Altötting (, , in contrast to " New Ötting"; , ) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, capital of the district Altötting of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. For 500 years it has been the scene of religious pilgrimages by Catholics in honor of Mary, including a visit by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

in 1980 and one by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

in 2006.

History

During the

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...

period, there was a royal palace here. Nearby, King Carloman erected a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery in 876, with Werinolf as first abbot, and also built the abbey church in honour of the Apostle St. Philip. In 907 King Louis the Child gave the abbey ''in commendam'' to Burchard, the Bishop of Passau (903-915), (probably identical with Burchard, second and last abbot). In 910 the Hungarians ransacked and burnt the church and abbey. In 1228 Duke

Louis I, Duke of Bavaria Louis I (; 23 December 1173 – 15 September 1231), called the Kelheimer or of Kelheim, since he was born and died at Kelheim, was the Duke of Bavaria from 1183 and Electoral Palatinate, Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1214. He was the only ...

rebuilt these buildings and, after they were sanctified, placed them in charge of twelve

Canons Regular The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule ( and κανών, ''kanon'', in Greek) and are generally organised into Religious order (Catholic), religious orders, differing from both Secular clergy, ...

, headed by a provost. The canons remained until the secularization of the Bavarian monasteries in 1803. Saint Conrad of Parzham, O.F.M. Cap., (1818–1894) served as porter at the Friary of St. Ann in the city of Altötting for 40 years.

Grace Chapel

This small town is famous for the ''Gnadenkapelle'' ( Chapel of Grace), one of the most-visited

shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

s in Germany. This is a tiny octagonal chapel which keeps a venerated statue of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

. According to the legend, in 1489, a 3-year-old local boy who had drowned in the river was revived when his grieving mother placed him in front of a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary at the high altar. News of the miracle quickly spread, and the chapel was immediately extended by the erection of a nave and a covered walkway. In the Treasure Vault of the Holy Chapel of Altötting is the Golden Horse, or "Goldenes Rössli", a 62 cm-high altarpiece made of gold and gilded silver, with golden figures coated with different coloured enamel. It depicts the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child, and, as children, John the Baptist, John the evangelist and St. Catherine. In the foreground is King

Charles VI of France Charles VI (3 December 136821 October 1422), nicknamed the Beloved () and in the 19th century, the Mad ( or ''le Fou''), was King of France from 1380 until his death in 1422. He is known for his mental illness and psychosis, psychotic episodes t ...

. This masterpiece of the goldsmith's craft was a gift from Isabeau, Queen of France, a member of the Wittelsbach Bavarian royal family. The tradition of Bavaria calls for the heart of the deceased king to be placed in an urn and kept at the chapel at Altötting. The heart of King

Ludwig II of Bavaria Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886), also called the Swan King or the Fairy Tale King (), was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke ...

, the builder of

Neuschwanstein castle Neuschwanstein Castle (, ; ) is a 19th-century Historicism (art), historicist palace on a rugged hill of the foothills of the Alps in the very south of Germany, near the border with Austria. It is located in the Swabia (Bavaria), Swabia regio ...

, lies in this chapel, along with those of his grandfathers and father.

Sights

Other architectural highlights in the town are the twin-towered '' Stiftskirche'', a late Gothic church erected in the early years of the 16th century in order to cater for the growing affluence of pilgrims, and the huge Neo-baroque ''Basilika'', built at the beginning of the 20th century.

Twin towns – sister cities

Altötting is twinned with: *

Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship. However, Częstochowa is historically part of Lesser Poland, not Si ...

, Poland * Fátima, Portugal * Loreto, Italy *

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for its Château fort, a ...

, France * Mariazell, Austria

Notable people

Notable people associated with Altötting: Kriegsminister von Pranckh

* Louis the Child (893-911), East Frankish King * Abraham Megerle (1607-1680), priest and composer * Conrad of Parzham (1818-1894), a saint of the Roman Catholic Church * Siegmund von Pranckh (1821-1888), Bavarian General and Minister of War * Hubert Haider (1879–1971), landscape painter, lived and died at Altötting * Weiß Ferdl (1883-1949), folk singer and actor * Ernst Hiemer (1900-1974), German writer * Paul Augustin Mayer (1911-2010), cardinal * Wilhelm Schraml (born 1935), former bishop of

Passau Passau (; ) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the ("City of Three Rivers"), as the river Danube is joined by the Inn (river), Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is about 50,000, of whom ...

* Hans-Christian Schmid (born 1965), film director and screenwriter * Andreas Hykade (born 1968), animation director * Werner Riess (born 1970), historian * Timo Nagy (born 1983), football player * Christoph Ullmann (born 1983), hockey player * Thomas Kurz (born 1988), football player * Maximilian Thiel (born 1993), football player * Richard Neudecker (born 1996), football player

References

External links

* *
Official Tourist information (in German and English)

- New Pictures Altötting {{DEFAULTSORT:Altotting Altötting (district) Catholic pilgrimage sites