Gönningerkapelle

The Gönningerkapelle is a small Catholic chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Bamberg, Upper Franconia. It stands near the former main entrance to the city’s principal cemetery. Built between 1761 and 1768, it copies the design of the Einsiedeln Chapel in Switzerland and the Santa Casa in Loreto. The chapel was commissioned by Johann Jakob Gönninger after he returned from Einsiedeln with a copy of the famous Black Madonna. The replica was placed on the high altar, where it remains today. In the mid-19th century the interior was refitted, though the image stayed in place. A small bell cast by Joachim Keller in 1769 hangs in the roof turret, and early 20th-century gravestones of notable Bamberg citizens were moved inside. Visitors find a quiet rectangular room with the high altar at the far end. The walls carry simple furnishings added in the 1800s. Outside, the former forecourt is now a park, and the chapel sits close to the northern edge of the extended cemetery.