Augustinian monastery Memmingen

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Bay window of the former monastery with paintings

The Augustinian monastery in Memmingen is a former monastery of the Augustinian hermits in the Upper Swabian town of Memmingen in Bavaria in the diocese of Augsburg .

history

The monastery , consecrated to St. Johannes Baptist and St. Augustinus , was founded around 1240 by the City Council of Memmingen on the city's market square. The choir of the first monastery church was rebuilt from 1445 to 1448. The new building was financed by the patrician Dipold Zwicker. The nave and the other monastery buildings were rebuilt from 1484 to 1487. In 1498 the Schottenkloster was incorporated. In the middle of the 15th century there was a progressive moral decline in the monastery. This finally ended in 1531 with the expulsion of the prior and the last two monks. The valuable monastery furnishings were sold, as was the monastery library. The farms in Memmingerberg , Amendingen, Pless and Westerheim were drafted from the city. In 1547 the monks were reinstated in their old rights. After that, the monks saw themselves mainly as pastors and confessors for the Catholic area. In 1716 the monastery and the church were redesigned in Baroque style.

In 1803 the monastery came into the possession of the Teutonic Order , who in 1805 ceded the complex to the Bavarian state . In 1807 the church became the Catholic parish church of St. Maximilian. In 1843 she became St. Johann Baptist. Most of the monastery buildings were demolished in 1857. Between 1865 and 1867 the church was extensively rebuilt, with the side vaults knocked off. The rectory was housed in the priors' apartment. The former baroque interior of the church was replaced by a cool neo-Gothic interior at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1961 the church was also robbed of this ornament. Today it presents itself in an extremely cool, unadorned atmosphere. This last conversion was highly controversial among the population. However, due to the city ​​stream flowing under the church , the moisture in the masonry was so great that the community saw no other solution to the problem.

Organ of the monastery church

In 1749 the organ was sold to Zeil Castle . Therefore a new organ must have been purchased around 1750. The builder is unknown. Nothing was written about an organ in secularization. 1807 was Holzheyorgel from the former Upper Hospital adopted. In 1882 an order was placed with Fidelis Behler, Memmingen, but the sources are silent about more details. Whether it was a new instrument or just a repair cannot be said. In 1952 a new organ was purchased from Steinmeyer, Oettingen . It had the work number ( opus ) 1816 and had 40 stops on three manuals and pedal. During the major church renovation in 1960, this organ was also rebuilt. Gerhard Schmid carried out the renovation .

See also

Web links

Commons : St. Johann Baptist (Memmingen)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hermann Fischer: The Steinmeyer family of organ builders, Pape, Berlin 2011, p. 316
  2. ↑ Hermann Fischer, written information from February 16, 2009

Coordinates: 47 ° 59 ′ 11.9 ″  N , 10 ° 10 ′ 50.6 ″  E