Atzmann (lectern)
An Atzmann is a name that can be traced in the Middle Rhine for a desk-bearer figure in the form of a deacon or sub-deacon in liturgical robes , who symbolically holds a book in her hands for prayer or singing on a lectern.
designation
The designation is etymologically identical to Atzmann for a substitute doll for damage spells. The reason for the transfer is uncertain.
description
The mostly stone, partly wooden figures are mostly life-size. They are characterized by an upright posture and are aligned frontally. The arms in front of the upper body carry the desk top. The backs are usually fully worked out, so that the figure can stand freely in the room. Atzmen only appear in singular, but sometimes they have a counterpart in the form of a desk angel, which, in contrast to the Atzmann, continued to develop into the baroque period.
history
The figure of Atzmann was created at the beginning of the late Middle Ages . The earliest examples date from the 13th century, but the motif could have been created as early as the 12th century. Perhaps the oldest, but no longer preserved Atzmann was the work of the Naumburg master and his workshop and was located in the west choir of the Mainz Cathedral . Of the surviving figures, those from Strasbourg and Naumburg are considered the oldest examples. The further spread took place mainly in the area of the Archdiocese of Mainz . The already rare Atzmänner mostly disappeared at the end of the Middle Ages.
Examples (selection)
- Strasbourg Cathedral
- Naumburg Cathedral
- Fritzlar Cathedral
- Marienkirche of the former monastery Marienhausen in Rüdesheim- Aulhausen
- Frankfurt Cathedral
- St. Leonhard in Frankfurt a. M.
- St. Kilian in Korbach
- Worms Cathedral
- St. Martin in Heiligenstadt
- Former Johannisberg monastery in Johannisberg / Rheingau
- St. Martin's Basilica in Bingen am Rhein
- Würzburg Cathedral , from the workshop of Riemenschneider
- St. Marien in Zwickau
literature
- Otto Schmitt : Atzmann . In: Reallexikon zur Deutschen Kunstgeschichte , Vol. 1 (1937), Sp. 1220–1223; Online version: RDK Labor
- Anja Lempges: The Atzmann - mute servant for loud praise . Schnell und Steiner publishing house, Regensburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-7954-3257-7
Individual evidence
- ↑ Late Romanesque deacon as lecturer . Cathedral & Former Collegiate Church of Sankt Peter, Fritzlar Photo in the German Digital Library
- ↑ "A monastery comes into the limelight". Rheingau-Echo from June 20 , 2014 ( Memento from March 27, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Sacrament house, lectern, so-called Atzmann, sandstone and clay. Photo on the homepage of the Cathedral Museum Frankfurt
- ↑ Frankfurt "Atzmann" restored: Mute servant without a face Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of June 4, 2014
- ↑ Deacon as lecturer. St. Kilian Cathedral, Würzburg Photo in the German Digital Library