Verena Chapel on the Zugerberg (Zug)
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The Verenakapelle is a catholic chapel on the edge of the forest of the Zugerberg (Blasenbergstrasse) which is under cultural protection . It used to sit far above the city of Zug , but today new residential quarters are pretty close. The baroque building was built between 1705 and 1710 on the former steep mountain path to Ägeri . A hermit's house was part of it.
Patronage
The patronage (protection of the patron saint) refers to St. Verena , whose story is linked to the Theban Legion .
history
Since the 16th century there was a little house dedicated to St. Verena on Zugerberg, which was expanded in the early 17th century and received an altar. A second chapel stood further up on the mountain. In response to the call of a miracle, a new church was built in 1660 from the material from the two dilapidated chapels "im Kaminstall" (consecrated 1684). This new chapel itself soon had to give way to a forest brother's house, and today's, larger, chapel was erected a little further south. The old altar came to the ossuary of Rüti on the Reuss Silenen ( Uri ) around 1710 .
The current chapel was built between 1705 and 1710. Master Josef Brüell, from the hermit lordship of Blumenegg in Vorarlberg , was responsible for the masonry work. The stone carvers were Michael and Peter Utinger from Zug. The dome was built by the Zug master Paul Sidler.
The three altars are works by Johann Georg Haggenmüller from the Allgäu . The carpentry work is by Blasius Moos, the statues by Josef Leonz Brandenberg. Johann Martin Muos, from Zug, painted and donated the high altar picture in 1708. The chapel was consecrated in 1710.
The plans for this unique cross-domed church were probably designed by the Hermit monastery architect Br. Caspar Moosbrugger , who traveled to Zug twice in 1705 and 1707.
The brother house was built in 1725. In 1731 the roof structure with the dome burned down due to lightning. The altars were damaged, the pictures saved. A new roof structure including dome was built by master Jakob Suter from the Bregenzerwald , the stucco was created by Franz Wilhelm (Willam) from Bregenzerwald, who also repaired the altars.
In 1821 a new high altar painting (copy of the old one) by Johann Caspar Moos was placed in the chapel.
Architecture and equipment
Floor plan and exterior
The floor plan of the east-facing chapel is that of a Latin cross. The arm on the entrance side is twice as deep as the three other arms, which correspond exactly. A round dome with an octagonal lantern stands over the crossing. The square sacristy is housed in the corner between the choir arm and the left cross arm. The spatial arrangement is, apart from the extension of the western arm, the classic one of the Madonna delle Carceri in Prato.
The nave, transverse arms and choir are uniformly windowed, on the main floor there are arched windows and broad oval ox eyes above the main cornice. The roof is a cross- gable roof with a bulging cornice on the eaves sides, without a protrusion on the four gable sides. The dome is fully integrated into the roof structure, only its lantern protrudes. This is octagonal with arched windows, with a frieze and a high architrave on which an elongated domed roof rests. St. Verena appears at the top with a mug. A pointed, hexagonal roof turret with a forged cross stands above the choir.
The porch, supported by four Tuscan columns, is shielded by a hipped roof. The portal (dated 1705) and the windows next to it are rectangular, with "ears" frames and with broken gables. There is a niche with a statue of Verena above the portal.
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Interior
Interior design
The ship has a barrel vault with short stitch caps over the windows, the three short arms have angular domes with four stitch caps each. The octagonal dome rests on a round ring. The central area, with the clarity of its relationships and the strict relationship between the parts, stands outside the circle of contemporary buildings in this area. The monastery architect Caspar Moosbrugger from Einsiedeln made four trips in 1705 and 1707, as well as the fact that Br. Caspar and his brother Johannes Moosbrugger built the cruciform choir of the Ittingen Charterhouse from 1703 , which is closely related to St. Verena in plan, justify the assumption that Brother Caspar is the designer of the noble buildings.
Stucco structure
The Vorarlberg plasterer Franz Wilhelm (also Willam) seems to have simply supplemented the original stucco in 1731. It is limited to an architectural division of the space. Tuscan pilasters carry the unadorned entablature around the cross room. The end walls of the four space arms are consistently divided into two axes by a central pilaster. The wide oval skylights sit over the cornice. Eight pilasters leading to the octagonal opening of the lantern rest on the dome ring.
Altars
The three altars from the years 1708 and 1709 by Johann Georg Haggenmüller from Allgäu (renovated in 1732 and 1905) have simple columnar architecture in marble and artificial marble with broken segment gables, between which oval gable pictures rise. The latter are set in the richly carved frames by Josef Leonz Brandenberg.
On the gable of the high altar there are two angels carved by Leon Brandenberg. The gable picture depicts the Madonna , the main picture the assumption of St. Verenas into heaven, with sick people and admirers. The main picture is a copy made by Johann Caspar Moos in 1821 of the original picture by Johann Martin Muos from 1708. The gable picture should come from Muos.
On the side altars contain pictures by Johann Martin Muos: on the right, Christ appears to Magdalena with the donor's inscription: «Ex Dono RD Franc. Brandenberg Parochi in Meyers Capell Anno 1709 »; Gable picture St. Oswald ; left St. Anthony of Padua raises a dead person , signature as above, gable picture St. Michael . These gable paintings are also likely works by Johann Martin Muos. All pictures were renovated by Karl Kraft in 1895.
Other equipment
Next to the high altar are statues of the apostles Peter and Paul from the beginning of the 18th century. A cycle of 12 pictures shows the life of St. Verena with explanatory verses. It comes from Kaspar Wolfgang Muos, the father of Johann Martin.
In the transept arms hang portraits of Obervogt Wolfgang Brandenberg, known as Roostvogt, the founder of the chapel building from 1660, and of the hospital bailiff Bartholomäus Brandenberg, son of Wolfgang, the builder of the current chapel.
There are numerous exvotos in the chapel , the oldest from 1681, 1691 and 1695 (some with a view of the simple old chapel).
Brother house
Next to the chapel is the former brother house , built in 1725 and expanded in 1780 . Remains of the old chapel should be recognizable in the cellar. Today the house has two floors and the loft has been expanded. The facades are clad with wooden shingles. On the west and east sides, a striking shade roof extends over the windows of the first floor across the entire width of the house, as well as on the south side over the windows of the ground floor. There is an eye-catching granite fountain in front of the house and a wooden shed behind the house.
Nothing is known about its former use as a hermitage . Since 1900 the house has been used by the respective sacristan (church servant) of the chapel as a residence for himself and his family.
literature
- Linus Birchler: The art monuments of the canton of Zug. Birkhäuser, Basel 1934, pp. 342–348 (= Die Kunstdenkmäler der Schweiz , Vol. 5).
- Maria Hafner: Patrons, patrons of the churches and chapels in the city center: St. Oswald, Archangel Michael / Guardian Angel, John the Baptist, St. Verena, the Good Shepherd, Maria Sacrifice, Niklaus von Flüe, cross as a tree of life, St. Anna, Maria. Catholic parish, Zug 1999.
Individual evidence
- ^ Tobler, Mathilde: The votive collection of the St. Verena Chapel in Zug. In: Tugium 12, 1996. Retrieved April 7, 2019 .
- ↑ Linus Birchler: The art monuments of the canton of Zug. Basel 1934, pp. 342–348 (= Die Kunstdenkmäler der Schweiz , Vol. 5).
Web links
Coordinates: 47 ° 9 '55.3 " N , 8 ° 31' 51.5" E ; CH1903: 682 822 / 224,399