Pilgrimage Church of Bildstein

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Catholic pilgrimage church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary, Bildstein
Side view of the church seen from the north

The Roman Catholic parish and pilgrimage church of Bildstein is located in the center of the municipality of Bildstein high above the Rhine Valley in the Bregenz district in Vorarlberg . It is dedicated to the feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary and belongs to the Bregenz Dean's Office in the Feldkirch diocese . The building is a listed building . The church was elevated to a minor basilica in 2018 .

location

The pilgrimage church is located in the center of the municipality of Bildstein on an open space that is flanked by two beneficiary houses. Due to its location high above the Rhine Valley, the west-side double tower facade is visible from afar, and the local cemetery is adjacent to the south side of the road.

history

From 1512 to 1792, Bildstein was incorporated into the Wolfurt parish . In the second half of the 16th century, a simple wooden chapel in place of today's church is mentioned in a document. It was built by the farmer Gallus Höfle in fulfillment of a vow in 1628/29. In 1657 she received a license to read masses. This is an early Baroque pilgrimage church (“To Our Lady Maria Visitation”) designed by the Bregenz master builder Michael Kuen , which was built from 1662 to 1676. The construction was funded by various foundations, including a. by Field Marshal Count Maximilian Lorenz von Starhemberg . He was fatally wounded on September 7, 1689 during the battle for Mainz and succumbed to his injuries on September 17, 1689, whereupon he was buried in a crypt under the church on October 11, 1689.
In 1692 the double tower facade was built in the west and in 1838 the two towers were fitted with curved hoods by master carpenter Anton Böhler. The building can be seen as the most important Baroque building in Vorarlberg . In 1792, Bildstein was raised to an independent parish.

Interior renovations were carried out in the years 1877 to 1879 and 1973/74 as part of an overall restoration of the church.

Pope Francis awarded the pilgrimage church Maria Bildstein the honorary title of a basilica in June 2018 . The survey took place on October 7, 2018 as part of a festive service with Diocesan Bishop Benno Elbs .

Church building

Church exterior

The church is a baroque building with a double tower facade facing west. The nave, the transept and the recessed choir with a rounded end are located under a shared gable roof over a circumferential hollow. There is a bell ridge above the choir. A two-storey sacristy annex adjoins the choir on the south side . The flat main facade is emphasized by the three-storey towers, which together form a double tower facade. The mighty lower floors of the towers are structured by corner cuboids. The tapered upper floor has arched openings. Above it are the octagonal bell storeys. Its facade is structured by pilasters and rectangular sound windows. Both towers are crowned by curved hoods. The central facade has two flat arch and two circular arch windows. Above this, the facade is completed in a rectangular frontispiece. In the arched niche above the main portal there is a statue of the Virgin and Child by Alois Reich from 1905. The sign is opened to the outside by a flat arch arcade with two columns and is covered by a hipped roof. On the long sides, the nave walls are broken through by arched windows. Outside there are niches of the cross on the long sides with profiled, blown gable attachments . The south wall is divided by a portal. In the niches of the cross there are stations of the cross with restoration inscriptions from 1797 painted on wood. In the apse there is a mural of the Madonna, which was restored by Franz Lins in 1960 . The arched portal on the west side is framed in stone. The wooden portal doors are carved with tendrils, masks and grimaces. These were created around 1676.

Church interior
inside view

The nave is a wide hall with cone-like expansions directly in front of the drawn-in triumphal arch that separates the nave from the choir. The retracted choir has a 5/8 end and is vaulted with a stitch cap . The stitch caps rest on pilasters on the wall. The stone arch-framed portal on the right leads to the sacristy. Both in the choir and in the nave there are flat arched windows. Like the choir, the nave is structured by wall pilasters. Above the nave is a flat baroque wooden ceiling . In the individual fields there are various canvas paintings by Franz and Jakob Bertle from the years 1877 to 1879. They were restored in 1974 by Scheel. The pictures show the “Seven Joys of Mary”: the Annunciation , the Visitation of the Virgin Mary, the birth of Jesus , the adoration of the kings, the Assumption of Mary and the coronation of Mary . In the middle is "Mary helping the Christians". On the west side of the nave is a three-axis gallery above a flat arch arcade that rests on two columns. On the wooden parapet of the gallery are ten apostle pictures by the Bertle brothers from the years 1877 to 1879. The glass paintings on the windows were created in 1941 based on a design by Gottlieb Schuller and were made by the Tyrolean glass painting company in Innsbruck . " Salve Regina ", the "Birth of Christ" and " Christ Salvator " are represented in the choir . In the nave, on the left side, “St. Theresa of the Child Jesus ”, “ Bernadette Soubirous ” and “ Father Jakob Rem ” are depicted. On the right side are the "St. Hermann Josef ", the "St. Dominic " and the "St. Bernard of Clairvaux ". In the cones, the scene “Maria determines the place and construction of the church and Vorarlberg pilgrims” is shown on the left and the scene “Image of Mary on the stone and apparition on the Mühlweg” is shown on the right. The " Tower of David ", " Seat of Wisdom ", " Ark of the Covenant " and " Morning Star " are depicted in the gallery .

Furnishing

Left side altar with miraculous image

The altars come from the abandoned old parish church of Vandans in the Montafon . The high altar is a six-column structure with curved entablature and a flat volute top. The painting by Jakob Bertle from 1895 shows the “Adoration of the Shepherds”. The picture is flanked by figures of Saints Peter and Paul . The statues from 1830 are attributed to Franz Xaver Renn . On the side of the tabernacle there are kneeling angels by Josef Klemens widower from 1790.

The left side altar is, like the high altar, a six-column structure. Instead of a painting there is a statue of Mary with a child. This is the clothed image of grace from 1390. The upper image shows the " Coronation of Mary ". On the left of the miraculous image is a side figure of St. John the Baptist and on the right side a figure of St. Anthony .

The right side altar has the same structure as the left side altar. The painting shows the " Baptism of Jesus " and was made by Franz Bertle in 1869. It is flanked by figures of the Archangel Michael and St. Peter. The upper picture shows the "torture of St. Sebastian ".

Folk altar and ambo contain elements of a silver altar from the hand of goldsmith Georg Zwickling from 1702, which was previously exhibited on high feast days. The scenes "Visitation", "Birth of Christ", "Flight into Egypt", "Jesus in the workshop of Joseph " are on the folk altar ”And“ Death of St. Joseph ”. On the ambo you can find the following representations: “ Maria lactans ”, “Saint Joseph with Jesus in the workshop”, the saints “ Gallus and Gebhard ” as well as Saint Ursula and Saint Barbara . In front of the high altar is the burial place of Count Starhemberg. It has been visible through a glass plate since 1974.

The pews with docks come from Knünz in Muntlix . The stations of the cross in the two cones were built in 1947 by Franz Xaver Baldauf in the form of small baroque altars . The Pietà was created around 1700. In the left entrance area there are votive pictures from the years 1705, 1721 and 1660. To the right of the entrance is a portrait of Michael Kuen, the builder of the church. At the entrance to the gallery is a miraculous image, a votive offering with an inscription from 1712.

organ

The organ was built in 1974 by the Rieger Orgelbau company from Schwarzach .

Bells

In the two onion domes there is a 5-part special bronze bell that was cast by Oberascher in 1949 . It has the tone sequence: b ° des 'f' as 'b'. The big bell rings in the left tower, the others in the right.

literature

  • DEHIO manual. The art monuments of Austria: Vorarlberg. Bildstein. Pilgrimage Church to Our Lady of the Visitation. Bundesdenkmalamt (Ed.), Verlag Anton Schroll & Co, Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-85028-397-7 , p. 21

Web links

Commons : Wallfahrtskirche Bildstein  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Vorarlberg - immovable and archaeological monuments under monument protection. ( Memento from September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) . Federal Monuments Office , as of June 27, 2014 (PDF).
  2. ↑ Bildstein pilgrimage church becomes basilica in vorarlberg.orf.at (June 1, 2018)
  3. ↑ https://www.vol.at/vorarlberg-eine-basilika-fuer-bildstein-paepstlicher-ehrentitel-fuer-die-wallfahrtskirche/5806375
  4. ↑ Maria Bildstein pilgrimage church elevated to a basilica. In: Salzburger Nachrichten . October 7, 2018, accessed November 12, 2018 .
  5. ↑ BILDSTEIN (A) VB Parish and Pilgrimage Church (Ein)

Coordinates: 47 ° 27 ′ 28.9 ″  N , 9 ° 46 ′ 18.5 ″  E