Pilgrimage Church Dieburg
The Dieburger pilgrimage church was the parish church of the city of Dieburg until 1569 . It is consecrated to the Holy Apostles St. Peter and Paul and is still part of the Dieburg parish of St. Peter and Paul . The church is located in the former suburb of Altstadt and was outside the medieval city walls. At the central point of the high altar of the church there is a picture of Vespers ( Pietà ), which has been the destination of pilgrimages since the 15th century . With reference to this image of grace , the church is also called the Chapel of Grace .
Building history
In the years 1930/31 excavations took place, which shed more light on the building history of the church. The church in its current, unusual T-shape was built in six construction phases.
A first documentary mention of the existence of a Romanesque basilica can be established for 836. The Carolingian or Ottonian foundation building had a free-standing square bell tower, the foundations of which were found under the southern apse of today's transept. If the tower really had the function of a bell tower, it is one of the few German examples of a campanile . In the second half of the 12th century, the nave was converted or rebuilt into a three-aisled pillar basilica with a square choir. Most of the basilica was destroyed after a fire in 1216. The bell tower was demolished and a Marienkapelle was built in its place, which was consecrated in 1232 by the Mainz auxiliary bishop Wilhelm. The Lady Chapel was square in plan with a semicircular apse. A new tower was built at the western end of the basilica, the remains of which have been preserved in the current tower substructure. In the second half of the 14th century the church was rebuilt, the side aisles being demolished and the separating arcades walled up. This walling is still visible today on the exterior of the nave.
In the same year, the church was expanded to include today's elongated Gothic east choir, consisting of two yokes and five- eighth end, which towers over the nave . In 1697 the southern arm of the transept was added first, to which the Marienkapelle had to give way. However, the final rotunda of the transept arm includes the place of the Marienkapelle. In 1701 the uniform baroque vaulting of the entire church took place. Later in 1712-15, the north arm of the transept was built, which did not have an apse. The tower received its octagonal half-timbered upper floor. In 1831 the tower superstructure was massively replaced.
In 1921 an outside altar with a crucifixion group was built on a platform on the north wall of the former sacristy. A pulpit accessible via the sacristy was also built on the north wall. The roofing of this outer choir took place seven years later. The first restoration of the pilgrimage church was carried out in 1929/30. After 1945 the badly damaged church was only poorly repaired due to lack of material. In 1953/54 further renovation work took place on the church.
Layout
The church has a T-shaped floor plan. The single-nave nave consists of two bays in the nave and three bays in the former Gothic choir, raised by one step. The vaulting of the ceiling consists of barrels with deeply cut stitch caps. The transept lies at right angles to the nave at the same width in the west . The northern part of the transept consists of two bays, the southern one and a semicircular rotunda. On the west side the tower stands on a square floor plan. On the north side of the tower the sacristy is also connected with a square floor plan. On the north wall of the choir is a devotional chapel in the form of a two-bay room with a ribbed vault. To the north there is an open hall with an altar and pulpit.
Exterior view
The church is plastered white. As a contrast on the white wall surface, the windows, which are framed in red sandstone, and the door frames stand out. The corners of the church building show the red sandstone, as do the buttresses. Both help emphasize the vertical. The slate roof stands out darkly above the white church structure. The outside altar on the north wall is reminiscent of a temple with its roof resting on 6 sandstone pillars. The red-tiled roof stands out from the white wall of the Gothic sacristy and the dark church roof. In the east choir there are five Gothic tracery windows, three of which are three-tier and the other two are two-tier. The roof of the choir towers over the roof of the nave. Narrow, high arched windows are let into the nave.
At the transept, the apse at the south end is noticeable, which is crowned by a dome with a lantern in the apex. As with the nave, arched windows are also embedded in the transept, but these are lower and wider. The west tower rises up to the height of the nave ridge without any structure and is flanked by two buttresses. In the upper part of the tower there are small pointed arch windows. Four arched windows are let into the top, octagonal tower floor. The top is formed by the pointed, eight-sided pyramid helmet, which is slightly drawn in and does not take up the entire area of the upper floor.
The outside area used to be a cemetery. Most of the tombstones were removed in 1948. In 1972/73, the parish had a station path built with six terracotta sculptures by the Darmstadt ceramic sculptor Adam Winter (1903-1978). The stations contain representations of the Seven Sorrows of Mary . Six stations are arranged in a circle, in the middle of which there is a round pavilion with a sandstone depiction of the Entombment of Christ or (more likely) the Lamentation of Christ (the unusual depiction of Mary kneeling alone in front of the corpse of Jesus lying stretched out on a stone slab - mainly due to the lack of other figures - cannot be clearly assigned to any of the known picture types).
inner space
You enter the interior of the church through the main entrance on the south side of the nave. The entrance is formed by a baroque portal with a carved wooden door, which is supported by Ionic half-columns on the right and left with an architrave with a segmented gable. The same portals are also located on the south and north transepts. A sandstone statue of the Virgin Mary, which was created around 1390, is placed in the blasted gable above the portal. Inside the Gothic choir there are remains of the original wall paintings from the 14th century in the window niches. The figures are St. Catherine and St. Barbara. The Gothic tabernacle is located in a framed niche on the north side of the choir. The Assumption of Mary is also shown on the north wall on two large paintings. The paintings date from the late 18th century. The Ulner Altar stands in the Gothic choir .
In the central nave on the triumphal wall, which separates the Gothic choir from the central nave, there are figures of St. Joachim and St. "Anna Selbdritt". On the north wall of the central nave there is a wooden figure depicting Christ as the judge of the world, which was created around 1520. On the south wall there is a larger than life crucifix from the 18th century. It shows a very painful depiction of the crucified. The viewer's gaze falls on the west choir with the baroque high altar, in the center of which stands the miraculous image. In the rotunda of the southern arm of the transept is the Joseph Altar from 1715, which used to be the high altar.
There are two side altars on the west wall of the transept. To the left of the high altar is the Laurentius Altar, which was donated by the Groschlag family and was built between 1715 and 1719. On the right-hand side, the St. Antonius Altar was created in 1733 and donated by the Ulner von Dieburg family . In the north aisle there is a richly decorated pulpit opposite the high altar. Its suspended six-part body and sound cover are made of polished walnut. The sound cover has a cranked entablature on which there is an attachment with volutes, which is crowned by a gilded figure of Christ in the shape of the Good Shepherd. In front of the arched closed fields of the corpus there are five small statues on consoles. These represent the four evangelists and in their midst the Immaculate. The ceiling of the church is decorated with rich baroque, ornamental painting, which was renovated in 1930.
The gallery with an organ was built in 1759 by the Dieburg cabinet maker Peter Achtekirch. The prospectus consists of a sequence of seven alternating triangular and round bay windows. They are decorated with a curtain motif (19th century). The old organ had 18 registers , 3 bellows and 2 wind chests. In 2013, a new organ was installed in the place of the old, no longer functional organ, which was blessed on September 7, 2013 and played for the first time in the service. It has 29 registers and 1798 pipes .
Interior
High altar
The high altar was donated in 1749 by the Archbishop of Mainz, Johann Friedrich Karl von Ostein . The building councilor and court plasterer Johann Peter Jäger from Mainz was commissioned to build the altar .
The three-part structure made of stucco lustro is structured by four round marble columns that support a slightly swaying, cranked beam made of black marble. Above it there are four volutes, which are crowned by a canopy and lambrequin.
The curtain is held by putti sitting on the volutes. A golden pelican is enthroned on the canopy, the symbol of self-sacrificing pastoral care. Two angels sit on the entablature and carry the elector's crown on their hands.
In the arched central niche of the altar is the already mentioned Pietà, also known as the Dieburger miraculous image , from around 1420 (restoration 1963). The Pietà is made of tanned leather with mortar and layers of canvas and is hollow. Except for the arms and legs of the figure of Christ, which are made of wood. A similar Pietà made from the same materials is in the Dieburg parish church of St. Peter and Paul and was probably also made in the early 15th century. Both works are probably by the same artist. (Only in the Catholic parish church of St. Peter and Paul (Eschweiler) is there another Pietà made of leather. - These three depictions of Mary are the only ones of their kind in Germany.)
The Pietà of the pilgrimage church is made in the style of terracotta figures from the Middle Rhine and differs from other representations of this kind by the closed unit formed by the figure of Mary and the body of Christ.
The upper body of Christ leans close to Mary's chest in an almost sitting position. Above the Pietà is the archbishop's coat of arms with the slogan "EX VOTO" (- based on a vow), which reminds of the founder. Two figures of saints stand between the round pillars. They are made of stucco and probably represent the knightly saints Charlemagne and Louis the saint. At the edge of the altar to the left and right of the outer columns, St. Nepomuk and Bishop Nicholas stand on consoles. Both figures are probably made by the Mainz sculptor Johann Jakob Juncker (died 1786). In front of the niche with the Pietà there is a rotating tabernacle with an arched canopy.
Side altars
To the left and right of the high altar are two smaller wooden side altars in simple baroque shapes. The Laurentius Altar (left) and the St. Antonius Altar (right) are attributed to the Dieburg carpenter Peter Achtekirch and the sculptor Josef Kilian Hohenbusch from Neckarsulm. The stone canteens are clad with wood and the altar structure is made of walnut. The altar sheet on the left shows the Transfiguration of St. Laurentius. It is covered by a semicircular arch and is framed by two columns that support the entablature and curved pediments. Above this is an attachment consisting of a rectangular tablet with a medallion, which is framed by acanthus tendrils and pilasters. The St. Antonius altar is of the same construction, in its medallion the coronation of Mary is depicted.
Joseph Altar
Like the two side altars, the Joseph altar is made of walnut. It belongs to the group of Mainz altars, 49 of which were built between 1691 and 1740. Presumably it comes from the Mainz artist Simon Thörner. The middle part, which is flanked by two round columns, shows the wooden sculpture of St. Joseph with baby Jesus standing. Above is the entablature and curved pediments, to which flying angels and flower pendants are attached. In between there is a medallion with an oil painting on which the birth of Mary is recorded.
Ulner Altar
The Ulner Altar represents a combination of altar and epitaph . The three-part stucco structure with two round columns made of red Lahn marble has an alabaster relief in the middle, which shows the adoration of the shepherds in front of the crib. Therefore it is also called the Krippsches Altar . Below is a base on which the life data of the Uln family members are inscribed. On the right and left, in front of the side panels with the family's coat of arms, are the fully plastic donor figures made of stucco (approx. 45 cm high). The altar shows a resemblance to the alabaster altars of the Mainz Cathedral.
Web links
- Parish of St. Peter and Paul in Dieburg
- The pilgrimage church on the side of the city of Dieburg
- Dieburger pilgrimage in the diocese of Mainz
literature
- Georg Dehio: Handbook of the German art monuments (edited by Magnus Backes): Hessen . Munich 1966.
- Enders, Siegfried RC T: Cultural monuments in Hessen. Darmstadt-Dieburg district. Braunschweig 1988.
- Jorns, Werner: Witnesses in cultural history - signposts to the future. Monuments in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district. Darmstadt 1982.
- Münkler, Karl: Dieburg and his pilgrimage chapel . Frankfurt am Main 1933.
- Catholic parish of St. Peter and Paul Dieburg (ed.): 500 years of recognition of the Dieburger Gnadenbild 1498-1998 , Dieburg 1998.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Margarethe Emslander: The Gnadenkapelle in Dieburg , in: Kirchengemeinde St. Peter and Paul Dieburg (ed.): 500 years of recognition Dieburger Gnadenbild 1498-1998 , Dieburg 1998, p. 33ff.
- ↑ Uwe Setzer: Development and emergence of pilgrimage customs , in: Parish of St. Peter and Paul Dieburg (ed.): 500 years of recognition Dieburger Gnadenbild 1498-1998 , Dieburg 1998, pp. 102–116.
- ↑ Catholic parish of St. Peter and Paul Dieburg (ed.): Station path of the seven sorrows of Mary - pilgrimage site of the Gnadenkapelle Dieburg
- ^ A b Jorns, Werner: Cultural-historical witnesses - signposts into the future. Monuments in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district. Darmstadt 1982, p. 66ff.
- ↑ Catholic parish of St. Peter and Paul Dieburg (ed.): Wallfahrtskirche Dieburg , page 20, 1st edition 2015, ISBN 978-3-7954-7029-6
- ↑ a b c d Enders, Siegfried RC T: Cultural monuments in Hessen. Darmstadt-Dieburg district . Braunschweig 1988, p. 131.
Coordinates: 49 ° 53 ′ 56 " N , 8 ° 50 ′ 38.7" E