Nail cross
The Villingen nail cross is a crucifix and miraculous image to which wonderful powers are attributed, so that it is still very much revered in Villingen-Schwenningen today. It is the protective cross of Villingen and was created around 1380. It can be seen in the northern tower chapel of the Villingen Minster . The Nägelins Cross was first mentioned in a document in 1415: a location refers to it: "... in front of the Bickenthor behind Nägelin's picture".
Design
It shows Jesus crucified . His veneration, which has been documented since the 14th century, is intended to protect the city from all evil. The Nägelinskreuz is credited with the fact that no city siege led to the capture of the Villingen city center and none of the city center buildings were destroyed in the world wars.
The sculpture is 81 cm high and fully carved. The arms have a span of 76 cm and are attached to the body with wooden pegs. The metal beams are anchored in the head with screw threads. There is a votive heart held by a chain over the wound on the side. The cross beam is an innovation from the 17th century. The nail cross has the typical features of the so-called mystical crucifixes of the 14th century.
Legend
A legend from 1659 explains the origin of the name Nägelinskreuz. At the end of the 15th century, a farmer from the Spaichingertal named Nägelin is said to have found the cross under miraculous circumstances. He later became terminally ill, but is said to have recovered miraculously after he had received the instruction to bring the cross to Villingen, since Villingen would then be spared from conquest and other evils, namely from "faith, fire and enemy dangers ". Villingen was besieged by the Swedes under Georg Friedrich von Holtz zu Niederholz from 1633 to 1634 in the Thirty Years' War and from 1703 to 1704 by the French, but was not captured.
Locations
Until the Second World War, the nail cross was the miraculous image of the Bicken Chapel at the train station. The chapel located directly in front of the city wall was destroyed in the Second World War. The nail cross then found its current home in the cathedral.
restoration
The nail cross was installed at the instigation of the then head of the city archive, Dr. Josef Fuchs restored by Irmgard Schnell from 1978 to 1982 in the version from 1683, i.e. in baroque colors. Since hundreds of candles are lit in front of him every day to worship him, it is placed behind a protective display case.
Nails cross booklet
The nails cross booklet printed around 1735 comes from the pen of the parish priest Johann Jakob Riegger. It is a history and devotional book, of which only a few copies have survived. Its content is characterized by deep piety. It is characterized by a plastic, baroque language.
literature
- Matthias Casimir Sartori: Nägelins-Kreuz or the miraculous and gracious portrait of our Savior, also his painful mother - for constant and ever-lasting devotion and veneration for pious citizens and residents of the ancient and always Catholic Front Austria. City of Villingen an dem Schwarzwalde, set up as a formal Bethbüchl…; Villingen, around 1790 ( [1] )
- August Schnezler, Badisches Sagen-Buch: a collection of the most beautiful sagas, stories, fairy tales, etc. Legends d. bath. Landes from written documents, d. Mouth d. People and poets, Vol. 1, 1846 ( full text )
- Irmgard Schnell, On the problem of the restoration of images of grace, illustrated using the example of the Villingen nail crucifix , Verlag der Stadt Villingen-Schwenningen, 1987
- Johannes Künzig: Schwarzwald-Sagen , Eugen Diederichs Verlag 1930, p. 229