Heilig Hüsli

Heilig Hüsli
Holzbrücke Rapperswil-Hurden, Seedamm to the left, Heilig Hüsli and Rapperswil respectively Rapperswil Castle and Lindenhof hill in the background
Country	Switzerland
Denomination	Catholic Church
Churchmanship	Chapel
Administration
Parish	Rapperswil
Diocese	Chur

Heilig Hüsli (Holy house) is a bridge chapel in Rapperswil, Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

The chapel is located next to the so-called Seedamm at the Rapperswil railway station, and as of the today it is situated on a small island on upper Lake Zürich (Obersee) on the Holzbrücke Rapperswil-Hurden, a historical wooden bridge that was reconstructed in 2001.

On occasion of the formation of the Alps, the fossilized sediments material of the body of water between the Ricken and Etzel chains unfolded. There arose the typical rock bands that form the Lindenhof hill in Rapperswil, or the islands of Ufnau, Lützelau and Heilighüsli. During the last Ice Age the island was under a thick layer of ice, and the hard layers of conglomerate rock and the sandstone ridge survived the sanding by the glacier.

The chapel on the former medieval wooden bridge between Rapperswil and Hurden was first mentioned in 1485 AD as a wooden prayer house respectively pilgrim's chapel. The Jakobsweg (Way of St. James) leads through the region of Lake Zürich: From Wattwil over the Ricken Pass to Schmerikon on to Lachen and Buechberg along the left bank of the upper lake to St. Meinrad Pass, or from Schmerikon along Obersee, passing Bollingen, Wurmsbach and Jona-Busskirch to Rapperswil and then crossing the wooden bridge towards Hurden. Another route leads over the Hörnli mountain through the Töss Valley, passing the former Rüti Abbey via Kempraten and Rapperswil and the wooden bridge to the St. Meinrad Pass towards the Einsiedeln Abbey.