Wayside Shrines

Within the Eastern Hesse Ensemble stand two wayside shrines that are copies of works by the stonemason and sculptor Rainer Landgraf. These sculpted shrines and columns were erected all over the Fuldaer Land, especially along the confessional borders to the west, the north and the east of the region to mark the emergence of a renewed Catholicism after the Thirty Year War (1618 to 1648). They were erected as a way of gratitude for the survival of an illness or danger or as a memento of a pilgrimage and served as a devotional aid for others in similar situations of hardship and adversity and for private prayers. The oldest surviving wayside shrines in the region date back to the 16th century and the latest were erected in the 1950s. The golden age for the shrines and crosses were the 18th and 19th centuries.

The original column erected in 1714 by Johannes Plappert and his wife Barbara Plappertin is still situated on the highest point of the path leading from Oberbernhards to Kleinsassen. It depicts the 14 Holy Helpers, saints who, as a comprehensive group, were considered particularly effective intercessors in times of distress. The worship of the 14 Holy Helpers dates back to the late Middle Ages. Apart from St. Giles, all the saints died – according to tradition – as martyrs as a consequence of the persecution of Christians between the 2nd and 4th centuries. At the time, believers passing the depiction would have easily identified the individual saints by their attributes. Since then, this everyday knowledge has been widely lost, so here is a list of the Helpers and their attributes: Blaise with crossed candles, Barbara with a chalice and palm leaf, Margaret with a dragon, sword and palm leaf, Catherine with a wheel and palm leaf, Christopher with Christ Child, Giles with a hind and bishop’s crook, Cyriacus with a book and cross, Agathius with a branch of thorns, George with a lance, Erasmus with a winch and bishop’s crook Pantaleon with hands raised above his head, Sixtus with a bishop’s crook and a further staff, Eustace with a big cross, Denis carrying his head in his hands.

The Plappert Wayside Column is considered one of the finest in the region of Fulda – thanks to its overall composition, consisting of the square plinth and the twisting column decorated with vines and the Corinthian capital that carries the elaborately carved shrine.