Frescoes restored

Robbery victim built a chapel

Fresh colors: Roland Mutter spent months working on the chapel in Görtschach.

(Bild: Arbeiter Dieter/Dieter Arbeiter)

The Petritsch cross in Görtschach commemorates a robbery. The Kulturring Ferlach hired a painter to renovate it, who had to reconstruct parts of the paintings. 

Robbery on the Loiblpass road! In the 19th century, the haulier Josef Petritsch regularly traveled to Slovenia with his wagons for the Silbernagl ironworks. "Once he was attacked above the 'Deutscher Peter' inn. To thank him for surviving unscathed, he had this small chapel built on the main road in Görtschach," says amateur historian Rainer Adamik (85), explaining how this gem came to be built.

At the Petritsch Cross in Görtschach: Rainer Adamik and Kulturring chairwoman Gerda Volleritsch.

(Bild: Arbeiter Dieter/Dieter Arbeiter)

Weather has damaged the chapel
The small chapel was built in 1852. Adamik: "The special feature is the wrought-iron gate with the name of the survivor carved into it - a rarity in the cultural landscape of such gems."

The chapel was last renovated in the early 1970s. "New measures are now urgently needed," explains Adamik. The frescoes in particular, which were created by the academic painter Peter Markovič (1866 to 1929) from Rosegg, were badly damaged.

The Klagenfurt painter Roland Mutter, who has already renovated countless gems in the region, already knows the work of the artist Peter Markovič well: "He left his artistic mark on the entire Rose Valley."

Since the most recent renovation in the 1970s, time and weather have taken their toll on the chapel.

(Bild: zVg)

"The depictions of the saints, the Last Supper, the Ascension of Jesus and the Assumption of Mary had already suffered a lot of chipping on the chapel and were no longer visible in places. Unfortunately, hardly any foundations were built in the past. This is now causing moisture to penetrate the wayside shrine from below. The damage is therefore dramatic." Mutter had to reconstruct parts of the pictures: "The materials were strictly agreed with the monument protection office."

The costs of 14,000 euros were borne by the state and the Kulturring Ferlach. Many donations have also been received.