Pilgrimage Church Maria Hilf (Klosterlechfeld)
The pilgrimage church Maria Hilf is located on the edge of the park-like pilgrimage site in the middle of the village of Klosterlechfeld in the Augsburg district in Swabia . The church, which was extensively restored in 1984, is one of the most important sights on the Lechfeld .
history
The pilgrimage goes back to a foundation of the widow of the Mayor of Augsburg Raimund von Imhof (1548–91). Regina von Imhof born Bemblin (1554–1624) is said to have got lost in the thick fog of the Lechfeld on the return trip from Augsburg to her castle in Untermeitingen . In her need, she vowed to build a chapel in honor of Our Lady in order to get back on the right track. The Lech was not yet regulated at the time. Numerous tributaries and wetlands formed a dangerous labyrinth that had already become a death trap for some people. When she suddenly saw the lights of her castle in the distance, her coachman allegedly had to stick his whip in the earth to mark the location of the chapel.
The foundation stone for the little church “Our Lady Help” was laid on April 7, 1603. The Augsburg auxiliary bishop Sebastian Breuning was able to consecrate the building on Trinity Day next year. The rotunda was designed by Elias Holl , who took the Pantheon in Rome as a model. A lively pilgrimage to the Mother of God on the Lechfeld soon began, and Franciscans (OFM) from the province of Strasbourg settled down to look after them from 1606 . The donor then erected a first monastery building for the brothers, which was quickly expanded and made a convent in 1624 . The hamlet of Lechfeld was built around the monastery as a settlement for innkeepers, traders and farmers, for whom the pilgrimage business brought good income opportunities.
During the Thirty Years' War the Rotunda was almost demolished by the Swedes. However, General Wrangel decided to spare the chapel. As a result, the pilgrimage became more and more popular, so that in 1656 a long house had to be added. In 1659 the extension could be consecrated. Then the elevation of the round building and the construction of the sacristy began . In 1690/91 the two round side chapels were added, which, together with the rotunda, give the church its peculiar “Eastern European” appearance. The interior was redesigned or supplemented in rococo forms from 1739 to 1748 . In the 18th century, after Altötting, Klosterlechfeld was the most visited Marian pilgrimage site in Bavaria.
In 1993, by order of the Bavarian Franciscan Province , the religious left the small monastery next to the church. Major restoration work took place from 1860 to 1862 and 1953/54. In 1984 a general renovation lasting several years was completed.
Exterior construction
The rectangular nave with the round side chapels is added to the original chapel of grace in the west. The one-storey sacristy annex was led around the rotunda in the manner of a choir ambulatory. The dome is closed by a tall lantern with an onion dome. The curved domes of the side chapels also have lanterns with onion ends. The lantern of the first pilgrimage chapel was supposed to remind of the lights that showed the donor the way home.
The architectural structure of the exterior consists of color-contrasting pilasters and window frames. The arched window openings are partially closed by blown or triangular gables. The rotunda is covered with copper plates, the nave and the side chapels have tiled roofs, only the lanterns again have green copper domes.
inner space
The single-nave nave is spanned by a flat lancet vault. At the sides the walls open to the chapels, in the east the narrow choir arch leads over into the rotunda, which is flanked by the mighty side altars.
The wall surfaces of the nave are divided into flat blind arcades with pillars and pilasters. In the blind arcades, there are arched, closed window openings, and under the vault there are also small circular windows. The wall structure of the rotunda is designed similarly. An additional wall zone with Tuscan pilasters has been added here, which is separated from the substructure by a cornice.
The stucco work is by Johann Baptist and Ignaz Finsterwalder (1733/34 and 1735). The decorations consist of ribbon and latticework, cartouches, leaf tendrils, flower hangings, angel heads and other things. The coats of arms of the Prince-Bishops Heinrich von Knöringen, Johann Christoph von Freyberg and Alexander-Sigismund von Pfalz-Neuburg are worked out above the choir arch . The stucco work of the sacristy goes back to Caspar Feichtmayr (1669/71) and consists of four-passages with rosette fields in a ledge frame.
The ceiling painting in the rotunda is the work of Johann Georg Lederer from Augsburg and shows the Visitation of Mariae. The wall paintings in the choir are also by him (1733). All six pictures refer to the Mother of God, who u. a. as a protective mantle Madonna , helper in distress and protector from conflagration.
In a more handcrafted manner, Lederer shows in the large ceiling painting of the nave, in which he gives his name and the year 1734, Maria as the helper of all classes, and in the ten pictures that he groups around this fresco, we see female figures as Old Testament models Marys apply:
- Abigajil brings David the refused provisions ( 1 Sam 25)
- Judit kills Holofernes ( Jdt 13)
- Debora goes to war with Barak because he refuses to fight without her ( Ri 4)
- Jaël kills Sisera ( Ri 4)
- Ruth gathers the ears of wheat behind the reapers in the boas fields ( Ruth 2)
- Esther asks King Artaxerxes for her people ( Est 5–8)
- The prostitute Rahab saves the life of the spies in Jericho ( Jos 2)
- With her requests, the Schunemite woman succeeds in having Elisha raise her son from death ( 2 Kings 4)
- The wife of Tekoa asks David to pardon Absalom ( 2 Sam 14)
- Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, asks her son for Adonijah ( 1 Kings 2)
Furnishing
The high altar was built in 1748 based on designs by the lay brother Concordius Scheidenberger. The executive master was probably Dominikus Bergmüller from Türkheim. The head-high model of the structure has been preserved in the Maximiliansmuseum in Augsburg. The figurative decoration comes largely from the previous altars of the church. The focus is on the image of grace. Christ is depicted as a judge to whom the Archangel Michael and Our Lady are added (Christoph Murmann the Younger, around 1604).
The two side altars were built a little earlier (1737, Johann Einsle) and the extension was changed in 1752. The painted altar leaves were created by the Munich court painter Balthasar Augustin Albrecht . The images are flanked by pairs of Corinthian columns. Above the canteen of the right altar lies the body of St. Felix in his reliquary. The counterpart on the left contains St. Severus.
In the side chapels there are high baroque altar structures made of red marbled wood by the Kempten master Balthasar Aimüller (1691/92). Here, too, the painted central pictures are accompanied by pairs of Corinthian columns.
The pulpit (around 1735, attributed to Ehrgott Bernhard Bendl ) is richly decorated with ribbons and rocailles . The four church fathers sit in front of the parapet, the four evangelists on the sound cover. The Virgin is enthroned above it in a halo. The allegorical figures of the four continents at the base of the pulpit are particularly popular. Europe, Asia, Africa and America are depicted as buxom putti , Europe wears a large crown and holds a scepter , America holds a bow and arrow, Asia is characterized by a turban. Africa is a little Moor with a feather skirt and feather crown, who also holds a bow in his hand.
The wooden gallery for the monks' choir was built in 1659. In 1668/69 a connecting passage to the monastery was created, and in 1750 today's organ was built into the parapet. Behind it are the carved choir stalls made of unpainted oak on the back wall.
The epitaph of the founder Regina von Imhof (died 1624) is a large, rectangular slab made of Solnhofen limestone. The long Latin inscription is framed by foliage and angel heads, above which the Imhof coat of arms is worked out.
literature
- Alexandra Kohlberger: Maria Hilf auf dem Lechfeld - 400 years of pilgrimage. Contributions to local history of the district of Augsburg, 18. Augsburg 2003, ISBN 3-925549-16-1 .
- Frank Otten, Wilhelm Neu: Schwabmünchen district. Bavarian art monuments, brief inventory, XXVI. Munich 1967.
- Dieter J. Wehnert: The pilgrimage church "Our Dear Women Help on the Lechfeld". Klosterlechfeld 1986.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ "Maria Hilf" pilgrimage church, Klosterlechfeld. Retrieved April 3, 2020 .
Andechs Monastery Church (Andechs) | Mary in misery (Baar) | St. Benedikt (Benediktbeuern) | St. Jakobus, St. Laurentius and St. Cross (Biberbach) | Pilgrimage Church Herrgottsruh (Friedberg) | Maria Hilf on the Lechfeld (Klosterlechfeld) | Marienfried (Pfaffenhofen an der Roth) | Maria Hilf (Speiden) | To Our Lady of Sorrows (Vilgertshofen) | St. Michael (Violau) | St. Leonhard im Forst (Wessobrunn) | Wigratzbad | Maria Vesperbild (Ziemetshausen)
Coordinates: 48 ° 9 ′ 31.7 " N , 10 ° 49 ′ 47.7" E