Liebfrauenheide, Church building in Klein-Krotzenburg, Germany.
Liebfrauenheide is a pilgrimage chapel of reddish-brown stone with a steep grey-shingled roof, a projecting porch on dark posts over an arched entry, and an octagonal slate-clad tower topped by a pointed spire. Its side wall has rectangular lattice windows and a low stone bench. Bishop Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler consecrated the building in 1868.
A chapel was first built in 1736 around a wooden image of Mary that shepherds discovered around 1620 in a hollow oak tree near Dreckshausen. The current building was constructed later, after the original sacred object was moved to another church.
Since 1955 the chapel has held Fatima pilgrimages from 13 May to 13 October, introduced by parish priest Jakob Georgen, a devoted Marian worshipper. The wooden image of the Sorrowful Mother found around 1620 is no longer here; it was transferred to the parish church of St. Nikolaus, which now cares for the chapel.
The chapel stands near Klein-Krotzenburg in the Hainburg municipality, looked after by the St. Nikolaus parish. The Fatima pilgrimages run from 13 May to 13 October, so those dates bring more visitors. The site is freely accessible; keep in mind it is an active place of worship.
The wooden image of Mary that sparked the site's founding is no longer kept here but now resides in St. Nicholas Church elsewhere. This separation shows how pilgrimage places shift and change over time.
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