Parish Church of Our Lady of Sorrows (Riffian)
The Roman Catholic parish church for Our Lady of Sorrows , also for the Seven Sorrows of Mary, is a baroque pilgrimage church in Riffian ( South Tyrol ). Right next to her is the chapel of Our Lady at the cemetery , which houses an important treasure of Gothic frescoes.
history
The tangible history of the complex is preceded by a legend , a local legend . According to this, a farmer in the village is said to have seen a glow in the Passer several times during the night . When he wanted to get to the bottom of the glow with other farmers, he found the miraculous image of the painful Mother of God in the bed of the river in the form of a Pietà . The villagers then decided to build a chapel for the figure. However, the construction failed at the intended location. Several workers were involved in accidents and the building kept collapsing. At some point swallows are said to have brought the shavings from the broken beams to a nearby hill, which was interpreted as the will of Mary to build the chapel at this location.
This started the pilgrimage tradition in Riffian, presumably in the 14th century. It still exists today, albeit more as a social initiative of the surrounding parishes and associations.
The chapel mentioned in the legend is probably today's cemetery chapel, which housed the miraculous image for some time. It was painted in 1415 by a master Wenceslas from Bohemia .
The parish and pilgrimage church itself goes back to a Romanesque building that was built in the 12th century. From this has a sandstone receive relief, which is a mythical animal shows.
A Gothic church was built in 1368 and expanded in 1465. Some buttresses and a portal on the west side (uncovered in 1975), which were incorporated into the baroque building, bear witness to this . The massive substructure of the tower also dates from this time. It was originally supposed to reach the height of the steeple of the parish church in Merano .
As the pilgrimage became more and more popular, an extension of the church became inevitable. Therefore, in 1669 , Francesco Delai was commissioned to rebuild the church accordingly. This lifted the east of the church and added the new nave on the north and south sides. The old building was redesigned in baroque style and has served as a transept ever since , and the old choir has been converted into a sacristy . The rebuilt church was consecrated in 1671. In 1749 the miraculous image was transferred from the cemetery chapel to the church.
The stump of the tower was given a baroque bell storey and an onion helmet in 1767 . It was covered with copper in 1948 , before it was covered with shingles . The tower reaches a height of 37 meters.
Furnishing
The central piece of equipment is the high altar, created by Bartlmä Gratl in 1748. At the center is in a halo that from the time dating to 1415 Gothic miraculous image of clay in the form of a Vespers image . Around the frame in which the miraculous image is located, seven putti fly , presenting miniatures by Joseph Wengenmayr. These represent the seven sorrows of Mary . Between the stucco marble pillars of the altar, gilded with her, Composites capitals, standing from left to right the figures of Simeon , John the Evangelist , Mary Magdalene and Isaiah . These sculptures are by Balthasar Horer and Johann Babtist Forster. They were captured by Wengenmayer. In the gable of the altar there is a representation of the dove of the Holy Spirit between other putti . The tabernacle with two adoring angels stands on the altar mess.
To the left of the high altar is the church's oldest piece of equipment, a Romanesque pentagonal baptismal font from around 1390, the origin of which is unknown. It is decorated with archaic sculptures that symbolize salvation through baptism , but also virtue and vice . The wooden lid with the holy spirit dove comes from Val Gardena and is an ingredient from 1910.
On the left pillar of the triumphal arch hangs a cross with a painful Mother of God , in whose breast a sword is pierced. Both were created by Hans Patsch around 1633 . Opposite this group of figures is the pulpit , which, like the altar, was made of stucco marble around 1750. Putti cavort around the four evangelist symbols on their sound cover .
The left side altar has an altar sheet from around 1750. This picture, also painted by Wengenmayr, shows Mary as a rosary queen , surrounded by other saints. The altar itself was created by Kassian Götsch in 1697. Next to this altar is the so-called upholstered Madonna, which was created in the early 16th century.
The right side altar shows Maria as Immaculata , a picture by Matthias Pussjäger from 1720. The altar structure itself was built in 1716. Its gable, on which a figure of St. Archangel Michaels stands, adorns a representation of God the Father .
The central ceiling fresco was painted by Joseph Leopold Strickner in 1777 , it shows the Assumption of Mary and the evangelists with their symbols in the vaults. The latter were whitewashed again in 1897 by Hans Rabensteiner. He also painted the pictures on the side walls.
On the right side wall there is also the tombstone for Beatus a Porta , a bishop of Chur who was expelled from Chur in the turmoil of the Reformation, died in 1590 as a pastor of Tyrol and was buried here.
Crucifixion Depiction
Altar panel of the left side altar
Chapel of Our Lady at the cemetery
The cemetery chapel is painted with late Gothic frescoes by Master Wenceslaus (signature on a lion with a lettering, dated 1415), whose identity is still largely unexplored. According to prevailing opinion - as in name, chronologically and stylistically fit - he is the same from Prague originating Wenceslaus, the court painter of George I of Liechtenstein ( Bishop of Trent was) and the monthly cycle of frescoes in the Eagle Tower of the Prince Bishop's Residenz Buonconsiglio designed . Depicted in the Riffian cemetery chapel are scenes from the Old Testament (manna feeding, Moses smashes the idol column) and from the New Testament (adoration of the kings, flight to Egypt, 12-year-old Jesus in the temple, carrying the cross, finding of the cross by Constantine's mother Helena) . Dominant on the altar wall, in front of which the miraculous image once stood, is God the Father as a bearded figure with outspread arms, surrounded by the glory of angels playing music. The four church fathers and the four evangelist symbols are depicted in the vaults .
The careful design of the small cemetery chapel by an artist of supraregional importance only makes sense in connection with the Marian pilgrimage; Since there is no exact evidence of their beginning, historians conclude that they must have existed at the latest when the frescoes were created ( terminus ante quem ).
Manna rain
Moses smashes the golden calf
Carrying the Cross
Finding the Cross
literature
- Josef Pircher: Parish and pilgrimage church "To the Seven Sorrows of Mary" in Riffian . Ed .: Education Committee Riffian-Kuens in cooperation with the Riffian parish. Medus, Merano 2013
- Leo Andergassen : South Tyrol. Art on site , 2002
- Mathilde Weger: Riffian - History of the village and its pilgrimage , 1983 ( online )
- Ida Leinberger, Walter Pippke: DuMont Art Travel Guide South Tyrol , 2006
Web links
- Entry in the monument browser on the website of the South Tyrolean Monuments Office
- official page
- Video of the peal
Coordinates: 46 ° 42 ′ 27.2 " N , 11 ° 10 ′ 58.6" E