18

discovering

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The Kappler Stöckl shrine in Reischach can be traced back in its present form to Jakob Hueber. The owner of the Angerlechen residence also had the painting installed in the apse. The door lintel bears the date 1681. In 1834 the farmer from the Kappler, Georg Hellweger, purchased the Angerlechen residence. Since then the chapel has been known as Kappler Stöckl.

The Kappler Stöckl shrine in Reischach can be traced back in its present form to Jakob Hueber. The owner of the Angerlechen residence also had the painting installed in the apse. The door lintel bears the date 1681. In 1834 the farmer from the Kappler, Georg Hellweger, purchased the Angerlechen residence. Since then the chapel has been known as Kappler Stöckl.

The miraculous sculpture of Mary with Jesus dates from the last quarter of the 15th century. Today a copy is on display. The legend says that the sculpture was three times brought to the chapel from the church in Reischach and returned there in mysterious fashion. Only after a Dominical cloister was sanctified with prayer, did the miraculous sculpture remain in the chapel. The rosary was still prayed in the Kappler Stöckl on a Sunday until the outbreak of the First World War. The Visitation of the Virgin Mary, the 2nd of July, was once celebrated as the shrine’s saint’s day.

The Kappler Stöckl stands in splendid isolation in the Reischach fields and offers wonderful views in every direction. This structure is clear evidence of why many places of popular piety became established as tourist destinations. For townsfolk and summer visitors it marked a landscape that was felt to be particularly elemental and stood for that holy world that the outsiders sought. For this reason, chapels, wayside shrines and the like often became icons of tourism advertising.

MEHR WENIGER
The Kappler Stöckl, a destination and photographic subject for middle-class daytrippers. Photo by Hermann Mahl, around 1900. Mahl Archive - dipdruck.