Jakobuskapelle

Abtsgmünd, Germany, Germany

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The Jakobuskapelle (St. James Chapel) is a Roman Catholic chapel located in Wöllstein, a village in the municipality of Abtsgmünd in the Ostalbkreis district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, at postal code 73453 Abtsgmünd-Wöllstein.

The chapel is one of the oldest churches in the Ostalbkreis district, originally part of Burg Wöllstein (Wöllstein Castle) which was first mentioned in 1269, and the chapel itself likely dates back to at least 1321. It serves as a station on the Jakobusweg (St. James Pilgrimage Way), a pilgrimage route that has existed for about 100 years and leads past the chapel.

The chapel has massive walls nearly two meters thick giving it a fortress-like character, and while the castle was nearly destroyed during the Thirty Years' War, the chapel survived and was restored in 1700 and 1789, with its current interior design dating from a 1984 renovation. The small chapel has a nearly square floor plan that adapts to the rock formation on which it stands, making it a protected cultural monument of special significance.