Altmünster Church (Mainz)

Altmünsterkirche, Mainz. View from Münsterstrasse, front to NNE

The Altmünster Church in the old town of Mainz is a Protestant church whose origins go back to the Altmünster Abbey , which was founded in the 8th century . The church was first made available to a Protestant community in 1802 by the French prefect Jeanbon St. André . After it was destroyed in World War II, the church building was rebuilt in the late 1950s and consecrated again in 1960. Today the Altmünster Church is the third Protestant town church in Mainz, alongside the Christ Church and the Johanniskirche . It is shared by the Mainz parish of the Armenian Apostolic Church .

Church of the Altmünster Abbey

After the Altmünster Abbey had been relocated to what is now Münsterstrasse, the associated church was rebuilt there between 1656 and 1662. The Capuchin Father Matthias von Saarburg built the six-bay hall in the early Baroque style with strong pillars, without a separate choir and with two eastern facade towers. The church was also distinguished by its rich furnishings , of which only a few remains have survived.

Profanation and use as a Protestant church

After the secularization of the Altmünster monastery in 1782, the church continued to exist, but was profaned in 1785 and used, among other things, as a chemical laboratory and maternity hospital .

Altmünster Church in 1891 before the renovation

In 1802, the French prefect in Mainz, Jeanbon St. André , gave the newly founded Uniate Evangelical Congregation the Altmünster Church for use. There was already an evangelical congregation there during the Swedish occupation in the Thirty Years' War . However, by order of Napoleon, the community had to vacate the church again in 1808. The building was now under the French military administration. Again the church was used as a maternity hospital and from 1808 as a military hospital. For almost the entire 19th century, the Altmünster Church was used for other purposes. It was not used again until 1895 for church services, first as a Protestant garrison sermon place and later, after the First World War, as a French Catholic garrison church ( Eglise Ste. Jeanne d'Arc ) for the French garrison in Mainz.

Shortly before the end of the French occupation in 1930, the Evangelical Church Community bought back the church, which was now again in German ownership, for 88,000 Reichsmarks . The Altmünster Church was the third Protestant town church after the Johannis and Christ Church. In 1936 the Altmünster Church was again a garrison church and was also a center of German Christians with the neighboring Wartburgheim .

Destruction and rebuilding

Altmünsterkirche, Mainz

The Altmünsterkirche was badly damaged in the course of the bombing of the city in 1944 and burned out completely. Community life then came to a complete standstill. In 1951, the first measures to rebuild were taken. From 1958 to 1960 the church and adjacent buildings were rebuilt by the architect and building officer Heinrich Otto Vogel from Trier . A community hall and a kindergarten were built next to the church.

Building description

The Altmünster Church was rebuilt as early as 1895. The existing early baroque building structures were replaced by a neo-Romanesque style typical of the late 19th century . When rebuilding the church, Otto Vogel took up the Romanesque style of the remains of the Altmünster church from this time. The church has a copper-covered folding roof . The outer brickwork is plastered white, the inner brickwork made of red bricks is unplastered. The former baroque wall pillars have been converted into pilaster strips .

Organs

The parish of the Altmünster Church works closely with the Mainz University of Music . The Altmünsterkirche is therefore equipped with two organs that can be used by students of the university for exercises on weekdays. A smaller, older organ stands next to the altar and the pulpit. This came to Altmünster as a choir organ from the Christ Church in the 1960s .

The large organ in the gallery comes from the University of Music. The instrument was built in 1986 by the Oberlinger organ builder and installed in the Altmünster Church in 2008. It has 38 stops on three manuals and a pedal . The playing and stop actions are mechanical.

II Positive C – a 3 Bourdon 8th' Quintadena 8th' Reed flute 8th' Principal 4 ′ octave 2 ′ octave 1' Sesquialter II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ Scharff IV 1' Cromorne 8th' Tremulant

II main work C – a 3 Bourdon 16 ′ Reed flute 8th' Viol 8th' Principal 8th' octave 4 ′ Super octave 2 ′ Mixture V 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ Cornet V 8th' Trumpet 8th'

III Swell C – a 3 Principal 8th' Dumped 8th' Willow pipe 8th' Voix célèste 8th' octave 4 ′ flute 4 ′ Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ Forest flute 2 ′ third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′ Mixture V 2 ′ Dulcian 16 ′ oboe 8th' Tremulant

Pedals C – f 1 Sub bass 16 ′ Principal bass 8th' Violin bass 8th' Gemshorn 4 ′ Pedal Mixture IV 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ bassoon 16 ′ Trumpet 8th' Clairon 4 ′

literature

• State Office for Monument Preservation Rhineland-Palatinate (Ed.): City of Mainz - Old Town. (= Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany , cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate , Volume 2.2.) 3rd edition, Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1997, ISBN 3-88462-139-4 .
• Christian George, Hendrik Maskus, Martin Schulz-Rauch: A short history of the Altmünster Church in Mainz . Mainz: Ev. Altmünster community, 2020.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Armenians in Rhein-Main: Holy Mass in Mainz.  ( 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. Retrieved August 21, 2014.  
2. ↑ More information about the organ on the university's website

Web links

• Website of the Altmünster parish
• mainz.de - Altmünsterkirche - Former monastery of Saint Bilhildis

Coordinates: 49 ° 59 ′ 56.1 "  N , 8 ° 15 ′ 46.8"  E