St. Maria (Hohenrechberg)

View of the church from the south

View of the church from the north

inside view

The Baroque pilgrimage and parish church of St. Maria on Hohenrechberg near Schwäbisch Gmünd was the pilgrimage site of the Counts of Rechberg and is still today the parish church of Rechberg and a popular destination for pilgrimages . From the former ancestral castle of the Rechbergers to the church, the path is flanked by a Way of the Cross from 1891.

There has been evidence of a pilgrimage site on the mountain since the 15th century. Together with the Hohenrechberg ruins and the three Kaiserberg mountains , it forms a symbol of the region.

history

Predecessor churches

The history of the pilgrimage is directly linked to the miraculous image of the beautiful Maria vom Hohenrechberg. The small statue still stands in the center of the high altar and is dated to the middle of the 14th century. Due to its age, it indirectly gives an indication of the period of origin of the pilgrimage. It was created either shortly before 1348, when Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian and all his followers - including the Lords of Rechberg - were banned from church, or at the beginning of the first plague wave, which lasted from 1349 to 1353, which also took place in the vicinity of Rechberg claimed numerous victims. The first church on the mountain was a wooden chapel, the altar of which was in the place of the current altar in the baroque church. The earliest recorded mention of this chapel was in 1424.

In 1488, the knight Ulrich II von Rechberg had a new stone chapel built on the site of the former rectory and today's inn. This building, which stands parallel to the wooden chapel to this day, had a ribbed vault , the keystone of which is emblazoned in the south gable of the new church and shows the coat of arms of the Counts of Rechberg. However, there is a description of this chapel in the Swabian story by Crusius.

This chapel was partially demolished from 1687 with the permission of the Bishop of Constance . The church tower was torn down and the nave was converted into a residence for the chaplain.

Baroque pilgrimage church

The planning for a new baroque church on the Hohenrechberg began in 1685. On July 9, 1686, the foundation stone was laid in the presence of the founder, Bernhard Bero von Rechberg zu Donzdorf. The builder Valerian Brenner from Vorarlberg made the plans and a model of the church. Most of the construction work was carried out by regional craftsmen. In autumn 1687 the Ticino sculptor and plasterer Prospero Brenno designed the interior of the church during a visit to Donzdorf, which took place in 1688 and 1689.

On June 16, 1767, the pilgrimage church of St. Maria was raised to a parish by a chaplain , which led to a legal dispute, which is why the final implementation of this process did not take place until 1772. Until then Rechberg was an official part of the parish of Waldstetten . On July 27, 1774, the wooden tower burned down completely after a lightning strike, which is why a stone tower was built at this point. In 1870/1871 the church was renovated for the first time and the windows were also replaced. In 1928, 1942, 1961–1963 and 1985 there were further renovations of the church.

Furnishing

Exterior

The cross-shaped hall , which has a choir closing on three sides , is divided into three sections, namely the portal axis , transverse arm and choir, which is flanked to the south by the sacristy and north by the tower. The roof was a slab roof until 1871, which was replaced by a slate roof after a severe storm . Only the west facade, the opposite portals and the ashlar plinth are exposed to stone, the rest of the church is plastered, the structure being set off in gray-brown. At the apex of the choir, instead of a window, there is a large figural niche in which a terracotta statue of the Virgin Mary by Prospero Brenno is framed in wood , which is unusual in posture and expression for Swabians . In 1884 the facial expression was changed during its restoration.

The tower is a square, seven-storey building with only slits of light on the first five floors and arched windows on the sixth and seventh floors. The seventh floor is the bell floor, which is octagonal in length. Set back behind a large eaves cornice is the octagonal dome made of stone blocks, the special feature of which is the concave surfaces.

Interior

Hohenrechberg from the south

The interior is divided into three bays. The last yoke is almost completely filled by the organ gallery from 1690, on which there is a modern, two-part organ front. The lush stucco in the church interior in the Italian style was designed and executed by the Ticino Prospero Brenno . A total of 150 angels can be found on the horizontal bar in the capitals at the view of heaven and at the high altar. In addition, you can find Mediterranean vegetables and fruits everywhere.

The original wall and ceiling painting with motifs of the life of Mary by Johann Georg Heberle from Schwäbisch Gmünder was painted over in 1870. During the renovation of the church in the 1960s, the church, which had previously been kept in pure white based on the model of Andrea Palladio , was designed in pastel colors of the Rococo and the ceiling paintings were converted into monochrome cartouches.

The stucco high altar was also made by Prospero Brenno in 1688/89. In the central niche of the altar is the miraculous image of the beautiful Maria vom Hohenrechberg, dated to the mid-14th century. According to legend, a hermit brought this image of Mary to the mountain. The altar is crowned by a concert of angels , which forms the transition to the view of the sky behind the altar. The Hohenrechberger Altar is probably the oldest Theatrum Sacrum in southern Germany and designed according to the ideas of Gianlorenzo Bernini .

Between 1688 and 1689 Prospero Brenno also designed the two side altars. The life-size angels placed on the right and left are outstanding. Your task is to keep the frame of the respective altarpiece and to draw the viewer's attention to the salvation event through facial expressions and gestures. The baroque paintings that can be seen in the side altar today are by the Augsburg baroque painter Johann Georg Wolcker and depict Saint Cornelius in the left side altar and Saint Dominic in the right side altar . Both paintings were acquired from the art trade in the early 1960s.

A right side altar has been consecrated to St. Bernard since 1806 . The little miraculous statue was brought from the pilgrimage church on the Bernhardus, which was demolished in 1809, to Hohenrechberg in order to secure the financial security of the still young parish of St. Maria Hohenrechberg, which was threatened with ruin due to the Napoleonic wars.

The pulpit, built in 1689, is believed to have been made by Prospero Brenno's cousin Francesco Brenno . The bottom of the basket is formed by its pearl shell - a symbol of Mary. The pearl mussel is divided by four lily bands. Lush garlands of fruit hang in between. The four evangelists with their attributes sit on the shell rim .

The Gothic crucifix on the northern transverse arm wall was created around 1490 by the Ulm sculptor Michel Erhart and probably originally hung in the previous Gothic church.

organ

The organ of the pilgrimage church was built by the organ builder Peter Paul Köberle (Schwäbisch Gmünd) in 1968. The instrument has 21 registers .

I main work C – f 3 Violet covered 16 ′ Principal 8th' Pipe pommer 8th' octave 4 ′ Pointed flute 4 ′ recorder 2 ′ Mixture 8 times 2 ′ Horn whistle 1-3 fold Light trumpet 8th' Tremulant

II Oberwerk C – f 3 Dumped 8th' Quintadena 8th' Principal 4 ′ octave 2 ′ Hollow flute 2 ′ Salicet 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ + 1 ′ Sounding cymbal triple musette 8th' Tremulant

Pedal C – d 1 Sub bass 16 ′ Flute bass 8th' Choral bass 4-fold 4 ′ Bassoon bass 16 ′

• Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
• Playing aids : 2 free combinations, roller, individual tongue storage

Bells

Today there are four new bells from the Bachert bell foundry in Heilbronn from 1991 in the new wooden bell cage in the bell tower . In 1775 the Counts von Rechberg donated four bells that were cast by Joseph Arnold from Dinkelsbühl. At that time there was a bell of Mary, an evangelist bell, a guardian angel bell and a small bell. In 1917 these bells are melted down. Not until 1919 were three new bells delivered from Bochum , which were then replaced in 1991. These bells were the Marienglocke, Bernhardusglocke and a Johannesglocke.

literature

• Richard Strobel, State Monuments Office Baden Württemberg: The art monuments of the city of Schwäbisch Gmünd . Volume 4, Churches and secular buildings outside the old town, districts; Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 2003; ISBN 3-422-06381-1 .
• Ingo Gabor: History of the pilgrimage chapel to the beautiful Maria on the Hohenrechberg , in: Rechberg. A home book, ed. v. Rechberg local authority / Schwäbisch Gmünd city archive / Karl Weber / Klaus Jürgen Herrmann, Schwäbisch Gmünd 2004, pp. 297–318; ISBN 3-936373-16-7 .

Web links

Commons : St. Mary  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Parish of St. Maria Hohenrechberg

Coordinates: 48 ° 45 ′ 26.1 ″  N , 9 ° 47 ′ 24.5 ″  E