Aegidienkirche (Braunschweig)

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Aegidienkirche with Aegidienmarkt from the north
View from the southeast of the Aegidienkirche
Interior view with a view of the choir room
West side with remains of a tower

The Aegidienkirche is the main Catholic church in Braunschweig . The monument is a towerless Gothic hall church on the rising southern edge of the city center and is also called Liebfrauenmünster St. Aegidien . Like its Romanesque predecessor from 1115, which burned down in 1278, it was the abbey church of the Aegidienkloster founded by Margravine Gertrude the Younger of Braunschweig (long form: Benedictine monastery of St. Maria and St. Aegidius ). After its cancellation Lutheran church in the 19th century as Ägidienhalle profane use, the Aegidienkirche since 1945 parish church of the Catholic provost church is St. Aegidien the deanery Brunswick and belongs to the Diocese of Hildesheim .

History of construction and use

Monastery church

The establishment of the monastery was carried out by Abbot Heinrich von Bursfelde ; Gozwin from Ilsenburg became the first abbot after 1117 . In the 12th century the monastery experienced a heyday, not least due to the reliquary cult initiated by the founder about Saint Auctor , who was made the patron saint of the city of Braunschweig in 1200 . Abbot Heinrich I , who was friends with the patron of the monastery, Duke Heinrich the Lion , was appointed Bishop of Lübeck in 1173 , where he founded the St. Johannis daughter monastery .

The Romanesque foundation building was followed by a completely new building in the style of French cathedral Gothic after the fire in 1278. Until about 1320 were choir , transept and two eastern nave - yokes emerged. The two western nave bays were completed around 1437, and the entire consecration took place in 1478.

Reformation time

Drawing of the state around 1730
Remains of the previous Romanesque building on the south wall of the nave; in the niche sculpture of St. Genesius as the patron saint of stage performers

In 1528, like the citizens of Braunschweig, the monks of St. Aegidien also joined the Reformation . The convent was dissolved and the monastery church as ev.-luth. Parish church used for monastery freedom. In 1542, the city took over the administration of the monastery, which shortly thereafter until 1571 was occupied by Cistercian women from the Heiligkreuz monastery on Braunschweig's Rennelberg . In 1546, when Katharina von Bora , Martin Luther's widow, fled Wittenberg from the Schmalkaldic War , she found refuge here. From 1605 the monastery was used as a Protestant women's convent.

In 1717 the Aegidienkirche was furnished in the Baroque style. The inauguration as a garrison church was carried out on September 29, 1718 by the superintendent Christian Ludwig Ermisch . In 1811 it was abolished as a parish church, and in the following year the inventory including church bells was auctioned. As a result of the establishment of a district prison in the former monastery buildings in 1832, the Protestant Aegidienkonvent was moved to the city center (Small Castle). The church itself served as a military depot and warehouse, and from 1836 as a concert hall. In 1885 the prison was relocated to the Rennelberg due to the low security standards, where the new Rennelberg district prison was opened that year .

20th century - Catholic parish church

From 1902 the monastery and church were used as the exhibition space of the "Fatherland Museum for Braunschweigische Landesgeschichte", which later became the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum. Part of the museum is still located in the former Benedictine monastery. The buildings were badly damaged during the Second World War .

On September 1, 1945, the St. Aegidien Church was handed over to the Catholic St. Nicolai Congregation, which had lost its church on October 15, 1944 in a bombing raid . On December 12, 1948, the first service since 1811 and the first Catholic service since 1528 took place, and the church was returned to church use by Hildesheim Bishop Joseph Godehard Machens . After the purchase of the St. Aegidien Church by the diocese in 1958, it was re-consecrated on December 8, 1959 as a cathedral in honor of the Immaculate Conception by Bishop Heinrich Maria Janssen . Extensive exterior and interior renovations took place between 1974 and 1979, with the relics of the city patron St. Auctor buried there by the Brunonian Margravine Gertrude the Younger being found. On December 8, 1979 a new altar was consecrated by Bishop Janssen . Since January 1st, 1980 the parish of St. Nicolai has been called St. Aegidien.

On November 1, 2006, the parish churches of St. Christophorus ( Rühme ), St. Godehard ( Zuckerberg ), St. Joseph ( western ring area ) and St. Laurentius ( northern ring area ) also joined the parish . On February 21, 2009, St. Godehard's Church was profaned .

Building description

Interior view (detail): Triforium above the ambulatory
Representations of demons on the pillars of the choir ambulatory

Exterior construction

The Aegidienkirche is the only high Gothic hall church in Braunschweig. The first construction phase was the chancel with ambulatory, pillars and triforium. Outside, buttresses divert the pressure of the vaults onto the lateral outer walls. There are side chapels in the ambulatory. The architectural construction made it possible, as was essential for the Gothic, to break through extremely large windows in the nave. Parts of the cloister and the refectory have been preserved, some of them from the previous Romanesque building. The building material consists of Elm limestone and Braunschweig roe stone , partly as exposed masonry, but mostly as quarry stone masonry .

It is noticeable that the Aegidienkirche does not have a bell tower. Two towers were actually planned on the west side and their foundations had already been prepared. The reason for this is to be found in the nature of the soil. While the nave of the Aegidien Church rests on a solid clay base, a former course of the Oker river, thus formerly swampy ground, is located at the location of the towers planned at the time. This could not support a massive tower. Attempts to build the towers failed again and again due to collapse. The towers were therefore never completed and their beginnings were demolished in 1817.

Interior

Baptismal font by Carl Constantin Weber from 2008
View into the chancel

The nave is designed as a hall church. Remains of the previous Romanesque building can be seen on the south wall.

The capitals of the robed pillars, decorated with depictions of demons and leaf ornaments, are particularly worth seeing in the ambulatory. These representations still follow Romanesque image ideals, although the architectural execution is already Gothic. The completely undisturbed state of preservation of this sculptural work is astonishing when you consider that the church was used as a prison from time to time.

For structural reasons, the Aegidienkirche had an exceptionally long reverberation time of 11–13 seconds. It was reduced in the 1990s by installing sound-absorbing wall cladding.

pulpit

In the Aegidienkirche, the late Gothic pulpit from the Pauline monastery, created by Hans Witten, was also used on the occasion of its reuse as a church . This was built into the altar wall of the Kreuzkloster on the Rennelberg when the monastery was converted into a princely armory, which began in 1712 . Since it was outsourced in 1944, it was the only part of the interior of the Kreuzklosterkirche that remained intact during World War II.

Baptismal font

In March 2008 the wish for a permanent baptism place was granted. The baptismal font made of Portuguese marble by Carl Constantin Weber was solemnly consecrated by the vicar general of the Hildesheim diocese, Werner Schreer.

The basin symbolizes a bulging fishing net. Fish crowd out of the net in various places. The artist is referring to a passage from the Bible in the New Testament in which Jesus calls his apostles Peter, Andrew, James and John to be fishers of men. The floor of the baptismal area was also designed by Weber. Here graphic lines symbolize the water and incorporated ribbons symbolize the names of the apostles. In contrast to the rest of the flooring made of red sandstone, dark gray Theuma slate was used.

Auctor Chapel

The St. Auctor burial chapel in the apex of the church is decorated with modern inscriptions and a tombstone from 1710, which Duke Anton Ulrich had made.

organ

organ

In the Aegidienkirche there is an organ from the Bonn company Johannes Klais from 1965. The slider-drawer instrument has 45 registers on three manuals and a pedal . The Spieltrakturen are mechanically, the Registertrakturen electrically. A special feature is the trompeta magna in the main work, which radiates into the church as a horizontal register.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Praestant 16 ′
2. Principal 8th'
3. Reed flute 8th'
4th Octav 4 ′
5. Wooden truss 4 ′
6th Super octave 2 ′
7th Cornett V 8th'
8th. Mixture V
9. Cymbel III
10. Trompeta magna 16 ′
11. Trumpet 8th'
II Positive C-g 3
12. Praestant 8th'
13. Wooden dacked 8th'
14th Quintad 8th'
15th Principal 4 ′
16. Gemshorn 4 ′
17th Rohrnasard 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
18th Forest flute 2 ′
19th third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
20th Octav 1'
21st Scharff IV
22nd Krummhorn 8th'
tremolo
III Swell C – g 3
23. Pommer 16 ′
24. Wooden principal 8th'
25th Viola di gamba 8th'
26th Principal 4 ′
27. Capstan flute 4 ′
28. Octave 2 ′
29 Sif flute 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
30th Acuta V
31. Nonencymbel IV
32. Basson 16 ′
33. Hautbois 8th'
34. Clairon 4 '
tremolo
Pedal C – f 1
35. Praestant bass 16 ′
36. Sub bass 16 ′
37. Principal 8th'
38. Beard pipe 8th'
39. Wooden octave 4 ′
40. Night horn 2 ′
41. Backset V
42. bassoon 32 ′
43. trombone 16 ′
44. Trumpet 8th'
45. zinc 4 ′
  • Coupling: II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, II / P

Further Catholic institutions in the parish of St. Aegidien

  • Catholic Public Library (KÖB) St. Aegidien (Spohrplatz 9)
  • Caritas day care center St. Nikolaus (Böcklerstraße 230)
  • Caritas senior citizens' residence St. Hedwig with house chapel (Böcklerstraße 232, opened in 1992)
  • Cemetery with Resurrection Chapel (Helmstedter Straße 54)

The St. Vinzenz Hospital at Bismarckstrasse 10 was closed at the end of 2016 for economic reasons. The Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Vincent von Paul in Hildesheim . The parish of St. Aegidien regularly held Holy Masses in the hospital's house chapel , the last time on December 27, 2016.

See also

literature

  • Christof Römer, Ute Römer-Johannsen: St. Aegidien Braunschweig. Schnell & Steiner publishing house 1991, ISBN 978-3-7954-4633-8
  • Elmar Arnhold: St. Aegidien - The Gothic monastery church. In: Medieval metropolis Braunschweig. Architecture and urban architecture from the 11th to 15th centuries. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2018, ISBN 978-3-944939-36-0 , pp. 146–151.
  • Luitgard Camerer, Manfred RW Garzmann (eds.), Norman-Mathias Pingel, Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf: Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon. Meyer, Braunschweig 1992, ISBN 3-926701-14-5 .
  • Reinhard Dorn : Medieval churches in Braunschweig. Niemeyer, Hameln 1978, ISBN 3-87585-043-2 .
  • Peter Giesau: The Benedictine Church of St. Aegidia in Braunschweig. Its building history from 1278 to 1478 and its position in German architecture from the 13th to 15th centuries. In: Sources and research on Braunschweigische Geschichte, Volume 18. Self-published by the Braunschweigischer Geschichtsverein, Braunschweig 1970.
  • Günter Jahn: Death demons and hell beings: the 24 monstrous capital figures in the ambulatory of the Braunschweiger Aegidienkirche. Braunschweig City Archives, Braunschweig 1995.
  • Ute Römer-Johannsen, Christof Römer: 800 years of St. Aegidien. Liebfrauenmünster of the Catholic parish of St. Nicolai in Braunschweig. In: Publications of the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum. 22, Braunschweig 1979.
  • Ute Römer-Johannsen (Ed.): St. Aegidien zu Braunschweig 1115–1979. Liebfrauenmünster of the Catholic provost community St. Nicolai. Braunschweig 1979, ISBN 3-87065-192-X .
  • Renate Kumm: The Diocese of Hildesheim in the post-war period. Investigation of a diaspora diocese from the end of the Second World War to the Second Vatican Council (1945 to 1965). Hahnsche Buchhandlung Verlag, Hanover 2002, pp. 176-182.

Web links

Commons : St. Aegidien (Braunschweig)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rudolf Blasius (Ed.): Braunschweig in the year MDCCCXCVII. Festschrift for the participants in the LXIX meeting of German natural scientists and doctors. Meyer, Braunschweig 1897, ( digitized version ), p. 413.
  2. ↑ Information on the organ
  3. ↑ St. Nikolaus Family Center. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 7, 2017 ; accessed on March 7, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.caritas-bs.de
  4. ↑ St. Hedwig - Caritas Seniors Living and Care in Braunschweig. Retrieved March 7, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Braunschweig Catholic Cemetery. Retrieved March 7, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Internet presence of the St. Vinzenz Hospital , accessed on March 1, 2017.
  7. ^ Closure of the St. Vinzenz Hospital on the website of the Vinzenz-Verbund Hildesheim gGmbH , accessed on March 1, 2017.
  8. ↑ 8-day sheets of the parish of St. Aegidien

Coordinates: 52 ° 15 ′ 35 ″  N , 10 ° 31 ′ 31 ″  E