Chapels of St. Wendelin, Budenheim, Chapels in Budenheim, Germany

The Chapels of St. Wendelin are two chapels in the Lennebergwald forest on the border of Budenheim and Mainz-Gonsenheim. The older, smaller chapel (1776) is a late Baroque hipped-roof building; the year 1814 above its entrance marks a renovation. The newer, larger chapel (1862–1866) is a Neo-Gothic quarry-stone building diagonally opposite, with a slate roof and a small tower added after 1880.

The first small building at this spot was replaced in 1776, paid for by local people during an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease among their animals. The larger one was requested by citizens in 1862 and finished in 1866, with its spire added after 1880.

The chapels are dedicated to Saint Wendelin, patron saint of shepherds and farmers; the older one is said to have been donated by Budenheim residents after foot-and-mouth disease struck their livestock. Each year on the third Sunday of October the Budenheimer Wendelinus pilgrimage leads to both chapels. The year 1814 carved above the older chapel's entrance records a renovation, not its construction.

Visitors can walk between the two buildings on short paths that are easy to follow. The forest ground is sandy and dry, so shoes with a bit of grip work well after rain.

The two buildings face each other from opposite sides of a small clearing, showing two very different building fashions in one view. The forest floor here sits on old sand dunes, so the ground underfoot feels different from the heavy soil found in nearby fields.