On the pre-castle of the longest fortress in Europe, in Burghausen, is the medieval outer castle chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Commonly referred to as Hedwig's Chapel, after its founder Hedwig II Jagiellon, it is one of the most important late Gothic buildings in Bavaria.

History of the origins of the chapel

The stone chapel was built for lower-level officials and castle staff during the reign of Hedwig II Jagiellon and her husband, Duke George of Bavaria. The consensus in the literature is that construction on it lasted from 1479 to 1489.

Description of the building

The single-nave building, flanked by a tower, is distinguished on the outside by a small porch supported by marble columns. At the corners of the structure are figures of the Archangel Gabriel and Mary greeting him, and on the walls is a fresco depicting the shawl of St Veronica (Veraicon), supported by angels. The interior of the chapel impresses with its irregular cross vaulting and modest polychrome sculptural decoration. On the capitals of the wall-mounted semi-columns stand the statues of six saints, and on the gallery, decorated with an openwork masquerade (in the form of whirling fish bladders), is a relief with a scene of the founders adoring the Sorrowful Christ. St Hedwig's Chapel and its furnishings have been preserved almost intact.