Mariengrotte Giesel
The small Mariengrotte , also called Lourdes grotto , is located in Giesel , a district of the Neuhof municipality in the Fulda district not far from the district town of Fulda in Hesse . Giesel is part of the diocese of Fulda .
Geographical location
The grotto is located in the "Am Rödchen" corridor , an elevation southwest of the village above the parish church of St. Laurentius on the edge of the forest above the village and was built in 1919.
history
The grotto is an example of the widespread devotion to Mary in the Catholic region of Fulda. Before the First World War , Mary's grottos were built in the neighboring villages of Kleinlüder (1900) and Großenlüder (1906). For this purpose, slag was transported as a building material from the blast furnaces of the iron and steel smelters in the Ruhr area by rail freight to the Großenlüder station and then processed in the communities during the construction of the caves.
description
The Mariengrotte in Giesel was also made from slag from kilns in the Ruhr area. The structure is about 2 m wide and about 2.50 m deep and about 2.30 m high. It is crowned by a massive cross with a height of approx. 0.70 m .
A fixed, three-sided, wrought-iron bar fence stands on a sandstone step and has an opening in the middle for entering the grotto. The fence is labeled and bears a letter OMH on each side. (- "Oh Maria hilf" - statement and interpretation: August Jost). The rod tips of the enclosure have lance-like flat gold-colored tips. In the grotto there is an approximately 0.60 m high, shot podium on which an approximately 1.20 high statue of Our Lady / or. The statue of the Virgin Mary depicting Lourdes, with a rosary and “roses at his feet”, is based on the model of the apparition grotto of Lourdes in France, but without a kneeling figure of St. Bernadette . In front of the grotto there are small flower beds on the walls. An old sandstone trough ( forage or herb stone ) has been decorating the forecourt of the grotto for a flower planting since the 1960s / 70s .
Pledge
After Georg Jost had survived the First World War 1914–1918 unscathed as a soldier in France near Verdun , he vowed to build a Marian grotto in Giesel on his return. Construction began in 1919. Jost used the remainder of the slag that was still stored in Grossenlüder. He transported this building material by horse and cart over the "Martinsweg" from Großenlüder over the Finkenberg to Giesel. In the course of the years that had now passed, the building material stored in Großenlüder had decreased in quantity, so that the planned cave complex could only be built in the size it is today.
Church blessing
After completion, the Mariengrotto was consecrated by the pastor Heinrich Lechner with a large participation of the population and has served as a place of private and church devotion to Mary ever since .
useful information
August Jost (grandson and contemporary witness ) reported that an eternal light was hanging in the crown area inside the grotto until the US armed forces marched in after the Second World War around Easter 1945. This was lost after the further advance of the US armed forces via Haimbach to Fulda .
Memorial stone from 2019
In 2019, 100 years since the Marian Grotto was built.
On August 25, 2019, a memorial stone was dedicated to the suddenly deceased deputy chairman Heini Jost (a grandson of the founder Georg Jost) during a small ceremony in the grotto area by the music association "Heimatklänge Giesel". The maintenance and care of the grandfather's foundation of the Mariengrotte was important to him.
The memorial stone received its ecclesiastical blessing in a small prayer held by the Fulda cathedral capitular prelate Christof Steinert (who is a member of the Musikverein) .
Remarks
- ↑ From Middle High German krūtstein for a stone mortar . See German dictionary . Volume 5, p. 2124.
Coordinates: 50 ° 30 ′ 2.1 ″ N , 9 ° 34 ′ 1.4 ″ E