Benedictine convent of the holy Maccabees

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Machabä Shrine,
around 1520 - 27

The Benedictine monastery of the holy Maccabees was a monastery in the Cologne suburb of Niederich which had been run by Benedictine women since medieval times . It was at the level of the Eigelstein Street , on today's Machabäerstrasse. The monastery was founded in 1178 and demolished a few years later as a result of the secularization decreed in 1802 .

history

Tomb of Gaius Julius Baccus (1st century) on the Eigelstein

Roman beginnings

The Benedictine monastery of the Maccabees was on the periphery of the extensive area known as "ager ursulanus", which stretched as a Roman-Franconian burial ground from St. Ursula over the Eigelstein street to the east. As on other ancient arterial roads in the city, Roman tombs were also laid out in the northwest of the CCAA , on the Heerstraße (Nordtor - Eigelstein - Neusser Straße) leading to Neuss ( Novaesium ). In contrast to the other burial places of that time, located further outside on the old arterial roads, there were also burial sites in the north of the city in the vicinity of the city ​​wall . There in the northern suburbs, numerous ancient graves, equipped with informative additions, could already be uncovered in the early modern period.

Modern findings

For the 19th century, the historian Klinkenberg listed several finds and findings from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd centuries AD , which were recovered on the site of the monastery on today's Machabäerstrasse and then scientifically evaluated. These and other excavations in other parts of the city contributed with the knowledge gained to further illuminating the early history of Cologne. During the excavations carried out on this site in the 20th century (1995 and 1996), the foundations of the former Maccabees Church, but also the masonry of a much older building structure, were exposed. These remains belonged to a late Roman apsidal building with a brick dome, which, as found in buildings that were comparable in time, was deep in the. Had received a crypt reaching down to the ground .

Magdalenenkapelle

In the centuries following the departure of the Romans, the area in the north of the city is said to have continued to be a burial site, on which an oratory is said to have been built after Christianization . For example, on Machabäerstrasse (formerly also "S. Mavyrenstrasse"), which branches off from Eigelstein, on the so-called Greesberg or Greesberger Feld , a chapel consecrated to St. Magdalena was supposed to have stood as early as the time of Archbishop Anno (around 1070) was a cemetery chapel .

This was first documented on July 18, 1134 when it was mentioned in a donation from the Count of Saffenberg . The historian Keussen referred to another mention of this period. There it also says for the year 1134: ecclesia s. Machabeorum fundata Colonie iuxta portam, que dic. Eielis .

Legends

Baptismal font of the former Maccabees Church called "Blood Fountain"

According to a legend , the Jews had seven Maccabean brothers and their mother Salome built a burial site not far from Antioch after their martyrdom . Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine , had the bones, which were considered sacred there, brought from Antioch to Constantinople . The relics that came to Milan from there are said to have been brought to Cologne by Rainald von Dassel .

The "Chronica praesulum" reported a legend that first appeared in the 14th century, according to which Archbishop Rainald brought the relics of the three kings to Cologne with the relics of the three kings . The relics are said to have been a gift from Emperor Barbarossa , which Reinald solemnly brought to Cologne.

The choice of a Cologne repository for the Maccabean relics is said to have been difficult. The Benedictine nuns of St. Ursula in Blutgasse and the canons of St. Ursula both claimed these relics for their planning. Both communities argued that they would build a monastery in the place where, according to legend, St. Ursula suffered her torture . In order to end the dispute, the archbishop is said to have decided against the canons and left the relics to the Benedictine nuns in Blutgasse. The monastery is said to have received the name Maccabees Monastery, and the Blutgasse was given the new name "platea Machabeorum".

Benedictine monastery

Depiction of St. Benedict of Nursia

The monastery of the Benedictine Sisters of the Holy Maccabees was one of the first monasteries in Cologne to be run by women religious . It was a community of pious women who wanted to lead their lives as nuns according to the Rule of St. Benedict . In 1178 they founded their convent in the northern suburb of Cologne next to an old chapel there. It was at the level of the Eigelstein Street, on today's Machabäerstrasse. As can be seen from the entries in the shrines , the community was able to round off its property considerably as early as 1180, and the monastery buildings are said to have been expanded at that time. A funeral right granted in 1201 was withdrawn from the monastery , which was subordinate to the collegiate church of St. Kunibert .

Maccabees Church and Monastery

Conversion of the chapel into a monastery church

Around 1178 the chapel was converted into a larger church. The first innovations were made under Archbishop Philipp von Heinsberg , Reinald's successor, so that later, around 1200, the “master” of the convent, Mechtildis, reported on a “novella ecclesia”. During the tenure of Engelbert the Holy (1216-1225) work began on building a new choir for the church. In 1224 a document reports the affiliation of the monastery, it notes: capella s. Machabeorum sita Colonie in Monticulo : transferred by Pr. Bruno from S. Cunibert at the same time with the parochia of the Dechanei of S. Cunibert, furthermore in this document St. Kunibert was referred to as matrix ecclesia . The completion of the church extension (choir) was then completed under Archbishop Heinrich (1225 to 1238), and in 1232 the church was consecrated by the bishop "Johannes von Mytilene".

At that time the church had an elevated choir extension, to which a lockable staircase led from the center of the nave . This measure served to spatially separate the clergy from the laity attending church services .

Destruction by major fire

In medieval times, open fireplaces in houses and businesses were often the cause of devastating fires . In the year 1376, part of the parish in the suburb of Niederich was hit, which together with the Kunibert Church went up in flames. In 1462 the reasons were recklessness or arson, which destroyed the Machabä monastery by fire, and in 1502 it struck the St. Ursula monastery.

On May 4, 1462, starting from a monastery brewery located on the property , all buildings burned down except for the church. This accident was reported as follows:

At night there was a great fire in Cologne to the Machabaeern, and it went on in the brewery, and the fire struck with force in the monastery, and the monastery burned down vilnae with one, - and with great need and the like. They kept work in the church .

On June 21 of the same year, a shrine entry (Hs. C31, 42b) noted: “Dietrich Hoerheym”, brewer of Meviren, imprisoned because of the fire.

New buildings by Helias Mertz

Second monastery and new building of the Maccabees Church. After Mercator (1571)

Helias Mertz, from Düren , was Archbishop's Commander-in-Chief , and since 1491 rector, pastor and confessor of the Benedictine nuns of the Maccabees monastery. In addition to his pastoral office, he was particularly interested in sacred architecture and Christian art . In addition to the friend and founder of the Benedictine nuns "Hermann von der Ark", Canon of St. Kunibert, and pastor at St. Brigiden , Mertz also emerged as a founder within the scope of his possibilities, in which he contributed parts of his private fortune for the benefit of the convent.

At the initiative of Helias Mertz, not only was the fire-destroyed monastery on Machabäerstrasse rebuilt. Although the church had only suffered minor damage from the fire, Mertz probably also recognized the advancing dilapidation of the first monastery church and began building its new one.

Building description and financing

The construction of the church began in 1504 on the monastery grounds, which were surrounded by a wall. Mertz, who only wanted to preserve a little of the dilapidated church, began with the construction of a new, three-sided choir built over a crypt and was able to complete the entire building in 1506. The result was a three-aisled , five-bay hall church . The structure had a total length and width of 30 × 17 meters. It rested on a foundation made of columnar basalt and tuff stone ; the lower part of the masonry was done in the style used in Cologne from the 12th century. The side aisles, at the end of the southern one was the Katharinenkapelle and at the end of the northern nave the sacristy connected to the choir , originally had small arched openings that were walled up later. As a replacement for a west tower that was not raised, the higher central nave at the west end had an eight-sided, lead-covered wooden tower that ended with a slender tip decorated with crabs .

The inner vault architecture showed a concept that let the vault ribs of opening pillar bundles end without capitals . The westwork rested on a central pillar and the side aisles with galleries were separated from the central nave by slim tracery . The door arches of the church were crowned with sculptures or inscriptions.

Mertz, who is said to have brought finds of ursulan relics during the demolition of the old high altar, increased the willingness of many believers to donate, so that the foundations covered the construction costs. By additionally exhibiting Hungarian relics, Mertz was able not only to increase the reputation of the monastery, but also to trigger an even greater influx of pilgrims. Helias Mertz died in 1527 and Ortwin Gratius continued the work he had started.

Among the restored buildings of the convent, the nuns' chapter house was decorated in a special way. It is said to have been painted in 1536 by the painter Jasper , probably Jasper Woensam von Worms, father of Anton Woensam .

The uniform building in the late Gothic style was later superbly furnished in line with the taste of the emerging baroque era .

Inventory and received items

The former high altar of the monastery church was donated to the monastery in 1717 under the abbess Gertrud Mummartz
  • The former high altar of the abandoned “Maccabees Church” was moved to the Church of the “Black Mother of God” in 1963 after being temporarily located in the Church of St. Andrew. The altar as well as the communion bench set up there in a semicircle are works of art carved out of oak. Like some of the church's works of art that were burned during the war, they are works by Johann Franz van Helmont and Johannes van Damm from the first third of the 18th century.
Reliquary of St. Joachim from St. Maccabees
  • The works of art associated with the legend of the Maccabees' relics were also commissioned by the friend and mentor of the Benedictine nuns of the Maccabees Monastery, Helias Mertz. They are an example of the late medieval art forms of extraordinary reliquary vessels.

One of these was a reliquary of the head of the venerated Saint Joachim (he is said to have been the grandfather of Jesus), made in Cologne since the beginning of the 16th century , which was part of the church treasure of the Maccabees monastery. Today it is located in St. Kunibert's Church , only a short distance from the site of the former convent. It is not known whether the interior of the reliquary made in Cologne around 1520 (probably) by the goldsmith "Peter vur der Paffenpforten" or by the artist Peter Hanemann came to Cologne with the other Maccabean relics that Rainald von Dassel brought from Milan . The partially gold-plated vessel set with precious stones is made of silver and enamel and was presented on loan from December 2013 to April 2014 for a special exhibition at the Cologne City Museum under the motto “Scene of Cologne History”.

  • Various scenes from the legend and martyrdom of the seven Maccabees and their mother Salome, as well as the Passion and Resurrection story of Christ are depicted on the shrine of the Maccabees.

Epitaphs

Epitaph of the Broelmann family

Epitaph of the Stephan Brölmann family in front of the altar of Our Lady of the monastery church. There Brölmann had commissioned and installed an epitaph he had designed himself in 1606, probably after his wife's death. This shows (top right and left) four coats of arms of his ancestors and below the coat of arms Brölmann / Bachhoven von Echt.

  • Tombs
  • Reliquaries
  • Blood well

painting

A panel of St. Erasmus in front of the choir of the church from 1541. Another panel showed the crucifixion in the center and the Machabeans and St. Ursula on the wings.

  • Sculptures

organ

The organ of the monastery church, which dates back to the 16th century , was replaced in the 18th century and , at the request of the parish of St. Johann Baptist, came to the church in the south of Cologne in XII of the French era .

Repeal and resignation

Machabäerkirche during the demolition in 1808

The group of those who, after the abolition of the monastery in 1802, favored the continued existence of the Machabäerkirche, was too small. The small influence of the advocates of church preservation was not enough to stop the decay of the building through renovation measures . After the lead coverings were removed from the roof in 1806, the church finally fell into disrepair . In 1808 it had partially collapsed and was removed a little later. First a sugar factory was built on the site of the monastery, which was followed by the construction of a primary school in 1899/1900 .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Abolition of the Maccabees monastery (Benedictine nuns) 1802 (founded 1178) in: Monastery culture and secularization in the Rhineland (HG. Georg Mölich, Joachim Oepen, Wolfgang Rosen). Essen 2002 p. 61
  2. ↑ a b c Bock, Höltken and Seiler in: Mario Kramp / Marcus Trier (eds.): The Eigelstein - Above and Above. P. 89 ff
  3. ↑ Joseph Klinkenberg, in Johannes Krudewig (sources), in: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln on behalf of the Provincial Association of the Rhine Province. Here Volume II, The Roman Cologne . Pp. 270, 276 ff
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Ludwig Arentz, H. Neu and Hans Vogts: Paul Clemen (ed.): Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln , Volume II, extension volume on the former churches, monasteries, hospitals and school buildings of the city of Cologne. Verlag L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1937, reference to: Lacomblet, UB I, no. 318
  5. ↑ a b Keussen, Volume II., P. 118
  6. ↑ Hamburger Hs. In: Cronica praesulum ed. By G. Eckertz in: Fontes adhuc inediti rerum Rhenanarum. Lower Rhine Chronicles I-II. Cologne 1870
  7. ↑ Keussen, Volume I., pp. 78, 181 ff
  8. ↑ Keussen, Volume II., P. 119
  9. ↑ Manfred Becker-Huberti, Günter A. Menne: Kölner Kirchen , p. 106
  10. ^ Information from the Cologne City Museum
  11. ↑ Sabine Czymmek, Schatzkunst: BD.1, p. 58 f.
  12. ↑ a b c Ludwig Arentz, H. Neu and Hans Vogts in: Paul Clemen (ed.): Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln , Volume II, expansion volume “The former churches, monasteries, hospitals and school buildings of the city of Cologne”, Machabäerkloster, former Tombs, p. 261.

Web links

Commons : St. Maccabees (Cologne)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 49.6 ″  N , 6 ° 57 ′ 25 ″  E