A calvary hill is a Christian monument that is intended to represent the passion of Jesus Christ and is usually laid out in the form of a pilgrims' way.
The Mount of Calvary was the site outside the gates of Jerusalem where the crucifixion of Christ took place. The scene was replicated around the world in numerous "calvary hills" after the Counter-Reformation and they are used by Roman Catholics in particular as part of their worship and veneration of God.
The term is derived from the Latin translation in the Vulgate of the Aramaic name for original hill, Golgotha, where it was called calvariae locus, Latin for "the place of the skull". Martin Luther translated Golgatha as "skull place" (Scheddelstet). This translation is debated; at the very least it is not clear whether it referred to the shape of the hill, its use as a place of execution or burial or refers to something else.
"Calvary hill" today refers to a roughly life-size depiction of the scene of crucifixion with crucifixes, usually the cross of Jesus and the two criminals, but many are more elaborate, including sculptures of additional figures. These scenes of the crucifixion are set up on small hillocks, which may be natural or artificial. Often 14 or so stations of the cross are laid out on the way up to the pilgrimage hill and there is often a small, remote church or chapel located between a few dozen to several hundred metres away.
Calvary hills are also a symbol of Brittany, where they were built during the Breton Renaissance (between 1450 and the 17th century) especially in the Finistère in specially created parish closes. Of great importance was the erection of calvary hills north of the Alps in the Baroque era during the Counter-Reformation.
Representative examples
in Moresnet/Plombières
in Malmedy
Cerro Calvario
(in alphabetical order by place)
Calvary Hill, Ahrweiler (with Kalvarienberg Abbey), Ahrweiler, county of Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate
Calvary Hill, Aiterbach, Aiterbach, county of Freising, Bavaria
Calvary Hill Chapel, Altomünster
in Bad Kissingen
in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler (as a school)
in Bad Laer
in Bad Tölz, Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, Bavaria
in Berchtesgaden
Calvary Hill, Bergheim, Bergheim, Rhein-Erft-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia
in Bidingen, county of Ostallgäu
in Birkungen (Thuringia)
in Burladingen
in Cham (Upper Palatinate)
in Donauwörth
Calvary Hill, Dorweiler, Dorweiler, county of Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia
in Ebnath in the Oberpfalz
in Falkenberg (Oberpfalz)
in Fichtelberg (Oberfranken)
in Fulda
in Füssen
Calvary Hill, Greding, county of Roth, Bavaria
Calvary Hill, Füssen, county of Ostallgäu, Bavaria
in Görlitz in the Heiligen-Grab-Ensemble
Calvary Hill, Gundelsheim, Württemberg
in Immenstadt
near the Pilgrimage Church, Allerheiligen in Jettingen-Scheppach
in the pilgrimage village of Kinzweiler
Calvary Hill, Kirchenthumbach, Kirchenthumbach, county of Neustadt an der Waldnaab, Bavaria
(Klosterlechfeld see below)
in Konnersreuth
Calvary Hill, Lauterhofen, county of Neumarkt in the Oberpfalz, Bavaria
in Lenggries
in Lübeck (Jerusalemsberg)
in Marsberg
at Kreuzberg Abbey in the Rhön
Calvary Hill, Neusath, county of Schwandorf, Bavaria
in Ostritz, Sachsen
at St. Marienthal Abbey
Calvary Hill, Parsberg, county of Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate, Bavaria
in Peiting in Upper Bavaria
in Pfreimd
in Pillig in Rhineland-Palatinate
in Pobenhausen and also in Palling, both in Upper Bavaria
in Possenhofen municipality of Pöcking on Lake Starnberg
in the Devil's Cave near Pottenstein
Calvary Hill, Prüm, Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm, Rhineland-Palatinate
Calvary Hill, Alendorf, in the municipality of Blankenheim
Calvary Hill, Reicholzried
in Sichtigvor on the Loermund
in Stühlingen
Calvary Hill, Schwabegg, county of Augsburg, Bavaria
in Sonthofen
in Straelen on the Lower Rhine
bei Wettenhausen in the municipality of Kammeltal
in Wenigmünchen (near Munich)
in Xanten am Niederrhein
in Zell in the Wiesental chapel on the Möhrenberg
the Calvary Hill at the pilgrimage site of Klosterlechfeld in Bavaria there is not stations of the cross path, but a monument with outside staircase.
The French: Calvaire of Notre Dame de Tronoën in Saint-Jean-Trolimon (greater French: Calvaire) dates to 1450 and is one of the oldest in Brittany. Other famous locations in Brittany are:
Commana
Guéhenno (great French: Calvaire)
Guimiliau (großer French: Calvaire)
La Martyre
La Roche-Maurice
Lampaul-Guimiliau
Pencran
Pleyben (großer French: Calvaire)
Ploudiry
Plougastel-Daoulas (great French: Calvaire)
Plougonven (great Calvaire)
Sizun
Saint-Thégonnec (French: Enclos paroissial, great French: Calvaire)
on the hill of Filerimos on Rhodes
on the Sacro Monte di Domodossola
The Oka Calvary Trail near Oka, Québec
Calvary Hill near Aljmaš
(by state, then alphabetically by place)
Burgenland
Calvary Hill, Bergkirche in Eisenstadt
Calvary Hill, Frauenkirchen
Calvary Hill, Lockenhaus
in Neusiedl am See
in Pinkafeld
Carinthia
in Sankt Paul im Lavanttal
in Sankt Stefan im Gailtal
Lower Austria
near the Aggsbach Charterhouse in Aggsbach, a village in the Wachau
in Falkenstein in the wine quarter
in Kirchberg am Wechsel
in Lilienfeld, largest calvary hill in Austria
in Marbach an der Donau
in Maria-Lanzendorf near Vienna
in Pillersdorf in the wine quarter
Calvary Hill, Retz
in Eggenburg
in Zwettl
Upper Austria
Calvary Hill, Aigen in the Mühlkreis
in Freistadt
Calvary Hill, Gosau
Calvary Hill, Kremsmünster
in St. Martin im Innkreis
in Schwertberg
Salzburg:
Calvary Hill, Maria Bühel
Calvary Hill, Maria Plain
in Oberndorf bei Salzburg
Styria:
Calvary Hill, (Bruck an der Mur)
Calvary Hill, (Deutschfeistritz)
Kalvarienberg (Graz)
Calvary Hill, Leoben
in Sankt Margarethen bei Knittelfeld
Calvary Hill, St. Radegund bei Graz
Tyrol
Calvary Hill Chapel, Arzl, in the Innsbruck quarter of Arzl
in Kufstein
Calvary Hill, Thaur
Vienna
in Hernals
Poland
Calvary Hill on the St. Annaberg
in Góra
in the Silesian Jerusalem, Wambierzyce
in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska in Małopolska (Kleinpolen)
in Neustadt in Westpreußen (Wejherowo)
in the village of Billed, county of Timiș
in Jiřetín pod Jedlovou (German: Sankt Georgenthal)
in Cvikov (German: Zwickau in Böhmen)
in Banská Štiavnica (German: Schemnitz)
in Šmarje pri Jelšah (German: St. Marein bei Erlachstein)
Kalvarija (Maribor)
in Pollença
in Miadziel (a small town north of Minsk (Мядзел))
in Minsk (Мінск)
German:
(in German) Atlas der europäischen Heiligen Berge, Kalvarienberge und Devotionsstätten, Turin: Direktion für Tourismus, Sport und Gärten der Region Piemont, 2003
Walter Brunner (1990) (in German), Steirische Kalvarienberge, Graz etc.: Schnider, ISBN 3-900993-02-5
Elisabeth Roth (1967) (in German), Der volkreiche Kalvarienberg in Literatur und Bildkunst des Spätmittelalters (2nd edition ed.), Berlin: Erich Schmidt
Louise-Marie Tillet (1989) (in German), Reisewege durch die Bretagne. Calvaires und romanische Kirchen, Würzburg: Echter Verlag, ISBN 3-429-01186-8
Kath. Pfarramt; Maria Himmelfahrt; Johannes Port (1989) (in German), Der Kalvarienberg zu Wettenhausen. Gebete und Geschichte einer altehrwürdigen Wallfahrtsstätte, Kammeltal: s. n.
French:
Yves-Pascal Castel (1997) (in French), Croix et calvaires en Bretagne. = Kroaziou ha kalvarihou or bro, Trelevenez: Minihi levenez, ISBN 2-908230-09-7
Marc Déceneux (2001) (in French), La Bretagne des enclos et des calvaires, Rennes: Ouest-France, ISBN 2-7373-2261-8
Yannick Pelletier (1996) (in French), Les enclos Paroissiaux de Bretagne, Paris: Gisserot
