Hardtkapelle, Chapel in Wielenbach, Germany

Hardtkapelle is a plastered hall chapel built in 1865/1866 near the Hardt farmstead in Wielenbach, with a tower and pointed spire on the west facade and a recessed polygonal choir. Its white front wall has three tall arched windows with dark latticework, and the portal tympanum shows a weathered relief of a seated Christ with two supplicants.

The chapel was built in 1865/1866 near the Hardt farmstead and is dedicated to Saint Anne, the mother of Mary. A stone with a footprint-shaped hollow, the Teufelstritt, comes from an earlier building on the same spot; a chapel was erected over it for protection. According to legend, the hollow formed around 1250 during a grazing-rights dispute between the parishes of Haunshofen and Weilheim.

The patron saint is Anne, mother of Mary; the altar is flanked by wall paintings of Anne and Joachim, her parents. The carved altar holds a Madonna and Child, a copy by Johann Baptist Baader (around 1765/69) of a Cranach painting, venerated as a miraculous image. The antependium depicts the legendary Teufelstritt, with the two disputing parties and a young mediator placing his left foot on a stone.

The chapel stands near the Hardt farmstead outside Wielenbach, with the neo-Gothic Way of the Cross of 15 tuff-stone stations just north of it. The terrain is open farmland rather than a marked reserve, so approach on foot from the surrounding lanes and allow time to walk the stations.

The stone with the footprint-shaped hole is said to come from a predecessor building on the same spot. Legend dates it to around 1250, when the devil stepped into the stone during a grazing-rights dispute between Haunshofen and Weilheim and declared the Hardt to belong to Haunshofen. The chapel was built over the stone to protect it.