Hubertus Chapel

The second picture shows the chapel before it was repaired by the manufacturer Alfred Dold, who was a passionate hunter.

Saved from decay - Hubertus Chapel thoroughly renovated

The "Alte Gutenhof", whose history dates back to the 15th century, stood with a mill on the valley floor next to the chapel. It burnt down in 1876 without being rebuilt.

The farm chapel, which stood not far away, existed for almost 80 years until it was restored for the first time by the passionate hunter and deceased honorary citizen Alfred Dold and his hunting friends, and in the mid-1950s, as the "Hubertuskapelle", it told the story of the "Alte Guten".

The little bell once donated by the Siedle company in Vöhrenbach, which bears the date 1956, rang out from afar. The old bell had not survived the war. At that time, a fundamental restoration could not take place due to a lack of funds, so that the chapel was once again close to final decay.

At the annual general meeting of the Schönwälder Heimat- und Gewerbeverein in April 1989, the chairman, master stonemason Alois Kaiser, made the proposal to restore the chapel from the ground up and rebuild it according to the old plans and materials. This proposal met with universal approval. A building committee was set up and a restorer was appointed to fulfil the preconditions for obtaining grants from the Monuments Office. It was necessary for the registered local history society to become the owner of the chapel in order to be able to accept donations. A 20-year lease agreement was concluded with the landowner, the municipality of Schönwald, and Hans Göppert drew up a cost estimate of almost 50,000 marks.

The members and friends of the association set to work and tore out the floor of the chapel; the roof and shingles were covered and a new bell tower was put on top. The exterior and interior plaster had to be removed, the chapel drained all around and the floor covered with sandstone slabs using old materials.

Almost 5,000 spruce shingles, made by Josef Kienzler himself and donated by the chapel's owner, give the chapel its attractive exterior. The entrance area with door was redesigned and the windows repaired and freshly painted.

All in all, there is now a pretty chapel overlooking the valley floor with a sober, newly created interior based on old motifs. Two oil paintings hung to the right and left of the altar, created by wood sculptor Robert Dold, depict St Hubertus, patron saint of hunters, and St Wendelin, protector of the farm and domestic animals.

With around 450 hours of labour, the members and friends of the local history and trade association have now recreated a piece of Schönwald's local history.