Bretten/Neibsheim und Büchig: Kapellenweg

Hiking in Christian footsteps.
There are several chapels around Neibsheim.

Follow the BLUE hiking trail markers!

Follow the BLUE hiking trail markings!

The most famous is the Marienkapelle on the Adlersberg: The Marienkapelle was first mentioned in a petition for a bell to the bishop on July 21, 1703, and in 1729 a request for permission to build a new chapel was recorded in a document. The financing was to be secured by an officer who sought shelter in the old chapel during a battle on the Adelsberg and prayed for his life to be spared. Several years passed before the new building was completed, during which the bureaucracy of the church and the resistance of Cradinal Schönborn were to blame. The foundation stone was finally laid and the church consecrated on September 9, 1737, and it took four years to complete. In order to ensure protection against theft and to support the occasional masses in the chapel, it was decided in 1744 to permanently house a hermit in the chapel. The first hermit took up his post in 1745. One of the hermits, Joseph Winkler, was buried in the vestibule of the chapel, as evidenced by a gravestone. The strong bond between the people of Neibsheim and their chapel is evidenced by countless donations from Neibsheim citizens for the preservation of the chapel.

The Chapel of the Golden Cross in Büchig and St. Anthony's Chapel in Michental are not as large, but still worth a visit.

Antonius Chapel:
At the edge of the forest in Micheltal, next to the footpath to Bretten, stood a stately oak tree, in which an image of St. Anthony had grown since "ancient times".

In 1842, the master mason Lutz from Bretten hanged himself from this very oak tree.As this place was now desecrated, the oak was felled and the image of the saint was cut out, so that the memory of the saint was not lost, the local council decided to build a small chapel on the site, which was financed by generous donations from the citizens of Neibsheim. It was completed in 1845 and no longer contains the image mentioned above, but a figure of St. Anthony that presumably came from the dissolution of a monastery.

There is a Marian grotto in the old cemetery next to the church of St. Mauritius and another small chapel next to the rectory.</p