Calvary (sanctuary)

A calvary, also called calvary hill, Sacred Mount, or Sacred Mountain, is a type of Christian sacred place, built on the slopes of a hill, composed by a set of chapels, usually laid out in the form of a pilgrims' way. It is intended to represent the passion of Jesus Christ and takes its name after Calvary, the hill in Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified. These function as greatly expanded versions of the Stations of the Cross that are usual in Catholic churches, allowing the devout to follow the progress of the stages of the Passion of Christ along the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. Each chapel contains a large image of the scene from the Passion it commemorates, sometimes in sculpture, that may be up to life-size. This kind of shrine was especially popular in the Baroque period when the Holy Land was under Ottoman Turkish rule and it was dangerous and highly difficult to make a pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Calvaries were especially popular with the Franciscan and Jesuit orders, and are most common in Italy, the Catholic regions of Germany, and Habsburg-ruled Central Europe. They were usually placed in parks near a church or a monastery, typically on a hill which the visitor gradually ascends. Italian ones are usually called a sacro monte ("holy mountain" or "hill"); there are a group of nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy that are especially notable; their dates of foundation vary between 1486 and 1712. Devotions would be most popular in Passion Week, before Easter, when large processions around the stations would be held, and mystery plays might also be acted. If a calvary was established in an inhabited place, it might result in a location of a new village or town. Several villages and towns are named after such a complex. Terminology The Mount of Calvary was the site outside the gates of Jerusalem where the crucifixion of Christ took place. The scene was replicated around the world in numerous "calvary hills" after the Counter-Reformation and they are used by Roman Catholics in particular as part of their worship and veneration of God. The term is derived from St Jerome's Ecclesiastical Latin translation in the Vulgate of the Aramaic name for original hill, Golgotha, where it is termed calvariae locus "the place of the skull". Martin Luther translated Golgatha as "skull place" (Scheddelstet). This translation is debated; at the very least it is not clear whether it referred to the shape of the hill, its use as a place of execution or burial or refers to something else. "Calvary hill" today refers to a roughly life-size depiction of the scenes of the Passion of Christ, with sculptures of additional figures. These scenes are set up on the slopes of a hill. The traditional fourteen Stations of the Cross are usually laid out on the way up to the top of the pilgrimage hill and there is often a small, remote church or chapel located between a few dozen to several hundred metres away. Calvary hills must not be confused with calvaries, which are a specific type of wayside monumental crucifix, a tradition mostly found in Brittany especially in the Finistère, built in parish closes between 1450 and the 17th century. Calvaries in the world Austria Burgenland Calvary Hill, Bergkirche in Eisenstadt Calvary Hill, Frauenkirchen Calvary Hill, Lockenhaus in Neusiedl am See in Pinkafeld Carinthia in Sankt Paul im Lavanttal in Sankt Stefan im Gailtal Lower Austria near the Aggsbach Charterhouse in Aggsbach, a village in the Wachau in Falkenstein in the wine quarter in Kirchberg am Wechsel in Lilienfeld, largest calvary hill in Austria in Marbach an der Donau in Maria-Lanzendorf near Vienna in Pillersdorf in the wine quarter Calvary Hill, Retz in Eggenburg in Zwettl Upper Austria Calvary Hill, Aigen in the Mühlkreis in Freistadt Calvary Hill, Gosau Calvary Hill, Kremsmünster in St. Martin im Innkreis in Schwertberg Salzburg Calvary Hill, Maria Bühel Calvary Hill, Maria Plain in Oberndorf bei Salzburg Styria Calvary Hill, (Bruck an der Mur) Calvary Hill, (Deutschfeistritz) Kalvarienberg (Graz) Calvary Hill, Leoben in Sankt Margarethen bei Knittelfeld Calvary Hill (Sankt Radegund bei Graz) Calvary Hill, (Feldbach) Tyrol Calvary Hill Chapel, Arzl, in the Innsbruck quarter of Arzl in Kufstein Calvary Hill, Thaur Vienna in Hernals Belarus in Miadziel (a small town north of Minsk (Мядзел)) in Minsk (Мінск) Belgium in Moresnet/Plombières in Malmedy Bolivia Cerro Calvario Canada The Oka Calvary Trail near Oka, Québec Croatia Calvary Hill near Aljmaš Czech Republic in Jiřetín pod Jedlovou in Cvikov Ethiopia Lalibela England Mount St Bernard Abbey, Leicestershire. Germany (in alphabetical order by place) Calvary Hill, Ahrweiler (with Kalvarienberg Abbey), Ahrweiler, county of Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate Calvary Hill, Aiterbach, Aiterbach, county of Freising, Bavaria Calvary Hill Chapel, Altomünster in Bad Kissingen in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler (as a school) in Bad Laer in Bad Tölz, Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, Bavaria in Berchtesgaden Calvary Hill, Bergheim, Bergheim, Rhein-Erft-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia in Bidingen, county of Ostallgäu in Birkungen (Thuringia) in Burladingen in Cham (Upper Palatinate) in Donauwörth Calvary Hill, Dorweiler, Dorweiler, county of Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia in Ebnath in the Oberpfalz in Falkenberg (Oberpfalz) in Fichtelberg (Oberfranken) in Fulda Calvary Hill, Füssen, county of Ostallgäu, Bavaria Calvary Hill, Greding, county of Roth, Bavaria in Görlitz in the Heiligen-Grab-Ensemble Calvary Hill, Gundelsheim, Württemberg in Immenstadt near the Pilgrimage Church, Allerheiligen in Jettingen-Scheppach in the pilgrimage village of Kinzweiler Calvary Hill, Kirchenthumbach, Kirchenthumbach, county of Neustadt an der Waldnaab, Bavaria (Klosterlechfeld see below) in Konnersreuth Calvary Hill, Lauterhofen, county of Neumarkt in the Oberpfalz, Bavaria in Lenggries in Lübeck (Jerusalemsberg) in Marsberg at Kreuzberg Abbey in the Rhön Calvary Hill, Neusath, county of Schwandorf, Bavaria in Ostritz, Sachsen at St. Marienthal Abbey Calvary Hill, Parsberg, county of Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate, Bavaria in Peiting in Upper Bavaria in Pfreimd in Pillig in Rhineland-Palatinate in Pobenhausen and also in Palling, both in Upper Bavaria in Possenhofen municipality of Pöcking on Lake Starnberg in the Devil's Cave near Pottenstein Calvary Hill, Prüm, Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm, Rhineland-Palatinate Calvary Hill, Alendorf, in the municipality of Blankenheim Calvary Hill, Reicholzried in Sichtigvor on the Loermund in Stühlingen Calvary Hill, Schwabegg, county of Augsburg, Bavaria in Sonthofen in Straelen on the Lower Rhine bei Wettenhausen in the municipality of Kammeltal in Wenigmünchen (near Munich) in Xanten am Niederrhein in Zell in the Wiesental chapel on the Möhrenberg the Calvary Hill at the pilgrimage site of Klosterlechfeld in Bavaria there is not stations of the cross path, but a monument with outside staircase. Greece on the hill of Filerimos on Rhodes Hungary Calvary Hill in Pécs Italy Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy Sacro Monte di Varallo Sacred Mount Calvary of Domodossola San Vivaldo Monastery in Montaione Sacro Monte di Orta Sacro Monte di Varese Sacro Monte di Crea Sacro Monte di Ghiffa Sacro Monte di Ossuccio Sacro Monte di Oropa Sacro Monte di Belmonte Lithuania Žemaičių Kalvarija Kalvarija, Lithuania Verkiai Calvary Poland Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, near Kraków Góra Kalwaria, near Warsaw Wejherowo, near Gdańsk Kalwaria Pacławska, near Przemyśl Kalwaria Panewnicka, in Katowice Pakość, near Inowrocław Góra Świętej Anny, near Opole Wambierzyce, near Kłodzko Ujście, near Piła Krzeszów, near Wałbrzych Pszów, near Wodzisław Śląski Bardo, near Kłodzko Piekary Śląskie, near Bytom Głotowo, near Olsztyn Wiele, near Chojnice Kodeń, near Biała Podlaska Romania in the village of Billed, county of Timiș Slovakia Kalvária Banská Štiavnica Prešov Spišský Jeruzalem Bratislava - the oldest calvary in Hungarian kingdom Marianka Skalica Rožňava Nitra Doľany, Pezinok District Slovenia in Šmarje pri Jelšah Kalvarija (Maribor) Spain in Poll ença United States Assumption Chapel, near Cold Spring, Minnesota Calvary Hill (formerly), St Cloud, Minnesota Way of the Cross, New Ulm, Minnesota Wales St David's Capuchin Friary, Pantasaph, Flintshire See also blessed Alvarez of Córdoba Christian Kruik van Adrichem Stations of the Cross References Literature German: Atlas der europäischen Heiligen Berge, Kalvarienberge und Devotionsstätten (in German), Turin: Direktion für Tourismus, Sport und Gärten der Region Piemont, 2003 Walter Brunner (1990), Steirische Kalvarienberge (in German), Graz etc.: Schnider, ISBN 3-900993-02-5 Elisabeth Roth (1967), Der volkreiche Kalvarienberg in Literatur und Bildkunst des Spätmittelalters (in German) (2nd ed.), Berlin: Erich Schmidt – Philologische Studien und Quellen 2, ISSN 0554-0674 Louise-Marie Tillet (1989), Reisewege durch die Bretagne. Calvaires und romanische Kirchen (in German), Würzburg: Echter Verlag, ISBN 3-429-01186-8 Kath. Pfarramt; Maria Himmelfahrt; Johannes Port (1989), Der Kalvarienberg zu Wettenhausen. Gebete und Geschichte einer altehrwürdigen Wallfahrtsstätte (in German), Kammeltal: s. n. French: Yves-Pascal Castel (1997), Croix et calvaires en Bretagne. = Kroaziou ha kalvarihou or bro (in French), Trelevenez: Minihi levenez, ISBN 2-908230-09-7 – also in the Breton language Marc Déceneux (2001), La Bretagne des enclos et des calvaires (in French), Rennes: Ouest-France, ISBN 2-7373-2261-8 – Mémoires de l'histoire Yannick Pelletier (1996), Les enclos Paroissiaux de Bretagne (in French), Paris: Gisserot – Les universels Gisserot 13, ZDB-ID 2216999-4 External links Documentation centre for Sacri Monti, calvary hills and European sites of commemoration Elżbieta Bilska-Wodecka, European Calvaries: Analysis of Structures, Types and Origins Sacri Monti: From Jerusalem to Sacred Mounts Polish Calvaries: Architecture as a Stage for the Passion of Christ