Seekirchl Heilig Kreuz, Baroque church in Seefeld in Tirol, Austria.
Seekirchl Heilig Kreuz is a high-baroque octagonal central building with a dome and an attached tower, a rare form in Tyrol. It stands at the edge of the Kirchwald district in Seefeld in Tirol, no longer on an island: the Kreuzsee lake that once surrounded it was drained in 1808. The builder was Innsbruck court architect Christoph Gumpp the Younger.
Archduke Leopold V initiated the church in 1629 as a votive church for a miraculous crucifix; Innsbruck court architect Christoph Gumpp the Younger completed it in 1666. It stood in the Kreuzsee, a lake created by Duke Sigmund the Rich in the 15th century, until the lake was drained in 1808. It then became Seefeld's second pilgrimage church after the parish church.
The church takes its name from the miraculous cross kept inside, a crucifix from the early 16th century that made the Seekirchl a pilgrimage church alongside the parish church. The high altar shows this cross; above the life-size body, whose hair is real human hair, a cartouche reads "Dieser nimt die Sinder auf" with the year 1768.
The church stands on open ground at the edge of the Kirchwald district, not on an island: the Kreuzsee was drained in 1808, so it is reached on foot from Seefeld without a bridge. The octagonal dome and the adjoining tower can be walked around freely; the wrought-iron grille from 1978 now sits under the gallery inside.
The lake that once surrounded the church was created by Duke Sigmund the Rich in the 15th century and drained in 1808, when the freed land was meant for barley to supply the local brewery; the soil proved unsuitable and the plan was abandoned. The church has stood on dry ground ever since.
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