St. Bernhard (Spitzingsee)
St. Bernhard is a Catholic branch church in Spitzingsee , a district of the Schliersee market in the Upper Bavarian district of Miesbach . It is a branch church of the parish of St. Josef in the Schliersee district of Neuhaus . The church is dedicated to St. Bernard of Menthon , the patron saint of alpine residents and mountaineers. It is a protected architectural monument .
Location and architecture
St. Bernhard is located on the east side of the southern part of the Spitzingsee about 100 meters from the shore in the center of the village of Spitzingsee. With the altitude of 1090 m above sea level. NN it is the highest church in Germany, at least in the summer it is regularly supervised by the parish.
St. Bernhard is a hall building about 20 meters long and 12 meters wide. A square tower adjoins it in the east. The walls are made of field stones . Together with the compact construction and the roof that is pulled down far down, as well as the small windows, the church looks defiant in the style of medieval fortified churches . The saddle roofs of the tower and nave as well as the upper part of the west gable are clapboard .
A four-bay structure of the nave is indicated by three pillar-like wall reinforcements on both sides . The chancel is on the ground floor of the tower, to which the sacristy adjoins to the south .
Furnishing
Church interior
Wood carving figure St. Bernhard
The three-winged picture above the high altar was made by the Munich painter Franz Nagel (1907–1976). It shows revelation scenes with the transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor in the center.
On the left gable wall of the nave is the simple pulpit with a dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit on the sound cover . Above the side altar on the right the sculptor of the Schlierseer Ernst Roth depends created figure of St. Bernard with his St. Bernard dog .
There are also wooden sculptures of a Pietà , a Madonna and St. Vincent as the patron of the woodworkers.
The wooden ceiling of the church with a twelve-armed chandelier is decorated with floral patterns. A banner with the mountain blessing of Pope Pius XI swings at its lower edge . who was a mountaineer himself:
“Umbrellas, Lord, through the intercession of St. Bernhard, whom you have chosen as the patron saint of the alpine pastures and alpine hikers, these your servants and grant them in your grace that they also reach the mountain in climbing our heights, who is Christ our Lord. Amen"
history
The Schlierse priest came up with the idea of building a church on Spitzingsee for mountain enthusiasts in the early 1930s. He was able to inspire the Archbishop of Munich and Freising Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber (1869–1952) for the idea and after buying the property, he engaged the young Munich architect Friedrich Haindl (1910–2002) for the planning.
The foundation stone was laid in 1937 and the inauguration took place on October 23, 1938. All building materials came from the immediate vicinity, as the church had been forbidden from any other procurement by the National Socialists. During construction, the tower collapsed on June 5, 1938 in a downpour.
In 1942 the church was in danger when the construction of a dam for generating electricity was supposed to raise the level of the Spitzingsee by 17 meters, which would have flooded the place and the church. Due to the war situation, these plans were shattered and the church and settlement were preserved.
literature
- Sixtus Lampl : Churches in Schliersee . Self-published, Valley 1994, p. 32/33 .
Web links
- St. Bernhard Spitzingsee. In: Schliersee-Neuhaus parish association. Retrieved September 17, 2018 .
- St. Bernhard. In: Churches in Schliersee. Retrieved October 13, 2016 .
Coordinates: 47 ° 39 ′ 40.8 " N , 11 ° 53 ′ 15.4" E