998), who was subsequently involved, confirmed in a report dated April 19, 1955: “Under a one-time, thick layer of plaster that was supposed to level the walls, two layers of painting lie close to one another, of which the older, lower, has been preserved quite well is, while the upper, younger one is so bonded with the covering layer of mortar that it inevitably falls with it. It will therefore not be possible to save the second painting. ”She added:“ The most beautiful part of painting would probably have been found on the chapel wall. But almost everything was destroyed by the construction of the huge chimney. "

While there was little to save from the baroque painting from the renovation from 1721–1738, it was possible to partially restore the older paintings. They are “probably from the time after the Thirty Years' War,” the restorer stated in her report. With the support of the Rinderle family, the city of Staufen, the then district of Müllheim and, above all, the then State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in South Baden under its director Martin Hesselbacher (1908–1983), as well as in coordination with the dean Johann Georg Schmutz (1908–2002) , she was able to carry out the work around 1960 together with her husband Jürgen Brodwolf , whom she married in 1956, and Karlheinz Scherer .

First of all, the walls had to be dried out by installing air ducts. The supporting mortar base was firmly connected to the wall again by means of injections and grouting. Loose paint particles were sprayed with cellulose glue and pressed back onto the mortar. Since the walls had been picked up before the baroque plaster was applied to allow them to adhere better to the existing ground, all parts of the picture and wall were covered with potholes that had to be patched up.

The walled-up double window was opened again so that the paintings found on the east wall could be made visible again as far as possible. According to the findings, the dilapidated vestibule of the chapel had to be almost completely rebuilt.

After an altar had been erected again, the chapel was consecrated again on July 23, 1961 by the dean Johann Georg Schmutz.

The east wall of the chapel

Restoration in the late 1990s

In 1996 the chapel was again in poor condition, which was due to a lack of care, but above all to the fact that its masonry had suffered from the pressing water from the Schlossberg ever since it was built. For the necessary repairs, they therefore sold the successors of Josef Rinderle to the “Arbeitskreis Staufener Stadtbild e. V. ”, which, according to its statutes, has set itself the goal of“ preserving the specific townscape and valuable buildings, ensembles, assemblies and street spaces ”.

Generous donations and again a grant from the State Office for Monument Preservation made it possible to uncover the east side of the chapel, which was flooded halfway up the wall, revealing a previously unknown medieval retaining wall. In addition, human skeletal remains were found, but these could not be dated. After a drainage system was installed , the cement plaster was replaced by a lime plaster on the inside and outside walls, the windows were renewed, the roof was renovated and the wall paintings were stabilized again. The restoration of the weather-exposed painting above the entrance portal was particularly complex. At the end of the work, the chapel was consecrated again on July 23, 1999.

The painting above the entrance; on the door arch the date of construction of the chapel in 1586

The Magdalene Altar, today in the St. Gotthard Chapel in Staufen, with the coat of arms of the Lords of Staufen, who died in 1602

Mary Magdalene

The chapel was consecrated to Maria Magdalena from ancient times . “On St. Mary Magdalene Day”, July 22nd, the lepers had “for their chapel at the Gutleuthaus Kirchweih festival; there was a service there and at noon they were entertained by the caretaker and the citizens. "

The reason for the patronage is not known, but is seen in the enigmatic figure of the patroness. According to the Gospels, Mary Magdalene was Jesus' most important companion and the first to see the risen Christ. In the Catholic tradition, however, she was equated early on with both the sister of Lazarus and above all with the sinner who anointed the head of Jesus in the house of "Simon the Leper" or, according to Luke ( Lk 7.36-50  EU ), the feet washed. Pope Francis raised their memorial day in 2016 to the rank of a feast and thus put them on an equal footing with the apostles. But traditionally she was reduced to the role of the sinner who is said to have lived in a cave as a penitent after she had ended up in the south of France in a fabulous way.

Painting above the entrance

The visitor is greeted by a baroque painting of Maria Magdalena above the entrance door. A now lost inscription by the founder Andreas Mayer, who was a landlord from 1736–1741, proved that it was created in connection with the erection of the porch during the renovation 1721–1738. The restorer had written in her report: "The painting on the outer facade above the entrance door is so poorly preserved and hardly legible that it will probably no longer be salvage." This does not seem to have been confirmed, because later the " very well-preserved baroque exterior fresco ”.

“Accompanied by two putti, Magdalena kneels in a hilly landscape covered by loose forest in front of a crucifix and studies the script. Her long hair is loose and in front of her is a can of ointment as an allusion to the story from the Gospel of Luke and the Easter story. Signs of repentance are the skull in her right hand, but above all the scourge in her left hand, with which Magdalena chastises her bare upper body. On the left you can see the cave in which the saint lived. As an original ingredient of the painter (or due to a misinterpretation during the restoration?) A winged dragon with bared teeth crawls out of this, perhaps a symbol of the temptations of sin. "

Magdalen Altar

In the chapel there is now a modern, table-shaped altar with an impressive cross. In 1729, however, the people of Staufen donated a baroque altar with a painting of the penitent Magdalena in addition to two side altars. When it was profaned in 1827, it was placed as the left side altar in the St. Sebastian cemetery chapel in Staufen. In 1896 it came from there to the Gotthard Chapel, where a visit is possible after registration. The Catholic parish had it restored in 1959 and decided to leave it there in 1961 despite the re-consecration of the Magdalenenkapelle.

Mary is crowned here by three putti with a rosary. The same props can be seen that are shown in the mural. It is not known whether the depictions of a radish, a peach, a melon and a bird are only used for decoration or also have a symbolic meaning. A church can be seen on a hill in the background. It is assumed that it could mean that of Vézelay , where the bones of the saints are supposed to be. The other buildings depicted on a lake remain unidentified.

Painting around the front door

Murals

The interior of the chapel is shown as an open temple. In the four corners there are pillars painted in perspective with capitals that carry richly profiled beams. The door and window openings and the small wall niches are framed with a framed architecture of gray-blue fittings with snails and shell motifs in the style of the late Renaissance. This painting was supplemented during the restoration because it was more of a schematic repetition and there was a desire to make the chapel usable again as a place of worship. It was no longer possible to determine how the ceiling was originally designed because a plasterboard ceiling with stucco frame had been installed during the baroque redesign.

Caretaker Baltzer Beisel

Baltzer Beisel

To the left of the entrance door, a large picture shows the caretaker Baltzer (Balthasar) Beisel kneeling in front of a crucifix that was severely disturbed by a wide vertical crack in the wall. Nevertheless, it could be restored comparatively well, including the grammatically incorrect text written in Fraktur:

My name is Baltzer beisel fir was
The wass nurse in this year
who he builds me in this time
To God at all times
I should ask God on
cease to give who gives what is needed to
whom she alone the hon
who can and gives what
knows man mer.

After the restoration it was assumed that the renovation would have taken place in 1721–1738 under the direction of Baltzer Beisel. It would have to be a baroque work. From 1736 onwards, Andreas Mayer and Beisel referred to themselves as “builders”. Even if the painting - in contrast to the following, flat depictions of the apostles - indicates a room, it is therefore generally dated to the time of the new building of 1586.

View of the north wall of the chapel

Apostle Credo

In the painted architecture, the figures of the twelve apostles stood opposite each other on the two long walls , presumably standing on pedestals, without any background painted directly on the white lime. During the interventions in 1721–1738, no consideration was given to this, so that three images of the apostles are wholly or partially destroyed. Of the remaining parts, the lower part is missing because the plaster was completely destroyed by the rising damp.

As already indicated by the restorer, they are dated to 1586 together with the picture of the Baltzer Beisel. The question is also asked whether they could not have been made by the same artist who painted corresponding apostle figures in 1652 in the St. Sebastian's chapel in the city's cemetery.

The apostles are depicted almost life-size. They are wrapped in heavy flowing garments, with strong colors in gold ocher, reddish brown, sepia and manganese blue. The faces of their rather small heads are almost entirely faded, but still clearly recognizable, framed by moving hair. Oval halos float above their heads as fine hoops.

View of the south wall of the chapel

The association of the apostles with phrases from the creed is known as the apostle's creed . In the Magdalenenkapelle there is a common assignment. Missing apostles and incomplete parts of the text (in today's wording) can therefore be added to the description. The Credo begins to the left of the altar and runs counterclockwise through the chapel to the right side of the altar. There are five apostles on the north wall, seven on the south wall, because the beginning of the cycle is preceded by a portrait of "Jesus Christ" as Salvator Mundi , the right hand raised as a blessing, in the left holding a globe crowned with a cross.

Above each apostle is his name in large antique letters and a sentence from the creed in black letters. Like architectural painting, the restorers added more text to these lettering than what they could see in order to make the paintings easier to understand. They obviously made two mistakes:

• The disciple, known as Judas Thaddäus , carries a rod of drapery. However, that is the attribute of James the Younger . It is inconceivable that the artist already made this mistake.
• The phrase "resurrection of the dead" is missing from the texts. You should stand between Matthias and the apostle called Simon . In fact, the remainder of another apostle can still be seen to the left of the widened window, carrying a club. This is the attribute of Simon, to which the “indulgence of sins” can be properly assigned. The apostle, barely recognizable to the right of the window, must therefore be Judas Thaddäus, who is then still missing, so that he is incorrectly labeled Simon.

image	apostle	text
	Peter The expected attribute of the key cannot be recognized	(I believe in God the Father, the) Almighty, (the Creator of Heaven) and of the harbors
Due to the size of the window, the image and text are missing	(Andreas)	(And to Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord)
	James the Elder Attribute: pilgrim clothes and staff	He who received is born of the Holy Spirit out of Mary the Jungkfrawen
	John , attribute: chalice with snake	Suffered from Pontio Pilato / Gecreutzigett / died and buried
	Thomas Attribute: lance	Disgusted to the helen, on the third day against the dead
	James the Younger Attribute: handkerchief rod Wrongly referred to as Judas Thaddäus	Rise to heaven / sit at the right hand of the father
	Philip Attribute: cross staff	From then he will come to judge the living and the dead
	Bartholomew Attribute: knife (here almost like a hatchet) and skin over the arm	I believe in the holy spirit
	Matthew , attribute: book	A holy general Christian church community of holy people
	Jude Squidward No attribute to be recognized Wrongly referred to as Simon, who is only allowed to appear in the next position with his phrase from the creed	(Resurrection of the dead)
Due to the enlargement of the window, only the remainder of the image that can be seen below is present	Simon Attribute: club Position swapped with Judas Thaddäus	Forgiveness of sins
	Matthias Attribute: Halberd	And everlasting life amen

Choir wall

Altar wall on the left

Altar wall on the right

Paintings can also be seen on the wall behind the altar, albeit difficult to recognize despite the concealment by the restorers. These are the only ones that could be preserved from the baroque renovation of 1721–1738.

The interpretation of the paintings becomes conceivable if one knows the cartridges of the two side altars that were donated in 1729: Nepomuk and Fidelis . It is noticeable that both were very “topical” at the time: In 1729 Nepomuk was canonized and Fidelis, who had to wait until 1746, was beatified. Both were also a typical choice for Staufen in the strictly Catholic Front Austria: A real cult had arisen around Nepomuk in the efforts to promote the Counter-Reformation , and Fidelis's martyrdom, which had also worked in Breisgau , came in 1622 when he went against Calvin in Graubünden and Zwingli preached.

The appearance of the altars and their whereabouts are unknown; with regard to the nepomucal altar it can be speculated whether a wooden sculpture exhibited in the city museum in the town hall could have come from it.

The paintings were donated by the citizens of Staufen, Johannes Adam Koch, then sacristan of the parish church of St. Martin, and Jakob Mayer, as can be seen from the inscriptions above them. One can assume that the two saints on the walls, marked by a halo, were referring to the cartridges of the altars in front of them.

The altar of Nepomuk could have stood on the left. In paintings he has a crucifix as an attribute in the way that the cross can be seen here. Occasionally he is shown with longer, if not quite as wavy, hair. Apparently he wears the biretta on his head , with which he is always depicted. On the other hand, “on the right, in the figure of the monk marked with a halo as a saint, who preaches to two people (?), Perhaps St. To see Fidelis. ”It remains unexplained why the two people do not wear a halo, but a halo.

garden

Since 2002, the citizens' initiative for environmental protection / BUND Staufen has been trying to create the garden belonging to the chapel, the former leper cemetery. After dating from the 9th century Liber de cultura hortorum of Walafrid Strabo , the "Book of the cultures of Gardens", a herb garden has been created, in which also old varieties of roses and old wild trees like Zibärtle , Speierling or Cornus find.

Events are held for Magdalenentag, such as in 2018 with various lectures, after the tradition of a church service that was newly introduced after the restoration could not hold on that day.

literature

• Ingeborg Hecht : The Leper Chapel in Staufen. In: “Das Markgräflerland” 1964, issue 1, pages 41–47 online
• Ingeborg Hecht: The sick change. Freiburg 1982 (especially pages 68-75)
• Martin Hesselbacher: The St. Magdalenenkapelle in Staufen im Breisgau. Newsletter of the preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg 1962, issue 5, pages 40–45 online
• Rudolf Hugard: The last lepers to Staufen. In: Staufener Wochenblatt. 16./18./20./22. January 1910 online
• Rudolf Hugard: The Gutleuthaus zu Staufen. In: Schau-ins-Land 1919, pages 22–28 online
• Franz Xaver Kraus (Ed.): Leprosenhaus. In: The art monuments of the Grand Duchy of Baden, District of Freiburg, Tübingen and Leipzig 1904, page 473 online
• Jörg Martin: The St. Magdalenen Chapel in Staufen. Working group “Staufen cityscape” e. V., without year (2018), 12 unpaginated pages
• P (itti) Schöttler: St. Magdalenen Chapel at the Rinderlehof in Staufen. (without year) online

Web links

Commons : Magdalenenkapelle (Staufen)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• 10 photos of St. Magdalene Chapel of Willy Pragher the State Archive of Baden-Wuerttemberg , State Archives Friborg
• Rinderlehof and Magdalenenkapelle in the LEO-BW
• Magdalenenkapelle in the database building research / restoration Baden-Württemberg
• Magdalenenkapelle on the homepage of the working group Staufener Stadtbild e. V.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Martin, page 2
2. ^ Martin, page 2
3. ↑ Jürgen Belker-van den Heuvel: Documentation: Medieval Leprosy Houses in what is now Baden-Württemberg , in: “Die Klapper”, Münster 2003/04
4. ↑ Hecht, Der Siechen Wandel , page 17
5. ↑ Hugard: Gutleuthaus , page 22
6. ↑ Hugard, still
7. ↑ Hugard: Gutleuthaus , page 23 f.
8. ↑ Schöttler
9. ↑ Hugard: Gutleuthaus , page 25 f.
10. ↑ Hugard: The last lepers , January 22, 1910
11. ↑ Schöttler
12. ↑ Hugard: Gutleuthaus , page 27
13. ↑ Hesselbacher, page 42; Martin, page 4 f.
14. ↑ State Office for Monument Preservation Baden-Württemberg, database building research / restoration: Magdalenenkapelle online
15. ↑ Hesselbacher, page 44
16. ↑ Martin, page 5
17. ↑ Hecht: Leprosenkapelle , page 42
18. ↑ Martin, page 5
19. ↑ Hesselbacher, page 42
20. ↑ Hecht: Leprosenkapelle , page 42
21. ↑ Schöttler; Martin, page 8
22. ^ Hecht: Leprosenkapelle , page 75
23. ↑ Hesselbacher, page 43 f.
24. ^ Martin, page 10 f .; Staufen Cityscape Working Group V. following Schöttler
25. ↑ Hugard: Gutleuthaus , page 24
26. ↑ Schöttler
27. ↑ Hecht: Leprosenkapelle , page 44
28. ↑ Hesselbacher, page 45
29. ^ Martin, page 5 f.
30. ↑ Martin, page 5
31. ↑ Jörg Martin: Festschrift for the inauguration of the renovated St. Sebastian Chapel in Staufen im Breisgau , 2nd edition Staufen 2015, page 21
32. ↑ Martin, page 7
33. ↑ Hesselbacher, page 44
34. ↑ Schöttler
35. ^ Martin, page 9; Wolfgang Kaiser, Gitta Reinhardt-Fehrenbach, Bertram Jenisch, Verena Nübling: City of Staufen, Münstertal / Black Forest , Monument Topography Baden Württemberg, Volume III.1.1 , Stuttgart 2002, page 88
36. ↑ Kaiser et al., As above; Schöttler; Rinderlehof and Magdalenenkapelle in the LEO-BW
37. ↑ Martin, page 10. This is countered by the fact that the apostles are depicted differently there, that they are assigned different parts of the sentence from the creed, and that the side walls are empty for more than 65 years at a time when Christian preaching was predominantly through pictures would have stayed.
38. ↑ Hesselbacher, page 44
39. ↑ as above
40. ↑ Hesselbacher, page 42; Martin, page 5
41. ^ Martin, page 8
42. ↑ Martin, as above
43. ^ Ute Wehrle: Refuge for Lepers , Badische Zeitung, June 5, 2008 online
44. ↑ Silke Guckes: On the difficult life of lepers in the Staufen infirmary , conversation in Radio Dreyeckland on July 19, 2018 online
45. ^ Martin, page 11

Coordinates: 47 ° 53 '20.3 ​​"  N , 7 ° 43' 41.9"  E