The Laurentius Chapel has stood on Mitterlängstrasse for 160 years.
Their original location, however, was further west.
Puchheim
- Because a figure of a saint is said to have drawn attention by knocking, a Puchheim farmer built the Laurentius Chapel on Mitterlängstrasse around 1840.
But the history of the little church goes back much further.
It was mentioned in a visitation report of the parish as early as 1560.
On the road map "Mappa Specialis" around 1776, the St. Lorenz Church is pictured on the road to Olching, today's Eichenauer Strasse, outside of town.
The exact location is easy to understand because the farmer Leonhard Spiegl exposed red bricks from the foundation while plowing.
In addition, residues of mortar and plaster came to light.
The chapel was probably around 18 meters from Eichenauer Straße and was ten meters long and six meters wide.
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The chapel used to stand on a dirt road.
© Schwarzbauer
Its history could, however, go back even further: the patron saint Laurentius often testifies to a very early foundation of the church.
He was held in high regard by the Christian Romans.
The cult of the saint reached Bavaria in the fourth century on the Roman military roads across the Alps.
The fact that the remains of a Roman villa and a Bawar cemetery were found near the chapel on Laurenzerweg speaks for a long history of the chapel.
According to records, the chapel on today's Eichenauer Straße was demolished in 1783 because it was dilapidated.
The stones were used to expand the parish church.
Laurentius died a martyr in Rome in 258.
Legend has it that he came to Rome at a young age and that the Roman bishop Sixtus II appointed him one of the seven deacons of the Eternal City.
The persecutor of Christians, Emperor Valerian, had him tortured to death on a grate over a constantly maintained fire.
That is why St. Lawrence is the patron saint of many professional groups that have to do with open fire, such as firefighters and cooks.
His feast day is celebrated on August 10th.
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The wooden figure of St. Lawrence is no longer in the chapel.
© Schwarzbauer
After the demolition, it took more than 50 years before Anton Obermayer, the Drexler builder, built another Laurentius chapel elsewhere.
According to legend, the figure of the saint, which was kept at Drexlerhof, signaled by knocking that she wanted to “go back to the field”.
Obermayer chose today's Mitterlängstrasse as the location.
At first she stood there between mighty trees in the open field.
In the 1970s, a housing estate was built right up to the chapel.
The previous dirt road became a street and the Laurentius Chapel formed a traffic island with the trees.
Since the street level was higher than the chapel, it was demolished in 1975 and rebuilt at the same height.
During the demolition work, the construction workers discovered a note in the gable with the following content: “This chapel was built in memory of the church that once existed on Olchinger Straße in Acker vom Spiegl, Zum Schmidmichel”.
The chapel was restored by the undersigned in May 1943 in the fourth year of the war. ”Two large linden trees framed the small chapel for many decades.
In 2011 the trees had to be felled due to age and disease and replaced with new ones.
The old wooden figure of St. Lawrence is now housed elsewhere.
A portrait is placed in the chapel.
The series
The history of Puchheim goes back to the year 950.
In the daily newspaper, the cultural association d'Buachhamer looks back on the most important historical events and developments in the place.
If you want to get an impression on site, you can visit the 22 stations of the history trail.