Heilig Hüsli | |
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Holzbrücke Rapperswil-Hurden, Seedamm to the left, Heilig Hüsli and Rapperswil respectively Rapperswil Castle and Lindenhof hill in the background | |
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Country | Switzerland |
Denomination | Catholic Church |
Churchmanship | Chapel |
Administration | |
Diocese | Chur |
Parish | Rapperswil |
Heilig Hüsli (Holy house) is a bridge chapel in Rapperswil, Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
The chapel is located next to the Seedamm, near the Rapperswil railway station. It is situated on a small island on upper Lake Zürich (Obersee) off of the Holzbrücke Rapperswil-Hurden, a historical wooden bridge that was reconstructed in 2001.
During formation of the Alps, layers of sediment were deposited by ancient bodies of water. This gave rise to the banded rocks that form the Lindenhof hill in Rapperswil, and the islands of Ufnau, Lützelau and Heilighüsli. During the last Ice Age the island was under a thick layer of ice. Over time, only the harder layers of conglomerate rock and sandstone remained after the erosion by the glacier, creating the islands. [1]
The chapel, built near the former medieval wooden bridge between Rapperswil and Hurden, was first mentioned in 1485 AD as a wooden prayer house or pilgrim's chapel. The pilgrimage route Jakobsweg (Way of St. James) leads through the region, from Wattwil over the Ricken Pass to Schmerikon on to Lachen and Buechberg, along the left bank of the upper lake to St. Meinrad Pass, or from Schmerikon along Obersee, passing Bollingen, Wurmsbach and Jona-Busskirch to Rapperswil and then crossing the wooden bridge towards Hurden. Another route leads over the Hörnli mountain through the Töss Valley, passing the former Rüti Abbey via Kempraten and Rapperswil and the wooden bridge to the St. Meinrad Pass towards the Einsiedeln Abbey.
According to an inscription, the present stone building dates back to 1551. The chapel became the site of an execution after a legal dispute over a pasture belonging to the Wydenchlösterli, a nunnery on the shore of the Jona River. The Wydenchlösterli was a small Beguine nunnery founded by the House of Rapperswil. In the years before the Reformation in Zürich, its last superior, Katharine Scheuchzer (Katharina Schüchter) fought that the nunnery should be dissolved, and asked the neighboring Rüti Abbey and the Old Swiss Confederacy for support. When an epidemic in the Rapperswil hospital broke out in 1563, Scheuchzer was accused of witchcraft. [2] Although the Tagsatzung's verdict of 1543 was in favor of the small nunnery, after cruel torture, the old woman was sentenced by the town council to death, put in a bag, and drowned in the Obersee lake at Heilig Hüsli chapel. The property of the nunnery was transferred to the hospital. [3]
After the Seedamm was built in 1878, the Heilig Hüsli chapel was the only remaining structure of the original medieval wooden bridge. It stood isolated in the lake and was not accessible to visitors until the reconstruction of the former wooden bridge was completed in 2001.
The chapel stands on an approximately 4 metres (13 ft) high base, and measures just 2 metres (7 ft) x 3 metres (10 ft), with eaves standing at about 3.5 metres (11 ft). It has a west-facing apse, in which a miraculous fresco was once installed. The altarpiece, whose outlines are still visible in the interior, is preserved together with a representation of the Virgin Mary with the body of Christ in the Stadtmuseum Rapperswil-Jona. The fresco was replaced by a replica by the Swiss artist Marlies Pekarek, and was inaugurated and blessed on 7 April 2011 with the intention of returning the bridge chapel to its original purpose. [4] The interior of the chapel is visible only through the latticed east side. Following an old custom, pilgrims throw coins into the interior.
As of today the small chapel is owned by the Ortsgemeinde (citizenry's community) Rapperswil. The chapel was partially renovated in 1908, 1930, 1957, 2011 and 2015.
The chapel is under protection since 1907 and the building itself is listed in the Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance as an object of regional importance. [5]
Lake Zurich is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zürich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or Zürichsee can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Seedamm at Rapperswil, whilst the part upstream of Rapperswil may be called the Obersee or Upper Lake.
Rapperswil-Jona is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Besides Rapperswil and Jona, which were separate municipalities until 2006, Rapperswil-Jona also includes Bollingen, Busskirch, Curtiberg, Kempraten-Lenggis, Wagen, and Wurmsbach.
Lützelau is an island located, with the neighbouring island of Ufenau, in Lake Zürich in Switzerland between Rapperswil and Freienbach.
Jona is a former municipality and since January 2007 part of the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Before the merger with Rapperswil, the former municipality of Jona comprised the villages of Jona, Bollingen, Busskirch, Curtiberg, Kempraten-Lenggis, Wagen and Wurmsbach.
Rapperswil is a former municipality and since January 2007 part of the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland, located between Obersee and the main part of Lake Zurich.
Kempraten-Lenggis is a village (Kirchdorf) within the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona, Wahlkreis (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The remains of the Gallo-Roman settlement Centum Prata are one of the most important archaeological sites in the canton of St. Gallen; Centrum Prata is located at the so-called Kempratnerbucht, in Rapperswil and Busskirch on Zürichsee lake shore.
The Rapperswil Seedamm is the artificial causeway at the narrowest area of Lake Zurich between Hurden (SZ) and Rapperswil (SG). The structure contains two bridge segments and is approximately 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) long. The Seedamm carries a road and a railway across the lake, with the railway being used by the S5 and S40 lines of the S-Bahn Zürich and by the Südostbahn Voralpen Express.
Rapperswil Castle is a castle, built in the early 13th century by the House of Rapperswil, in the formerly independent city of Rapperswil.
Bollingen is a village (Kirchdorf) within the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen.
Rapperswil railway station is located next to the old town and harbour of Rapperswil in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen. It is the largest of four active railway stations in the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona. Rapperswil railway station is situated on the north shore of Lake Zürich at the northern end of the Seedamm, which separates the Obersee from the main body of the lake.
Busskirch is a village (Kirchdorf) within the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Holzbrücke Rapperswil-Hurden is a wooden pedestrian bridge between the city of Rapperswil and the village of Hurden crossing the Obersee in Switzerland. On 6 April 2001, the footbridge was opened. With a length of 841 metres (2,759 ft) it is the longest wooden bridge in Switzerland.
Hurden is a village in the municipality of Freienbach in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. First mentioned in 1217, the name "de Hurden" was used for the peninsula and for the fish traps made of woven work, called "Hürden" or "Hurden", which were used by the locals.
Verkehrsbetriebe Zürichsee und Oberland (VZO) is a public transport operator in the region between Lake Zürich and the Zürcher Oberland to the south-east of the city of Zürich in the canton of Zürich. It operates bus services between the various communities of this region and, since 2008, in the adjoining municipality of Rapperswil-Jona in the canton of St Gallen.
Elisabeth von Rapperswil was the last countess of the House of Rapperswil, and secured by her second marriage the female line of the Counts of Rapperswil and the extensive possessions of Rapperswil in the former Zürichgau to the Laufenburg line. Her son by first marriage was Reichsvogt Wernher von Homberg, and her oldest son by second marriage was Count Johann von Habsburg-Laufenburg who passed over the title of the count of Rapperswil to his oldest son Johann II and his brothers Rudolf and Gotfried.
The Obersee is the smaller of the two parts of Zürichsee in the cantons of St. Gallen and Schwyz in Switzerland.
Centum Prata is the name of a Roman vicus, whose remains are located on the eastern Zürichsee lakeshore in Kempraten, a locality of the municipality Rapperswil-Jona in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Centum Prata is the most important archaeological site from the Gallo-Roman era in the canton of St. Gallen.
Buechberg is an elongated molasse hill in the Swiss cantons of Schwyz and St. Gallen on Obersee lakeshore.
Lindenhof in Rapperswil is a moraine hill and a public square being the historic center of Rapperswil, Switzerland.
Rapperswil-Jona/Hombrechtikon–Feldbach is one of the 111 serial sites of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, of which are 56 located in Switzerland.