Schwabenweg

At Constance Minster ending Via Beuronensis and Oberschwäbische St. James to as Schwabenweg continue in and through Switzerland

Signpost at the Konstanz Minster

Rapperswil – Hurden wooden footbridge

The signs for ViaJacobi.

St. Meinrad chapel on the Etzelpass

Signpost in Kreuzlingen

Devil's Bridge in Egg

The Devil's Bridge on a wood engraving , in the background the Etzelpass and the Etzel

The Way of St. James over the Etzel Pass to Einsiedeln on a historical illustration

The Swabian Way is part of the Way of St. James , which has been used since the twelfth century, and connects the German-speaking countries with the French route (see: Paths of the Pilgrims of St. James ). Predominantly Swabians arrived in Constance as early as the Middle Ages, in order to make a pilgrimage from there to Einsiedeln in Switzerland , where the name Schwabenweg comes from. The Schwabenweg is part of SwitzerlandMobility's national hiking route No. 4 ViaJacobi .

The routes

Main route

One route of the Schwabenweg leads via Konstanz and Schwaderloh to Altenklingen. Then it goes to the Thur (Rhine) , over the bridge to Amlikon and in a straight direction to Fischingen , where the pilgrims used to stop at the former Benedictine abbey, over the heights of the Hörnli , on into the Tösstal via Steg to Rapperswil SG am Lake Zurich . There used to be a ferry between this place and the other bank, the Hurden headland, which cuts deep into the lake . Forty people perished in a storm during a crossing in September 1345. As a result, a wooden bridge was built over the lake in 1358 , at the end of which there has been a chapel since 1497. The wooden footbridge was made redundant and demolished in 1878 by a lake dam . In 2001 the wooden walkway was rebuilt.

From Hurden the pilgrimage route leads over the Schwyzerische Pfäffikon up the steep Etzelhang up to the Etzelpass and on its southern slope down to the Sihl . There, Abbot Gero von Einsiedeln (1101 to 1122) had the Devil's Bridge built near Egg , which made the way to nearby Einsiedeln possible.

variants

The other option to follow the Way of St. James leads via Lindau , Bregenz , St. Gallen , Wattwil to Rapperswil and from there to Einsiedeln Abbey .

It is also possible to continue the Munich Way of St. James by boat from Lindau and Bregenz to Konstanz.

At Lake Lucerne , the road forks again: On a way are the Brienz and Lake Thun , on the other way Burgdorf and the Emmental .

This long-distance hiking trail is still lined with numerous wayside crosses and chapels in Catholic areas. The names of the earlier pilgrims' hostels such as "Zum Englischen Gruss", "Engel" or "Kreuz" are testament to the centuries-old pilgrimage tradition.

Feedings from the north and east

One of the most important feeders to the Schwabenweg has been the Upper Swabian Jakobsweg since 1998 , which leads from the Ulm Minster to the Constance Minster.

Another feeder has been the Munich Way of St. James since 2003 , which leads from Upper Bavaria through the Allgäu to Switzerland. The Bavarian-Swabian Way of St. James , which at the end is identical to the one in Munich, flows either into the Appenzeller Weg or the Schwabenweg, depending on which decision you make on Lake Constance.

A third feeder has been described and marked with the Via Beuronensis since 2009 . This path connects the Neckar area with Lake Constance and leads via the eponymous Benedictine Abbey of Beuron Abbey .

Route

photo	local community	Place / building	comment	Distance from Constance [km]
	Constancy	Muenster	In the Middle Ages, Constance was a gathering place for pilgrims from Swabia. It is 1970 km to Santiago	0
	Kreuzlingen	English greeting inn	Former pilgrims' hostel	1
	Kreuzlingen	Bernrain Chapel	Heiligkreuz pilgrim chapel built in 1388	2
	Märstetten	St. Jacob Church	The church was first mentioned in 1155	13
	Amlikon	Cold well	Up until 1727 the Thur could only be crossed here by ferry	15th
	Ravine	Hospitaller Commandery	Founded in 1226	23
	Münchwilen	St. Margareten	St. Margareten pilgrim chapel	27
	Sirnach	Gasthaus Engel	Pilgrim hostel	30th
	Fischingen	Fischingen Monastery	The monastery was founded in 1138	35
	Fischingen	Au	Parish Church of St. Anna, first mentioned in 1275	36
	Fischenthal	Hörnli	Mountain inn on the summit of the Hörnli	42
	Fischenthal	web	Pilgrims' hostel to the Steg, behind it the doctor's house, built in 1690	51
	Forest	Village church	Forest was first mentioned in a document in 1217	58
	Rapperswil Freienbach	Wooden walkway	Today's wooden footbridge , built in 2001, with the Etzel in the background with the pass to Einsiedeln	69
	Einsiedeln	Etzelpass	St. Meinrad Chapel	80
	Einsiedeln	Devil's bridge	Bridge over the Sihl at the birthplace of Paracelsus	82
	Einsiedeln	Einsiedeln Monastery	The monastery was founded in 947	88

A preparation in the form of a navigation bar see here:

Navigation bar Jakobsweg « Schwabenweg »

← Previous location: Konstanzer Münster  | Schwabenweg  | Next town: Einsiedeln Monastery  →

 

literature

• Way of St. James through Switzerland, 199 pages, numerous photos and route sketches, Ott Verlag, ISBN 3-7225-6414-X
• The Schwabenweg, Swiss pilgrimage routes; Konstanz-Einsiedeln, ISBN 3-9520375
• Hanspeter Kindler: With Schopenhauer on the Way of St. James. A naughty winter journey through Switzerland , Chaitanya-Verlag, Zurich 2007, ISBN 3-9522787-8-5
• Blum, Jolanda: Way of St. James through Switzerland . 7th edition Thun: Verlag Ott, 2007 (Ott special hiking guide). ISBN 3-7225-0089-3
• Trachsler, Dieter: Pilgrimage routes in Switzerland: Jakobsweg, Schwabenweg: Konstanz - Einsiedeln, with special consideration of the Zurich Oberland . Edited by the Zurich hiking trails (ZAW). 2nd edition Wetzikon: ZAW, 2000
• Listener, Wolfgang: On the way on the Way of St. James: go on the way, description of the way from Rorschach to Romont through the Bernese Oberland [Direction: Joe Weber, Jacques Krähenbühl]. Interlaken: Bernese Oberland Chamber of Commerce, 2000.
• Pilgrimage routes in Switzerland: Schwabenweg. On the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela: Constance - Einsiedeln . Edited by Hans Peter Mathis. Frauenfeld: Thur Druck, 1993. Series Pilgerwege der Schweiz, 1.
• The Jakobus virus ... I was gone ", 168 pages, Schopf-Verlag Konstanz, 2006, ISBN 978-3-938022-02-3
• Hartmut Engel, Switzerland: Way of St. James from Lake Constance to Lake Geneva, Conrad Stein Verlag, Welver 2010, 6th edition, Outdoor Manual, Volume 117, ISBN 978-3-86686-312-5

Web links

Commons : Schwabenweg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• ViaJacobi on SwitzerlandMobility
• Directions for the entire Schwabenweg
• On the Way of St. James from Rapperswil to Einsiedeln
• St. James pilgrims in Fischingen Monastery on Schwabenweg

Sources and individual references

1. ↑ Hartmut Engel, Switzerland: Way of St. James from Lake Constance to Lake Geneva, Welver 2010, 6th edition, p. 34
2. ↑ Monika Hanna, The Munich Way of St. James. Hiking on the pilgrimage from Munich to Lake Constance, Munich 2007, 3rd edition, p. 169
3. ↑ Monika Hanna, The Munich Way of St. James. Hiking on the pilgrimage from Munich to Lake Constance, Munich 2007, 3rd edition, p. 25 and p. 169