Pestkapelle (Schweinheim)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The plague chapel in Schweinheim, view from the south, 2011

The plague chapel in the Schweinheim district of Bonn (actually: Sankt-Sebastianus-Kapelle ) is located on the corner of Waldburgstrasse and Venner Strasse. Construction began in 1914; the in neo-baroque built style building was on June 29, 1915 consecrated . The chapel's patron saint is the martyr Sebastian , after whom it is named. More common, however, is the name of the plague chapel .

Predecessor chapel

In the second half of the 17th century, a chapel was built in the immediate vicinity as thanks for salvation from the plague . The last wave of plague in the Bonn area reached the area in 1666 - spreading up the Rhine from Holland since 1656 - the old chapel was located in the area where the road now crosses. From here (as well as from other places in the Bonn and Königswinter area) from the 17th century until the war times under Napoleon Bonaparte, pilgrim processions regularly moved to the Marienforst Monastery . There the relic of Saint Sebastian (kept in a gilded wooden Sebastianus reliquary ) was kept. Since the saint was venerated as a patron against the plague and other epidemics, the monastery received a lot of visitors during and after plague times. The relic was later moved to the old plague chapel, from where it was transferred to the new building.

After the completion of the new building, the old chapel was demolished in 1915.

New building

Karl Schwarz from Godesberg was selected as the architect of the new building . His project was based on the drafts of the Provincial Curator Edmund Renard and his colleague Theodor Wildeman. The construction company was Theodor Wilhelm Düren from Godesberg.

The floor plan of the chapel is structured in three vertical axes; the front and rear sides of the choir are preferred. The building is plastered white. The roof is curved in the lower part and has an octagonal bell tower in the shape of a lantern. A small sacristy is attached to the chancel to the north . The altarpiece in baroque style depicts a copy of the painting of Christ on the Cross by Peter Paul Rubens . A wooden figure of the holy Lüfthildis points to the old tradition of pilgrimage from here to Lüftelberg (today part of Meckenheim ), which was broken off in the middle of the 20th century . In addition to the Sebastianus reliquary, there is a figure of the saint in the plague chapel as well as another painting from the 17th or 18th century depicting the martyrdom of Sebastian. A plaque attached to the outside above the entrance contains the inscription: "This is how the plague went in 1666".

Today the plague chapel belongs to the Catholic parish of St. Marien and St. Servatius and is opened twice a year for masses .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Frank Hüllen, Sitten und Customs in der Gemeinde Wachtberg , Sutton Verlag, ISBN 978-3-86680-725-9 , Erfurt 2010, p. 20
  2. ^ Bonn city history: 1500 to 1800 , website of the city of Bonn
  3. ↑ Heimatbuch the district Bonn , Volume 2, Bonn 1959, p 18
  4. ↑ Horstheider man : Godesberger industrial history I . In: Godesberger Heimatblätter: Annual issue of the Association for Home Care and Home History Bad Godesberg eV , ISSN  0436-1024 , Issue 48 (2010), Association for Home Care and Home History Bad Godesberg , Bad Godesberg 2011, pp. 96-134 (here: p. 127 ).
  5. ↑ a b Michael Wenzel, House of God on the village square: Fresh robes for the plague chapel , August 31, 2015, General-Anzeiger (online)

Web links

Commons : Pestkapelle (Schweinheim)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
  • St. Sebastianus , website of the Catholic parish of St. Marien and St. Servatius

Coordinates: 50 ° 40 ′ 54.3 "  N , 7 ° 8 ′ 32.1"  E