Dominican monastery in Koblenz
The Dominican monastery Koblenz was a monastery of the Dominicans in the old town of Koblenz . The monastery, founded at the beginning of the 13th century, was secularized during the French era in 1802 and then used as a Prussian garrison hospital. After the destruction in 1944, only the rococo portal from 1754 in Weißer Gasse and a small remnant of the church wall have been preserved.
history
Dominican monastery
The Dominicans settled in Koblenz at the beginning of the 13th century. To do this, they built a monastery in the Weißer Gasse, a poor district in front of the gates of the still existing Roman city wall , which belonged to the province of Teutonia with the capital Cologne . The first service was held here at Easter 1233. After the church building fell victim to a major fire in 1245, it was completed in 1260 and consecrated on April 25 of the same year to John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene . In the period that followed, the Dominican monastery continued to flourish with the support of donations from wealthy Koblenz citizens. The church building could be expanded step by step until 1489. The monastery church is one of the earliest Gothic buildings on the Middle Rhine . The slender three-aisled and ten-bay basilica was 50 meters long and 17.5 meters wide.
Famous members of the monastery were Johann Schadland , the bishop died here in 1373, Heinrich Kalteisen , who was buried in the monastery church in 1464, and Heinrich von Rübenach who also found his final resting place in the monastery church in 1493. Heinrich von Rübenach's grave slab has been preserved and is now in the Koblenz town hall .
From 1617 to 1619 the religious writer Johann Andreas Coppenstein officiated here as prior and died there in 1638. During the devastating bombing during the siege of the city in 1688 by French troops in the Palatinate War of Succession , the monastery complex also suffered considerable damage. After a temporary repair, the monastery buildings were completely rebuilt in 1713. The late Baroque monastery portal in the Rococo style that still exists today was created in 1754 by the Mainz sculptor Nikolaus Binterim as a replacement for an older gate .
Secularization and military hospital
In 1793, during the First Coalition War , the Dominican monastery was first used by Austrians as a hospital . After the French revolutionary army conquered the city of Koblenz a year later, the monastery was profaned and became the property of the French state. The Dominican monastery in Koblenz was secularized in 1802 when the last monk left and continued to be used by the French as a military hospital. The interior furnishings of the church and monastery including the bells were sold. The proceeds from the sale were used to repair the Church of Our Lady .
When the Rhineland was handed over to Prussia in 1819, the former monastery complex was occupied by Prussian infantry . The monastery church served as an armory from 1831 . The former monastery buildings were later converted into a Prussian garrison hospital, and the interior of the church was divided by false ceilings and walls. In the 1930s the facility was still used as a shelter for the homeless .
Destruction and demolition
In order to protect against the impending aerial warfare in World War II , the mayor of Koblenz suggested for the first time that the portal of the former monastery should be secured as an irreplaceable monument. In October 1942 the three stone figures above the portal were removed and walled in in the basement of the monastery. The entire former monastery complex was destroyed on April 22, 1944 in an air raid on Koblenz . The stone figures were also lost.
Although the outer walls were still standing and even some vaults were preserved in the aisles of the church, it was decided after the war to remove the ruins. From 1955 they were torn down and built over from 1957–1959 by the new Clemens Brentano secondary school. The choir of the church, which is still impressive as a ruin, was initially to be preserved as a memorial, but was finally demolished down to a 50 cm high wall during the construction of the school building. In addition, a road was built to the bridge over the left Rhine stretch to Saarplatz. Only the rococo portal from 1754 remained. The figures above the portal were recreated by Rudi Scheuermann in 1967. For the 750th anniversary of the Weißergasse fair, the portal was restored by the city of Koblenz in 1983. In 1986, a memorial stone donated by the Weißergässer Kirmesgesellschaft was erected in the schoolyard on the square of the choir of the former monastery church. The following text can be read here: " Choir of the former Dominican Church / built in 1233 / destroyed 1944. " A keystone with Madonna and Child from 1441 has also stood the test of time and is now in the Middle Rhine Museum .
Since 2014 there are plans to build a new synagogue on an area of the Dominican monastery that was destroyed in World War II next to the school in Weißer Gasse.
portal
The ornate baroque portal from 1754 was created by Nikolaus Binterim from red sandstone . From here you got to a baroque courtyard in front of the monastery church, which was completed in the same year. The portal is designed in curved shapes and rococo ornaments with rocailles , coats of arms and volutes . It is crowned by three figures, St. Dominic (left), St. Thomas Aquinas (right) and St. Mary, venerated as Maria Viktoria by the citizens of Weißer Gasse (center). The original figures were stored in the monastery during the Second World War and destroyed there in a bomb hit. The portal itself was badly damaged but restored after the war in 1951. The three new figures reproduced from the originals were created by the Koblenz sculptor Rudi Scheuermann in 1964–1967. The ornate vases standing between the sculptures have not been restored.
The gate, which was originally framed by houses, is now vacant and is therefore also an impressive testimony to the almost complete destruction of the historic Weißer Gasse in the Second World War and the subsequent reconstruction.
Monument protection
The preserved rococo portal of the Dominican monastery is a protected cultural monument according to the Monument Protection Act (DSchG) and entered in the list of monuments of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . It is in the old town of Koblenz on Weißer Gasse .
The preserved rococo portal of the Dominican monastery has been part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002 .
See also
literature
- Energieversorgung Mittelrhein GmbH (ed.): History of the city of Koblenz . Overall editing: Ingrid Bátori in conjunction with Dieter Kerber and Hans Josef Schmidt
- Volume 1: From the beginning to the end of the electoral era . Theiss, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-8062-0876-X .
- Volume 2: From the French city to the present . Theiss, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-8062-1036-5 .
- Peter Brommer , Achim Krümmel: Monasteries and monasteries on the Middle Rhine. (= Signpost Middle Rhine. 6). Koblenz, Görres-Verlag 1998, ISBN 3-920388-72-0 , p. 48f.
- Herbert Dellwing (editor): Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany. Volume 3.2: City of Koblenz. Downtown. Werner, Worms 2004, ISBN 3-88462-198-X , p. 182.
- Helmut Kampmann: When stones speak. Memorial plaques and memorial plaques in Koblenz. Fuck-Verlag, Koblenz 1992, ISBN 3-9803142-0-0 , p. 197ff.
- Fritz Michel : The art monuments of the Rhine province. The church monuments in the city of Koblenz. (= The Art Monuments of the Rhine Province. Volume Twenty. 1. Section). ed. by Paul Clemen. Düsseldorf 1937, pp. 228–245.
- Wolfgang Schütz: Koblenz heads. People from the city's history - namesake for streets and squares. 2., revised. u. exp. Edition. Publishing house for advertising papers , Mülheim-Kärlich 2005, OCLC 712343799 , p. 133f.
Web links
- Dominican Monastery Koblenz in: Monasteries and monasteries in Rhineland-Palatinate
- Pictures of the Dominican monastery in Koblenz in: Photo archive Photo Marburg
- The end of the Weißer Gasse - pictures of the demolition in: weissergasse-koblenz.de
Individual evidence
- ^ Isnard W. Frank: The Book of the Dead of the Dominican Monastery in Mainz: Commentary and Edition , Sources and Research on the History of the Dominican Order - New Volume 3, Berlin, Verlag Walter de Gruyter, 1993, p. 102, ISBN 9783050047348 ; (Digital scan)
- ^ Synagogue can be built in Weißer Gasse in Koblenz in: Rhein-Zeitung , January 15, 2014.
- ↑ General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Informational directory of cultural monuments - district-free city of Koblenz (PDF; 1.5 MB), Koblenz 2013.
Coordinates: 50 ° 21 ′ 43 " N , 7 ° 35 ′ 29" E