Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Johann Schmuzer

St. Coloman is located in an open field near Schwangau. The Baroque church of today replaced an earlier chapel at the same spot, as it was widely believed, that the Irish pilgrim St. Coloman had stopped at this point on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the summer of 1012. Master mason Hieronymus Vogler started the building in 1673, following draft of Johann Schmuzer from Wessobrunn. The church got consecrated in 1685 together with "Unserer Lieben Frau am Berg" in Füssen (see prev uplouds). St. Coloman continued his pilgrimage but was arrested in Stockerau, near Vienna, as he was mistaken for a spy because of his strange appearance. He could not speak the local tongue, so he was tortured and hanged on 16 July 1012.

Füssen was settled in Roman times under the name "Fauces" at the Via Claudia Augusta, a road connecting Northern Italy with Augusta Vindelicum (= Augsburg), the former regional capital of the Roman province Raetia. The Via Claudia Augusta developed into an important trade route over the Alps. In 748 the missionary St. Magnus set up a "cella" on-site here. More monks arrived and in the 8th century the Benedictine monastery of St. Mang, named after him, existed. Füssen was an important place Southern and Northern Europe, as the Lech river was navigable near Füssen and the cargo was reloaded here from horses to ships. The route gained importance as a salt road in the Middle Ages. Füssen was owned by the House of Staufer from 1191 on, but after the last Staufer Conradin (aka "Conradin the Kid) was executed in Naples in 1268, the ownership got disputed. In 1313, Emperor Henry VII gave it to the bishopric of Augsburg. In 1363 the existing castle was integrated into the city fortifications From 1486 to 1505, the Bishops of Augsburg expanded the Gothic castle into a High Castle, used as the summer residence of the church princes. A Leper House existed on the other side of the Lech river since about 1300 and next to it existed the first chapel here. This chapel got rebuilt in 1682/83 Johann Schmuzer from Wessobrunn. A special feature was the access from the leper house into the church, which was set up as a bridge over the street. So the residents of the Leper House could enter the church without having to enter the street. The entrance, which has now been walled up, can be still seen.