St. Odile

St. Odile is a forest sanctuary in Freiburg's suburb Waldsee. It is located at a height of 480 m in a forest clearing in the upper St. Odile ravine in the municipal forest of Freiburg at the southern slope of the Roßkopf at a distance of approximately 750 m from St. Wendelin.HistoryIt is one of the oldest pilgrimage destinations in Germany. The chapel is consecrated to Saint Odile. She is usually depicted with an abbess bar and a book on which two or three eyes are lying, indicating that she was born blind and is believed to cure eye diseases. The church was built over a spring whose water contains radon which is said to alleviate eye diseases. It is open to the public.The first chapel stood at this place in 679 (in accordance with the information board in the chapel). In around 1100 a new chapel was built. In 1503 Peter Sprung, councillor of Freiburg, and his wife Elizabeth Zehenderin donated the reconstruction of the church. The consecration took place in 1505. Several wars severely damaged the church, during the Thirty Years' War from 1632 onwards it was looted several times by the Swedes. In 1648 it was repaired. The altar structures were installed in 1663/64. At the siege of Freiburg by the Duke of Villars in 1713 it was so badly damaged that it had to be extensively rebuilt in 1714. At the same time it was extended towards the west and the up to then freestanding Saint Odile spring was integrated into the building. The last restoration took place in 1966/1967. On that occasion magnificent medieval frescoes were uncovered.