Pestkapelle Pestkapelle

Plague Chapel | Ehrwalder Alm

The plague chapel is located in the Gaistal, just under an hour's walk east of the Ehrwald Alm.

When the plague claimed many lives in Ehrwald in 1634, the inhabitants wanted to make a pilgrimage to Seefeld to the Holy Blood. However, they were forced to turn back at the border to Leutasch by angry and armed Leutaschers, so that the plague would not be introduced to them as well. The people of Ehrwald then prayed on the spot and vowed to build a chapel there. The altarpiece of the chapel bears witness to this. The plague did indeed stop and in 1639 the plague chapel was built. The small place of prayer is mentioned in the novel "Die Pestkapelle im Gaistal" (The Plague Chapel in the Gaistal) by the curate Josef Praxmarer, who worked in Ehrwald. Every year, on the eve of the bank holidays "Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary", on 14 August, at 9 p.m., the night pilgrimage takes place from the Ehrwald Alm to the Plague Chapel, where the pilgrimage mass is also celebrated. Translated with

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Pfarre Ehrwald
6632 Ehrwald