St. Michael (Violau)

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Parish and pilgrimage church of St. Michael
View from the south

The Catholic parish and pilgrimage church of St. Michael in Violau , a district of Altenmünster in the Augsburg district in the Bavarian administrative district of Swabia , was the destination of a pilgrimage as early as the 15th century. The current church was built at the beginning of the 17th century on the foundations of a Romanesque columned basilica and redesigned in the Rococo style in the middle of the 18th century . The stucco decor was created by Franz Xaver Feuchtmayer (1698–1763 / 64) from the Wessobrunn school , theFrescoed ceilings led Johann Georg Dieffenbrunner from (1718-1785).

history

Vespers from 1688

During excavations in 1936, the remains of a three-aisled , Romanesque columned basilica from the first half of the 12th century were found, which was almost as wide and only slightly shorter than today's church. Presumably, a monastery was to be built at the church dedicated to Archangel Michael , a project that was not realized. In 1281 the place was first mentioned as Heselinbach or Heszilinbach in a deed of donation. In 1282 Fraß von Wolfsberg sold the Heselbach near Munstern to the Cistercian convent of Oberschönenfeld , which acquired the entire parish of Altenmünster from 1262 to 1313.

The name Violau appears for the first time in 1346, when Neumünster was founded and the area of ​​Violau was assigned to it. Violau means Veilchenau and refers to viola clementiae (violets of goodness), which is worshiped as a symbol of Mary. It is believed that the Cistercian women from Oberschönenfeld promoted the pilgrimage to Violau, which is first mentioned in a document in 1466. The first great pilgrimage took place in 1555. At that time, 700 pilgrims from Augsburg came to Violau to ask for relief from the plague .

In 1617 the abbess Susanne Willemayr decided to rebuild the church. She entrusted master mason David Hebel and his brother Georg as well as master carpenter Jeremias Negelin with the construction work. In the same year the foundation stone was laid and in 1620 the consecration of the new church took place under the Augsburg auxiliary bishop Peter Wahl . From 1657 two Cistercian Fathers from Kaisheim supervised the pilgrimage. A hostel was set up in 1683 for pilgrims coming from far away, which was replaced by the parish and pilgrimage home Haus Nazareth in 1986/89 . In the 17th and 18th centuries the pilgrimage experienced its heyday. In the years 1751 to 1757, under the direction of Johann Georg Hitzelberger (1714–1792), the interior was redesigned in the Rococo style.

As a result of the secularization and the dissolution of the Imperial Monastery of Kaisheim and the Oberschönenfeld Monastery in 1802/03, the pilgrimage was discontinued. Valuable vestments and liturgical implements were brought to Zusmarshausen for auction . The demolition of the church could only be prevented by the communities of Unterschöneberg and Neumünster buying the building from the state for 2000 guilders. In 1820 the pilgrimage was resumed and the miraculous image removed in 1805 was returned to the church. In 1844 Violau was raised to an independent parish .

architecture

Exterior construction

The 47-meter-high tower rises in the northern corner of the choir, the seven-story, square substructure of which has a two-story, octagonal structure. The lower parts of the tower go back to the Romanesque predecessor church, the two upper floors, covered with an onion dome, were built by Georg Meitinger in 1625. The substructure and octagon are reinforced by corner pilasters and pierced by numerous window openings.

The outer walls of the nave and choir structure large arched windows and pilasters with simple capitals . The window frames are of triangular gables crowned. Under the umbrella of a broad approach, with runs triglyph occupied cornice .

inner space

St. Michael is a three-aisled hall church divided into four bays . The interior is divided by pilasters and pillars . The retracted, semicircular closed choir, like the two central nave bays, is covered by a flat barrel vault with stitch caps . The western end is formed by a gallery supported by four columns with a curved parapet , the upper end of which is an artistically carved wooden lattice in the Rococo style.

Ceiling pictures

Look at the choir
View to the gallery

The ceiling frescos were created in 1751 and are an early work by the Mittenwald painter Johann Georg Dieffenbrunner. The choir fresco depicts the glorification of God the Father in the middle and the sacrifices of Abel , Abraham and Melchizedech on the sides . The fresco in front of the choir arch brings together two legends from the life of St. Bernard of Clairvaux . According to the Lactatio legend, the saint is said to have received a stream of milk from Mary's breast. According to another legend, he is said to have been strengthened by the blood that poured out of Jesus' wound on the side.

On both sides of a clock on the choir arch are two coats of arms framed by stucco cartouches, on the left the coat of arms of Cölestin I. Meermoos, abbot of the Kaisheim monastery from 1739 to 1771 , on the right the coat of arms of Cäcilia Wächter, abbess of the Oberschönenfeld monastery from 1742 to 1767.

The fresco above the organ gallery shows the hearts of Jesus and Mary in the so-called grace kelter . The heart of Jesus is pierced by a cross and the heart of Mary by a sword. Below is the Oberschönenfeld monastery, over which a cornucopia is poured out. The two female figures are personifications of trust (with a ship in their hands) and firmness (with a halberd ).

The large ceiling fresco in the central nave is dedicated to Mary, the Comforter of the afflicted and mediator of all graces . At the lower edge of the picture crouch a sick person, a handcuffed man, arms and despair. The figures in the middle symbolize the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit : piety (with folded hands), advice (with mirror), insight (eagle), wisdom (snake), strength (with shield), knowledge (with globe), fear of God ( knocked over basket). The scene is embedded in a monumental pseudo-architecture.

  • Choir fresco

  • Mary as mediator of all graces

  • Grace grandchildren

  • Bernhard of Clairvaux

The frescoes in the side aisles have the theme of the Seven Sorrows of Mary . Since there is space for eight frescoes, the cycle is preceded by the motif of the prediction of the pain of Mary by the aged Simeon . This is followed by the scenes of the presentation of Jesus in the temple , the flight into Egypt, the search for the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple, the meeting of Jesus with Mary on the cross , the crucifixion, deposition from the cross and burial of Jesus.

  • Escape to Egypt

  • Jesus meets his mother

  • crucifixion

Altars

Side altar with Pietà

pulpit

Pulpit base

The pulpit dates from 1686. The pulpit is decorated with statuettes of the four evangelists and John the Baptist. The apostles Peter and Paul stand on the side of the parapet . Angels adorn the sound cover with the attributes of the Last Judgment . There is a figure of the Savior on the cover . The sculpture of the pulpit is an allegorical representation of the church. On the coat of arms is the inscription MHAZO, which refers to Maria Hildegardi's abbess of Oberschönenfeld .

  • pulpit

  • Apostle Peter

  • Apostle Paul

Further equipment

  • The confessionals , the pews (1698) and the choir stalls as well as the carved wood door of the west portal (1699/1700) date from around 1700 .
  • The sculpture group of Anna selbdritt , opposite the pulpit, is a work from around 1710 and is attributed to Stephan Luidl.
  • The two sculptures of Mary and St. Joseph, on the side of the west portal, were created around 1720. They come from the abandoned Fultenbach Abbey .
  • The sculptures of St. Bernard of Clairvaux , St. Leonhard of Limoges , St. John Nepomuk , St. Franz Xavier, St. Sebastian and St. Antonius in the nave are attributed to Stepan Luidl's workshop and dated around 1730/40.
  • The Stations of the Cross paintings were made in 1755 by an unknown painter.

  • Door of the west portal

  • Anna herself the third

  • Bernhard of Clairvaux

organ

Organ prospectus

The organ with 23 registers on two manuals and pedal was installed in 1972 by the organ building company Sandtner from Dillingen an der Donau . Parts of the old organ from 1781 were reused.

Peal

In the church tower hangs a historical bell from 1682 with a diameter of 62 cm and a height of 72 cm. It was cast by Otto Sartor from Kempten and bears the inscription: vivat in eternum .

literature

  • Georg Dehio (revised by Bruno Bushart and Georg Paula ): Handbuch der deutschen Kunstdenkmäler. Art monuments Bavaria III: Swabia . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-422-03008-5 , pp. 1026-1028.
  • Michael Kreuzer: Pilgrimage Church Violau . Catholic Parish Office St. Michael (ed.), Altenmünster 2008.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Violau: St. Michael Diocese of Augsburg
  2. ↑ Information about the organ on orgbase.nl. Retrieved May 30, 2019 .
  3. ^ Günther Grundmann: German Bell Atlas . Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1959 ( google.de [accessed on May 15, 2020]).

Coordinates: 48 ° 27 ′ 3.4 "  N , 10 ° 34 ′ 17.1"  E