Pilgrimage church Höchstberg
The Catholic pilgrimage church of Our Lady in Nussbaum in Höchstberg near Gundelsheim goes back to a Chapel of Grace , first mentioned in 1328 , was a popular pilgrimage destination as early as the late Middle Ages and has been rebuilt several times. The church was destroyed in the Second World War and was given its present form through reconstruction between 1946 and 1958. The church is still a popular pilgrimage destination today.
history
The church in Höchstberg was first mentioned in a bull by Pope John XXII in 1328 . mentioned as a chapel. According to the content of the communication, the pilgrimage to Höchstberg must have been established at that time; a first chapel of grace was probably built around 1300. Johann von Wittstatt is named as the builder , a local nobleman from Hagenbach, whose epitaph was still in the church before it was destroyed in 1945. The patronage was initially with the Lords of Weinsberg on behalf of the Diocese of Würzburg , in 1371 it was transferred to the Lords of Nussbaum in the nearby monastery on the Ilgenberg. At the beginning of the 16th century, the patronage passed to the Duke of Württemberg , from 1585 to the Teutonic Order , who had owned Höchstberg since 1396 and had a weekly mass read. The chapel was probably damaged in the Thirty Years War , but was then restored under the Teutonic Order.
Towards the end of the 17th century, the construction of a church in Höchstberg was planned. According to tradition, however, a shepherd near the chapel of grace appeared to Mary with the baby Jesus in a walnut tree, which is said to have led to the decision to expand the chapel instead of building a church in the village. In 1698 the extension to the west of the old chapel, which has served as the sacristy since then , was completed. This building had a square bell tower above the choir. The church was consecrated on May 16, 1700. In 1713 Höchstberg was raised to a parish , the neighboring rectory was completed in 1758. In the 18th century the church was regularly visited by around 1000 pilgrims. Around 1900 the church was thoroughly renovated.
The church and the rectory caught fire on April 2, 1945 by artillery fire and burned down to the foundation walls. The citizenship reconstructed the nave and the rectory from 1946 to 1948, whereby the church building was extended by seven meters to the west, but initially remained without a tower. The main altar and side altars were furnished by 1954, and in 1958 the tower of the church to the southeast was built. The reconstruction of the nave, which was carried out under simple conditions in the post-war years, showed some construction defects, which is why the church had to be renovated in 1964 and 1968. However, there were still static deficiencies in the choir vault, which resulted from the damage in the Second World War and which were repaired in a further extensive renovation from 1981 to 1986. In 2006 the inside of the church was renovated again.
description
building
The pilgrimage church in Höchstberg is a single-aisled hall building facing east, with the choir adjoining the former older and smaller chapel to the east, which is used as a sacristy. The main portal is on the west side and leads into an anteroom from which one enters the nave in the middle of the west wall. In the eastern choir is the baroque-style main altar, which is flanked on the walls leading to the choir by two stylistically similar side altars. On the western inner wall there is a spacious gallery with the two-manual organ with 17 registers.
Altars
The baroque-style high altar shows Mary with the baby Jesus, embedded in the trunk of a walnut tree, framed by a golden halo with clouds and angels, which is crowned by a pictorial representation of the Visitation of Mary and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove in the halo of a cloud.
The left side altar is consecrated to Sebastian and Martin von Tours and shows both saints: above Martin sharing his cloak, below the greater Martyrdom of Sebastian. The right side altar is consecrated to Joseph and Vitus and shows the martyrdom of Vitus at the top and under it larger Joseph with the baby Jesus.
The pulpit to the left of the choir is designed accordingly in baroque style.
Others
The ceiling paintings of the nave symbolize invocations of the Blessed Mother from the Lauretanian litany : "You spiritual rose", "You morning star", "You gate of heaven" and "You golden house". The walls of the church are decorated with depictions of the Way of the Cross and various figures of saints, including a. a Maria Immaculata , St. Anthony with baby Jesus and globe, St. Francis with doves, St. Nepomuk above the confessional and St. Catherine of Siena . The church windows are provided with colorless round lead glazing.
There are several historical epitaphs on the church, and a Christ grotto from 1910 in the churchyard.
literature
- Catholic parish of Höchstberg: Pilgrimage Church of Höchstberg . Welker-Druck, Neckarsulm 1987
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 16 '52.6 " N , 9 ° 13' 7.2" E