Parish church Kollmitzberg
The parish church Kollmitzberg is clearly visible on the Kollmitzberg in the market town of Ardagger in the district of Amstetten in Lower Austria . It is the only Roman Catholic pilgrimage church in Austria consecrated to St. Ottilie and belongs to the Amstetten deanery in the diocese of St. Pölten . The church is a listed building ( list entry ).
history
The earliest documented mention of a church in Kollmitzberg can be found in the Passau Urbar "ecclesiam in Chalmuntz" from 1260. As early as 1135, the place Kollmitzberg was called "Chalmunze" and later in 1151 as "Chalmounza". In 1267 the parish incorporated into the Ardagger Abbey was confirmed in Passau and the church patroness, St. Ottilie, named in a certificate. In the course of time, the church building underwent several renovations, probably also due to the lively pilgrimage activity, ranging from the 12th to the 18th century. Until the abbey Ardagger was dissolved in 1784, pastoral care was carried out by a canon or vicar of the abbey. He came up the mountain from the nearby monastery for services and other celebrations. In 1748, the rural couple Michael and Maria Schmutz donated their farm to the establishment of a parsonage. After the conversion into a rectory, the vicar resided only a few minutes' walk away.
Building history and architecture
Probably the most striking part of the church is the tower in the west with a neo-baroque helmet and simple, Gothic sound windows . The Gothic sacristy adjoining the choir in the north was raised by one storey in the 18th century and expanded to the west. On the south side there is a small porch that serves as the entrance to the church. Today's glass windows date from the end of the 19th century. All in all, the different construction phases are clearly recognizable, but their overall picture merges into a handsome church building. Excavations that were carried out in 1994 under the presbytery have shown that it is already the fourth church building at this point.
1st construction phase (around 12th / 13th century)
Single nave nave with a retracted round apse and a cemetery to the east. Found pottery / pottery shards, which date to the 11th century, even suggest an even older origin, i.e. the time when the monastery was founded by Ardagger itself.
2nd construction phase (around 1300)
Early Gothic reconstruction with an extension to the east and a choir square at the end, in the middle of which was the altar. Noteworthy is a swiveling of the church to the southeast, which indicates the patronage of Ottilia in December ( eastward ). The still existing west tower should also have been built in this construction phase, as it still has this orientation.
3rd construction phase (around 1490)
The previous building was completely demolished except for the west tower and rebuilt as a probably two-aisled late Gothic complex with the still existing 5/8 choir closure . The choir is vaulted with net ribs and separated from the nave by a pointed triumphal arch. The sacrament house still preserved in the apse bears the date 1492.
4th construction phase (1787/88)
In 1753 the church was described as dilapidated. A completely new building could not be realized for financial reasons. The late Gothic nave was demolished in favor of today's three-bay, barrel-vaulted baroque nave, probably also due to the increased space requirements in the course of the lively pilgrimage activity.
Furnishing
Ottilie Altar
Opposite the south entrance is the Ottilie Altar with a carved, gilded, late Gothic seat sculpture of the church patron, created around 1500. It shows the patron saint against eye diseases with her attribute, the open Bible with a pair of eyes. The figure was probably part of a larger Gothic winged altar, which was lost in the Baroque period.
Ceiling pictures
The ceiling paintings in the nave are by the Viennese painter Franz Pitza . They were created in 1955 and depict scenes from the life of St. Ottilia.
organ
The organ, which is housed in a neo-Gothic case, was built by the organ builder Johann Lachmayr in 1893 .
Sacrament House
The wrought iron door of the 6 m high tabernacle on the north choir wall shows the date of its presumed creation in 1492. It was used to store the consecrated hosts, but then lost its function in the course of the liturgical reorganization at the Council of Trent .
Pilgrimage
The otherwise sparsely populated Kirchweiler owes the brisk construction activity to its importance as a pilgrimage site for Ottilien and also indicates significant pilgrimage activity. The veneration of Ottilien is extremely rare in Austria, so it is obvious that the Ottilien cult, which flourished in Bavaria, was introduced by one of the early provosts of Ardagger, who were canons of the Hochstifte Freising and Passau. The parish church of Kollmitzberg is thus the most important place of pilgrimage in all of Austria and the most easterly place of the worship of Ottilie.
During the Reformation, however, pilgrimage activity seems to have come to a complete standstill. Only with the founding of the " Rosary Brotherhood " by the then Provost Oswald Grübler in 1579 in the course of the Counter Reformation did it regain momentum. The pilgrimage reached its peak in the 18th century, which is also reflected in the documented fortunes of the brotherhood. This bloom finally experienced its abrupt end through the Josephin reforms . Even if the Kollmitzberg as a place of pilgrimage has taken a back seat to other places, it can look back on one of the oldest pilgrimage traditions in the Mostviertel .
literature
- Church leader Kollmitzberg. Christian art sites in Austria, No. 544, Verlag St. Peter Erzabtei Salzburg, 2012.
- Heimo Cerny: Kollmitzberg: Review, Insight, Outlook ; Chronicle, publisher Marktgemeinde Ardagger, 2016.
- The art monuments of Austria. Dehio Lower Austria south of the Danube 2003 . Ardagger, Kollmitzberg, parish and pilgrimage church of St. Ottilie, pp. 77-78.
- Alois Plesser: On the church history of the quarter above the Vienna Woods before 1627 (= historical supplements to the St. Pöltner Diözesanblatt . Vol. 16). St. Pölten 1998, pp. 11-13. ( pdf ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Alois Plesser: On the church history of the VOWW before 1627: Kollmitzberg to Rust . tape 16 , 1998, pp. 11 .
- ↑ Church guide Kollmitzberg , Christliche Kunststätten Österreichs, No. 544, Verlag St. Peter Erzabtei Salzburg, 2012, p. 4.
- ↑ Heimo Cerny: Kollmitzberg: Review, Insight, Outlook ; Chronicle, publisher Marktgemeinde Ardagger, 2016, p. 22.
- ↑ a b The art monuments of Austria. Dehio Lower Austria south of the Danube 2003 . Ardagger, Kollmitzberg, parish and pilgrimage church of St. Ottilie, p. 77.
- ↑ Heimo Cerny: Kollmitzberg: Review, Insight, Outlook ; Chronicle, published by Marktgemeinde Ardagger, 2016, p. 94.
- ↑ Heimo Cerny: Kollmitzberg: Review, Insight, Outlook ; Chronicle, publisher Marktgemeinde Ardagger, 2016, p29
- ↑ The art monuments of Austria. Dehio Lower Austria south of the Danube 2003 . Ardagger, Kollmitzberg, parish and pilgrimage church of St. Ottilie, p. 78.