Holy Cross Chapel

The "Holy Cross Chapel" is a baroque synthesis of the arts which changed a lot over the centuries.

The present chapel, with its baroque frescoes, was probably built soon after the floods of 1786 and 1787. It is a half-open rotunda with a flat dome, crowned by an eye-catching radiant cross with an IHS monogram. A "Holy Spirit Dove" (2008) is in the apex of the dome.

The chapel shelters a life-sized, wood-carved, and completely framed crucifixion group (unknown master artist), which is surrounded by a round dance of angels: seven cut-out-of-boards amorini hold banners with the "Sayings of Jesus on the cross".

The background of the group is the large painting called "Christ's Walk to Golgotha" (early 18th century), presumably painted on the boards by little-known painter Paul Preißl. Some parts of this outstanding painting are unfortunately difficult to read because of the hard and browned layers of varnish, but it is worth studying the details.

On both sides of "Christ's Walk to Golgotha", there are two frescoed medallions depicting four Old Testament scenes. According to Christian tradition, those scenes foreshadow the suffering of Christ: top left, "The Return of the Scouts from the Promised Land"; bottom left, "The Raising of the Bronze Serpent" (the head of Moses was later erased); top right, "Samson brings down the temple"; and bottom right, "David and Goliath", its placement presumably because the scene is badly damaged.

In front of the crucifixion group, there is a baroque wrought-iron grille, supposedly from St. Peter's Cemetery in Salzburg.

On the left side of the group, there is a holy water basin made of stone from the Villa Kielmannsegg in Ischl (Schützenbichl 4).

Until 1890, the chapel had two columns on the street side. They were removed during the road widening.

In 1890, a building was added to the rear of the chapel. The building has been enlarged several times since then.

After being damaged by the flood of 1920, the chapel was restored (see the plaque on the wall on the right dated 1921/1929). At the time, the Rothauers (father and son) were owners of the chapel, and Theodor was involved in the restoration as a craftsman.

Further restorations took place in 1953 and 1983. A comprehensive restoration was done in 2007/8, which included uncovering frescoes that had been hidden for about 160 years, having been painted over in ca. 1845. All of this work was initiated by the Cultural Heritage Society of Bad Ischl (Ischler Heimatverein) which also raised the necessary funds. The highlight was the reattachment of the freshly restored background boards in autumn 2014.

Before the present chapel, it is known that a chapel existed in its place, which was destroyed to some extent during the above-mentioned floods of 1786 and 1787. That earlier chapel was donated by Johann Michael Creuzhuber and Michael Tobias Creuzberger in 1726. Creuzhuber was a clerk of the court and owner of the house at Grazerstrasse 8 (on whose grounds the chapel was built), and Creuzberger was an innkeeper of the Schwarzer Adler inn at Grazerstrasse 10.

In the present chapel, on the wall to the right are their initials as well as the "corner stone" with the year of construction. Their reason for donating the chapel may have been a shipwreck the year before because a votive painting (copy; the original is in the Museum of the Township of Bad Ischl) depicting a shipwreck with the year 1725 has “always” hung in the chapel.

It is thought that Creuzhuber and Creuzberger also donated the statues which are in the existing chapel, and the statues were not lost in the floods of 1786 and 1787, and then replaced.

The background of the crucifixion group, painted on boards, is thought to be even older than the statues. If this is true, the painted boards probably came from the first Calvary Church in Ischl, which was consecrated in 1704, and enlarged in 1714 and 1779. The original boards were replaced by copies in 1983, but were returned to the chapel in 2014.

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