Heilig Hüsli

Holy Huesli is the name for the bridge chapel at the former bridgehead of the historic wooden bridge Rapperswil- Hurden in Rapperswil, a part of the Swiss municipality of Rapperswil -Jona in the canton of St. Gallen.

History

The religious building was erected in 1551 in its present form as a stone, on the northern bridgehead of the pier, the former access in today's Fish Market place in the walled Old Town of Rapperswil until 1836. The chapel stands on a roughly four-meter high base, measures just only 2 x 3 meters, with an eaves height of approximately three and a half meters, with a west-facing apse, in which a miraculous image was displayed. A wooden bridge chapel in Rapperswil was first mentioned in 1485; with the greatest probability but should already have been built with the construction of the pier of 1360 a chapel on this stretch of the Camino de Santiago.

After a legal dispute over a pasture of the so-called Wydenklösterlis and the outbreak of an epidemic in the hospital Rapperswil whose last matron, Katharine Scheuchzer was indicted by thoughtless remarks and false accusations out in 1563 as a witch. After cruel torture the old woman was sentenced to death, bound hand and foot and put in a bag at Christmas Huesli drowned in the Upper Lake.

With the construction of the causeway bridges for road and rail transport between the two lake shores and the demolition of the historic pier remained the chapel the only visible remnant of the historic lake crossing. Until the construction of the wooden walkway between Hurden and Rapperswil in 2001, the Holy Huesli was isolated on a small island in Upper Lake in front of Rapperswil and was only accessible by water.

Bridge chapels of the historic pier

The altarpiece, whose outlines are visible inside is issued together with a representation of the Virgin Mary with the dead Christ in the City Museum in Rapperswil. A replica of the artist Marlies Pekarek decorates the interior of the chapel, consecrated and blessed on 7 April 2011 with the intention of returning the bridge chapel to its original purpose. The interior of the chapel is appreciated only by the latticed east side, following an ancient custom of pilgrims coins are thrown into the interior.

The chapel at the southern bridgehead in Hurden

From Gerold Spervogel, administrator of the monastery of Einsiedeln, a sacred building in Hurden was built in 1497 at his own expense, which served as Pigerkapelle near the south bridge head of the pier and is also obtained.

Heritage of national importance

Since 1907, the building is a listed building and is the property of the municipality of Rapperswil -Jona. Restoration work was carried out in 1908, 1930, 1957 and 2010. Chapel is the landmark of the eastern head-piece of the 2001 newly created reconstruction of the historical lake crossing. In the Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National Importance is the bridge chapel, as part of the historically significant remains of the old pier and just a few meters away from the chapel Early Bronze Age wetland soil settlement, listed as a Class A object.