All Saints Church (Erfurt)

All Saints Church with west tower in Erfurt

Rear view from Allerheiligenstrasse

The All Saints Church is a small Roman Catholic church from the 12th / 14th centuries. Century. The Gothic hall church stands at the fork in Allerheiligenstrasse and Marktstrasse in the center of Erfurt . It has an irregular floor plan and the tallest church tower in Erfurt's old town at 53 meters . Since 2007 it has been the first Roman Catholic church in Central Germany to have a columbarium .

history

In 1117 the All Saints Church was founded by the presbyter Erkenbert and the archbishopric Vitztum Adalbert as an Augustinian canon monastery with a monastery and hospital . In 1125, the Archbishop of Mainz , Adalbert I of Saarbrücken, first confirmed the foundation in writing by means of a document . The church was probably consecrated in the same year. In 1222 a fire raged in the old town, which largely destroyed the church and the monastery. The associated hospital was mentioned for the last time in 1234 and was probably moved to the Reglerkirche or abolished soon afterwards. The Haus zur Engelsburg later stood on the site of the hospital and came into the possession of university professors from the 15th century. The church building, which was destroyed in the town fire, probably only had a rectangular nave and a west tower that was pushed out to the south.

During the reconstruction of the All Saints Church in the Gothic style , which continued into the 14th century , the layout of the street layout was adapted. To this day, the walls of the nave are not parallel, but begin narrowly at the west tower and widen towards the east. In addition, the nave was divided into two parts and received a roof with two wooden pointed barrels. This construction has been preserved to this day, but is hidden by a flat ceiling that was drawn in in the 19th century . The square west tower with its pointed helmet was often damaged by lightning strikes. The tower and its top had to be renewed in 1487, 1628 and 1870. During the Reformation , the service was discontinued in 1525, but continued again a year later in 1526. In 1724 Johann Georg Schröter built the first organ in the church , which was later replaced by a model made in 1806.

Between 1896 and 1898 extensive renovation work was carried out on the All Saints Church, adding a polygonal choir with a sacristy in the east of the north nave and removing a sacristy in the south nave. Furthermore, the west gallery with the organ was renewed and the former three-part baroque altar was moved to the east wall of the south nave. Finally, the north portal was bricked up and the south portal was opened for it. In 1915 and 1919 the interior of the church was repainted under the direction of Prof. Hanftmann.

In 1936 the parish of the All Saints Church was absorbed into the cathedral parish and has since served as an ancillary church to the cathedral .

Architecture and equipment

Floor plan of the All Saints Church

The All Saints Church is a small Roman Catholic hall church in the Gothic style . It has a total of three pointed arched portals, of which the north portal was walled up at the end of the 19th century. The south portal has a sandstone relief from 1370/80 in the area of the tympanum , which depicts the crucifixion group . The crossbars of the cross resemble curved branches that bear abundant fruit and are believed to symbolize the tree of life . In a niche at ground level on the south side of the tower is a stone Vesper picture (Piéta) from 1380/90 and shows Mary with the childishly small body of Christ.

The main portal in the west leads to a groin vault from the 18th century, the tower basement. It also serves as an entrance hall and has a pointed arched passage with an iron grille to the east. In the adjoining nave , on the left, in an extension to the church tower, there is a stone staircase from the 19th century, via which the west gallery with organ and the second tower floor can be reached. A wooden staircase in the tower leads to the next higher floors, along the wooden belfry with its bronze bell from 1619 and the tower house . Finally, a door on the eighth and last floor, the helmet substructure, leads to the 36-meter high gallery (viewing platform) with balustrade. Together with the long and slender spire, the church tower reaches a height of 53 meters, making it the highest in Erfurt's old town. The nave, which widens towards the east, is bounded at the top by a flat ceiling with a gable roof and has a roof turret with a bell of 1415 (weight 75 kilograms) in the middle of the ridge .

North nave with columbarium

Baroque altar

The interior is divided into two naves by two octagonal pillars with three pointed arcades . In the north there has been a columbarium for Christians and non-Christians since 2007 , designed by the Erfurt artist Evelyn Körber. It consists of 15 taller steles with 42 urn compartments each and is made of slightly reddish veined Thuringian limestone and sandblasted glass. The burial place is separated from the rest of the church by a glass wall running between the arcades and can only be entered by relatives with a chip card . To the east, a sacristy with an intermediate building and a hexagonal choir , which is three steps higher than the nave, are attached to the north nave. The choir has between its Gothic windows a carved from linden wood Our Lady with Child from 1410/20 and is flanked by two tombstones at the entrance. On the left there is a tombstone in honor of the then university professor Dr. Heinrich Eberbach from 1547 and on the right around a relief epitaph for Georg Hugolt from 1619. All other of the formerly numerous grave slabs inside the church were moved to the adjacent churchyard at the end of the 19th century. A life-size crucifix from the end of the 15th century hangs on the north wall of the north nave . After the completion of the columbarium in 2007, services will only take place in the south nave. At the entrance there is an octagonal baptismal font from the 17th century and on the east wall the former three-part baroque altar from 1782. The altarpiece consists of Christ with his saints and is enthroned by the most holy Trinity in plastic execution and by two life-size carved figures of the apostles Peter and Paul flanked. Behind the altar, fragments of a mural from 1372/1420 showing the feet of Christ crucified were found during the renovation work in 2006. Secular buildings are attached to the east wall of the south aisle and the churchyard.

Individual evidence

↑ Columbarium is opened . bistum-erfurt.de. Retrieved on February 24, 2013. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2
↑ Jesu Fuß in Erfurt , article in Die Welt

literature

Ernst Haetge: Art monuments of the province of Saxony. The city of Erfurt. All Saints Church, Andreas Church, Barfüßerkirche Volume 2, Part 1, published by August Hopfer, Burg 1931.
Wilhelm Freiherr von Tettau : Descriptive representation of the older architectural and art monuments of the city of Erfurt and the Erfurt district. Otto Hendel Verlag, Halle an der Saale 1890.
Walter Zieschang: Tower-crowned Erfurt. The ten Catholic city churches. 1st edition. St. Benno Verlag, Leipzig 1984.