Grössel’s Chapel
A very significant, and and well-known beyond the town of Hrádek nad Nisou, early Baroque monument is known under the name The Grössel’s Chapel or The Grössel’s Cross. There is a similar one, though smaller, further in Kryštofovo údolí.
Located on a private property and hidden behind mature thuya trees, The Grössel’s Chapel remained invisible until 2017, when it was moved to a town’s property at the corner of Nádražní a Žitavská street. Subsequently the chapel was carefully repaired so that it did not lose its historical value.
It is a bay chapel with its main elements made from carved sandstone. It is bricked up by quarry stone and bricks, side and rear walls are plastered, as well as a semicircular bay with a wooden cross. Plinths of columns stand on cuboids which are decorated with a diamond bossage. Above richly profiled ledge there is a semicircular fronton and on its top there are three small plinths, the middle one being decorated with a pine cone, while the others on both sides are decorated with balls.
Very interesting is a stone inscription field which is preserved on the plinth, surrounded by the diamond bossage, giving information on the chapel’s history. The original text is in German, it can be freely translated as: “Look, man! The One is hanging here, before Him everyone strives, yet He has nowhere to sleep; for your life I have to die on the cross; in honour of bitter suffering and the death of our Master Jesus Christ, this chapel was ordered by a honourable man Christoph Grössel, a burgher and a wagoner in the town of Hrádek nad Nisou, and his wife Elisabetha, on November 21st, 1697.”
There used to be another inscription in a semicircular bay of the chapel saying: ”In you I trusted, my Lord, my fate is in your hands. Psalm 30, 15, 16.”
The chapel was presumably originally polychromated;however, it was not possible to identify the colouring, which is the reason for the walls being currently painted in white.
The tombstone of Christoph Grössel and his wife Anna Elisabetha has quite interestingly lasted until today, you can see it opposite the rear of St. Batholomew’s Church.
Together with The Fishermen’s Stone dated 1565 The Grössel’s Chapel is the oldest little monument in Hrádek nad Nisou. When first constructed, the chapel was located between the last two barns of the town, but as the area of the town expanded, it can be now found among the buildings in Žitavská street.
The owner of the property offered the chapel to the town under certain conditions about its reconstruction. The chapel was then moved approximately 100 metres from its original spot closer to the town centre near to Upper Lusatian House Koník, thus creating a corner with the two monuments saved.
