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The riddle of St. Baptist in Attenkirchen leads to Rome

2022-04-15T17:06:10.435Z


The riddle of St. Baptist in Attenkirchen leads to Rome Created: 04/15/2022, 19:00 By: Andreas Beschorner The riddle surrounding the altar of St. Baptist was described by Pastor Stephan Rauscher in the BR program "Bayern Experience" (here a scene). © zz/BR Attenkirchen's pastor Stephan Rausche and journalist Michael Mandlik have explored the history of the altar of St. Baptist together. Her jo


The riddle of St. Baptist in Attenkirchen leads to Rome

Created: 04/15/2022, 19:00

By: Andreas Beschorner

The riddle surrounding the altar of St. Baptist was described by Pastor Stephan Rauscher in the BR program "Bayern Experience" (here a scene).

© zz/BR

Attenkirchen's pastor Stephan Rausche and journalist Michael Mandlik have explored the history of the altar of St. Baptist together.

Her journey led her to Rome.

Attenkirchen/Rome

- It was a bit like in Dan Brown's "Illuminati": searching for traces in Rome, in archives, in old writings to find out a secret.

Of course: Pastor Stephan Rauscher's journey to Rome was not as dramatic and dangerous as in the bestseller.

But the occasion and everything he found out about the riddle of Attenkirchen during his research in the Eternal City, among other things, were at least as exciting as a Dan Brown thriller.

When Rauscher speaks of "we", he means himself and Michael Mandlik.

The special altar

The altarpiece shows the marriage of Mariae.

It probably belongs to the Florentine school.

In addition, other stylistic elements of the altar refer to Rome.

© Mandlik/BR

Both - the pastor and the BR journalist - had been dealing with the "riddle of Attenkirchen" for a good year and a half.

In the end, a 45-minute report ran under this title on Bavarian television.

Starring: Stephan Rauscher.

Yes, the riddle surrounding Attenkirchen could be solved, Rauscher sums up the result.

(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)

Rauscher has been working in Attenkirchen for eight years and has known the St. Johannes Baptist church there for eight years.

And it has a particularly unusual altar: the altarpiece shows the very rare depiction of the marriage of Mariae.

And this picture, according to the art historian Bernhard Graf consulted by Rauscher, is not a peasant painting, but rather belongs to the Florentine school.

In addition, the figures of saints and, above all, the columns on the right and left of the altar reminiscent of the Bernini altar in St. Peter's Basilica - all of this points to Rome.

The trip to Rome

But how, so the big question, did Attenkirchen get such an altar?

What does that have to do with the builders of the church, the Lodron noble family?

Questions that Rauscher and Mandlik pursued – all the way to Rome.

Thanks to the connections that BR journalist Mandlik has in Rome, the duo managed to unravel the mystery.

Everything had been prepared for a long time before Rauscher and Mandlik left for a week in October last year.

Rauscher visited the Görres Institute in Rome and found in the archive of Santa Maria dell' Anima, where German pilgrims used to register in earlier centuries, references to visits from the region around Attenkirchen in the second half of the 18th century.

The breakthrough

And finally he found evidence in the Roman city archives that the Lodron noble family, spread throughout Europe, held Roman citizenship and referred to Roman senators from the Lateran family.

Lateran then became Lodron in German, but the reference to Rome, which was so important to the nobility, was retained and should of course be shown to the outside world.

And also with such a magnificent altar as in Attenkirchen.

And that explains the plaque above the altar with the inscription "Altare privilegiatum" (privileged altar).

"You're in awe of it," says Rauscher, remembering that he was holding old tomes in his hands, including one from the 9th century in the Bavarian State Archives.

"You hardly dare to touch him." Especially as someone

who also studied church history, Rauscher is someone for whom history and historical awareness are important.

This is the only way to understand why people thought and acted the way they did back then.

New impulses

Rauscher is pleased that his and Mandlik's search for traces has now raised awareness of the past in Attenkirchen through the founding of a history working group in the community.

Because there is not much left to be found about the first centuries of Attenkirchen's history, after almost 1000 years of local chronicles fell victim to a village fire in 1762.

The feedbacks

There has already been a lot of positive feedback on the film and its research – including from the research side, says Rauscher.

Since the publication of the BR article, however, Rauscher has had to turn down inquiries as to whether the extraordinary and special altarpiece with the marriage of Mariae could be viewed.

Reason: The picture is covered during Lent.

It will only be unveiled again on Easter Sunday and can be admired - and certainly with different eyes and a new perspective.

Because: "The mystery of Attenkirchen" has been solved.

Some things were of course coincidence – better: divine providence, as Rauscher calls it.

Whether what is now running as a BR contribution on television might also appear as a book one day, he cannot say.

But Rauscher can reveal one thing:

Michael Mandlik couldn't let go of the exciting story of the Lodron noble family, who also left their mark in The Hague in particular.

A follow-up story is planned.

You can find more current news from the district of Freising at Merkur.de/Freising

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-04-15

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