Pilgrimage Basilica of St. George

Pilgrimage basilica

The pilgrimage basilica St. Georg , also known as the pilgrimage basilica of the Holy Blood , is a Catholic church in Walldürn in the Neckar-Odenwald district in the north of Baden-Württemberg . It was built between 1698 and 1728. After the blood miracle of Walldürn in 1330, the pilgrimage to Walldürn began, which became Germany's largest Eucharistic pilgrimage site . The church was founded in 1962 by Pope John XXIII. raised to the minor basilica .

history

View of Walldürn with the old church around 1670

Pilgrimage around 1820

Walldürn was first mentioned in a document in 794 in the Lorsch Codex . In 1248 a pastor was first named in the village. It is not known exactly when there was a church or a parish. However, monks of the Amorbach monastery , which held the rights of the Walldürner church law, had been missionary in the area since the 8th century. In 1277 the monastery sold the rights to the diocese of Würzburg . In 1294 Ruprecht von Dürn -Forchtenberg and his son sold the city of Walldürn and the parish fee they were not entitled to to the Archdiocese of Mainz . There were repeated disputes between Würzburg and Mainz over the patronage law. The dispute was only settled in 1656, when Johann Philipp von Schönborn was both Bishop of Würzburg and Archbishop of Mainz and carried out a large parish swap between the two dioceses.

The blood miracle of Walldürn is said to have occurred around 1330 , from which the pilgrimage to Walldürn developed. In 1445 Pope Eugene IV confirmed the miracle and granted an indulgence , which encouraged the pilgrimage. In 1497 the church had to be enlarged. She now had five altars, including the blood altar with the corporal . The Reformation did not find its way into Walldürn, but participation in the pilgrimage declined significantly. Around 1600 the flow of pilgrims gradually increased again, which is why the church was rebuilt in 1626 and received three new altars. After the Thirty Years War, the pilgrimage continued to flourish, so that the church became too small. Oberamtmann Johann Franz Sebastian von Ostein spoke out in favor of a new building to his uncle Archbishop Lothar Franz von Schönborn . The construction was mainly carried out between 1698 and 1714, and the furnishings followed until 1728.

In 1787 part of the Miltenberg chapter in the Archdiocese of Mainz was separated and the Walldürn regional chapter was formed. At the beginning of the 19th century the city became part of Baden . The aim of the Grand Dukes was to create a diocese in accordance with the borders of the country. In 1817 Walldürn first came to the Episcopal Vicariate of Bruchsal and finally in 1821/27 to the newly founded Archdiocese of Freiburg . The old Landkapitel Walldürn, dean's office since 1863, continued to exist until it was dissolved in 1976. Today the parish belongs to the pastoral care unit Walldürn in the dean's office Mosbach-Buchen. The parish and the pilgrimage were looked after by the Augustinians from 1938 , and in 2007 this task was taken over by the Gdańsk Province of the Franciscan Minorites .

description

View from the west with the pilgrimage site

Interior, view of the main altar

Blood altar

The basilica is a red sandstone structure. It has a transept and a choir closed on three sides , on whose sides the two towers crowned with lanterns are placed. The choir, transept and nave are covered with hipped roofs. The corners are structured with pilasters . Originally the outer walls were supposed to be plastered, but this was never done.

The lower floors of the north tower still come from the medieval church. They were built around 1330. The floors above are part of the late Gothic church from 1497. In 1623 a chapel was added for the blood altar. The artistic portal by Zacharias Juncker the Elder has been preserved and now leads to the north transept. The two angels were donated around 1950. The western main portal was designed by Johannes Weydt in 1723 . Here the coat of arms of Pope John XXIII. attached, who made the church a minor basilica in 1962 . The coat of arms of the builder Archbishop Lothar Franz von Schönborn can be seen above the portal , above it a representation of the Archangel Michael (recognizable by the archangel's wings and sword) and not the patron Saint George , who is always with a lance and shown without wings.

When the church was built on a slope, the face side was the eastern choir view. In the south and north the buildings jutted up close to the church, and in the west the cemetery was walled. The pilgrimage site that is located there today was only created after the Second World War . There is also a chapel with a Lourdes grotto . The interior of this chapel was destroyed in a fire on June 19, 2017; there was damage of at least 250,000 euros. After the renovation work was completed in 2018, it will reopen and reopen.

Northern portal
Western portal
View from the south
Lourdes grotto

The basilica-like nave has four cross-vaulted yokes. The illusionistic ceiling painting, which simulates a vault, comes from Giovanni Francesco Marchini . The paintings represent the Holy Family , St. Martin and the flight into Egypt and, in the crossing, St. Georg . Further paintings by Marchini can be found in the choir, in the transept, in the vaults of the chapel and on the sides of the nave.

The stucco works by Georg Hennicke , including the Stations of the Cross, are artistically outstanding . The Bandelwerk he created in Bérainstil . The pulpit is a creation of the brothers Melchior and Hans Georg Paulus . It depicts the four evangelists and Paul's sermon . The coat of arms is that of the builder Archbishop Lothar Franz von Schönborn . It can also be found in the church on the main altar and the Franciscan altar.

Holy Family of Marchini
Ribbon work by Hennicke
pulpit
Ceiling in the nave

The main altar is the eye-catcher of the church . It was designed by the Swabian artist Christian Mayer. The sculptures were made by the Paulus brothers, on the left there is a statue of St. George and on the right a statue of St. Martin, the second church patron. The altar panel shows the Lord's Supper . It was probably designed by Marchini, the painting was completed in 1728 by Joseph Scheubel .

In the left transept is the blood altar with the corporal of the blood miracle , the origin of the pilgrimage to Walldürn. The altar was first mentioned in 1497. The sandstone retable with alabaster reliefs was created in 1626 by Zacharias Juncker the Elder . The pictures painted on copper are by Ulrich Büchler. The reliefs and paintings show scenes of the blood miracle. The cloth is kept in a silver shrine, which was made in Augsburg in 1683. The canopy was created by Georg Hennicke in 1730.

In the right transept is the Altar of Our Lady, again a work by Hennicke. There are six more altars in the side chapels of the nave. They are consecrated to Francis, Johannes Nepomuk, Joseph, Anna, Antonius and Peter.

Blood altar (open)
Shrine with corporals
Side altar
Side altar

organ

West gallery with organ

The organ was built by Christian Dauphin in 1730 . The prospectus with the carvings by Georg Friedrich Schmiegd (also Schmieg ) has been preserved. The current plant was built by Vleugels in 1975 and renovated by Joachim Popp in 1998. The instrument has 40 registers on three manuals and a pedal .

I Positive C – a ³
Lovely Gedackt	8th'
Principal	4 ′
Salicional	4 ′
Gemshorn	4 ′
Quinta	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
Pointed flute	2 ′
Quinta	1 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′
Mixture V	1'
Schallmey	8th'
Tacet	64 ′
Tremulant

II main work C – a ³
Quintatön	16 ′
Principal	8th'
Gemshorn	8th'
Viola di gamba	8th'
Pommer	8th'
Big dumped	8th'
Quinta	5 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′
octave	4 ′
Quinta	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
octave	2 ′
Mixture V	2 ′
Trumpet	8th'

III Breastwork C – a ³
Dumped	8th'
Quintatön	8th'
Principal	4 ′
octave	2 ′
Sesquialter II	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
Mixture V	1 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′
Sordino	8th'
Tremulant

Pedals C – f ¹
Large pedestal	32 ′
Principal bass	16 ′
Sub-bass	16 ′
Octave bass	8th'
Violin bass	8th'
Octave bass	4 ′
Flute bass	2 ′
Mixture VI	4 ′
Trombone bass	16 ′
Trumpet bass	8th'
Clarion bass	4 ′
Cornett	2 ′

Coupling: I / II, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P

literature

Wolfgang Brückner : Pilgrimage and parish church Walldürn . Regensburg 2002, ISBN 3-7954-4500-0 .
Johannes Wilhelm: Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis , in: Dagmar Zimdars u. a. (Ed.), Georg Dehio (Gre.): Handbook of German Art Monuments : Baden-Württemberg I. The administrative districts of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe . Munich 1993, ISBN 3-422-03024-7 .
Department State Description of the General State Archives Karlsruhe (edit.), State Archives Directorate Baden-Württemberg in connection with the Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis (Ed.): The Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis . Sigmaringen 1992, ISBN 3-7995-6047-5 .