Was it out of gratitude? For repentance? Or out of sheer piety? You don’t know, not anymore. The only thing that is certain is that a noble Ebersberg donor named Georg Hieber donated a Stations of the Cross for his home town exactly 120 years ago. Built in one of the loveliest spots in the district of Ebersberg, along Kapser Allee at the southern entrance to the town. It is lined with maple trees, some of which are 170 years old, and is a listed building: every trunk that falls victim to the ravages of time must be replaced immediately with a new one. This is the only way to preserve the wonderful green line of sight from north to south.
The Ebersberg Beautification Association, which has now taken on the aging Way of the Cross, is also concerned with preserving it. “We take care of things for the heart,” says Georg Schuder, describing the task of the association. About benches, for example, or about hiking trails. “Every generation has to get involved in order to maintain our quality of life – and now it’s our turn,” said the chairman. Together with his fellow board member Thomas Warg, a historian and district local curator, Schuder is leading the way through the avenue this morning to tell a success story: Within just one year, the Way of the Cross was restored and thus a piece of Ebersberg’s cultural history for the decades to come to secure.
At Gut Kaps you can commemorate the passion and at the same time enjoy a beautiful place.
(Photo: Christian Endt)
The work was completed in June and now, on Saturday 3 September, the restoration of the Way of the Cross will be duly celebrated. All those interested are invited to the ecumenical event, which includes a white sausage breakfast – because the place has long enjoyed great popularity. For more than 30 years, numerous believers have been meeting here every first Friday in July and praying the ecumenical Way of the Cross. However, individuals or families often walk the beautiful avenue, look at the panels and enjoy the sensational view.
The avenue that leads to Gut Kaps is a listed building and can be walked by anyone.
(Photo: Christian Endt)
“This is not a private driveway, but a public path that anyone can walk along,” emphasizes Schuder. The avenue is an old service route of the Kaps estate, which now belongs to the Beffa family, but the city has rights of way and maintenance, as Schuder explains. By the way, the estate itself is “ancient”: Already around the year 900, at the time of the Hungarian invasions, it was used by the Ebersberg counts as a lookout point. Later it was part of the monastery as a “Schwaige”, i.e. cattle farm. “A legend says that these two places were connected by an underground passage,” says Warg. Today’s manor from 1686, a two-storey plastered building with a structured facade and a steep gable roof, is also a listed building.
For 120 years now there have been fourteen cast-iron relief panels along the Kapser Weg, fourteen touching pictures, small works of art that depict the path of Jesus from the condemnation by Pontius Pilate to the crucifixion and burial. The panels want to invite you to linger, to pray, to find peace. The Way of the Cross is heralded by a large iron cross on the old pilgrimage route at the beginning of the avenue. It is provided with a cast-iron, gilded figure of Christ. Beneath it hangs an oval plaque: “O wanderer, stand still, Consider your final destination, Do not pass by, Without greetings to Jesus. 1903.” According to local historian Hans Obermayr, it can be assumed that this cross came from the same foundry as the fourteen steles and was also paid for by the same donor. The Ebersberger Way of the Cross is not unique in the district, but according to Schuder there are only two others: in Maria Altenburg and in Anzing.
At the beginning of the avenue is the Kapser Kreuz.
(Photo: Christian Endt)
Although cast from iron, the steles rust over time and therefore require constant care. Restorations were necessary as early as 1930 and 1951, and people were always willing to help. Most recently, in 1983, the Beautification Association took the initiative for a thorough restoration. The panels were rusted, the concrete base was cracked, and there were gaps in the planting. Citizens of Ebersberg worked long hours selflessly, for example replacing the concrete base with native conglomerate, replanting hawthorn and wild roses.
The Lourdes Grotto, a pilgrimage chapel at the end of the Way of the Cross, was also extensively restored by the Beautification Association. The wooden building, open on three sides, with tufa masonry under a group of large linden trees dates from the mid-19th century and is also a listed building. In order to prepare the grotto for the festival on Saturday, Schuder only needs one leafy branch that morning: he quickly removed all the cobwebs with it.
At the end of the Way of the Cross is this Lourdes grotto.
(Photo: Christian Endt)
However, wind and weather had just hit the Way of the Cross again. But club member Mathias Larasser-Bergmeister, a metal art specialist, made the cast-iron stations fit again for the next few decades, and master painter Markus Hueler renewed the painting – “both for a reasonable price,” as Schuder emphasizes. It was no problem at all to find supporters for the restoration and to collect the costs of 23,000 euros. The Beffa family was there immediately, as were the Catholic parish, the city and various other donors. “In this respect, this campaign is another good example of how much can be achieved if everyone helps,” says Schuder. Be it out of gratitude, piety or any other reason.
It’s clear that both Schuder and Warg are proud of their homeland. For their beauty as well as for their rich history. For example, there was a Celtic rampart in a field right next to the avenue, says the district homesteader, and several finds from the Bronze Age and even Stone Age have recently appeared in the city area. “So this area was settled much earlier!”
Are proud of their homeland: Thomas Warg (left) and Georg Schuder.
(Photo: Christian Endt)
No wonder that the Ebersberger Beautification Association does not run out of ideas so quickly. “If you go through life with your eyes open, you see that there is so much to do,” says Schuder. Accordingly, the next two major projects are already pending. First of all, in cooperation with the city, one would like to redesign the surroundings of the observation tower in order to put this landmark of Ebersberg in the right light again and to create a new meeting place. Site fences, power boxes and broken steps are to be removed, access is to be improved and made easier, and a large playground near the forest museum is also planned. “There is so much infrastructure there that we have to use,” explains Schuder. In addition, the recently rediscovered fountain in the forest should also become an attraction, the surroundings of which the association wants to design in cooperation with the state forests. Lots of things for the heart.
Restoration of the Way of the Cross at Gut Kaps in Ebersberg, ecumenical celebration on Saturday 3 September at 10 am.