churches - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 2015 - 68 Euro Cent

On the so-called Liebfrauenberg in Rankweil (Vorarlberg) sits a highly impressive Roman Catholic fortified church: the parish and pilgrimage church "Our Lady of the Visitation". It was built around 700 AD as a fortified church and was a servant's castle of the Carolingian-Franconian nobility, later the Count of Montfort. After the reconstruction after a fire and numerous reconstructions in Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque style, a Loreto chapel was added in the mid-17th century. The special feature of the church is its front yard with defensive walls and a covered walkway, shooting windows and a complete loop of embrasures. From here you have an impressive view of the upper Rhine Valley, some Swiss mountains, Liechtenstein and the Alps. At times, the parish's sphere of influence covered large parts of Vorarlberg's Vorderland and reached as far as the Swiss Rhine Valley. Today she belongs to the Diocese of Feldkirch, since 1985 she is a Basilica minor. For the many pilgrims who come here annually, the popular pilgrimage church has three peculiarities: the silver cross from the 13th century, the stone of St. Fridolin and the carved linden wood image in the Chapel of Grace, by Johannes Rueland from the Allgäu in the 15th century was made. The legend of Saint Fridolin, who is said to have begged for mercy because he was placed in front of the Gaugericht in Rankweil, is interesting, and so insistent that his knees and arms left traces of imprints. Many prayers push their knees in them to relieve their rheumatism.