St. Salvator (Schwäbisch Gmünd)

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St. Salvator
St. Salvator with church, sacristan house and chaplain house taken from Rektor-Klaus-Straße

The St. Salvator is a pilgrimage complex above Schwäbisch Gmünd . It consists of two rock chapels , which together form the pilgrimage church of St. Salvator, and a Way of the Cross with several chapels . The way of the cross is unique in the form it is in Schwäbisch Gmünd.

history

Already before 1483 there was a place of worship on the Nepperberg, also called Eberstein. That year, the Dominican Felix Fabri from Ulm, on the occasion of his visit to the Jakobshöhle in Jerusalem , mentioned that it reminded him of the very similar but smaller cave , the Eberstein near Gmünd in Swabia .

Rock chapels

On April 12, 1616, the priest Heinrich Pfeningmann left 200 guilders to "repair" the Epperstein. The "repair" begun in 1617 was expanded as a renovation and expansion. The sculptor and builder Caspar Vogt directed this work. On August 19, 1618, the Augsburg auxiliary bishop was able to consecrate the two altars in the rock chapel. One was consecrated in honor of the Savior ( St. Salvator ), the other in honor of Saints John and James.

In 1623 the upper chapel, also built by Vogt, was consecrated, which was opened in 1636 by Emperor Ferdinand III due to the rock-cut mount of olives . found great admiration. Vogt was therefore asked to create a crypt as a replica of the Holy Sepulcher on behalf of the emperor . The crypt, which was unfinished due to disputes between the emperor and the imperial city, was uncovered in early 2013 during security work. In 1654 the church was consecrated again, probably due to devastation during the war years. There were also major structural changes. The upper chapel got a vestibule and instead of a small bell tower, today's bell tower was built.

The sacristan's house next to the pilgrimage church was built before 1622; it can be seen in the pictures created by Christoph Friedel in 1622. In 1770 Johann Michael Keller the Younger built the baroque chaplain’s house.

In the 18th century two more chapels were built on the Salvator, at the beginning the mussel chapel, which is covered in the interior with gravel mortar, mussels and snails and has a barrel vault . The second chapel was built at the end of the 18th century after 1792 and is a holy grave chapel. Your windows were built at the end of the 19th century.

At first the Way of the Cross on the St. Salvator consisted only of the traditional wayside shrines made by Caspar Vogt . Half-timbered houses were built in 1737 and converted into small chapels with domed roofs in 1789. In them, life-size figures are supposed to illustrate the suffering of Christ.

Affiliation and Use

Beginning of the Way of the Cross with the chapel houses

The parish church of Our Lady and Holy Cross, today's Holy Cross Minster in Schwäbisch Gmünd, was responsible for pastoral care on St. Salvator until 1644 . From 1644 to 1810, the Capuchins of the Gmünd Capuchin Monastery took over pastoral care, which was then taken over by so-called beneficiaries , the Salvatorkaplanes.

Today the St. Salvator is again the property of the Münster community Heilig Kreuz des Heilig-Kreuz-Minster in Schwäbisch Gmünd. Pilgrimage masses take place once a month, and more frequently in the weeks before Easter. St. Salvator is also used for many devotions on the Way of the Cross.

Bells

Today there are two bells in the bell tower . The Dolorosa bell, cast in 1955 by Heinrich Kurtz from Stuttgart , is the first bell today and replaces the St. Paulus warrior memorial bell from 1925, which came from the same master. The second bell dates from 1780 and was cast by Joseph and Nikolaus Arnoldt from Dinkelsbühl . Another bell, which was cast in Nuremberg in 1763 , hangs in the roof turret of the Holy Cross Minster. The Konrads bell from 1895 from Biberach , cast by the Zoller bell foundry , has gone.

No. Surname diameter Casting year volume
1 Dolorosa 870 mm 1955 b
2 k. A. 670 mm 1780 of

Current condition

Entrance to the upper chapel of the pilgrimage church

The house sandstone is severely affected by erosion, especially in the upper layers. Numerous details on the figures are already partially weathered. By founding a circle of friends under the patronage of Diane Duchess of Württemberg, the necessary funds for the preservation of the chapels and stations of the cross were released. In addition to numerous monetary and material donations, the Friends of the Association were able to acquire work carried out donated by local companies. The owner, the Münster community of Heilig Kreuz , is also involved in the renovation despite the financial burden of the renovation of the Johanniskirche and the maintenance of the Gmünder Münster in the city center. The work began in 2010 and should continue until the start of the State Garden Show in 2014. In the run-up to the 2017 anniversary, further maintenance and construction measures were carried out.

The conservation measures were scientifically supported in a variety of ways. In January 2011, the materials testing institute at the University of Stuttgart began looking for a suitable preservation method or strengthening agent for permanently moist natural stone, for example for the oil mountain relief, which Caspar Vogt carved out of the rock in 1620 . The German Federal Environment Foundation also participated in the preservation.

For the 400th anniversary in 2017, the sculptor Rudolf Kurz completed the six meter high metal sculpture Salvator Segenshand , also known as Sphaera , above the church . It is supposed to symbolize the hand of Christ and the earth and can be seen from the city center.

photos

  • Wayside shrine on the Way of the Cross

  • Well Chapel (Ecce Homo Chapel)

  • Shell and Holy Sepulcher Chapel

  • Golgotha ​​group

  • Way of the Cross

  • Poor and soul relief carved into the rock next to the entrance to the lower rock chapel, above hand with chalice and host.

  • Sculpture Salvator Blessing Hand

literature

  • Klaus Graf : The Salvator Fountain . A previously unknown Gmünder “legend” from the collection of the Stuttgart high school professor Albert Schott the Elder. J. (1809-1847), in: Einhorn-Jahrbuch Schwäbisch Gmünd 1995, pp. 109-118 ( online ).
  • Münsterbauverein Schwäbisch Gmünd (ed.): St. Salvator in Schwäbisch Gmünd . Fischer Druck, Herlikofen 2006.
  • Münsterbauverein Schwäbisch Gmünd (publisher); Hubert Herkommer , Johannes Schüle: The Way of the Cross to St. Salvator - a meditative companion . Fischer Druck, Herlikofen 2011, ISBN 978-3-9813675-2-2 .
  • Pilgrimage literature in East Württemberg. Literary diversity in East Württemberg (= Unterm Stein. Lauterner Schriften 17). Schwäbisch Gmünd: Einhorn-Verlag 2013 ISBN 9783936373868 pages 131–142 (Hildegard Kasper) review .
  • Model conservation of the anthropogenic, environmentally damaged rock chapels of St. Salvator in Schwäbisch Gmünd. Final report. Edited by Jürgen Frick / Judith Zöldföldi. Stuttgart: Fraunhofer IRB Verlag 2015 ISBN 978-3-8167-9451-6 ( online ).
  • Hans Kloss : The Way of the Cross to St. Salvator , Leporello , Schwäbisch Gmünd 2016.

Web links

Commons : St. Salvator Schwäbisch Gmünd  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heino Schütte: Breathtaking discovery on the Salvator: Ferdinand-Gruft , in Rems-Zeitung, 227th year, No. 47 of February 25, 2013, p. 13.
  2. ↑ “A Salvator to show” in Gmünder Tagespost of October 31, 2009.
  3. ↑ Gmünd's large joint project , article from April 20, 2017 on schwaebische-post.de.
  4. ^ "University of Stuttgart seeks rescue for Salvator" in Gmünder Tagespost from January 20, 2011.
  5. ↑ Model preservation of the anthropogenically damaged rock chapels of St. Salvator in Schwäbisch Gmünd, final colloquium DBU project , organized by the Münster community Heilig Kreuz and the material testing institute of the University of Stuttgart, proceedings, Fraunhofer IRB Verlag, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978‐3‐8167‐9451‐ 6th
  6. ↑ Heino Schütte: Many good and flowing Gmünder Geister , Ipf and Jagst newspaper, article from August 9, 2017.

Coordinates: 48 ° 48 '7.3 "  N , 9 ° 47' 6.6"  E