Chapels in the Binntal Landscape Park

Over 20 chapels transform the Binntal Landscape Park into an impressive sacred landscape. Some, such as the Chapel of the Holy Family in Mühlebach, dominate the entire landscape, while others, such as the Maria Hilf forest chapel in Ernerwald, are well hidden and only reveal their baroque beauty to a few insiders.

In the village and hamlet, in the forest and in the remote valley, witnesses of popular religiosity emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries. This was not only the time of the Counter-Reformation, but also a time of political stability and economic prosperity in the area of today's Binntal Landscape Park. In the mountain farming society of the time, which was characterized by religious holism, being Catholic was not limited to Sundays and public holidays. On the contrary, people endeavored to give their living environment a religious significance. Churches, chapels, wayside shrines and wayside crosses became links to the supernatural.

In contrast to the High Middle Ages with its great long-distance pilgrimages to Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela, the local area also became worthy of pilgrimage in the Baroque period. This was due to the desire to design the living space as a place of devotion. Two chapels in particular still play a special role as places of pilgrimage in the region: The Maria Hilf forest chapel and the Heiligkreuz pilgrimage chapel.

The local mountain farmers converted the Maria zum Schnee chapel into a cheese cellar in the 19th century. Only a few years ago, the chapel at 2425 m above sea level was extensively renovated.

Heiligkreuz pilgrimage chapel

The Heiligkreuz pilgrimage chapel in the Leng Valley is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the Upper Valais. According to legend, a crusader from Turkish captivity found himself one morning without his shackles at the site of the chapel. The current building dates back to the end of the 17th century. In an effort to give architectural expression to the patron saint of the Holy Cross, the chapel was built in the shape of a cross, which is unknown in this country. The pilgrimage was given a boost by an alleged particle of the Holy Cross, which was donated to the chapel in 1741 by the Superior of the Capuchin Hospice in Ernen and is housed in a carved tabernacle.

Maria Hilf forest chapel

Every year on July 2, the chapel festival is celebrated in the Maria Hilf forest chapel, which was built in 1693. This place of pilgrimage, situated on the steep slope of the Ernerwald forest, still has an important function as a place of supplication for the local population. Since 1860, for example, the inhabitants of the Fieschertal valley have carried out a glacier procession to the Ernerwald on the feast of St. Ignatius (July 31). Until 2010, with the request that the Aletsch Glacier recede its dangerously advancing glacier tongues. Since 2010, however, following a request for change from Pope Benedict XVI, the intention has been the opposite: for the glacier to grow again.

Maria zum Schnee

The Maria zum Schnee chapel, a simple building made of quarrystone masonry, is the highest sacred building in the Binntal Landscape Park and was built in 1662. From the mid-19th century until well into the 20th century, the alpine cooperative used the building as a cheese cellar. The chapel was renovated between 2008 and 2011. None of the chapel's original furnishings were left. A wooden sculpture by the sculptor Erwin Friedrich Baumann was donated to the landscape park for the altar niche. For the windowless north wall, Leipzig artist Michael Dietze painted a three-part oil painting depicting the legend of the origins of the Roman basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

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