Koasa Trail Stage 3
Answers to possible reasons for the construction at this extraordinary location and the name of the chapel can be found by the population in oral tradition through various legends. In all these explanatory tales, the figure of the devil plays a role.
Beda Weber already provides a narrative in 1837, according to which the chapel was built on the isolated rock "after a wicked little devil had been banished from the place, which teased and mocked the passing churchgoers." A second variant, also known in nearby Kössen, tells of a girl who wanted to dance insatiably. She ultimately danced with the devil, whose animal feet were revealed when she was led to this chapel by the dancer. According to another tale, the devil wanted to prevent a peasant woman from building a chapel in gratitude for having successfully overcome an illness to honor the Mother of God, and in anger hurled a mountain peak from the Kaisergebirge down onto the construction site. However, through the prayer of the peasant woman, the rock only slowly sank down, embedding itself in the ground as if it had been placed there. As a token of gratitude, the chapel was erected.
In any case, it is striking to see an attempt at interpreting a site that appears at least ancient through baroque art and Christian beliefs of that time. A comparison and kinship of the rock sanctuary with that of Maria Stampfanger near Söll is also not to be dismissed.
The chapel is constructed as a post structure with vertical wooden cladding, a recessed, straight-closing altar niche, and a curved, shingle-covered gable roof, and is accessed via a staircase made of natural stone masonry that is placed against the rock. The wooden cladding was largely renewed in 1983 during the last restoration of the chapel. One enters the prayer room through a simple, rectangular wooden door, the walls of which are painted with a red brick pattern. Unfortunately, the majority of the originally very rich inventory was stolen. Only from the literature do we know of three votive paintings from the 18th century, which in turn allow conclusions to be drawn about the baroque origin of the chapel: one depiction was of Christ at the Mount of Olives, the other two (dated 1729 and 1743) were dedicated to the Altöttinger Gnadenmadonna. When the furnishings of the chapel were renovated in 1957 by Peter Thaler from St. Johann in Tirol, the two panels from 1729 and 1743 had already disappeared. The altar figure of the Black Madonna of Altötting (notable for its white face) was no longer present at that time and had been replaced by the Sacred Heart image, which is still visible today in the blue-painted altar niche behind the baroque honeycomb grille. The third votive painting and another one from the year 1865 featuring a depiction of Our Lady of Help must have been lost shortly thereafter. From the baroque cycle of paintings in oil on wood under the gable roof, only the central depiction of St. Michael as the soul-weigher remains original. The other four scenes (Annunciation, Nativity, Flight into Egypt, Holy Change) were recreated during the 1957 renovation by Berta Thaler, daughter of Peter Thaler from St. Johann in Tirol, based on motifs by Giotto. But these representations were also stolen; today, only the copies painted from photographic templates by the Kitzbühel restorer Hermann Mayr remain.
At the foot of the rock block is the brick niche roadside shrine with a shingle-roofed gable and a wooden balustrade in front of the segment arch niche. In 1977, during the renovation of the shrine by the owning family, the crucifix in the niche was newly crafted in place of the stolen one.
Literature Reference: Dorfbuch Kirchdorf in Tirol