The chapel of St Jost in Galgenen is one of the few surviving medieval sacred buildings in the canton of Schwyz with late Gothic furnishings that did not fall victim to the Baroque renovation wave of the late 17th and 18th centuries.
Baroque exterior frescoes
1) Karl Boromäus, Jost and Brother Klaus
2) The oath of the three confederates
3) Early on in the chapel's history, St Christopher adorned the south wall. Here is a replica in a baroque version.
View of the interior with its altars and wall frescoes
Main altar, also known as the Hegner altar
The five-part main altar has rotating wings, the mechanism of which still works today. It is assumed that the altar shrine came into the chapel around 1623.
Due to its idiosyncratic construction, it does not correspond to the customary pattern of late Gothic shrine altars with movable wings. It must have been a skilful craftsman who carpentered this mechanism, which still functions well today.
When open, the niches show the saints Margarte, Urban, St Nicholas, St Conrad and St Catherine. The closed altar shows the saints Fridolin, Johannes Ev., Antonius Er. and Theodul.
The statue of St Jost on the high altar
Jost (also Jodok or Jodokus), born around 600, came from a Breton noble family. As the son of a king, he renounced his claim to rule. As a sign of his renunciation, he lays the crown offered to him on the ground. He fled his home, chose the clergy and joined the pilgrims to Rome. He was the founder of the hermitage of Runiac, which later became the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Josse-sur-Mer. Jodok died around 670.
He is depicted as a hermit, pilgrim or priest with a crown at his feet, ramming his staff into the ground from which a spring gushes. He is the patron saint of pilgrims, boatmen and infirmaries; he was invoked as an intercessor against illness, plague and fever, conflagration, grain fires, thunderstorms, for the harvest and crops. He was also invoked by girls who wanted to get married.
Gothic St Anne's Altar
The side altar, the so-called Anna altar with Mother Anna, St Gallus (left) and St Jost (right), dates from the first half of the 16th century. The wings are missing. At the top is St Afra on the funeral pyre.
Frescoes
Around 1623, the walls of the chapel were decorated with important fresco cycles. These are mainly thanks to the Hegner family, who immortalised themselves with coats of arms and inscriptions. The cycle of the life of the chapel's patron saint, St Jost, is depicted in 12 pictures on the south wall. On the north wall, scenes from the life of Brother Klaus are depicted in epic breadth, as well as a large vision painting, which can be interpreted as a picture of the Hegner family with the coats of arms of the brothers Heinrich and Hans Hegner.
Brother Klaus Cycle
1) The founders
2) Frescoed wall with Brother Klaus panels. The depictions also indicate the fashion around 1600.
3) The priest and Brother Klaus with hunters in Melchtal
4) Try anken pieces: A boy brings three pieces of butter (Anke) to the fasting Brother Klaus, but ravens prevent the temptation.
5) Three men in conversation
6) Once he was walking in the raft - and meditating on spiritual life. A beautiful tower was shown to him, whose height inclines to the sky, which he contemplated in his heart,
thinking to leave the world.
7) To go to war
8) The thorns
9) The baptism of Brother Klaus
Neuhaus - Galgenen
Appenzell Way
Galgenen - Einsiedeln
