St. John's Chapel
The Johanniterkapelle is a former Roman Catholic chapel. It is located on Johannitergasse in the immediate vicinity of the Johanniterkommende and can be rented as an exhibition space.
Church of the Knights of St. John.
The Gothic building faces north towards the Rhine and was built around 1450. The masonry consists of plastered quarry stone, while the frame and masonry of the pointed arch windows are made of Upper Rhine brownstone in various shades of red. A gilded order cross is attached to the southern end of the gable. Directly opposite is the Johanniterkommende, which today is only privately accessible.
The Lösel altar.
Inside, a wall separates the choir from the lay nave. The altar house, raised by one step, has numerous bell pots in its masonry. Next to the western choir window there is a sacrament box made of red sandstone, the frame columns of which are decorated with coats of arms of the order and the commander Johannes Lösel.
The entire chapel is decorated with murals, including a depiction of the Last Judgment, which dates from around 1500 and is attributed to a student of Martin Schongauer.
Insider tip: Känzeli.
Below the chapel is a beautiful square directly on the Rhine, which invites you to linger and offers a beautiful view of the Messerturm and the Rhine bridge.
On the upper floor of the east facade, a walled doorway can be seen. From there, a bridge-like connection led across the Rhine Gate to the Kommende. This connecting passage was demolished in 1820.
Edi Steiner, city guide since 1996
"Of course, I also like the more than 500-year-old fresco of the Last Judgment in the Chapel of St. John.
But what fascinated me most there were the peculiar bell pots. They look like flower vases, and it wasn't until the 19th century that the German physicist Helmholtz described how these medieval pots really worked.
Since then, they have been called Helmholtz resonators, and they are still in use. For example, the Porsche owes its rich sound precisely to such a resonator!
The old resonators can still be seen in very few places. And in Rheinfelden, there are several of them. So they are a bit of a sensation."
Exhibition space for art and culture.
After the Kommende was abolished in 1806, the chapel served as a storage room; since 1996 it has been used as an exhibition space.
The Johanniterkapelle can be rented exclusively for selected cultural events (lectures, classical concerts and exhibitions) through the Cultural Office of the City of Rheinfelden.
More information
Good to know
The St. John's Chapel is under reconstruction until fall 2023 and is therefore not open to the public.
Contact key series
Fricktal Museum
Marktgasse 12
4310 Rheinfelden
+41 61 831 14 50
fricktaler.museum@rheinfelden.ch
fricktaler-museum.ch
Contact cultural events
Cultural Office Rheinfelden
City office, Marktgasse 16
4310 Rheinfelden
+41 61 835 51 11
raumreservationen@rheinfelden.ch
culture-rheinfelden.ch
