Aegidienkirche (Lübeck)

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Tower of the Aegidienkirche from the south
Aegidien from the west from the King Street seen
West side of the Aegidienkirche

The St. Aegidien Church , also called Aegidien Church , is the smallest and most easterly of Lübeck's inner city churches and is dedicated to St. Aegidius . It was the center of the craftsmen's quarter , which was located on the eastern slope of the inner city hill towards Wakenitz . Many people in need of social welfare have always lived in this neighborhood in the vicinity of the church. The remaining buildings of the Beguine Convents , like the Aegidienhof, are now used for living, the St. Anne's Monastery as the St. Anne's Museum Quarter . Together they make up the Aegidien district of Lübeck's old town today .

history

St. Aegidien was first mentioned in a document in 1227. The original construction of a wooden church between the years 1172 and 1182 under Bishop Heinrich I of Brussels , who had previously been abbot of the Benedictine monastery of St. Aegidien in Braunschweig, is suspected due to the unusual naming in northern Germany . St. Aegidien has a "T" in its coat of arms, a reference to the Low German name of the church, "Tilgenkark" from "St. Eradicate "or" St. Illigen "- based on" St. Giles ”, the English and French name of the saint.

The Aegidienkirche, which was not provided with profitable benefices due to the poorly prosperous community , was not included in the regulations of the settlement of 1286 on the occupation of the pastoral positions between the council of the city of Lübeck and the militant Bishop Burkhard von Serkem . It therefore remained under the exclusive control of the nearby cathedral chapter until the Reformation , which also provided the pastor and appointed the preachers.

In connection with the beginnings of the Reformation in Lübeck, this church played a pioneering role: After its pastors Andreas Wilms and Wilhelm Antoni were the first to admit to the new doctrine in Lübeck, shortly after Easter 1530 the first Lord's Supper was celebrated here "under both guises" and the pastor Johann by der Erde "was the first cleric in Lübeck who married in the same year".

Building history

Externally, the three-aisled hall church , which was originally single-nave and later supplemented by side chapels, has the typical features of brick Gothic . Romanesque traces of the first stone church mentioned in 1227 can be found in the tower area . At a height of 15.3 meters to the apex, the central nave has a width of around 8.5 meters, the two side aisles are very narrow at a height of 11.3 meters with 3.5 meters compared to the other Lübeck old town churches. The first three bays of the central nave are almost square, the last yoke in front of the choir is already compressed into a trapezoid, as the building, which is inclined in the construction site, is limited by the street behind. The side aisles are closed off by chapels next to the choir, the floor plans of which are also not symmetrical due to their location to the street, but have a trapezoidal shape of different sizes.

On the outside of the side aisles, chapels are added on both the south and north sides. The low height of the windows in the side chapels in relation to the naves makes it difficult to light the church as a whole.

The full width west of the tower in front of the main nave is 86 m high. From a structural point of view, it does not form a unit with the nave and was created in two construction phases, the two basement floors and three upper floors. The basement of the tower was already in place when the central nave and side aisles were added to it. The three upper storeys were added to the tower when the central nave and side aisles were already in place. From this it is concluded, among other things, that it must originally have stood free of additions on three sides in front of the original single-nave hall, which was closed with a gable. The single-nave Aegidienkirche is dated to the first half of the 13th century due to similar findings on the Altenkrempe basilica and the remains of the foundations of the church of St. John's Monastery . The raised storeys of the tower with the cloverleaf frieze are similar to those of the Marienkirche and are assigned to the first half of the 14th century, so that today's central nave with the two side aisles must have been built at the beginning of the 14th century.

In the case of the ship, the first three bays of the central nave and the associated side aisles are to be assumed. The choir was probably built in the first half of the 15th century (together with the gherwekammer , the sacristy from 1437) and completed around 1446.

Scharbau Chapel
Singing chorus from 1587, east side
... detail
Wickede epitaph

Side chapels

The Woltersen Chapel and the Darsow Chapel are located on the south side aisle, named after the burials in them, at the height and extent of the second and third yoke, respectively. The Marientiden or Ahlefeldt Chapel is located southwest of the tower, as is the Holstein Chapel on the inside of the west facade between this and the tower .

The later so named Woltersen Chapel is probably the oldest of the chapels and, due to the building findings, must have existed alone at first. In 1392 a vicariate was donated for her altar .

The Breitenau chapel is located on the north side of the Aegidienkirche in the same location as the Holstein chapel on the south side . At the height of the second yoke of the nave, the yoke-wide Vorrade or Calven chapel, followed by the Gerwekammer and finally the Scharbau chapel at the end of the fourth yoke at right angles to the outer edge of the north aisle at the northern Wendelstein.

See also main article: Chapels of the Aegidienkirche in Lübeck

Effects of war

The church has survived all armed conflicts. In the battle of Lübeck at the beginning of the Lübeck French era in 1806, a howitzer shell hit the vault. However, this dud did not ignite. A cannon ball in the masonry at the north portal reminds of this near-disaster. During the air raid on Lübeck in March 1942 , the church was spared major damage despite severe damage in the immediate vicinity ( Wahmstrasse and Krähenstrasse ) - however, the pressure wave of an air mine destroyed all the windows and thus the glass paintings , including the newer ones by Curt Stoermer . Overall, however, like the Jakobikirche, it gives an overall impression that is largely unaffected by the war damage.

Trivia

Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau actually wanted to use the Aegidienkirche as a backdrop for his film Nosferatu - A Symphony of Horror in addition to the Aegidienkirchhof . However, since the Lübeck Senate refused to give its consent, Murnau chose the Marienkirche in Wismar as a replacement for this . It is said that these locations were the numerical key to the name of the port city of the film. The number of filming locations there compared to the Lübeck locations was now higher and the port city was called Wisborg .

Furnishing

altar

After the completion of the building, the internal condition of the church has also been influenced and changed by regular renewals and renovations over the centuries, one of the oldest surviving records taking place in 1645 under the Lübeck mayor Anton Köhler .

The oldest preserved piece of equipment in the church is a late Romanesque relief of an enthroned blessing Christ, probably from the second half of the 13th century.

The church's original Gothic high altar from around 1430 was removed in 1701 on the occasion of the erection of the baroque high altar that still exists today and then given to the chapel of the infirmary in Klein Grönau . From there it came into the collection of the St. Anne's Museum in 1913 . The Flemish artist of this masterpiece of Gothic carving is not known by name and is therefore referred to in art history with the emergency name Master of the Grönau Altar . His workshop is believed to be in Bruges . It is one of two preserved Gothic high altars from the Lübeck churches and the only one that is located in Lübeck.

The triumphal cross was designed by Walter Paatz initially dated to 1495-1500 and an imaginary artists he with the provisional names master of lübeckischen triumph crucifixes attributed.

The baroque high altar from 1701, presumably from the Hassenberg workshop , takes up the wood form of the marble Fredenhagen altar that Thomas Quellinus had created shortly before for the Marienkirche . Above a painted predella with a representation of the Last Supper, a life-size main group rises between columns with the crucified Christ between Mary and John in the middle, flanked by allegories of faith and love. The upper end is a representation of the risen one between two angels.

The pulpit by the sculptor Hans Freese was created in 1706-08 with funds from the foundation of the Lübeck merchant Lorenz Russe († 1584), who had already donated the previous pulpit to the church in 1560. Lorenz Russe and his will were the outstanding patron of this church , who shaped the interior furnishings .

The interior design is dominated by the singing choir or rood screen by the carver Tönnies Evers the Elder. J. (1587). It also goes back to the foundation of Lorenz Russe from his will and replaced an earlier rood screen. The paintings are attributed to the painter Gregor von Gehrden .

The seating arrangement of the box stalls created in 1702 is grouped around the pulpit as a Lutheran sermon church .

the baptismal font

The baptismal font by Hinrich Gerwiges , dated 1453, is noteworthy, although its decorative reliefs have been lost over time. The baroque decoration of the baptism with baptismal lid, substructure and wrought-iron lattice goes back to a foundation of the administrators of Lorenz Russe in 1710.

The church has several epitaphs , all of which are made of wood, with the exception of the epitaph of Mayor Thomas von Wickede († 1716) executed in black and white marble by Hieronymus Hassenberg .

Organ prospectus, around 1880 ...
and 2006

3 glass windows for the church were created by Professor Alexander Linnemann from Frankfurt, as can be seen from a catalog raisonné from 1902. They have not been preserved and were probably destroyed by the shock wave from an air mine in 1942.

organ

St. Aegidien, as the smallest of the Lübeck churches, was also the only one that only ever had one organ . A first organ was installed around 1451.

The case of today's organ (1624–1626) comes from the workshop of the organ builder Hans Scherer the Younger . The mighty Hamburg prospectus corresponded to a type of prospectus that Scherer also built in St. Stephan zu Tangermünde in 1624 . The Lübeck prospectus was made by Michael Sommer (facade) and Baltzer Winne (inlays and carvings), and much more elaborately than the counterpart in Tangermünde.

In 1642 Friedrich Stellwagen added a new breastwork that increased the number of votes to 42. In 1714 Hans Hantelmann repaired the organ, who also used the opportunity to replace the front pipes in high-quality tin, which are still preserved today. In the 19th century the organ was rebuilt in keeping with the times, especially in 1853/54 by Johann Friedrich Schulze , who significantly changed the Rückpositiv and the wind supply.

In 1916, the Lübeck organ builder Emanuel Kemper received the order for a completely new building, in which the historical prospectus was retained. The instrument had 47 registers on three manuals and a pedal with pneumatic action and pocket drawer. The prospect whistles fell silent. Shortly after its completion, this organ, which was actually a model of late romantic organ construction, was changed in line with the organ movement and completely rebuilt by Karl Kemper in 1939/1940. The tube pneumatics were replaced by a mechanical action with sliding chests. Some of the stored Kemper historic pipes are of him allegedly in the Arp Schnitger - Organ of St. Pancras in Neuenfelde have been installed; this was not confirmed in the examinations before the restoration (2015-2017) of this organ by the Wegscheider organ workshop .

Problems with the statics and the damaged condition of the pipes and play system allowed the plan for another new building to mature in the late 1970s, which was carried out in 1982 by the Johannes Klais company . At the same time the prospectus and case were restored. The three-manual instrument in the old prospectus and with the sounding prospectus pipes from 1714 has 42 stops. The playing actions are mechanical. This organ was overhauled in 2003 and provided with a larger setting system.

I Rückpositiv C – g 3
1. Principal 8th'
2. Reed flute 8th'
3. Quintadena 8th'
4th Octave 4 ′
5. recorder 4 ′
6th Octave 2 ′
7th Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
8th. Sesquialtera II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
9. Scharff IV
10. Cromorne 8th'
Tremulant
II Hauptwerk C – g 3
11. Principal 16 ′
12. Drone 16 ′
13. Octave 8th'
14th Pointed flute 8th'
15th Octave 4 ′
16. Night horn 4 ′
17th Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
18th Octave 2 ′
19th Cornett V 8th'
20th Mixture V 2 ′
21st Trumpet 8th'
Zimbelstern
III Breastwork C – g 3
22nd Drone 8th'
23. Salicional 8th'
24. Vox coelestis (from c 0 ) 8th'
25th Principal 4 ′
26th Reed flute 4 ′
27. Nazard 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
28. Forest flute 2 ′
29 third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
30th Sifflet 1'
31. Cymbel IV  2 ⁄ 3 ′
32. Doucaine 16 ′
33. Hautbois 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
34. Principal 16 ′
35. Sub bass 16 ′
36. Dumped 8th'
37. Octave 8th'
38. Octave 4 ′
39. Backset V 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
40. trombone 16 ′
41. Trumpet 8th'
42. Clarine 4 ′

Bells

Four church bells from four centuries hang on wooden yokes in the wooden belfry . In 2016 the bell chamber was renovated: the steel yokes were replaced by wooden ones and the old iron clappers were replaced by wooden clappers. Originally there were four bells, all of which were supposed to be delivered during the Second World War, but the end of the war prevented the three big bells from being destroyed. Bell 3 from 1748 cracked, but could still be rung for the time being. However, as the crack became larger, the bell had to be shut down in autumn 2015. In 2016 it was welded in the Rincker foundry in the Hessian sense and a fourth bell from the same foundry was added to the ring. The bell rings on Saturdays at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 10 a.m. Bell 2 rings on weekdays at 12 p.m. and 6 p.m.

No.
  		Surname
  		Casting year
  		Foundry, casting location
  		Diameter
(mm) 		Weight
(kg) 		Nominal
( HT - 1 / 16 )
1 Pulse bell 1591 Matthias Benningk , Lübeck 1698 3000 h 0 -9
2 Evening or small sermonis bell 1682 Albert Benningk , Lübeck 1399 1864 dis 1 -8
3 - 1748 Johann Gottfried Anthonÿ, Danzig 1165 900 e 1 ± 0
4th St. John's Bell 2016 Bell foundry Rincker, Sinn ? 940 f sharp 1

people

Great preachers and pastors

Hinrich Scharbau

Eminent organists

  • Joachim Christoph Mandischer was organist at St. Aegidien for over 60 years (until 1856) from 1791 and at the same time the last council musician in Lübeck.
  • The church musician Manfred Kluge († 1971) shaped the musical life of the congregation from 1957 to 1968 as a well-known organist . To complete the restoration of the rood screen, he wrote one of his main works in 1962, the cantata De Salvatore Mundi based on images and inscriptions from the rood screen for tenor and soprano solo, mixed choir and harp, five woodwinds and low strings.
  • Klaus Meyers (born 1943) was a church musician at St. Aegidien from 1974 to 2008. With his Lübeck Bach Choir, he shaped a long era of music at this church. He has performed a very large number of choral symphonic works from all epochs. The main focus of his repertoire was rarely performed works and operas for church interiors. The world premiere of his own opera composition Der Sündenfall (1983, score and performance material in the Lübeck City Library) received a lot of attention . He attached great importance to the musical work with children and young people. For decades, Klaus Meyers was a lecturer at the Lübeck University of Music for instrumental ensemble management.

local community

According to a description from 1890 , the historical community area comprised on the south side of Hüxstrasse from house no.90 through Schlumacherstrasse (except the west side of the same), lower Fleischhauerstrasse, along the wall from the slaughterhouse to Düvekenstrasse, north side of this street, western side of St. Annenstrasse from no.16 on, along the same and the south side of Schildstrasse to house no.2 on the corner of the south side of the lower Wahmstrasse, along the same down, the north side up again to no.22, through the Balauerfohr to to house no. 92 in Hüxstrasse, as well as the houses on Hüxterdamm; also the houses from Hüxtertor to Wakenitzstrasse 9, the three fishermen's shacks, the Rabbit Mountain , the six eyrie and Müggenbusch on the Wakenitz .

Today's meaning

Today the community is a social center in Lübeck , with a connection to neighborhood and homeless work. The congregation contributes its part to the cultural life of the Hanseatic city with music and choir work (in particular through the Lübeck Bach Choir until recently under the direction of church music director Klaus Meyers) and its pastors introduce people to the faith in new ways. The smallest of the five old town churches in Lübeck today has the largest congregation with around 4,700 members.

Events

For Advent tradition takes place in St. Aegidien since justification by Paul Brockhaus the in the 1920s nativity play in Low German language instead, the actors around the Nativity scene are all students of Katharineum .

literature

  • Uwe Albrecht , Jörg Rosenfeld and Christiane Saumweber: Corpus of medieval wood sculpture and panel painting in Schleswig-Holstein, Volume I: Hanseatic City of Lübeck, St. Annen Museum . Kiel: Ludwig, 2005. ISBN 3-933598-75-3
  • Uwe Albrecht, Ulrike Nürnberger, Jan Friedrich Richter , Jörg Rosenfeld, Christiane Saumweber: Corpus of medieval wood sculpture and panel painting in Schleswig-Holstein, Volume II: Hanseatic City of Lübeck, the works in the urban area. Ludwig, Kiel 2012, ISBN 3-933598-76-1
  • Rainer Andresen: Lübeck, History, Churches, Fortifications . Volume 1, p. 45
  • Johannes Baltzer , Friedrich Bruns: The architectural and art monuments of the Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck. Issued by the building authorities. Volume III: Church of Old Lübeck. Dom. Jakobikirche. Aegidia Church. Publishing house by Bernhard Nöhring: Lübeck 1920, pp. 451-548. Unchanged reprint 2001: ISBN 3-89557-167-9
  • Jürgen Fick: The Lübeck Nativity Play . In: Festschrift for the 475th anniversary of the Katharineum in Lübeck. Lübeck 2006, pp. 57-61
  • Peter Guttkuhn (Ed.): 750 years of St. Aegidien, St. Jacobi and St. Petri (Festschrift). Vaterstädtische Blätter, 28th year, Lübeck 1977.
  • Lutz Wilde : Die Aegidienkirche Lübeck , Große Baudenkmäler , issue 253. 4th edition, Munich / Berlin 1982
  • Dietrich Wölfel: The wonderful world of organs: Lübeck as an organ city . 2., newly revised. and exp. Aufl., Lübeck: Schmidt-Römhild 2004 ISBN 3-7950-1261-9 , pp. 36-46
  • Heinrich Christian Zietz : Views of the Free Hanseatic City of Lübeck and its surroundings. Frankfurt a. M. 1822.
  • Friedrich Techen : The tombstones of the churches in Lübeck , Rahtgens, Lübeck, 1898, p. 108–116 ( digitized version )

Web links

Commons : Aegidienkirche, Lübeck  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Sources and Notes

  1. ↑ Zietz, p. 88.
  2. ↑ Baltzer / Bruns, p. 454.
  3. ↑ Baltzer / Bruns, p. 456.
  4. ↑ Baltzer / Bruns, p. 462.
  5. ↑ Baltzer / Bruns, p. 462 ff.
  6. ↑ Named after the - later - hereditary funeral of councilor Cordt Wolters († 1591).
  7. ↑ Named after the councilor Bernhard Darsow († 1479), completed in 1485.
  8. ↑ Built between 1506 and 1509, consecrated in 1515 by Bishop Johannes VIII. Grimholt . 1717 as an inheritance funeral to Wulf Christian von Ahlefeldt († 1722).
  9. ↑ Acquired in 1743 from the Danish chamberlain Karl von Holstein († 1767), he was son-in-law of v. Ahlefeldts.
  10. ↑ Baltzer / Bruns, p. 464
  11. ↑ Both were built roughly identically to the following Vorrade chapel; named after the funeral of the family of Christoph Gensch von Breitenau (1715).
  12. ↑ Named after the councilor Dietrich Vorrade († 1385), built by his widow until 1410; 1441 passed to the mayor of Lübeck, Wilhelm von Calven .
  13. ↑ Acquired on February 8, 1759 from the widow of the senior and pastor M. Heinrich Scharbau, who died two days earlier .
  14. ↑ The Savior of St. Aegidien turns 90
  15. ↑ Albrecht # 26, pp. 114-122.
  16. ^ First mention of a rood screen in Aegidien in 1420.
  17. ↑ Gustav Lindtke: Lübeck Bronze baptisms of the Middle Ages. In: Der Wagen 1966, pp. 53–62.
  18. ↑ Ev.-Luth. Church district Lübeck-Lauenburg: Organ in St. Aegidien. Retrieved August 22, 2018 .
  19. ↑ Video recording of the two smaller bells in the tower (01′00 ″) on YouTube .
  20. ↑ Video recording of the full bells (00'31 ″) on YouTube .
  21. ^ The Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck: a contribution to German regional studies. Lübeck: Dittmer 1890, p. 176


Coordinates: 53 ° 51 '50.1 "  N , 10 ° 41' 23.2"  E