Grundhof Chapel Furtwangen-Rohrbach

Owned by Christa and Franz Fehrenbach, built around 1600 (no exact dates available).

The patron saint of the chapel is Mary Annunciation, renovated in 1901 by Felix Fehrenbach, renovated in 1974 by Alfred Fehrenbach.

The farm was first mentioned in 1361. Hans Wintermantel was probably the chapel builder. Wintermantel lived on the farm from 1361 to 1890. Based on the air bubbles in the panes, the Freiburg Monuments Office assumes that the chapel was rebuilt around 1700, the round windows bricked up and the square windows inserted. The entrance to the chapel used to be on the weather side and led straight to the altar.

Mr Fehrenbach tells us what it was once like on the Grundhof:

The First Bell was a "Dunderwetterglöckchen" (thunderstorm bell) with the effect of driving away thunderstorms; it was decorated with a silver ring. In 1700, the bell was taken down and placed at the back of the meadow. Pranksters (thieves) immediately stole the silver ring. Secularisation came in 1804 and it was forbidden to ring the thunder bell. If you rang the storm bell, it drove the storm away from the farm and it moved on to your neighbour; if he didn't have a storm bell, the whole mass of water would come down on him. Then it was possible that his grain field would be flooded or it would run down the stream, leaving them with no supplies in winter. A bronze bell was placed on the chapel, which Kaiser Wilhelm took as cannon fodder. In 1927, Felix Fehrenbach put a new bell on it and added an inscription:

"The second bell died away in the war,

then the hope of victory faded."

In autumn 1943, Hitler wanted another bell from Felix Fehrenbach, the two craftsmen, master carpenter Offenburger from Rohrbach and master wainwright Wehrle from Schönenbach, were supposed to take the bell down, but when they left the verse, they decided that the bell should remain hanging. So the verse made a difference and the second bell survived the Second World War.

The bell was rung in the morning to get up, at midday for lunch and in the evening for prayer. The bell was rung when something happened on the farm, e.g. if a prankster was up to mischief or if there was a fire on the farm. If a calf was born, the bell was rung normally. If someone died on the farm, they were laid out in the parlour until they were taken to the cemetery; the bell was rung on the way to the cemetery. If the deceased moved along the way, the bell was also rung. The bell was rung from courtyard to courtyard until he was within sight of the village church. (Quote from Mr Fehrenbach)

One legend says:

If death walks across the field and the bell is not rung, he will take one from this property.

Below the chapel stood the oldest and largest maple tree in Germany, it was 700 years old, as can be seen from the rings on the trunk.

In 1891, the courtyard (the original courtyard from 1200) burnt down and the maple tree was damaged for the first time.

In 1974, the farm burned down for the second time and the maple suffered again. Remains can still be seen today.

There is a beautiful Stations of the Cross hanging in the chapel. This is thanks to an ox that the farm owner had traded for it.