St. Catherine basilica
The Basilica of St. Katharina is a Roman Catholic parish church in Braunsberg / Braniewo in the Polish Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship . The church of the Archdiocese of Warmia is dedicated to Catherine of Alexandria . It bears the title of a minor basilica and is a listed building .
history
The church was built in place of an earlier wooden church from 1280. Construction began in 1346 with the choir first . Originally the church was supposed to be in the shape of a pseudo basilica , but in 1367 this concept was adapted to a hall church . In 1381 the construction with the roof and the glass windows was completed. The tower was built from 1420 and received a clock in 1425. The vaults were completed in 1442. The tower collapsed when lightning struck in 1480 and had to be rebuilt. The Great Northern War in 1520 also caused major damage. In 1536 the tower was raised. The church of that time has many features that indicate a connection with the Church of St. Bartholomaei in Demmin in Pomerania.
In 1500, Bishop Lucas Watzenrode added a gallery next to the choir. The tombstone of Bishop Paul von Legendorf (died 1467) was financed by Bishop Lucas Watzenrode in 1494: After the war damage, the grave of Bishop Legendorf was secured by the Museum of Warmia and Masuria in Olsztyn and, after being preserved, found a worthy place in Heilsberg Castle .
In the chapel of the Last Supper there was a late Gothic polyptych in the style of the Antwerp altars . In the chapel of Our Lady there was a painted triptych from 1485. In the 17th century the church was equipped with the main altar and choir stalls.
The church was rebuilt in the neo-Gothic style between 1855 and 1859 . At the beginning of 1945 the Gothic church tower was blown up by the German army, which destroyed most of the church with the vaults. Only the south side and the north part survived, the east choir and nine of the ten columns. The church remained in ruins until 1979. The reconstruction began under the new pastor Tadeusz Brandys. The first service was celebrated here by Brandys in 1981 under martial law. The church was consecrated in 1986. In 2001 the church was raised to the rank of minor basilica by Pope John Paul II .
Building
The monumental three-aisled building is 41 m long and 25 m wide. The massive tower typical of Warmia has a height of 63 m. The naves with six bays are divided by ten octagonal columns and covered with star vaults . The choir ends with a five-sided apse . The interior of the basilica is spacious and simple, and the furnishings are almost entirely modern. In one of the chapels of the relics are saved spoken Regina Protmann , founder of Catherine's sisters and patron of the city.
Bells
The big bell of the Katharinenkirche was cast in 1726 and escaped the metal collections of the time as the "musically most valuable bell" in East Prussia during the First World War. In 1942 it was confiscated in the course of the renewed metal collections and taken to the bell cemetery in Hamburg. Today it hangs in the New Benedictine Abbey Kornelimünster near Aachen .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bazylika św. Katarzyny on gcatholic.org
- ↑ Description as a cultural monument
- ↑ a b The St. Catherine of Alexandria Church in Braniewo
- ↑ a b Braniewo-bazylika św Katarzyny (Polish)
- ↑ The bells of the abbey church. Retrieved January 22, 2019 .
Coordinates: 54 ° 22 ′ 51.7 ″ N , 19 ° 49 ′ 28.7 ″ E