St. Johann Baptist and Holy Cross

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St. Johann Baptist and Holy Cross

The baroque pilgrimage church of St. Johann Baptist and Holy Cross in Westerndorf am Wasen near Rosenheim is a branch church of the Pang parish of the Rosenheim deanery. The main room, built on a circular floor plan, is crowned by a huge onion dome. The roof is known as “Germany's largest onion roof” and is one of the “largest self-supporting wooden dome structures in Europe”.

history

Tower and onion roof

The building history of St. Johann Baptist and Heiligkreuz dates from 1648 to 1691. Because the previous Gothic church was in disrepair, planning began in 1648, immediately after the Thirty Years War , on the instructions of Pastor Kaspar Waldherr. The design of the church got Constantin Pader , Surveyors of the clergy Council in Munich.

In 1668, after twenty years' lead, construction began; the construction management was carried out by the Schliersee master mason and plasterer Georg Zwerger. In 1670 or 1671 the church was consecrated to John the Baptist , possibly following on from an older patronage - the name of the previous building, “Holy Cross”, has been preserved to this day. The final completion took place in 1691.

Building

inside view
View towards the organ gallery

The floor plan of the main room is circular on the outside (diameter 20 m) and cross-shaped on the inside using double-shell walls. The onion dome reaches a height of 20 m, the interior is 11 m high. The roof , originally covered with wood shingles , today with natural slate, is supported by an iron-free wooden structure. The top of the roof is decorated with a pommel with a double-armed cross as a weather vane . The square lower tower comes from the previous building and is 22 m high, the height of the octagonal structure is 11 m, the height of the tower bulb is 12 m. This means that the tower is over 40 m high. A tower ball with a weather vane and a double-armed cross can be seen on the top of the tower .

The color scheme of the interior is very reserved. The stucco work was partly carried out using model technology. The tendrils are made of clay . The gallery is an addition from 1758. The floor is made of Ruhpolding marble .

  • Roof tops and spiers

  • The stucco-decorated central vault

Facility

The high altar

The three altars were designed by Andreas Leisberger ( Aibling ), the altar figures by Blasius Maß (Rosenheim).

The high altar is a viersäuliger shrine -Altar with blasted tail gable . In the central shrine there is a figure of Mary with a child on a crescent moon surrounded by a snake. Assistant figures are John the Baptist on the left, John the Evangelist on the right.

The left side altar is the cross altar with a central crucifixion group (around 1642). Assistant figures are on the left of St. Josef , on the right St. Joachim. In the essay there is a half figure of St. Helena.

In the right apse there is St. Anthony consecrated altar of Anthony. The central figure is St. Antony to whom the baby Jesus appears. Assistant figures are on the left of St. Leonhard, on the right St. Florian . In the essay there is a half figure of St. Florian. On the altar table is a Rococo shrine with the statue of Ecce homo .

The pulpit with rich carving in black and gold dates from 1675/80. On the sound cover there are statues of King David with a harp and angels making music. At the horizontal entrance from the sacristy, parapet paintings show Jesus the Good Shepherd and the four evangelists .

  • The cross altar

  • The Antonius Altar

  • Pulpit and stucco work

  • The cover with King David

A Gothic Pietà as a carved figure (around 1520) is attached above the southern sacristy portal. Further furnishings include two early classical confessionals from 1794 and a free-standing, baroque holy water font made of red marble. The paintings of the Way of the Cross with the moving representations date from the second half of the 18th century.

  • Pietà above the sacristy portal

  • Early classical confessional

  • Baroque holy water font

  • Images of the Way of the Cross

The steeply rising interior with its Ruhpolding marble floor , the three dark, serious-looking altars and the friendly stucco work, but above all the almost oriental-looking architecture in a picturesque location in front of the Bavarian Alps make the Westerndorf Church a jewel of Bavarian Baroque architecture.

Cemetery chapel

To the west of the church, on the edge of the cemetery and opposite the church tower, is the cemetery chapel. It was built as a gateway to the cemetery at the same time and by the same masters as the church. The exit on the cemetery side was later walled up. In 1996 a renovation took place.

A votive picture from 1691 can be seen on the southern inner wall : the representation of a " help for the dead ". Skeletons rise from their graves to protect a knight kneeling in front of the ossuary, the legend of Caspar the Törringer, from armed persecutors. The folk painting thus belongs to the theme of “ poor souls ”, which is also confirmed by the inscription: “Allhie Have All Sellen Aus Noth Their Virpitter Ereth Vom Todt” (Here all souls from need have saved their intercessors from death). The tools with which the dead fight (including tongs, ax, scythe, flail and hoe) indicate their professional status in life - an aspect that goes back to the legend collection Legenda aurea of Jacobus de Voragine .

A mount of olives scene is set up in the northern interior niche; some of the fabric-clad jointed dolls date from the 18th century. The cemetery chapel also features two epitaphs .

  • The cemetery chapel

  • Painting in the cemetery chapel

literature

  • Peter von Bomhard, Sigmund Benker: Church of St. Johann Baptist / Holy Cross. Westerndorf am Wasen. Series "Kleine Kunstführer", Regensburg 2011 (Schnell & Steiner), ISBN 978-3-7954-4425-9 .

Web links

Commons : Wallfahrtskirche Heilig Kreuz (Westerndorf am Wasen)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On www.kirchenfuehrungen-rosenheim.de the church is called “St. Johann Baptist "or" Filial- und Pilgrimage Church St. Johann Baptist und Heilig Kreuz ", on kirchenamwasen.de" Johann Baptist / Heilig Kreuz ", on www.touristinfo-rosenheim.de" Heilig Kreuz "or" St. Johannes Baptist ”.
  2. ^ Quote from www.touristinfo-rosenheim.de.
  3. ^ Quote from kirchenamwasen.de.
  4. ^ According to Kathrin Müller: The pilgrimage church Weihenlinden. Structural design and iconography in a historical context , master's thesis at the Faculty of History and Art Studies at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich , Munich 2005, p. 50, the Westerndorf Church is one of the “secured Pader buildings”.
  5. ↑ Günther Thomann: The poor souls in popular belief and folk custom of the old Bavarian and Upper Palatinate area. Studies on popular piety of the 19th and 20th centuries. Part I . In: Negotiations of the Historical Association for Upper Palatinate and Regensburg , Vol. 110 (1970), pp. 115–179, here: p. 163 ( digitized on www.heimatforschung-regensburg.de, as of July 21, 2018).
  6. ↑ Günther Thomann: The poor souls in popular belief and folk custom of the old Bavarian and Upper Palatinate area. Studies on popular piety of the 19th and 20th centuries. Part II . In: Negotiations of the Historical Association for Upper Palatinate and Regensburg , Vol. 111 (1971), pp. 95–167, here: p. 156 ( digitized at www.heimatforschung-regensburg.de, as of July 21, 2018).
  7. ↑ Günther Thomann: The poor souls in popular belief and folk custom of the old Bavarian and Upper Palatinate area. Studies on popular piety of the 19th and 20th centuries. Part I , here: pp. 155 and 163.
  8. ↑ Günther Thomann: The poor souls in popular belief and folk custom of the old Bavarian and Upper Palatinate area. Studies on popular piety of the 19th and 20th centuries. Part I , here: p. 161.

Coordinates: 47 ° 49 ′ 20 ″  N , 12 ° 4 ′ 42 ″  E