Kreuzkapelle, Arnoldstein

The Chapel of the Cross on the eastern outskirts of the village on the old main road of Arnoldstein in Carinthia is a three-part chapel built between 1529 and 1659 by abbots of the nearby Arnoldstein Abbey.

The oldest part of the chapel houses a figure carved into a rock by the Seltschach stream at the beginning of the 16th century by an unknown stonemason, which represents the crucified Christ. According to legend, the crucifix grew out of the stone; presumably, it was a site of pagan beliefs that people wanted to "Christianize" by building a chapel. The Arnoldstein abbot Benedikt Taxer had this chapel built in 1529 to protect this figure against the rock and across the stream. The crucifix, inscribed with the year 1517, forms the altarpiece. On the outer wall of the arched hall, open to the street, there are frescoes. To the left of the entrance, a votive painting illustrates the reason for the construction of the chapel: a farmer kneeling thanks God for the miracle that his cattle, struck by lightning, had sunk to the ground in front of the cross without suffering any damage. In this painting, besides the farmer, his horse and two oxen can be seen in front of a cart loaded with two barrels. Below an inscription explains the reason for the construction of the chapel: "By a glantz the cattle here falls to the ground, but God preserves it to the farmer without damage. This moved Abbot Benedict to build the cross, in whose honor the chapel is built on stone. This happened in the year 1592." The year is obviously a "mistake in numbers", because Abbot Benedict died already in 1552. The second votive picture to the right of the entrance reminds of another miracle, when a count survived a fall from a horse, injured, but "in his right mind". This picture is inscribed with the year 1539.

Above the chapel, on the rock, another, much larger chapel was built under Abbot Nonnosus Ritter from 1659. The building, completed in 1666, is accessible only by a bridge over the hillside. The way into the building leads through a columned loggia and a portal with a sprinkled triangular pediment. Above the entrance you can see a picture with God the Father turning the screw of a winepress, which is painfully pressed into Jesus' head. The chapel's altarpiece depicts Mary's pain before the cross. The side walls are decorated with depictions of the legend of the finding of the cross, and with explanations in German.

On the opposite side of the road, separated from the lower chapel by a driveway, is another, smaller chapel with a late Baroque painting depicting the Carrying of Christ to the Cross and prayer benches for the faithful.