Franciscan monastery Graz

Franciscan monastery

Franciscan Church

Interior of the church

Defense tower with the tower of the Franciscan Church in the background

The Franziskanerkloster Graz is a Roman Catholic male monastery on the banks of the Mur in the center of the Austrian city of Graz ( Styria ). It was founded in the first half of the 13th century by the Franciscans ( Ordo fratrum minorum "Order of Minor Brothers"). It was the first religious establishment in the city of Graz. In the 16th century, after the order was divided, the monastery fell to the Franciscan Observant branch , who have owned it ever since. The Franciscan Church of Graz is attached to the convent building , today's parish church of Graz-Mariä Himmelfahrt . The monastery church with the distinctive tower is the parish church of the Graz-Assumption of Mary parish in the Graz-Mitte dean's office and belongs to the Graz city church .

The Franziskanerkirche (Franziskanerplatz 16, Neutorgasse 5) and the Franziskanerkloster (Albrechtgasse 6, Franziskanerplatz 14, 15) and parts of the former city wall are under monument protection ( Id. 56680 and 107168, § 2a ). To the north and west - on both sides of the portal - very small buildings are attached to the church, which house bars and shops.

history

History of the settlement

The first brothers of the Franciscan Order, founded in 1210, arrived in Graz around 1230/1239. In particular, these were Albert and Marchward, two Brothers Minor with documentary evidence. Two years later, in 1241, the first provable provincial chapter of the Austrian Friars Minor took place.

After the tribal order split into conventuals (now called "Minorites") and observants as a result of the poverty dispute in the order in 1517 , the Graz monastery fell to the observant Franciscan reformates of the Vienna order province in the course of the 16th century ; the conventuals moved to Murvorstadt and founded a new monastery there between 1607 and 1636, the Minorite monastery with the Mariahilferkirche . At the end of the 16th century, in the immediate vicinity of the Franciscan monastery, the so-called “Kälberne Viertel”, which was founded by craftsmen and butchers and first mentioned in 1617, was built.

In the 18th century, the monastery was able to prevent its dissolution under Emperor Joseph II around 1785 by taking over pastoral care.

Parish history

The fraternity located there holds daily services in their monastery church, which was elevated to parish church in 1783 . It looks after Graz's smallest parish in terms of area and numbers (around 1,300 members), devotes itself to pastoral care and the training of young Franciscans, and watches over the remarkable holdings of the central library of the Viennese Franciscan Province.

Monastery complex

, The Franciscan Church of the Schlossberg seen from

Vault of the nave

Church of the Assumption

Building history

After the monastery was founded in 1239 by the Order of the Friars Minor, Pope Alexander IV granted the monastery an " indulgence of 100 days on the day and anniversary of the consecration" in 1257 or 1277 , which enabled the building of the church. In 1257/77 the originally towerless sacred building in the style of a mendicant order church was completed; its location was identical to the existing nave . In the first half of the 14th century, the elevated long choir with a west roof turret was added .

After 1515 it was converted into a three-aisled Gothic hall church , which was financed by donations. The construction work was completed in 1519, a date on the right triumphal arch in the roof is evidence of this. Today's west tower was built between 1636 and 1643 as a defense tower. The plans are attributed to Tobias Creuztaler. The former pointed helmet roof was replaced by an onion hood around 1740. Further innovations were the construction of the refectory in the 16th century and the consecration of a new high altar .

The monastery church bears the patronage of the Assumption . It was elevated to a parish church in 1783 as part of the Josephine reforms . Between 1861 and 1886 the interior furnishings were re-gothicized and the baroque furnishings were removed. After being damaged by a bomb in 1945, the choir was restored from 1947 to 1949, an interior restoration was carried out in 1954/55, and a comprehensive restoration from 1982 to 1988.

The inclined orientation of the floor plan - in contrast to the other buildings in this area, which are parallel to the banks of the Mur - is explained by the location on a former small island between the main and a side arm (Werdbach) of the Mur. The windows in the choir area date from the second half of the 20th century. However, this explanation is controversial; According to another explanation, the church is oriented so that on October 4th, the day of commemoration for Francis of Assisi , the sun shines right through the choir window .

Comprehensive technical modernization of the main building was completed around 2013. Photovoltaics and / or solar heat collectors were installed on the long south facade, which only barely leave out the old sundial on the facade.

Exterior construction

The large church building has a noticeable inclination in the urban fabric, which is probably due to a former Mur arm. There are chapels on both sides of the nave, and small shops (19th and 20th centuries) on the outer walls of the north side and the choir . The massive west tower, once part of the city fortifications, is presented to the nave , slightly bent towards the central axis. An octagonal, two-story upper part is attached to the square, five-story substructure. The tower is crowned with an onion dome. The ridge above the choir has an onion roof from 1648. On the north side, at the transition between the choir and the nave, there is a Gothic stair tower and three-tiered buttresses in the choir section .

The main portal on the west side, a neo-Gothic shoulder- arch column-robe portal has a tympanum with a sandstone relief with the half- length figure of St. Francis (1894). The former portal porches on the north side with Josephine-Classicist stone portals (around 1780/85) are made in the manner of Joseph Huebers . The north-western entrance was walled up in 1868 and converted into the Joseph Chapel. The tower hall has a stitch cap, the vestibule a barrel vault.

In the course of time there were several chapel extensions: in 1648 the Antonius Chapel was built, in 1650 stuccoed and frescoed, in 1723 demolished and replaced by a new building by Joseph Carlone ; In 1770 the Mount of Olives Chapel was demolished and walled up.

organ

The first organ on the west gallery was built in 1785 by the Alsatian organ builder Ludwig Gress. The instrument was in a baroque case . In 1858 the organ was replaced by a new instrument from the organ builder Mathias Mauracher (Zell am Ziller) in a neo-Gothic case. In 1885 the organ builder Franz Gorsić (Laibach) built a new organ. Mauracher's housing was reused, divided and placed on the side of the gallery. In the 20th century the organ was electrified (1932) and enlarged. In the course of the renovation and reconstruction of the church and monastery in 2002, the organ building company Alexander Schuke (Potsdam) built a new instrument in a new case. The instrument was inaugurated in 2004. It has 27 stops on two manual works and a pedal .

I Hauptwerk C – g ³
1.	Drone	16 ′
2.	Principal	8th'
3.	Viola da gamba	8th'
4th	Wooden flute	8th'
5.	Octave	4 ′
6th	Pointed flute	4 ′
7th	Nassat	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
8th.	Octave	2 ′
9.	Cornett III-V (from f ⁰ )
10.	Mixture IV	2 ′
11.	Trumpet	8th'

II upper structure C – g ³
12.	Double principal	8th'
13.	Dumped	8th'
14th	Quintad	8th'
15th	Slack douce	8th'
16.	Hollow flute	4 ′
17th	Octave	4 ′
18th	Forest flute	2 ′
19th	Mixture III	1 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′
20th	prong	8th'
	Tremulant

Pedals C – f ¹
21st	Sub bass	16 ′
22nd	Principal bass	8th'
23.	Gemshorn	8th'
24.	Octave	4 ′
25th	trombone	16 ′
26th	Trumpet	8th'
27.	Cornett	2 ′

Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P.

Cloister

The cloister only retains a few remains from its original period (13th / 14th centuries), including some round and pointed arched windows and a late Gothic groin vault . It has an irregular floor plan. Fragments of frescoes from the 16th century have been preserved. Funerary monuments are embedded in the walls of the cloister. The Kreuzhof is dominated by a crucifix from the 19th and a figure of Mater Dolorosa from the 17th century. Tuscan half-columns can be seen on the outer facade of the first floor.

Jacobi Chapel

The Jakobikapelle, Messkapelle Hl. Jakobus, is an early Gothic building and part of the east wing. The chapel was built in the third quarter of the 13th century. It contains a late Gothic round arched stone portal and medieval lancet windows (14th century) that were only discovered during the renovation (1986 ). The furnishings are composed of late Gothic, baroque and neo-Gothic style elements.

Librus Missarus Choralium per Choro Graecensis 1677 (detail)

Central library of the Vienna Franciscan Province

The library contains around 13,000 titles (up to the 17th century), including 818 unique incunabula and a second library with around 30,000 titles (from the 18th century). This means that the Franciscan monastery in Graz has one of the most valuable libraries in Styria.

literature

Horst Schweigert : Graz (= The art monuments of Austria . = Dehio -Handbuch Graz. = Dehio Graz. ). Revision. Schroll, Vienna 1979, ISBN 3-7031-0475-9 , pp. 33-39.
Horst Schweigert: The Franciscan and Parish Church of the Assumption in Graz. Former Minorite Church (= Austrian Christian Art Centers . Volume 170 ). Verlag St. Peter, 1989, ZDB -ID 2182605-5 .