Old Nikolaikirche

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North side of the old Nikolaikirche on Römerberg, December 2008
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The late Gothic Alte Nikolaikirche is a Protestant church in the old town of Frankfurt am Main . Its namesake is Saint Nicholas , the patron saint of fishermen . It is located near the Main on the Römerberg and is known beyond Frankfurt as part of a characteristic ensemble. The mid-12th century as a royal chapel founded construction in its present appearance in the 15th century and is considered one of the eight endowment churches Frankfurt since 1949 as a church of the Evangelical congregation Paul used.

history

The Staufer Church and its legal status (mid-12th century to 1264)

In contrast to most of the other medieval churches in Frankfurt am Main, of which the time of origin, founder, founding motive and purpose are documented or at least credibly passed down, the sources of the old Nikolaikirche are extremely poor for the early period. This was true of many older historical works Consecration date of May 28, 1142 in the annals of the Disibodenberg monastery as the first written mention of the chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas of Myra . As early as 1853, the historian and then head of the Frankfurt City Archives , Johann Friedrich Böhmer , was able to expose this as a misinterpretation, since the "capella sancti Nycolai" mentioned in the annals is unequivocally related to the Disibodenberg monastery and not to Frankfurt. The historical sources known to this day show no further mention of the building for well over a hundred years.

Due to the lack of written evidence, Frankfurt historical research was already looking for an explanation for the existence of the sacred building at the turn of the 20th century in the geographical location and proximity to the Saalhof - behind which the Carolingian royal palace of Frankfurt had been suspected since the 16th century . It was assumed that it was an alternative accommodation for the supposedly already existing small chapel of the Saalhof during floods or even a complete replacement for the royal officials.

Findings from the archaeological excavations in 1989

Excavations by Heinrich Bingemer in the 1930s and Otto Stamm in the 1960s, however, revealed that the Saalhof was a purely Hohenstaufen royal castle from the 12th century, and that the Saalhof chapel was only built around 1200. The oldest still upright or visible parts of the Nikolaikirche come from the middle of the 13th century, purely stylistically, and thus clearly after the Staufer period for Frankfurt. Otto Stamm therefore still took the view in 1979 that the chapel was built in one go around 1270 without any previous buildings and a reference to the Saalhof.

Only archaeological excavations in 1989, which were initiated during extensive renovation work following excavations, could finally shed light on the building history. Under today's Nikolaikirche they unearthed the foundations of an east-west-oriented hall church with a rectangular choir that was tied off and which could at least be dated back to the 12th century. Since the legal clergy was hardly an option for a chapel near the Saalhof at that time , but the bourgeoisie was hardly an option due to its minor importance at the time, the findings also answered the question of the founder, who was ultimately only the king, beyond the time of its origin may have been myself.

Accordingly, the Nikolaikapelle was built together with the Saalhof during the reign of the first Staufer Emperor Konrad III. who called four meetings of princes in Frankfurt between 1140 and 1149. As a court chapel, it was the location of historically significant events such as court and imperial days and probably even royal elections. The Saalhof Chapel, which was built half a century later, was only used as a family chapel and as a repository for the imperial insignia . The foundations of the previous building of the Old Nikolaikirche found during the excavations are now marked in the floor and thus give an impression of the dimensions of the sacred building, although it is small, but important for Frankfurt's early history.

In legal terms, unlike the other Frankfurt churches, since it was founded as a separate church , the chapel was exclusively available to the royal court and its castle crew, the milites , who also maintained their privileges during the interregnum . According to private church law, the chaplain was appointed directly by the king, but according to canon law he was subordinate to the Archbishop of Mainz in his conduct of office and life , who could also delegate the task to other clergy, such as those of the Bartholomäusstift . This right of delegation was also available to the king, who could, for example, have it exercised through the town mayor . It should be noted, however, that the private church law has been fought as a simony since Pope Gregory VII and was finally pushed back completely in the context of the investiture dispute , so that only the use as a court chapel makes the late founding as a private church seem logical and canonically harmless.

Expansion and incorporation in the 13th century (1264 to 1292)

Late Romanesque tower basement with arched windows and early Gothic tower octagon, around 1250

With a document dated September 24, 1264, the written sources about the sacred building begin. The chapter of the Bartholomäusstift testified together with the municipality that a knight Rudolf von Praunheim had sold a farm to the cantor Cristan and the chaplain Godeschalk von St. Nikolai . Six years later the Frankfurt citizen Wicker bequeathed a regular annual interest of six pennies on the bridge "beati Nycolai" , named in the document in a list with the other sacred buildings in Frankfurt that existed at the time . Thus, purely from the sources, it was only from this point in time, May 1270, that a Nikolaikapelle was secured as an independent building in Frankfurt ( terminus post quem ). The date is also the first real evidence of civic engagement around the Nikolaikapelle, which reflects the increasing importance of the bourgeoisie from the middle of the 13th century.

Around the same time, the first extension of the original building was the church tower , which connected to the rectangular choir of the first church building in the north. Its ground floor with late Romanesque , still arched windows, as well as the two adjoining floors , already designed in early Gothic forms, represent the oldest part of the church today. Furthermore, the rectangular choir now received a semicircular apse in the east and the nave was extended to the west. The construction of the tower can certainly be seen in connection with a desire of the aspiring citizens to create less a church tower than a monitoring platform for the market and measurement events on the Römerberg and on the banks of the Main , for which the tower of the Nikolaikirche was ideally suited. This also seems logical against the background of the privilege of 1240, which helped the Frankfurt trade fair to the enormous importance that it literally shaped the following centuries.

Early Gothic tympanum in the west wall, around 1250

It was not until the end of the 13th century that the nave was completely rebuilt during the reign of Rudolf von Habsburg . The new church was built around the old chapel and its walls were then torn down after the construction work was completed. The new building was completed in 1290, and a high altar of St. Nicholas was consecrated on October 30 of the same year. Two early Gothic tympana from the surroundings of the Naumburg master , probably attributable to the previous renovation phase around 1250 and no longer needed, were built into the east and south outer walls of the church, where they can still be seen today. On October 30, 1292 Rudolf's successor Adolf von Nassau transferred the church to the Bartholomäusstift with the reservation of the right of collation ( Beneficium Collationis ).

In the monastery ownership, the renovation was completed with the rebuilding of the choir in already clear Gothic forms by around 1300. Why such a far-reaching renovation of the chapel took place so shortly before the church was transferred to Bartholomäusstift is puzzling, especially since the king's interest in the area had already died in 1282 when he refused the Saalhof. The reason for the completion of the reconstruction under the Bartholomäusstift can also no longer be clarified, as this also neglected the building in the following period. The only possibility that cannot be proven directly is that the completion of the building was a condition of the king for the donation. This is also indicated by the reliable evidence of a church factory for the first time in 1297 , which was dedicated to the construction, equipment and maintenance of the church's property as well as the material requirements for worship. The reservation of the right of patronage by the king speaks according to the then applicable church law at the same time that he wanted to prevent the entire building load from falling to the monastery as the owner of the incorporation , but rather was exactly divided between the two.

Nikolaikirche as council chapel (1292 to 1530)

After its incorporation, the Nikolaikapelle initially lost the great importance it once had as a palatine chapel. The Bartholomäusstift showed little interest in its new branch church , since the chaplain was still presented by the king. A mandate obtained from the cathedral priest on September 24, 1310 from the Archbishop of Mainz proves that the chapel was even viewed by the monastery as an annoying competition. The text calls for excommunication against some Frankfurters who refused to attend the service in the Bartholomäuskirche and instead took part in the holy masses in the Alte Nikolaikirche and the Leonhardskirche .

The conflict is also reflected in the fact that there was probably no structural maintenance or expansion of the church in the entire 14th century, either according to tradition or according to actual findings. However, the monastery must be admitted that in the same century it carried out the gigantic project of the high Gothic cathedral construction, which was gigantic for the conditions of the time, and that therefore few other resources were available. The central location on the Römerberg nevertheless ensured that the chapel had sufficient attendance at church services , which also increased in the course of the century, especially in connection with the flourishing masses. At the same time, a total of four new altars were added by foundations from Frankfurt citizens by 1374, which further increased the number of services. The tendency of civic engagement for the church, which was already observed in the 13th century, continued and was only reinforced by the disinterest of the Bartholomäusstift.

At the beginning of the 15th century, the focus of urban life shifted from parish trips , i.e. today's Domplatz , where the old town hall, first mentioned in 1288, stood, to the immediate vicinity of the Nikolaikapelle. In 1405 the council acquired the stone houses Römer and Goldener Schwan from the brothers Konz and Heinz zum Römer and had them expanded into the new town hall, which they moved into in 1407. As the council increasingly sought to exert more influence on Saint Nikolai, the interest of the king in exercising the rights still due to him apparently diminished.

When there was a dispute between the chaplain and the Bartholomäusstift in 1426, the city was asked by the king to influence the monastery so that it would leave the chaplain undisturbed. This was also the last demonstrable engagement of the king. As early as 1404, two keepers appointed by the council of the church factory, which had existed since 1297 at the latest, could be proven. From this, however, the city fathers could hardly derive any rights to the chapel, as there is no evidence that they were already financially involved in managing the property at that time.

The story of the transition of the Nikolaikapelle from a branch church of the Bartholomäusstift, whose right of collation the king never gave up, to a council chapel is highly problematic in that there is no direct written evidence of this transition and probably never was. The most important testimony to the transition is the acquisition of a privilege from Pope Sixtus IV on January 4, 1477. This allowed the city leaders to appoint clergymen as they pleased to hold church services, sing the horizons and preach to Saint Nicholas. It is unproven, but it is obvious that the council took over the construction work on the church, from which it then derived property rights, because it could not acquire the church directly due to the ban on simony.

However, some acts of the council, which were decades before the papal privilege, leave little doubt that the council did what it did much earlier, which was only recorded and confirmed in 1477. For example, in 1448 he commissioned the city architect Eberhard Friedberger to build a rood screen for the chapel, which he canceled shortly before completion in 1451. Under Friedberger, a new tower tower from the second floor was built from 1458–1459 after the predecessor building, which was almost 200 years old at the time, threatened to collapse. The most radical reconstruction then took place in 1466–1467, when the entire roof structure was demolished and the tracery gallery that can still be seen today was added. In this context, the nave was also heavily rebuilt, so u. a. the buttresses were raised and the windows were significantly enlarged in the late Gothic style.

Outwardly, the church was now in the state it can still be seen today. With the gallery and the corner towers reminiscent of fortified buildings, from then on it gave the impression of a stone patrician seat such as the name-giving Stone House or House Fürsteneck than a sacred building. This was undoubtedly to be seen as an additional programmatic claim of the council to lead the city community not only in secular but also in ecclesiastical matters. The fact that the councilors and their families in the gallery attended tournaments , passion plays and other events on the Römerberg "from above" only reinforces this impression. In 1498 the council even noted in the mayor's book that the key for the roof should only be given to "council friends" and that the door and tower guard should also be ordered not to let anyone else up.

From 1499 the council masses, which Wicker Frosch founded in 1493, took place in the chapel, which is also regarded as the final recognition of the transfer of ownership by the monastery. Before the council meetings, which take place twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the councilors met in pairs in a procession from the Römer in the church to worship. Already since 1428 there was the Almosen zu St. Nikolai , a foundation of Frankfurt citizens. As a result, the church was also a kind of social station . With the money from the foundation, food was distributed to needy Frankfurt residents in front of the church. Anyone who had Frankfurt citizenship, had a good reputation and was in need, received two loaves of bread per week .

Reformation and Modern Times (1530 to 1899)

Römerberg and Nikolaikirche shortly after the restoration, 1728
( copper engraving by Georg Daniel Heumann after a drawing by Salomon Kleiner )

The Reformation marked a turning point in the history of the Nikolaikirche. In 1530 the Catholic mass and thus the council services in Frankfurt were abolished. The church was closed and its altars demolished in 1543. Even after the Augsburg interim in 1548, which meant the return of the cathedral and the collegiate churches to the Catholics, the small Nikolaikirche was no longer needed for the Lutheran church service of the community. It was leased for over 150 years and used as an archive for the municipal jury and at times as a warehouse during trade fairs. A trumpeter was stationed on the tower , who announced arriving boats on the Main by blowing horns. Before the departure of the Mainz market ship he had to blow the chorale In God's name we go .

In 1719 the lease was terminated and the church was consecrated again in 1721 after a restoration. Since then it has been used as a Protestant church, initially as a garrison church for the military and for an orphanage. After the old Gothic Barefoot Church on Paulsplatz was demolished in 1786 , the Nikolaikirche served as an alternative accommodation until the inauguration of the new Paulskirche . In 1805, the Frankfurt city architect Johann Georg Christian Hess planned to demolish it in order to replace it with a classicist trade fair building, but this new building was not built due to lack of funds. However, there was also no money for the urgently needed restoration of the dilapidated church.

Römerberg and Nikolaikirche, colored copper engraving by FW Delkeskamp , 1822

It was not until 1838 that the church was completely renovated. The previously closed north portal facing Saturday Mountain was opened, and the roof, gallery and corner turret were renewed. The spire was removed and replaced by an octagonal, openwork tracery helmet made of cast iron based on the model of the Freiburg Minster .

In 1840 the Nikolaikirche was included in the endowment in exchange for the demolished Church of the Holy Spirit . To this day, it is owned by the City of Frankfurt, which is responsible for its preservation.

From March 1848 to June 1852, the Nikolaikirche had to help out again, while the Paulskirche was the seat of the Frankfurt National Assembly and then required extensive renovation.

At the end of the 19th century, the cast-iron spire was so damaged that it was torn down in 1903 and replaced in 1904 by the pointed copper roof that still exists today. Its design was based on the actual condition of the 16th century, which has been handed down through historical illustrations.

Nikolaikirche as a parish church (1899 until today)

Römerberg and Nikolaikirche, photochrom, around 1900 / before 1903

On September 27, 1899, the parish and synodal order for Frankfurt am Main was issued, in which the unification of the previously separate Lutheran and Reformed consistory and the division of the city area into six Lutheran parishes and two Reformed parishes was established. Up until now the Protestant families in Frankfurt had to choose for themselves which church or preacher they wanted to stick to; now parishes have also been introduced in Frankfurt .

The Nicolai community was also one of the newly founded communities . It was initially given the Nikolaikirche as a place of worship, although its parish area was far away in the densely populated Ostend . In addition, the Nikolaikirche soon proved to be too small, so that in 1909 the Nicolai congregation moved into a new building in Waldschmidtstrasse at Frankfurt Zoo , the Neue Nicolaikirche .

During the Second World War , the Alte Nikolaikirche was one of the very few historical buildings in downtown Frankfurt that were largely spared from aerial bombs during the aerial warfare . During the first major bombardment of the city in October 1943 and the March attacks in 1944 , which destroyed the entire old town, the roof burned down due to the effects of incendiary bombs , and an attack with explosive bombs on the southern edge blew up a few cubic meters of stone and rubble at the level of the gallery. The vaults held out, however, so that the interior suffered little damage to the plaster . The furnishings had already been saved beforehand by outsourcing, and important building sculptures such as the tympanum on the north side were protected against splintering by a cement coating. Only the 19th century organ had become unusable despite being walled in by the effects of the war for reasons that were not described in detail. The reconstruction of the building, which began in the summer of 1947, was completed relatively quickly at the end of December 1948.

As a result of the destruction, the population of the old town declined sharply. The burned-out Paulskirche was therefore no longer needed as a church. As a national monument, since its reconstruction in 1948, it has mainly been used for exhibitions and state or municipal events. In 1949 the Paulsgemeinde received the Old Nikolaikirche as a parish church. Church President Martin Niemöller preached at the ceremony and inauguration in 1949 .

From 1989 to 1992 the last extensive renovation of the church took place, during which the medieval building history could be documented during the excavations for the first time.

Spiritual life

Due to its central location, the church sees itself as a “visitor's church” and is open all day for the edification of visitors who come here from all over the world. It has a lively parish life with diverse church music and other changing offers, also for tourists in a hurry. In terms of personnel, the parish is optimally set up for an English-speaking, international audience; there are often bilingual, English-German church services, devotions and vespers . With the Ev. There is a close relationship with the Indonesian Kristusgemeinde Rhein-Main , which is also reflected in the sometimes jointly organized community life.

architecture

Architecturally, the largest part of the church that can be seen today comes from several construction phases in the second half of the 13th century, which was finally brought into the form seen today shortly after the middle of the 15th century. No upright substance has survived from the previous Staufer sacred building, although the following building measures were spatially based on it. However, it can be easily reconstructed on the basis of architectural and archaeological investigations carried out over the past few decades. For reasons of clarity, only the court chapel (12th century) and the church as a complete Gothic work (13th to 15th centuries) with the changes made to this state in the 19th and 20th centuries will be described below.

The Staufer Hall Church

The original Hohenstaufen building had a hall 13 meters long and 9.80 meters wide, to which a rectangular choir of 6.20 meters long and 7.50 meters wide adjoined in the east . Neatly crafted ashlar masonry made of red sandstone with a thickness of around 0.65 meters was used as building material . According to the archaeological findings, this was based partly on a mortar bedding , partly on a pure packing layer foundation made of rubble stones, each about one meter thick. The remains that were found show a white painted sand plaster of the entire exterior of the church. It should therefore have been very close to today's color version, even if, due to the lack of architectural parts found, it must remain unclear whether these were already painted red - as was common later in the Gothic period in the entire Rhine-Main area.

Starting from the basement of the tower that was added later and is still preserved today, a room height of seven to eight meters can be assumed inside, which was raised by about one meter in a podium-like manner compared to the level of the square. The strongly constricted, probably slightly lower overall height choir opened to the hall through an arched opening about 3 meters wide. Similar to buildings of this time and of this type, the ceiling of both components was probably designed as a flat beam ceiling and each covered with a gable roof . Glazed windows are documented by relevant finds, but no realistic statements can be made about their number, size and arrangement, as well as about possible entrances and the furnishings of the church.

The Gothic hall church

Exterior

tower
Detail of the early / high Gothic tower upper floors, December 2008

The 48 meter high church tower on an approximately square ground floor measuring 5.7 × 6.3 meters with the two octagonal floors above is a work of the early Gothic around 1250. The style of the top tower floor is largely from the years 1458/59, and was used during the neo-Gothic restoration 1841–1847, however, completely renewed in part idealizing. The tower was restored to its present state in 1905 after the neo-Gothic spire was broken off in 1903 due to its damage. Once again, the entire lantern with its spire was completely rebuilt and, using the earliest preserved church view by Sebastian Münster from 1545/50, returned to the state it was in the Middle Ages . Quarry stone , plastered throughout, was used as building material on the first three floors . All parts worked or left visible by the stonemason, on the other hand, are made of basalt , from the 15th century onwards from a Main sandstone , as is the entire third upper floor of the tower.

The unadorned ground floor with narrow, arched windows - two on the north and one on the east side - still points to the Romanesque period - while the floors above are already visibly influenced by early Gothic influences. Since the renovation in 1841–1847, there has been a door into the interior of the tower and church on the east side. The upper area is closed off by a simple cornice , opposite which the upper floors are slightly set back on their octagonal floor plan, so that a flat plinth area emerges here.

Corner bundle on the tower

The corners of the first Oktogongeschosses be of service bundles accompanied composed of three round bars and below a the projectiles separating ledge in a cloverleaf - Blend arc open. On the north side there are two windows very similar to the floor below, but with pointed arches.

Like the previous one, the second, slightly higher octagonal storey also has service bundles in its corners, but the surfaces here are pierced with narrow lancet windows that take up around two thirds of the storey height. In addition to the cloverleaf-glare sheets of preceding projectile the window underlying show a self- trefoil - tracery .

The third floor of the tower retains the octagonal shape of the tower, but is framed by corner pilasters instead of bundles of services . These are connected by a three-pass arched frieze with flower bases below an openwork parapet with rotating fish bladder tracery . Most of the floor space is divided into two-lane, round-arched windows, which in the upper area take up the motif of the three-pass tracery. The bells and the carillon of the church are located behind the wooden facing of the windows on this and the previous floor (see fittings). On the upper end of the corner pilasters, below the tracery parapet, there are purely decorative gargoyles , which can probably be attributed to the renovation phase 1841–1847, although they are based on medieval models, as can be seen from older illustrations.

Within the parapet, the tower tapers off considerably while maintaining its octagonal shape. The wall surfaces of the lantern have two rectangular windows facing each direction, which are separated horizontally by a cornice and crowned below the helmet by a frieze of pointed arches. A steep, copper- covered pointed helmet with crabs rises above it . The spire ends above a pommel in a cross that is a replica of the old choir cross of the old Dreikönigskirche in Sachsenhausen , on which a weathercock is enthroned.

Longhouse
View of the church from the Fahrtor, December 2008

The nave, with an approximately rectangular but warped floor plan of around 15 × 13 meters, essentially comes from the period between 1270 and 1290. In the state that can still be seen today, however, like the church tower, it was only added in the 15th century in 1466/67 transferred to the roof gallery, apart from minor later changes. As with the tower, the plastered part is made of quarry stone, while the parts that are left visible are made of ashlars of basalt or, from the 15th century, Main sandstone , the latter also being used in places to repair the older basalt parts.

The bottom, circumferential and chamfered base of the nave is also made of sandstone , compared to which the lower part of the outer walls is set back a few centimeters. The rising walls are structured in the same way on all sides of the church. Up to the lower edge of the three windows per facade there is no decoration of the plastered surfaces. At the level of the chamfered sills of the windows, which are visibly designed as slabs of Main sandstone, the facade clearly jumps back. The lower area is continued from here to the left and right of the windows in buttresses , which are flush with the cantilevered roof gallery at the top.

From the originally existing window tracery of the nave, nothing was left on the very exact representation of the church by Salomon Kleiner in 1738, the representation on the map of the city by Matthäus Merian in 1628 at least suggests the existence of such. The central facade axis has somewhat shifted proportions on the north and west side in favor of the lower area for the pointed arched entrance portals built here. As a result, the windows have a slightly lower height in the central axis. On the south side, due to the lack of a roof gallery, the buttresses end at the level of the window reveals and are covered with pent roofs , the facade ends here flush with the roof.

The upper half of the buttresses on the north and west side is the only purely structural element of the exterior made of Main sandstone that has been left visible. This measure from 1466/67 was a deliberate design element in order to achieve a better visual veneer with the roof gallery created at that time, which is also completely made of this material. The ashlars of the buttresses are additionally covered with edge strips in the upper area, which cover the pillars with a three-pass tracery at the upper end. This forms a circumferential arch frieze the lower end of the buttresses and 23 evenly distributed corbels resting roof gallery. It spans the entire north and west façade and uses rotating fish bubble tracery as an ornament.

Detail of the late Gothic roof gallery, December 2008

Directly behind the north-east, north-west and south-west corners of the gallery are turrets with openwork, crenellated turrets on an octagonal floor plan, the north-west tower being somewhat narrower. Only the north-east tower is a real work of the Gothic, the other turrets were originally massive and without tracery, as is e.g. B. can still be seen today at the roof of the stone house . This connection to the secular and defensive architecture of the time was only lost through the neo-Gothic redesign in 1841–1847, when large parts of the roof gallery had to be renewed in the old style due to severe weathering damage. The gargoyles at the top of each buttress also come from the same period, for which, at least according to older images of the church, contrary to those of the tower, there seem to be no medieval models.

The steep hipped roof with slate roof rises up behind the gallery of the roof gallery, spanning the nave and choir and showing three rows of dormer windows on all sides . The spiral staircase in the south-west corner of the nave, which can only be reached via a door in the south-outer side of the church, is also the only way to the upper floors of the tower through a portal behind the northeast corner tower, as the tower does not have its own staircase on the ground floor.

Choir

The choir, which was built between 1290 and 1300, is the best preserved part of the church in its original substance, as, in contrast to the nave, it hardly underwent any changes in the 15th and 19th centuries. Accordingly, most of the architectural parts, such as buttresses and window frames, are still made from the basalt originally used, and the plastered part is made from rubble stones.

As with the nave, the base of beveled sandstone slabs forms the lowest element of the horizontal outer structure. The vertical structure is essentially determined by the five buttresses, which are set in the corners of the choir and on the south side at half the width of the facade and taper significantly at about half the height after a double cornice. It ends with small gable roofs with lilies on the ridges, which are fully sculpted in sandstone and can therefore be recognized as an element of the neo-Gothic redesign of the 19th century. In total, the eaves are towered over by almost one and a half meters.

About a third of the height of the buttresses, another cornice with a cove around the entire structure forms the next level of the horizontal structure. Above this cornice, the upper three quarters of the wall surfaces are almost completely broken through by the five pointed arched choir windows, three of which are spread over the 3/8 choir closure and two on the south side of the choir. Only the three windows of the end of the choir have a two-lane tracery, the arched fields of which are each filled with three stacked three-way passes. The southern windows do not show any tracery, although it remains unclear whether such was ever there.

The masonry of the nave towers over the choir by almost two and a half meters, so that the ridge of its slate-covered roof, which is hipped on all sides, only extends slightly over the eaves of the main building.

Building plastic

(follows)

Interior

Longhouse

The interior of the Old Nikolaikirche can be characterized as a two-aisled, vaulted hall church . The north aisle with a width of 4.5 meters is much narrower than the south nave with 7.2 meters. The spanning, four-beam ribbed vault of the nave has three bays per nave. They rest on two central octagonal pillars , on the north and south walls on two pillar templates each and in the corners of the room and in the axis of the central pillars on simple brackets on the ship walls.

Visually and for the most part substantially, the shell of the nave originates - in contrast to the exterior - from the construction phase of the last third of the 13th century. In 1466/67, in the course of the gallery attachment, as the findings under the plaster indicate, the walls were partially renewed right up to the vault caps and partly also the vaults themselves. In 1841–1847 almost all the vaults were rebuilt. Damaged by the vibrations of the bombing of World War II, the vaults were also sprayed with concrete after 1945, which makes accurate dating difficult to this day.

Like the keystones of the vaults, the editions show a rich program of figurative and floral motifs. Despite the changes mentioned above, all of these are still of the construction date. The eastern pillar shows stylized foliage, the western one is covered with narrow, five-fold serrated leaves. The western console support of the south wall is decorated with bud leaves that run downwards in three-fingered tips, on the eastern one they are rolled up like a volute and provided with palmettes. The capitals of the north wall, on the other hand, deal with naturalistic foliage. The console supports in the northeast and southeast corners show the heads of women who carry the keystone. A crouching man carries him in the south-west corner, and an animal in the north-west corner with three branches rising from its mouth that merge into the keystone.

The keystone of the eastern main nave yoke shows a lamb of God with the flag of the cross, the middle one shows Saint Nicholas in a rich representation with a miter, staff, manipula and a closed book in front of his chest. The western main aisle yoke includes a disproportionately large ring with leaves and roses. In the east side aisle yoke there is a mask with an open mouth between three-dimensional oak leaves, in the middle a rose formed from wreaths of leaves, in the west finally crossed or diagonally placed oak leaves and branches.

Choir

There is nothing to add to the dating of the interior of the choir compared to the exterior - apart from the injection of concrete on the vaults after the Second World War (see interior of the nave), it is still completely in the state in which it was built between 1290 and 1300.

Tongue walls cut off the choir from the rest of the church, with the northern wall being about twice as long as the southern one. The apex of the choir arch is also not in one axis with the yokes of the nave, as is that of the actual choir. Otherwise, the choir - although it is the “youngest” part - is designed in the same way as the nave. Its two vaults also rest on goblet-shaped consoles at about half the height of the room, although they are not further decorated. The keystones have the shape of beehives, that of the four-pointed front yoke shows rose branches, that of the six-pointed polygon shows vine leaves.

Furnishing

General

  • Siegfried to paradise

  • Katharina von Wedel

Inside, the stone sculpture of a Man of Sorrows from 1370 (original in the Historical Museum ) is particularly worth mentioning. The keystone of the main nave yoke rises beneath the floral console and keystones of the ribbed vault with St. Nicholas in the truest sense of the word.

Grave slabs

Two colored tombstones ( epitaphs ) date from the Romanesque period. They are dedicated to the mayor Siegfried zum Paradies, who died in 1386, and his wife Katharina von Wedel, who died in 1378 . The epitaphs were transferred to the Nikolaikirche in 1840 when the Heiliggeistkirche was demolished. They are attributed to Madern Gerthener , who lived in Frankfurt a. a. excelled as master builder and architect of the Leonhardskirche and the Eschenheimer tower .

organ

The Oberlinger - organ is a so-called swallow's nest organ installed at the rear wall of the nave. It was built in 1992 as a two-manual work and has 23 registers . The organ expert of the EKHN Reinhardt Menger arranged the organ, Wolfgang Oberlinger designed and constructed the organ work and the swallow's nest construction with its parapet as a unit. The organ work has a mechanical action mechanism and a mechanical stop action . A special feature is the very shallow organ case, which is made entirely of solid oak and thus represents an excellent resonance body for the pipes inside . In order to obtain a uniform picture in terms of technology, all technical parts of the organ were made from the same oak wood that was used for the organ case. The organ is now regarded in the professional world as one of the sonically and architecturally most beautiful and interesting new organs in Frankfurt and Hesse .

organ
I Rückpositiv C – g 3
1. Dumped 8th'
2. Flaut travers (from c 1 ) 8th'
3. Principal 4 ′
4th flute 4 ′
5. Gemshorn 2 ′
6th third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
7th Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
8th. Cymbel III 2 ⁄ 3 ′
9. Cromorne 8th'
Usignolo
Tremulant
II Hauptwerk C – g 3
10. Principal 8th'
11. Reed flute 8th'
12. Gamba 8th'
13. Octave 4 ′
14th Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
15th Super octave 2 ′
16. Cornet V 8th'
17th Mixture IV 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
18th Trumpet 8th'
19th Carillon
Pedal C – f 1
20th Sub bass 16 ′
21st Principal bass 8th'
22nd Octave 4 ′
23. Rauschpfeife IV 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
24. bassoon 16 ′

Stained glass window

Both the colored windows and the choir windows were made by Lina von Schauroth (1874–1970), a Frankfurt artist from the Holzmann family of builders . The four color windows Adoration, Flight into Egypt, Descent from the Cross and Christ Blessing were created in 1922 for the private chapel of the von Weinberg industrial family in Frankfurt-Niederrad, stored in Limburg Cathedral during the war and installed in the Old Nikolaikirche in 1951. The middle part of the window comes from the house chapel, while the upper and lower part were added by the artist in 1951. In the Christ Blessing window on the west side there is a dedication for Carl von Weinberg's Foundation in memory of his wife May, who died in 1937. Forbes attached. In the same year the three choir windows were built, which represent the four evangelists naturally and symbolically (cf. Rev. 4,6-8). The choir windows were donated by the Hanau honorary citizen Charles W. Engelhard , a grandson of Philipp Holzmann.

  • Stained glass window Blessing Christ

Bells

The presence of bells can be assumed since the 13th century due to the tower and the regular church services. The oldest indirect indication of the existence of at least one bell is the documentary mention of a bell, which can be dated to around 1374. During the renovations in the 15th century, which also affected the tower, everything in writing indicates that the old bell was dismantled before the construction work and then reinstalled in the tower after it was completed.

In the 1470s the belfry, which was apparently not renewed during the renovations, had become so dilapidated that the council ordered its closure in 1473 and its renewal in 1475. The records of these years also show that the ringing consisted of at least one small and two slightly larger bells. After the Reformation, only the largest bell still served one purpose, namely to ring in the jury's court. A resolution from 1578 to have a new bell hung for the same purpose on the occasion of the new “Reformation” - that is, the new town charter passed that year - indicates that the medieval inventory fell victim to the confiscation of bells in 1552.

The custom of ringing the court bell with the church bell lasted until the beginning of the 18th century. As part of the restoration from 1719 to 1721, the tower received a new belfry, which is largely preserved to this day. Further records show that at least one bell still existed in 1722, perhaps the one that was newly made around 1578. In 1762 it was replaced by a smaller bell with a diameter of 57 centimeters that Johann Georg Schneidewind had cast. The whereabouts of the older bell can no longer be clarified.

This stock remained unchanged even in the turmoil of secularization. When the Gothic Heiliggeistspital and the associated church in Saalgasse were demolished in 1840 , a bell with a diameter of 70 centimeters, also made by the Schneidewind family in 1723, was added. In addition, the Barthel & Mappes brothers made a new 84-centimeter bell, which now included three bells in the tower of the Old Nikolaikirche. In 1897, this ensemble was supplemented by a fourth bell with a diameter of 106 centimeters.

During the First World War, the bells had to be handed in as a metal donation in 1917. In fact, only those from 1897 and 1841 were melted down, those from the 18th century remained. However, these remained in the city's historical museum and were again replaced by a completely new bell in 1924. This was based on a bell of 73 centimeters cast in 1586 by Christian Klapperbach from Mainz for a church in Niederursel, supplemented by two new bells of 94 centimeters and 83 centimeters, manufactured by the Rincker in Sinn foundry. From today's point of view, it is incomprehensible in this context that the small bell from 1762 was sacrificed for this - apparently due to a lack of raw materials, which had survived as the only original bell made for the old Nikolaikirche.

In 1940, in the course of the Second World War, all bells were again confiscated as a raw material reserve. The two new additions from 1924 were melted down immediately, the one from 1586 also moved to the bell cemetery in 1942, but was given the highest protection class. She actually survived the war unscathed and returned to Frankfurt am Main in 1948. Since it was decided to have a completely new bell, it was handed over to the Historical Museum, where it came to the basement of the Bernus building when the bell from 1723, which also once struck in the Old Nikolaikirche, was heard. However, due to the war damage until the museum was rebuilt in the early 1970s, it was apparently only poorly secured. A revision in January 1972 found it to exist for the last time, at the beginning of March traces of a break-in were discovered, during which the bells were smashed and mostly stolen. The process remains unresolved to this day.

In 1956 the old Nikolaikirche received a completely new ringing of four bells, which has remained unchanged to this day. Due to the slim tower, they are relatively small and sound in a one- to two-stroke pitch. They were cast in mind by the Rincker bell and art foundry , weigh a total of 1319 kilograms and, with their four-tone sound (“Griesbacher's ideal quartet” or “ Parsifal motif”), are coordinated with the Frankfurt city bells. The closest bells, which can best be heard in interaction, ring in the cathedral, in the Paulskirche and in the Leonhardskirche .

No.
  		Surname
  		Nominal
( HT - 1 / 16 ) 		Mass
(kg) 		Diameter
(mm) 		inscription
 
1 Reconciliation bell gis 1 -3 584 1006 Be reconciled to God . ( 2 Cor. 5, 20 )
2 Christ bell h 1 -300 351 847 One is your Master, Christ . ( Mt. 23:10 )
3 Thank you bell cis 2 -2 238 752 That is a delicious thing, thank the Lord and sing praises to your name, Most High . ( Ps. 92, 2 )
4th Prayer bell e 2 -300 146 634 When I call you, you hear me and give my soul great strength . (Ps. 138, 3)

Carillon

Carillon

In addition to the bells, this church has had a harmonious carillon since 1939 . The current carillon was cast in 1957 and expanded to a total of 47 bells in 1959 and 1994. It covers the range from g 1 to c 5 (of which c 2 to c 5 is chromatic). The bells together weigh 3,500 kg, with the largest of them weighing 560 kg. It can be heard three times a day at five minutes past the hour at 09:05, 12:05 and 17:05. Program-controlled two melodies are played, a church song and a folk song.

On the glockenspiel, however, you can also play other melodies using a keyboard and pedals like on an organ . Such concerts generally only take place on special occasions.

Worth mentioning

At night the church and tower are illuminated, so that the whole place of the Römerberg forms a harmonious picture together with the Römer and the historical row of houses on the other side.

During Advent , when the Christmas market spreads across the Römerberg below, concerts by a trombone choir often sound from the roof gallery .

Nicholas Fountain

former (new) Nikolausbrunnen, mid-19th century

In 1436 a fountain in front of the Old Nikolaikirche, the Nikolausbrunnen, is mentioned for the first time. In Merian's city ​​map from 1628 it is depicted as a semicircular draw well, which is attached directly to the church. After the well was badly rotted, a new building was decided in 1773. The well masters Georg Gottfried Krämer and Peter Friedrich Passavant were able to quickly raise the cost of the well of 516 guilders and 36 kreuzers from the well neighbors and commissioned the stonemason Joh. Leonh. Doctor with the construction of the well. The new Nikolausbrunnen, which was inaugurated on November 1st, 1774, was a pump well that stood free in front of the church. In 1818 the well was exhausted and had to be deepened. The fountain can no longer be found in Friedrich Wilhelm Delkeskamp's cityscape from 1864. It must have been torn down beforehand.

literature

  • Werner Becher: Old Nikolaikirche Frankfurt . 2nd Edition. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2000, ISBN 3-7954-5946-X . (Schnell & Steiner Art Guide No. 2197)
  • Werner Becher, Roman Fischer: The old Nikolaikirche on the Römerberg. Studies on city and church history (Studies on Frankfurt History 32) . Waldemar Kramer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 3-7829-0419-2 .
  • Konrad Bund (ed.): Frankfurter Glockenbuch . Waldemar Kramer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1986, ISBN 3-7829-0211-0 .
  • Wolf-Christian Setzepfandt : Architecture Guide Frankfurt am Main / Architectural Guide . 3. Edition. Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-496-01236-6 , p. 2 (German, English).
  • Hans Stubenvoll: The old Nikolaikirche. 2nd Edition. Munich / Berlin 1975. ( Large Architectural Monuments , Issue 206)

Web links

Commons : Alte Nikolaikirche  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ^ For example, Anton Kirchner: History of the City of Frankfurt am Main - First Part . Commission of the Jägerische and Eichenbergische Buchhandlungen, Frankfurt am Main 1807, p. 93 or Georg Ludwig Kriegk: History of Frankfurt am Main in selected representations . Heyder and Zimmer, Frankfurt am Main 1871, p. 96.
  2. ^ Johann Friedrich Böhmer: Fontes rerum Germanicarum - Volume 3. Martyrium Arnoldi Archiepiscopi Moguntini and other historical sources of Germany in the twelfth century . Cotta, Stuttgart 1853, p. 211.
  3. ↑ The erroneous assessment of age was first expressed in 1562 by the Frankfurt dean and historian Johannes Latomus and was accepted uncritically in most of the literature until the 20th century; see. Richard Froning: Frankfurt chronicles and annalistic records of the Middle Ages . Verlag Carl Jügel, Frankfurt am Main 1884, p. 69 u. 78 and Otto Stamm: The royal Saalhof in Frankfurt am Main . Reprint from the writings of the Historisches Museum Frankfurt am Main XII, Verlag Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1966, pp. 12-14.
  4. ↑ Carl Wolff, Rudolf Jung: Die Baudenkmäler von Frankfurt am Main - Volume 1, Church buildings . Self-published / Völcker, Frankfurt am Main 1896, p. 34; Quote: “The Nicolai Chapel was built on royal land, probably to replace the old court chapel in the neighboring Saalhof during floods, or because the latter was due to the lack of space for the needs of the royal officials and the context no longer satisfied with the king's palace instructed Theiles the population. " .
  5. ^ Stamm, Saalhof, pp. 50–53; Recent dendrochronological examinations of the Saalhof chapel, which date the preserved wooden parts to 1208, have confirmed Stamm's statements again.
  6. ^ Otto Stamm: Was there a Staufer Palatinate in Frankfurt am Main? In: Find reports from Hessen, Vol. 19/20, self-published by the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Hessen and Bonn, Wiesbaden 1980, pp. 819–842.
  7. ^ Michael Mathias: Archaeological excavations. In: The old Nikolaikirche on the Römerberg. Studies on city and church history (Studies on Frankfurt History 32), Frankfurt am Main, Verlag Waldemar Kramer 1992, ISBN 3-7829-0419-2 , p. 28 u. 30th
  8. ^ Roman Fischer: The Nikolaikapelle in the Middle Ages. In: The old Nikolaikirche on the Römerberg. Studies on city and church history (Studies on Frankfurt History 32), Frankfurt am Main, Verlag Waldemar Kramer 1992, ISBN 3-7829-0419-2 , pp. 84, 85, 88 u. 89; The author of the above-mentioned work is following an older theory by Fritz Arens , since it “satisfactorily [answers] the question of construction time, builder and purpose and […] moreover [enjoys] the advantage that it is consistent with the archaeological findings [is]. " this fit also Nicholas patron saint of the chapel, for there were many examples of Pfalz- and Castle chapel of the Staufer period.
  9. ↑ Fischer, p. 85.
  10. ↑ Fischer, p. 94 and 95.
  11. ^ Johann Friedrich Böhmer, Friedrich Lau: Document book of the imperial city Frankfurt . Volume I 794-1314. J. Baer & Co, Frankfurt am Main 1901-1905, p. 120 and 121, Document No. 252, September 24, 1264.
  12. ↑ Böhmer, Volume I 794-1314. P. 147 and 148, Document No. 296, May 1270.
  13. ^ Markus Grossbach: The structural development up to the end of the Middle Ages. In: The old Nikolaikirche on the Römerberg. Studies on city and church history (Studies on Frankfurt History 32), Frankfurt am Main, Verlag Waldemar Kramer 1992, ISBN 3-7829-0419-2 , pp. 57–59, 64–67, 71 and 72.
  14. ↑ a b Fischer, p. 88 u. 89.
  15. ↑ Grossbach, pp. 60-63, 67-70, 71 and 72.
  16. ↑ Fischer, p. 83; see. also Achilles Augustus von Lersner: The widely famous Freyen imperial, electoral and trading city of Franckfurt am Main Chronica [...] . First book, self-published, Frankfurt am Main 1706, p. 20 and Froning, p. 76.
  17. ↑ Grossbach, p. 66 and 67.
  18. ↑ Böhmer, Volume I 794-1314. P. 307 and 308, Document No. 618, October 30, 1292.
  19. ↑ Grossbach, pp. 63, 64 and 70-72.
  20. ^ Stamm, Saalhof, p. 6; according to the certificate from Heinrich Reimer: Hessian document book. Department 2 - Document book on the history of the Lords of Hanau and the former Province of Hanau, Volume 1 . Hirzel, Leipzig 1891, No. 609.
  21. ↑ Böhmer, Volume I 794-1314. P. 359 and 360, Document No. 721, December 31, 1297; Herrmann von Köln, a citizen of Frankfurt, bequeathed three pounds of Heller to the “fabrica” of the Nikolaikapelle.
  22. ↑ Fischer, p. 101 and 102.
  23. ↑ Böhmer, Volume I 794-1314. P. 483, Certificate No. 935, September 24, 1310.
  24. ↑ Grossbach, p. 72.
  25. ↑ Fischer, p. 89.
  26. ↑ 1. Before 1331 a Laurentius altar (Böhmer, Volume II 1314–1341. Pp. 305–308, Certificate No. 412, June 20, 1331; Siegfried Rimp zur Landskrone and his wife Ida endow a perpetual validity of 10 in their wills Pfund Heller annually, which was added to an already existing altar in the Nikolaikapelle. / Johann Georg Battonn: Local description of the city of Frankfurt am Main - Volume IV . Association for history and antiquity in Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main 1866, p. 123; Here the altar, which was only confirmed in its existence by the foundation of 1331, is named by a quote from the "Liber Iurium" by the cathedral dean and chronicler Johannes Latomus (1543–1598), who in turn drew this information from the books of the Bartholomäusstift.) ,
    2. [FOLLOWS].
  27. ^ Hans Lohne: Frankfurt around 1850. Based on watercolors and descriptions by Carl Theodor Reiffenstein and the painterly plan by Friedrich Wilhelm Delkeskamp . Sheet J11 / 12, Frankfurt am Main, Waldemar Kramer Verlag, 1967
  28. ↑ Information from the Frankfurt church calendar for the Protestant parishes of Großfrankfurt in 1938.
  29. ^ Oberlinger GmbH - New and historical organs. In: oberlinger.eu. Retrieved September 8, 2009 .
  30. ↑ Oberlinger Architects - Dipl.-Ing. Wolfgang Oberlinger. In: oberlinger-architekten.de. Retrieved September 8, 2009 .
  31. ↑ Doors open - the old Nikolaikirche Römerberg Frankfurt am Main. Church leaders of the Ev.-luth. St. Paul Congregation.
  32. ↑ Lina v. Schauroth , 1984, p. 10
  33. ↑ Heinz Schomann: Die alten Frankfurter Brunnen, 1981, ISBN 3-88184-022-2 , pp. 44–45

Coordinates: 50 ° 6 ′ 35.9 "  N , 8 ° 40 ′ 56.5"  E