Main information:

Main castle – Palas

St Elisabeth's Chapel

The St Elisabeth Castle Chapel is inserted into the narrow space between the Princes’ Building and the Knights’ Hall. It is connected with the ducal apartments in the Palas, from which there was direct access to the princes’ gallery, the section of the chapel reserved for the members of the duke’s family. The nave was for the members of the court, who entered through the portal in the castle courtyard.

The chapel was donated by Duke Heinrich XIII and his wife Elisabeth. It was dedicated to St Elisabeth von Thüringen, the duchess’s aunt, who was canonized in 1235.

The nave, which originally had a flat ceiling and was probably also decorated with frescos, acquired its present reticulated vaulting in the time of Georg der Reiche (Georg the Rich). The walls of the choir are decorated with frescos from around 1400, and fragments of painting from the late 16th century can also be seen.

The late Gothic winged altar from the chapel is from the chapel in Surheim near Laufen on the River Salzach and was installed here in 1856; by 1778 the original altar was no longer in existence.

The altar opens to show sculptures from the Salzburg school from around 1524: in the centre is the figure of St Dionysius between St Barbara and the Virgin and Child with St Anne, and on the inside of the wings are reliefs of St Erasmus, St Philip, St Achatius and St Andrew; set into the predella is a relief of the lamentation of Christ, and the wings show St Margaret and St Catherine. The paintings that can be seen on the outside of the altar when it is closed are attributed to Gordian Guckh, an artist active from 1513 to 1540 in Laufen on the River Salzach.

Panoramic shots (360 degrees) of St Elisabeth's Chapel

---