Niederrickenbach
| Niederrickenbach | ||
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| State : |
 Switzerland
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| Canton : |
 Nidwalden (NW)
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| District : | No district division | |
| Political community : | Oberdorf NW | |
| Postal code : | 6383 | |
| Coordinates : | 675 268 / 197 758 | |
| Height : | 1162 m above sea level M. | |
| Residents: | 100 | |
 Niederrickenbach |
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Niederrickenbach (or Maria-Rickenbach ) is the smallest part of the population in the political municipality of Oberdorf ( Canton of Nidwalden , Switzerland ).
Location and history
Niederrickenbach is located on a mountain slope at a little over 1000 meters below the rocks of the Musenalp . The center of the mountain village with just under 100 inhabitants is located around the Benedictine monastery Maria Sacrifice , which was built in 1864 around the pilgrimage chapel to St. Maria im Ahorn. The population is made up of old Nidwalden families. Almost all of them belong to the Roman Catholic denomination.
As early as 1190, Engelberg Monastery received income from Niederrickenbach, which has been permanently inhabited since 1314.
Say about St. Mary in the maple
At the time of the great Reformation in the old Swiss Confederation, in the spring of 1528, a shepherd named Zumbühl from the Catholic Büren earned his bread by tending a flock of sheep in the (reformed) Bernese Haslital, which was ravaged by an iconoclasm at that time . The young shepherd saved a figure of Mary with a child from the church, which he then revered devoutly and took home with him at the end of the season. In the following year he again herd a flock of sheep, but this time in Niederrickenbach. Again he took his Mary with him and placed her in a hollow maple tree, where she was protected and he could pray undisturbed. When the summer was over again and he was supposed to return to the valley, the statue could not be removed from the tree. Many other acquaintances tried to help the Shepherd, but no one was able to bring his Mary back to him. When they asked for advice, it was decided to build a chapel for Mary, where she could be protected and venerated. Only when this chapel was completed could the Maria be removed from the old maple tree. So they put it in their new house of worship, where it still stands today after the last expansion in 1869.
Attractions
In addition to the statue of the Virgin Mary in the church of Maria-Rickenbach Abbey , the votive pictures are also worth seeing. They were donated as a gift of thanks for miraculous help in difficult times. The pictures show Mary helping and praying. Often they also contain a short text explaining the situation. The oldest votive pictures date from the late Middle Ages, but even today there are new donated pictures from time to time.
In addition to these sacred facilities, Rickenbach above all offers a lot of nature and a wide view of the valley from the surrounding peaks. When visibility is very good, you can see the Black Forest on the one hand and a wide Alpine panorama on the other.
Situation today
population
The times in which half the canton formed pilgrims and opened up to Niederrickenbach are over. A mountain house is still left of the Haldigrat ski area. The Benedictine Sisters have to struggle with problems of the next generation. The girls' boarding school has long been closed and there hasn't been a school in the village since the 1980s. At that time there were still about twenty students in the village.
economy
Niederrickenbach sees itself in a difficult situation. The transport-related development of the village by the LDN aerial cableway no longer meets the demands of today's mobility (especially since it is endangered by the pressure to cut costs by the canton itself). There are hardly any new settlers in the village and the only jobs in agriculture and alpine farming are at risk, also in view of the ongoing withdrawal of the state from support and subsidy payments. Although the community is making great efforts to breathe new life into the village through various activities and to stimulate gentle tourism, the situation remains difficult for the only inn. Only a few pilgrims are still in the village.
The chairlift to the Haldigrat has been running again for a few years. The community strives for new tourist impulses and the monastery sisters reopened their small coffee roastery .
photos
Pilgrimage church
Church window
Votive tablets
Pilgrim House Restaurant
monastery
Cable car to Musenalp
