Vierzehnheiligen

 

SA 4.0 MichaelKR

I approach this post with caution : nothing I write can prepare you for the joyous sight of  this masterpiece. By tradition in 1445 the baby Jesus appeared to the shepherd of Langheim monastery. With Him were 14 children, seven in  red, seven  in white calling themselves the Fourteen Helpers. They insisted that a chapel be built there and then disappeared. Apparently a few days later a sick girl was healed at the site. It became a pilgrimage site. The Cistercian Abbey of  Langheim  succombed to the pressure and built a chapel to the Fourteen Helpers in Need. The chapel was destroyed in the Peasants' War in 1525. It was replaced but again destroyed in the thirty Years War (1618-48).

The Prince Bishops of Bamberg financed the rebuilding and the Abbots of Langheim Stephan Mosinger (1734-51) and Malachias Limmer (1751-1774) commissioned it. In 1735 the Abbot received permission from Prince Bishop Friedfrich Karl von Schonborn to make a start. His choice fell on Gottfried Heinrich Kroner from Weimar. The prince Bishop vetoed it.  Instead in 1742 Balthasar Neumann was appointed to make a building plan and the foundation stone was laid in 1743.During the building Krohner was in charge and the plans formerly agreed were not followed. The result was that the pilgrimage altar, if it was to be the exact apparition site, would be in the nave, rather than the crossing under a dome. 

View of the vaults in the nave looking over the shrine altar to the entrance  CC BY-SA 3.0 Erwin Meier

Prolonged discussion and disagreement followed until Neumann came up with a plan based on the existing structure with a worthy pilgrimage altar site still sited  in the nave. This is the solution we see today. Basically he redesigned the vaulting so the shrine became the central focus and the crossing of little importance .The plan on the ground therefore differs significantly from the vaulting plan. It is a complex and brilliant solution. At ground level there are three longitudinal ovals  making up the nave and choir with two smaller circles making up the transepts. There are two transverse ovals superimposed on top of these to form the crossing and the entrance bay and central part of the nave. As for  the vaults,: they seem to be quite independent of the ground plan. The side walls of the nave are straight, yet on entry all is curvy and the walls seem to melt away as the light floods in. Jacob Michael Kuchel was Neumann's assistant and he was responsible for putting into practice the ideas of his master during his lifetime and after his death in 1753. 

View from the east    CC BY-SA4.0 Ermel

n the Secularisation in 1803 the Cistercians were thrown out of Langheim and our church was robbed of some of its treasures - altarpieces, part of the organ, bells. Pilgrimages were forbidden. In 1835 lighning caused a  fire damaging the roof, the organ and the two towers. In 1839 King Ludwig I put the Franciscans in charge and repair work followed. In 1897 it became a minor Basilica by order of Pope Leo X111. At first the restoration work did not follow Neumann's original intentions and only later in the 20th century have we our Rococo masterpiece back again. Restoration has continued into the 21st century as can be seen from the photo of the shrine altar in 2009 compared to how it is today.

View of the shrine altar in 2009

View down to the  shrine altar  and toward the high altar CC BY-SA 4.0 Ermel

The shrine, (Nothelteraltar), the high altar and the pulpit were all designed by Kuchel. The most important, the shrine, is like a combination of state coach and baldacchino crowned with a sunburst includings four figures of the Christ child and four saints on the corners.t is a unique creation. The superb statues and plasterwork are by Johann Michael and Franz Xavier Feuchtmayer and Johann Georg Ubelherr.  Frankly it is impossible to describe this remarkable object - lets just say it is a marvel of German rococo and kneel before it, as I did in 1990.   

The stucco work by Franz Xavier Feuchtmayer, Johann Michael Feuchtmayer the Younger, and Johann eorg Ublhoiir and paintings by Giuseppe Appiani embellish this interior.

CC BY-SA 4.0 Ermel Rieger organ

There have been organs here since the 18th century. Originally one was in the gallery above the sacristy and the other in the west gallery. In 1999 Rieger created a new organ with 68 stops and there is a mobile 2 manual organ by Eisenbarth in the south transept.

                                           Finally you can hear the organ speak : Lobe den Herren!