Wessobrunn

Wessobrunn keeps cropping up whenever rococo is mentioned. It seemed the ideal base for visiting churches in this area, called Pfaffenwinkel. (Priests' Corner). This rather comical name (in English) is no slight on the energy or enthusiasm of the inhabitants, but rather to the abundance of religious buildings around here and the stuccoed style.

The legendary foundation of this Benedictine abbey takes us back to the time of St Boniface. (675-754) Duke Thassilo  III of Bavaria was on a boar hunt, fell asleep and dreamed that St Peter was on  a Jacob,s ladder alongside a spring in the form of a cross. His companion Wezzo  led him to such a spring. Hence we have Wessobrunnen. St Boniface helped the Duke to found an abbey. Today the three springs are in the Baroque well house created by Josef Schmutzer.(1683-1752).We saw  the three Baroque fishponds in front of the well house fed by the springs.

Well house (1735)

Real fish in the fishpond

Then the Hungarian invasions in the 10th century led to Abbot Thiento and six monks to flee. They were caught and martyred on the nearby Kreuzberg.The abbey  recovered and became famous for becoming the centre of Baroque artists, particularly in the use of stucco.

In the Middle Ages this was an agricultural area - more varied than today. Among the natural resources, wood was plentiful for carving and the Paterzell forests had deposits of tuff, a light porous rock made from volcanic ash. It makes a great building material because it is relatively soft and easy to work with. The Easter Island statues are made of tuff. It is common in Italy and used for bridges and buildings. Families in Wessobrunn were used to working with tuff and were inspired by St Michael in Munich (1583-97)and the white court church Innsbruck (1553-63).Stucco techniques were developed by simple means in Wessobrunn. Rooms were built to look like marble. Some residents went to Italy to be more fully trained. Designs were borrowed and abbeys  and palaces stuccoed. This was a niche idea and became feted all over Europe. Wessobrunn artists travelled far and wide in 17th and 18th centuries .Johann and Josef Schmutzer and  Dominikus Zimmermann  and painters like JB and Matthias Gunther were from Wessobrunn. A lexicon from Wessobrunn showed that the Abbey produced around 600 artists in late 17th to the end of the 18th centuries.

The only survivor from the medieval abbey is the huge bell tower, which was also used for defence. After damage in the Thirty Years War there were big plans to redevelop and rebuild. Josef and Johann Schmutzer worked on the wings that were being built. There was a Prince's wing for Wittelsbach visitors, and a Prelate's wing for ecclesiastical visitors. Some of the latter is open to visitors and we saw the long corridor with stucco acanthus and laurel stems, vases and cartouches and patterns of leaves and buds. One room - the Magdalen Hall is used for weddings now. There is also  a Banqueting hall called Thassilo's Hall. There is a third wing with no access. I would like to have found out more about these interiors.

Idealized view of Wessobrunn by Michael Wening in 1701

Corridor in  Prelate''s wing

Corridor in Prince's wing

Examples of ceiling stucco

Magdalene Hall

Thassilo's Hall

Bell tower on left with Chur7ch of St John

Parish church of St John

The original large abbey church has completely disappeared and we tried to imagine its position and size. The parish of St John church was built 1757-9. It is a hall church with internal pilasters and semi-circular choir with lunettes in the vault. Ceiling paintings are by the local Johann Baptist Baader (1717-80. Scenes from the life of John the Baptist are in the nave. This is very effective and it is as if the vaults have opened up. The vision of  St John at Patmos is over the choir. Stucco work is by Thassilo Zopf, a rococo master from Wessobrunn. In his hands architecture dissolved into ornamentation. He also built the high altar structure with a Crucifixion painting by Baader.  The figures of the two St Johns are by FX Schmadl. The side altar on the right,  by Schmadl,  is dedicated to St Agatha, the patron saint of the Wessobrunn artists. I remember this particularly because its dedication kept me baffled during an interminable  German sermon on  a Saturday night.

Scenes from life of John the Baptist

St Agatha altar

Organ gallery