St. Martin’s Church, Hachiville
Maybe I will never have the chance to visit the pilgrimage site Helzer Klaus, because it was closed at the time I went to St. Martin’s Church in Hachiville, but I want to show you this church though, and its great treasure.
Helzer Klaus was once a pagan place of cult dedicated to a spring goddess, later converted to the cult of the Virgin Mary. And in 1474, it became a Christian pilgrimage site (there is no surprise here. See: Chapel of St. Bartholomew, Wiesenbach, Ulflingen/Ëlwen/Troisvierges, and many other examples on my blog.
Much to my regret, again, I couldn’t find any sufficient information on the place and the church. But here is at least the most important piece of information: it was built in 1775.
The tower in the New-Baroque style.
The Baroque furnishings date from 1778-1780.
And I will soon show you another church in another Luxembourg town, with a similar interior, almost from the same time, which I thought was by the same artist as here – the workshop of Eberhard Hennes from Neuerburg. But it’s not. And in my opinion, it could be also almost mistaken for the masterpieces by Jean-Georges Scholtus (see: here and here) who originated from the Belgian town of Bastogne, but from the times when it had belonged to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
St. Peter
And again, St. Mary Magdalena (see Church of St. Maximin in Pintsch).
And now – the 16th-century Retable, „one of the Luxembourg’s most precious art treasures“. (as it is noticed in many places, e.g. “171 Circuits Auto-pédestres” du Ministère du Tourisme aux éditions Guy Binsfeld).
This carved altar stood originally in the Helzer Klaus, but after being stolen in 1976, it was replaced in the hermitage with a replica and the original piece was brought here – at the church in the settlement.
You can see all the precautions taken to prevent a second theft of the masterpiece.
Old tombstones around the church.
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