Pilgrimage Church Maria Hilf (Amberg)

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Pilgrimage church Maria Hilf in Amberg
Devotional pictures, around 1880

The pilgrimage church Maria Hilf is a pilgrimage church on the Mariahilfberg in Amberg .

history

The history of the pilgrimage goes back to the years 1633/34, when the plague raged in Amberg during the Thirty Years War . In their distress, the needy population of the city turned to the Blessed Mother Mary for help and vowed to carry out pilgrimages every year in gratitude to her if rescue came. The rector of the Jesuit college P. Caspar Hell donated a miraculous image , a copy of the famous miraculous image of Mariahilf by Lucas Cranach the Elder , which is located in Innsbruck Cathedral . It was first hung on September 3, 1634 on the 529 meter high mountain (today: Mariahilfberg ) in the tower of the old castle , which was converted into a chapel . In 1641 their own votive chapel was built , but it soon turned out to be too small for the growing pilgrimage. After a fire in which the miraculous image was spared, the reconstruction began, which was completed in 1651 with the consecration of the chapel.

Pilgrimage church

In 1696 the construction of today's baroque pilgrimage church began on the site of the abandoned Amberg Castle . The plans came from Wolfgang Dientzenhofer , the construction work was led by Georg Peimbl . The stucco work and the high altar are by Giovanni Battista Carlone , the ceiling frescos showing the history of the pilgrimage by Cosmas Damian Asam . The construction was completed in 1702 and was consecrated in 1711 . The church tower was built in 1726 and the staircase in 1859. Extensive renovations took place in 1934 and 1976–81.

For the 100th anniversary of the pilgrimage, a lavish celebration took place in 1734, which lasted eight days from July 1st. There was also a musical performance by the students of the Jesuit College, commemorating the re-Catholicization of Upper Palatinate after the Battle of the White Mountain . On the occasion of the anniversary, the church received three new bells and an organ. 52,000 hosts were distributed at the anniversary . A similarly elaborate suitor was celebrated in 1784 on the occasion of the 150th anniversary; a triumphal arch was set up, each arriving procession was announced by the tower guard with a pistol shot and then greeted with the sound of trumpets and bangs. Since this festival year fell in the time of the Enlightenment , the authorities wanted to curb the festivities and called them " more bigotically than directed towards the introduction of true devotion and edification ". However, these attempts to limit the event were unsuccessful, because the preparations were well advanced and the event was held over the planned eight days. The city of Amberg was to be fined 322 fl for this disobedience , but argued that the preparations had been made in reliance on their consent and the sentence was waived.

The pilgrimage church is looked after by the Franciscan order . It is his last settlement in the city since the former Franciscan monastery was abolished in 1802 during the secularization . The departure of the religious was obviously perceived as a loss, because as early as 1832 King Ludwig I approved the re-establishment of the hospice on Mariahilfberg at the request of the magistrate and on the basis of an opinion from the episcopal ordinariate, which was initially to be occupied by two or three priests and a lay brother . In 1834 an eight-day anniversary festival was celebrated with the Franciscans. A papal indulgence privilege was granted for this. Although the jubilation did not fall until September 1834, the start of the event was postponed to July 2, as “ the beer in July is usually of better quality than in autumn ”. The large number of visitors can be seen from the 80,000 hosts distributed. A big festival was also celebrated for the 225th anniversary of the pilgrimage, Pope Pius IX. granted an indulgence and Bishop Ignatius of Senestrey opened the celebrations on July 1st with a sermon " to the believing people who had gone to the pilgrimage church in solemn procession ". This was repeated on the 250th anniversary in 1884. A pilgrimage medal was also minted in silver, tin and copper (partly gold-plated). In 1908 the hospice was elevated to a convent . At that time there were four priests, seven lay brothers and three candidates living in the monastery. In 1934, despite adverse circumstances, another anniversary celebration was held, this time with Diocesan Bishop Michael Buchberger . The festival ended with a festival play composed by P. Bonifaz Rauch , at which songs by Mater Wiltrude from the monastery of the poor school sisters in Regensburg were performed. At this festival, 30,000 pilgrimage signs made of brass, some of them silver-plated, were sold to the Carl Poellath Münz- und Mintewerk Schrobenhausen company. In 1984 the 350th anniversary of the pilgrimage with Bishop Manfred Müller was celebrated. On this occasion, too, a medal (100 pieces in gold, 2,500 in silver and the remainder in copper), designed by Rudolf Schörner, was minted.

Since the Franciscans of the Bavarian Franciscan Province withdrew in 2007 due to a lack of staff, the Franciscan monastery has been run by five Polish Franciscan Fathers from the Order of the Province of “Mother of God of the Angels” from Krakow since September 1st, 2007 .

Building description

The forecourt of the church is characterized by a monumental three-sided staircase made up of 23 granite steps and an open altar . Due to the spatial conditions, the church itself is not face to face as usual , but is oriented to the northwest.

inner space

The interior presents itself as a single-nave rectangular building with a strongly drawn -in two-bay choir . Galleries are drawn between the pillars , creating three side chapels in the lower area .

The ceiling space is decorated with heavy sculptural stucco work that includes five large and numerous smaller fresco paintings. The pictorial program of the main frescoes depicts the story of the pilgrimage. The motifs are, from the choir towards the entrance:

  • Pest in Amberg 1634
  • Transfer of the miraculous image to the keep
  • Rescue of the miraculous image during the fire of 1646
  • Consecration of the Mariahilf pilgrimage church
  • Believers make a pilgrimage to Mariahilfberg

In the high altar made of marble and stucco in 1703, the miraculous image is framed as the centerpiece. The pictures on the side and chapel altars show scenes from the New Testament and the legends of the saints . A number of monumental stucco figures of biblical figures created by Paul d'Aglio in 1717 are also decisive for the spatial impression .

organ

Funtsch case 1733

In 1733 Johann Baptist Funtsch from Amberg and his partner Jakob Theodor Berns made a new organ with eleven stops . The case, as the oldest of its kind from the Upper Palatinate creative period with Berns, leaves the central window free. It still reflects the Main Franconian type. Brandenstein added three registers to the work in 1743 (viola da gamba in HW, salicional 8 'and flaschonet 2' in positive), son Johann Conrad Funtsch added a violon bass 8 'in the pedal in 1773, Wilhelm Hepp added a Bourdon 8' in the manual in 1817. Franz Borgias Maerz (Munich) delivered a pneumatic movement with 16 registers in 1902. In 1948 Heinrich Kardos (Vilseck) expanded the work to 19 registers and the window was closed. In 1978 Reinhard Weise (OSV Eberhard Kraus , Regensburg) put a new building on a mechanical sliding drawer (astonishing 25 / III / P) in the compact Funtsch case.

The original disposition (short octave) by JB Funtsch / Berns was:

Major work CDEFGA – c 3
1. Principal 8th'
2. Coppel 8th'
3. Octav 4 ′
4th Quint 3 ′
5. Super octave 2 ′
6th Quint 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
7th Mixture IV 1'
Positive CDEFGA – c 3
8th. Coppel 8th'
9. Lulls 4 ′
CDEFGA – a 0 pedal
10. Sub bass 16 ′
11. Octavbass 8th'

The disposition of the current Weise organ:

Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Principal 8th'
2. Flûte douce 8th'
3. Octave 4 ′
4th Wooden flute 4 ′
5. Quint 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
6th Principal 2 ′
7th Mixture IV 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Swell C – g 3
8th. Lead-covered 8th'
9. Gamba 8th'
10. Principal 4 ′
11. Gemshorn 2 ′
12. Sesquialter II
13. Larigot II 1 ′ + 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
14th Zimbel III 1 ⁄ 3 ′
Breastwork C – g 3
15th Wooden flute 8th'
16. Reed flute 4 ′
17th Principal 2 ′
18th Septenhorn III 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
19th Scharff III 2 ⁄ 3 ′
20th Trumpet shelf 8th'
Pedal C – f 1
21st Sub bass 16 ′
22nd Violon bass 8th'
23. Choral bass 4 ′
24. Rauschpfeife IV 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
25th trombone 8th'

Bells

Six bells hang in the tower ; two come from the baroque period. Every Thursday evening, after the angelus or poor soul chimes, the big bell rings in memory of Christ's agony. The full bell only sounds on high feasts .

No.
  		Surname
  		Casting year
  		Foundry, casting location
  		Diameter
(mm) 		Mass
(kg, approx.) 		Percussive
( HT - 1 / 16 )
1 Jubilee and Fallen Bell 1950 Johann Hahn, Landshut 1746 3200 a 0 +4
2 Marien and Johannes Nepomuk bell 1729 Gabriel Magnus Reinburg, Amberg 1560 1900 c 1 +10
3 Angelus bell 1746 Ferdinand Dietrich, Straubing 1268 1340 d 1 +11
4th Antonius bell 1950 Johann Hahn, Landshut 1170 920 e 1 +7
5 Josef s bell 1971 Rudolf Perner , Passau 1025 607 g 1 +10
6th Johannes Capistran bell 1971 Rudolf Perner, Passau 930 455 a 1 +7

Pilgrimage today

The pilgrimage church is still the destination of many pilgrimages today, e.g. B. an annual thanksgiving procession by the Amberg population on a Sunday in May. The main festival, however, is the annual mountain festival week around the Feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary (July 2nd), which attracts thousands of pilgrims from the area with its sermon series , but also with secular offers such as beer and sausages.

literature

  • Heribert Batzl: Maria Hilf Amberg pilgrimage church (= Little Art Guide. No. 36, ZDB -ID 51387-8 ). 8th, completely revised edition. Schnell & Steiner, Munich 1987.
  • Johann Gruber: The Franciscans on the Mariahilfberg in Amberg - a pilgrimage and their anniversaries. In: Tobias Appl, Manfred Knedlik (Hrsg.): Upper Palatinate monastery landscape. The monasteries, monasteries and colleges of the Upper Palatinate. Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-7917-2759-2 , pp. 227-237.
  • Rainer Kilbert : The organs of the city of Amberg. In: The Upper Palatinate. Laßleben, Kallmünz 1991, pp. 232-234.
  • Eberhard Kraus : Organ Documentation of the Diocese of Regensburg, Volume 3 . Self-published, Regensburg 1974.
  • Hugo Schnell: Maria Hilf Amberg. (= Small art guide. No. 36). 7th edition. Schnell and Steiner, Munich / Zurich 1972.
  • Monika Soffner: Amberg - Mariahilf pilgrimage church (= Peda art guide. No. 416). Kunstverlag Peda , Passau 1997, ISBN 3-89643-072-6 .

Web links

Commons : Wallfahrtskirche Maria Hilf in Amberg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bergfest starts with good news. Now official: The pilgrimage business continues seamlessly - Polish Franciscans replace Bavarian ones. Amberger Zeitung from June 29, 2007.
  2. ↑ Ambergers said goodbye to “their” Franciscans from the monastery. Mittelbayerische Zeitung of August 26, 2007.
  3. ↑ Data on the bell including the sound recording of the full bell
  4. ↑ Amberg (D), cath. Pilgrimage Church Maria Hilf - full bells on YouTube , July 19, 2014.

Coordinates: 49 ° 27 ′ 10.7 ″  N , 11 ° 52 ′ 16 ″  E