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Villages / Valais / Visp district / Mariä Heimsuchung Chapel

Mariä Heimsuchung Chapel

Site Canton of Valais · District: Visp · Uninhabited site (municipality of Visperterminen)
Part of the municipality of Visperterminen
Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Must-see historical sites Remains Legends Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Mariä Heimsuchung Chapel

The chapel is dedicated to the Visitation of the Virgin, in German Mariä Heimsuchung. As it stands in the middle of the forest, it is also called the forest chapel (Waldkapelle).[1][3]

Founding of Mariä Heimsuchung Chapel

This pilgrimage chapel arose from a pious endowment in the mid-17th century, in the forest about half an hour's walk above the village of Visperterminen. It is reached by a path lined with ten 17th-century station chapels. Chapel and path are listed together in the inventory of cultural property.[1][2][5][6]

History of Mariä Heimsuchung Chapel

1619. Date of the organ kept in the chapel, older than the building itself.[1][8][9]

1652. Endowment of the forest chapel, dedicated to the Visitation. The date is carved on the lintel of the main entrance, with the monogram CR, probably that of the «Prismeller» Christian Ragutz of Rima (Italy).[1][5][6][7]

1654. The grille of the right-hand side chapel is put in place.[6]

1665. The high altar, showing the Assumption, is completed. It is regarded as a masterpiece of the late Renaissance.[6]

17th century. In the later part of the century, construction of the ten station chapels along the pilgrimage path.[1][5][6][7]

1691. Johann Sigristen (1653-1710) of Brig-Glis carves the altar of the right-hand side chapel.[6]

1730-1740. A splendid new chapel is built 200 m north-east of the forest chapel.[5][6][7]

around 1749 or 1818. The organ, probably first given to the parish church of Visp, comes to the forest chapel.[8]

1756. An earthquake damages the chapel and tears dangerous breaches in the walls of the new chapel.[1][5][6][7]

1823. In danger of collapse, the altar of the new chapel is removed. It now serves as high altar of the parish church of Visperterminen. The old chapel again becomes the only shrine of the pilgrimage.[5][6][7]

1855. Another earthquake. The vault of the old chapel collapses, burying many statues, paintings and ex-votos.[1][5][6][7]

1965. Restoration of the chapel. In the same year the Kuhn firm of Männedorf restores the organ.[1][8]

1985-1993. New renovation, on which occasion the parish publishes a booklet on the shrine.[6]

Historic sites in Mariä Heimsuchung Chapel

Chapel path (Kapellenweg). Listed with the chapel as cultural property of regional importance (category B), the path is lined with ten historic chapels. A marked 9.3 km loop starts and ends at the Giw chairlift (1'376 m), takes about 2 hours 45 minutes and also follows the Bodmeri Suone irrigation channel. The chapels along the path depict the joyful and sorrowful mysteries of the rosary.[2][3][5][7]

Organ of 1619. The instrument bears the date 1619 beneath a donor's coat of arms, probably that of Johann In Albon, banneret of the Zenden of Visp. Its builder is unknown. It is said to be the oldest Valais organ preserved in its original state. Its mechanism may even go back to the 16th century, perhaps to 1563.[1][5][6][8][9]

Altars and statues. The high altar shows the Assumption, the altar of the left-hand side chapel the Coronation of the Virgin. The miraculous image is a small statue of the Virgin and Child. A crowned Virgin stands in a niche above the entrance, and a statue of Brother Klaus in the right-hand side chapel.[5][6]

Remains in Mariä Heimsuchung Chapel

Ruin of the new chapel. Of the large 18th-century chapel only a ruin remains, 200 m north-east of the shrine.[5][6][7]

Legends of Mariä Heimsuchung Chapel

The hollow fir. According to oral tradition, an image of the Virgin was once venerated in a hollow fir tree. Stillborn children were brought there in the hope of a sign of life that would allow them to be baptised.[6]

Sources

  1. Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (version allemande du Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse), « Visperterminen » (Alois Grichting, version du 27.12.2014)
  2. Office fédéral de la protection de la population (PBC), « Révision Inventaire PBC 2021 : liste cantonale Canton du VS » (état au 1.1.2026)
  3. Valais/Wallis Promotion (valais.ch), « Kapellenweg Visperterminen und Bodmeri Suone »
  4. geo.admin.ch, service de recherche de swisstopo (Waldkapelle, Visperterminen)
  5. Paroisse de Visperterminen (pfarreiheidadorf.ch), « Waldkapelle + Kapellenweg »
  6. Schweizerische Kirchenzeitung, Brigitte Burri, « Das Juwel des Kapellenwegs »
  7. Heidadorf Visperterminen (heidadorf.ch), « Kirchen und Kapellen »
  8. Orgelbau Th. Kuhn AG (orgelbau.ch), fiche de l'orgue de la Waldkapelle de Visperterminen (restauration de 1965)
  9. 1815.ch, « Visperterminen | Wallfahrtskapelle Mariae Heimsuchung »

Other villages near Mariä Heimsuchung Chapel

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