Brigittakapelle (Vienna)
The Brigittakapelle is a former Roman Catholic chapel built in the baroque style in the 20th district of Brigittenau in Vienna and is a listed building . It is used by the Georgian Orthodox community for masses, and it functions as the Church of the Holy King David the Renewer .
prehistory
There are two legends from the Thirty Years War about the establishment of the Brigittakapelle in the 20th district on Forsthausplatz : One legend refers to the fact that Emperor Ferdinand III. At this point in 1648 the news of the Peace of Westphalia reached. The second legend is that the Emperor's brother, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm , in the exercise of command over the imperial troops in the storming of the so-called Wolf's Lair (named after the wolf-Au) in his command tent just barely by a Swedish artillery projectile missed has been. Recent research shows that both legends are incorrect, but they are persistent in literature and the population.
The original names of the area of today's Brigittenau were Wolfsau and Schottenau . The wetland was located north of today's Augarten and was part of the so-called Lower Werd . Klosterneuburg Abbey held the manorial power of the extensive, hardly populated grounds . In the course of the expansion of the city in 1850, Vienna was divided into eight districts, the second of which was made up of today's Brigittenau and Leopoldstadt . Until then, Brigittenau consisted largely of a meadow landscape, the so-called Wolfsau, and the Zwischenstrom area . The two areas were separated by the Kaiserwasser, the main river of the Danube at that time.
The military situation
The devastating defeat of the imperial army at Jankau prompted Ferdinand III to hurry to reinforce the garrison of the Sternschanze, strategically important for the defense of Vienna, which was located in front of the northern end of the Wolfsbrücke. This so-called Wolfsschanze is said to have been expanded into a fortified bridgehead as early as 1484 during Matthias Corvinus' second attack on Vienna . As early as 1643, on behalf of the Swedish general Torstensson, the light cavalry of his army under General Wrangel had grazed the area of the Danube bridges near Vienna. However, in the course of the Danish-Swedish war , in which Torstensson had the Swedish high command, the Swedish army was withdrawn surprisingly because it was needed in the north to repel a Danish invasion.
On April 9, 1645, Torstenson stood again with his army in front of the hill. Subjected to the oppressive superiority of the enemy, the imperial troops had to withdraw from the redoubt on the western Danube islands, but not without first setting fire to the bridge behind them. As a result, a four-day battle raged over the river islands. The Swedes hoped to work together with the Transylvanian Prince Georg II Rákóczi , who had surprisingly come to an agreement with the emperor. This led to an unexpectedly rapid retreat of the main Swedish army to Brno . The Wolfsschanze was still held by a Swedish crew.
As a result, a strange agreement was reached: the Viennese were to retain the supply of the Danube, but the Swedes were allowed to supply themselves in the city unhindered. This agreement did not last, because the emperor appointed his 31-year-old brother, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, to recapture this base. A counter-entrenchment was raised by the imperial army and Leopold Wilhelm agreed to the plan drawn up by Colonel Karl Friedrich Reich to storm Wolfsschanze. On the evening of May 27, 1645, the Archduke, accompanied by Count Matthias Gallas and most of the generals who were in Vienna, went to Schottenau to investigate the camp. The bombardment of the bridge bastions is said to have started the morning of the following day. But the Swedes had further expanded their fortress during the several weeks break in the fight, so that they were able to offer fierce resistance. With an express courier sent to the Swedish headquarters, they promised an early reinforcement of their troops.
This critical situation is likely to have induced Leopold Wilhelm to spend the night of May 29th to 30th in his tent in Schottenau. After the unsuccessful cannonade the day before, Reich had selected armed forces from among his troops as well as from the Fehrenberg, Baden and Hunoldstein regiments moved to the north bank under fire protection between 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. on May 30, 1645 . The topographical location of some of the Strominseln pushed forward close to the bank certainly suited him, so that his troops were probably able to encircle Wolfsschanze on the one hand by the shortest route over the Schwarze Lacke or the Neuhaufen and the Mühlschiedinsel. Since a Swedish captain had meanwhile been intercepted with the news of an imminent relief by General Arvid Wittenberg with a troop strength of 4,000 men (at the latest on the following day, that would be May 31), Reich no longer hesitated and left with all available troops Reserves overflowed the bridgehead in a storm, which actually ended with the capture of the bulwark in the late afternoon of the same day. The captured Swedes were brought to Vienna. It turned out that this had happened at the right time, because by the morning of the next day Wittenberg had actually moved within a few kilometers, but withdrew immediately after receiving the news of the fate of the Swedes, so that Wolfsschanze was finally in the hands of the imperial troops remained. Not quite final: On August 31, 1645, Torstenson occupied the ski jump again, but moved back to his winter quarters in October and had fortifications installed on the Bisamberg and its surroundings as well as in Krems and Korneuburg against attacks from the Vienna area.
The legend of the spherical miracle
A legend is attached to these historical events, which has become far more widespread than the actual events are known. A contemporary chronicler named Mathias Fuhrmann reports on this in detail only in 1767, based on a mention of the Jesuit Leopold Fischer (1764):
“Anno 1640 [ sic! ] the miracle story has happened that as the most noble Prince Lepoldus Guilielmus Arch-Duke of Austria, again the Swedish General Ochsenstern, who had camped not far from the city of Vienna, stood on the so-called Tabor with many war people against him, in the feast of St. Brigitta was shot a stucco bullet into the main tent of the most prestigious Arch-Duke in front of him, when he was in charge of the prayer. Whereupon, after the experience that it was on that very day, the festival of H. Brigitta also occurred, this heroic prince resolutely had contemporary chapels built according to the shape of his tent ... "
In his description, Fuhrmann refers to a printed message in the “Chapel” and adds that “there are still some circumstances attached, but they do not exist”. From this addition it can be concluded that the only source that mentions the miracle had to be in connection with apparently untrue statements, since otherwise the long-winded (less precise) chronicler would certainly have included them in his explanations.
The spherical miracle could have happened on May 30th as well as on the 29th (since it is not specified), whereby the former date is mostly given preference. The situation in which Leopold Wilhelm is said to have found himself during this event, namely deep in prayer, is quite conceivable, since he was both prince of the church and general in one person. In no way does the anniversary of the event coincide (even if a wider margin is left) with the feast of St. Brigitta agree. The false information given by the chroniclers and their repeated adoption by various historians of the later period has only distorted the matter even more. Never was the 30th or 29th of May St. Brigitta was consecrated, but October 8th (after the Second Vatican Council July 23rd). This naming is certainly St. Brigitta (more correctly: Birgitta) of Sweden, who, born around 1303 in Finstadt, became one of the most important mystics. Neither do St. Brigitta von Holland (also today July 23) still consider the Irish Brigitta von Kildare (February 1) for the patronage.
But the builder of the Brigittakapelle is also wrongly indicated by Fuhrmann. It is not about Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, but about his imperial brother Ferdinand III. The proof of this is an imperial penal letter dated July 1, 1651 from which the following lines emerge: “Deinde vero in Capella a nobis nuper in Sylva Thaber inter pontes Danuby extructa, et Diivae Brigitta Sacra” , so: “... but further in the chapel that we recently built in the Thabor forest between the Danube bridges that St. Brigitta is consecrated ... “ . After all this, the unbelievability of Fuhrmann's report becomes quite clear, although in his work “Old and New Vienna”, published as early as 1739, he probably reports on those events, but not a word about the foundation. At the time, people were very impressed by the description of such miracles, and the author also intended them for the purpose of better imprinting historical events, since otherwise they hardly fit into the historiographical framework. Later historians accepted Fuhrmann's report uncritically, often as a fact. Indeed, Emperor Ferdinand III. Have this chapel built as a place of worship for the hunting and toll personnel of the toll house "Am Tabor". It was not until later historians that various founding legends were attributed to the building, of which that of the spherical miracle has persisted to this day. The Brigittakapelle is a simple votive chapel , the construction of which was necessary on the busy street across the Danube. The bridge and the road were finally relocated downstream in 1688/98 and with the disregard of the sacred building this tendency legend arose. The scribes Fuhrmann and Fischer acted in good faith and believed the legend to be true, although the legend was about the chapel that had already been built. On the other hand, the opinion that has repeatedly emerged is also expressed that the imagination of the people did not know what to do with the octagonal shape of the chapel and was most likely to be reminded of the floor plan of a tent.
The legend of the peace agreement
In addition to the “spherical miracle”, there is another legend about the founding of the Brigittakapelle. It is the aforementioned peace message, which comes from the "Legations Cantzellist" Müller, who claimed that Emperor Ferdinand III. at the point where the chapel stands today, heard the news of the peace treaty in Münster and Osnabrück. The emperor is said to have been so delighted with this message that he had a chapel built on the spot, the Brigittakapelle. Müller was given to accompany the ambassadors of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Wilhelm IV. , Who had to pay homage to Emperor Leopold I on June 10, 1660 . In addition to paying homage and accepting the new loan, the ambassadors also had the task of “examining what was going on in the Kays. Castle built so far, the same the Kayser. as well as the Ertz-Hertzogs [Leopold Wilhelm] treasure and art chamber, the city of Vestung and like anitzo the keyserl. Occupation, the famous high tower, the churches, bridges and especially the hanging work on it, new kayserl. Lustgarten, the zoo, both Ebersdorf and other kays. Pleasure and hunting lodges, including whatever else may be notable. ” For this purpose, the clerk Müller kept a diary in which he noted his various observations and inquiries. This diary reports most extensively on Vienna, whereby Müller's interest in art was by all means modern; as buildings he was obviously interested in churches in which the penetration of the early Baroque style was noticeable. Müller also reports on the Brigittakapelle and states that Ferdinand III. met the courier at that point who brought the news of the Osnabrück peace treaty in 1648 . This story sounds a little more believable than the Kugelwunder, so it would fit together that the courier found the emperor hunting with this good news and he immediately vowed to build a chapel at this point. The timing would also coincide with the period when the chapel was built. The legend with the peace message seems plausible from a chronological point of view, but nothing can be clearly proven. It is certain that Ferdinand III. had the chapel built as a place of worship for foresters, toll officials and travelers across the Danube bridge, not least as a place of prayer for themselves, since the chapel was in the middle of his hunting area.
Building history
The Brigitta Chapel is Filiberto Lucchese's first documented structure in Vienna and occupies an important place in his overall works. Its grace consists first of all in an exciting dualism of the inner and outer form. The central building, erected in 1650 as a brick building , the basic concept of which caught on in numerous variations north of the Alps , is a cylindrical rotunda inside with a dome and lantern , but its outer shell is octagonal in plan . The walls are up to a meter thick. The facade of the chapel designed Lucchese in two on the raw plastered wall coated thin films.
The uppermost facade skin forms a Doric- Tuscan pilaster frame . The pilasters are kinked at the edges of the octagon. The “tectonic” pilaster skeleton is underlaid with broad pilaster strips . However, the visual reading of the wall sections is not clear. The roughly plastered wall sections can already be interpreted as embedded plaster fields. The topmost facade skin is very thin and therefore looks very graphic - e.g. B. by the sharply cut contours of the empty metopes . In the main directions, with the exception of the south side, there are rectangular doors made of heavy oak (with drilled stone frames), above which the broken entablature with segmented lintel rests on two struts . In their fields there are carved coats of arms in relief on a protruding shield, above the main door there is a painted sundial . The historian Gaheis wrote amusing about this as early as 1789: "There is a sundial above the front door under the shadow of mighty chestnuts."
In the secondary directions, the walls are broken through by a rectangular stone-framed window. The tent roof is covered with sheet metal, has an eight-sided lantern with arched windows on each side and has a surrounding cornice interrupted by the windows, a sheet metal dome over main cornices, on which a pommel with a cross. In the interior, the capitals of the pilaster framework, which in 1908 was still marbled in red, show the shape of crowned eagles. A large imperial eagle also sits above the altar and shows the initials "LI". The high, rectangular stucco frame , stepped three times and rising in a pyramid, with a double solid profile is reminiscent of the ceiling frame by Luchese in the Rechnitz castle chapel . The still old stone tile floor shows a red, white and blue pattern in muted colors.
Altar painting and ceiling fresco
The altarpiece dates from the 17th century and was very popular very early on. Whether it is Leopold Wilhelm or Ferdinand III. acts could not be clearly clarified until today. However, it is justified to assume that the altar, which bears the initials "LI", was erected during the reign of Emperor Leopold I and therefore the altarpiece also dates from this time. The legend of the spherical miracle may already have existed at this time, which was then manifested in the altar sheet, according to which the praying person represents Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. But it is also possible that Leopold I his father, Ferdinand III., Who had the chapel built, as a warlord in prayer in front of St. Brigitta wanted to have portrayed. However, neither of the two possibilities can be clearly proven. Nothing can be clearly read from the facial features, since the brothers naturally looked very similar, both wore beards according to the fashion of their time and the face of the person depicted can only be viewed from the side.
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm or Emperor Ferdinand III is depicted in the foreground. in armor , surrounded by a red cloak with an ermine collar , kneeling in front of St. Brigitta. His gaze is directed towards the appearance and thus directs the viewer in that direction. In his right hand he carries the command baton in a simple design. Above, carried by a group of putti , hovers St. Brigitta, in the nun's costume of the Brigitta Order. The composition of the image is entirely in the tradition of the early baroque votive image . The picture was then heavily painted over.
The dome, which is pierced by the open lantern, shows a fresco by Andreas Groll from 1903, which was restored by Max Heilmann in 1958. It was strongly based on the altarpiece. In his fresco, Groll glorifies the entire error of the founding saga in a large-figured scene: Brigitta as abbess asks the enthroned Mother of God with the child on her lap for protection for the archduke kneeling in front of her. To the left is the moment of miracle: four imperial men in front of the cannonball, which has just exploded. But angels and putti, very moved and partly shrouded in clouds, avert the deadly danger. Cloud mood leads to a scene from the fighting on the fresco: In front of the waving imperial standard, two warriors, to the right of them a cannon behind an entrenchment , to their left a tent that is already bordered by the retinue of the Brigitta group.
Further history of the Brigittakapelle
The chapel was partially destroyed during the second Turkish siege , but was rebuilt in 1695. When the Danube bridges were relocated downstream in 1688/98 and the road to the north no longer led past the chapel, it was gradually forgotten. Until it became the focus of a folk festival, Brigittakirtag, which experienced its greatest boom from 1775 when Emperor Joseph II opened the Augarten to the general public. The most beautiful memorial was erected by Franz Grillparzer in his “ Armen Spielmann ” on Brigittakirtag, which sometimes attracted 60,000 to 80,000 visitors . The Brigittakirtag took place for the last time in this form in 1847. It was initially a parish fair and became the most popular festival in Vienna. In 1848 Brigittenau became the arena for fighting. Nobody really took care of the chapel anymore, although it was the only church in the whole district until 1874, because at that time the new Brigittakirche was only inaugurated. After that, the Brigitta Chapel became more and more dilapidated and served profane purposes - as a dining house and pantry for the imperial forester, as a prop room and even as a goat stable. The inventory was transferred to the court and castle parish church. An innkeeper asked for the chapel to be let, he wanted to convert it into a tavern. This would hardly be in the intention of the pious Ferdinand III. located and the no less pious Franz Joseph's civil servants then rejected this request, the innkeeper was only allowed to build a tavern on the meadow next to it, the later inn "Zur Brigittakapellen."
In 1898, at the suggestion of Lorenz Müller , member of the state parliament, municipality and city council, a “St. Brigitta Chapel Restoration Committee ". The chapel was extensively restored and re-consecrated in 1903 in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph and Mayor Karl Lueger , a memorial plaque inside the chapel commemorates this. In 1911 the city of Vienna took over the chapel into its ownership. In 1912 the sisters of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary moved into the chapel. In 1917 the copper roof fell victim to the lack of raw materials during the First World War , and in 1918 the sisters moved to Leystraße, making the chapel deserted again.
In 1944, three bombs tore deep funnels around the chapel, all windows were smashed, the roof and the furnishings were badly damaged. In April 1945 the chapel served as a mortuary for fallen soldiers of the Waffen SS (2nd SS Panzer Corps). On April 13, 1945, Soviet soldiers occupied the old forester's house and also brought fallen soldiers to the chapel. Two days later, two Waffen SS men were shot by Red Army soldiers in front of the altar.
It was not until 1958 that the chapel was completely renovated and consecrated again, and another plaque inside the chapel also commemorates this restoration. In 1975 the parish of St. Johann Kapistran, who is responsible for looking after the chapel, made the small church available to the Russian Orthodox Christian community in Vienna for the celebration of the divine service. On the occasion of the 325th anniversary of the Brigitta Chapel, the municipality of Vienna carried out various repair work and repainted the roof in 1976. To celebrate the 90th anniversary of Brigittenau, the Brigitta Chapel underwent a general renovation. In 1989 the copper sheet roof was renewed, the lantern was repaired and the cross was gilded. In 1990 the exterior renovation was completed and the interior drained and repainted inside and outside. This is how the Brigittakapelle presents itself to today's observer.
Today the chapel is used by the Georgian Orthodox Church . It is the church of the Viennese community and bears the name Church of the Holy King David the Renewer .
literature
- Dehio manual. The art monuments of Austria: Vienna. II. To IX. and XX. District, XX. Brigittenau district, Brigittakapelle. Verlag Anton Schroll & Co, Vienna 1993, page 440, ISBN 3-7031-0680-8 .
- Walter Kalina: The Brigittakapelle in Vienna 20 (1650/51). "In capella a nobis nuper in sylva Thaber inter pontes Danuby extructa ..." , in: Bundesdenkmalamt (ed.), Austrian magazine for the preservation of art and monuments . LIX, Horn / Vienna 2005, issue 3/4, ISSN AUT 0029-9626
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Vienna - immovable and archaeological monuments under monument protection. ( Memento from May 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) . Federal Monuments Office , as of June 27, 2014 (PDF).
- ↑ a b c Walter Kalina, The Brigittakapelle in Vienna 20 (1650/51). "In capella a nobis nuper in sylva Thaber inter pontes Danuby extructa ...", in: Bundesdenkmalamt (Hrsg.), Austrian magazine for art and monument preservation. LIX, Horn / Vienna 2005, volume 3/4, p. 246.
- ↑ Susanne Kompast, in the footsteps of art and building in the 20th district of Vienna. Vienna 1999, p. 4.
- ↑ a b c Franz Kaiser, Settlement, Population and Industry Development in Brigittenau since the Danube Regulation in a historical-topographical view. Diss. Vienna 1966, p. 71.
- ↑ Bertrand Michael Buchmann, The Prater. The story of the Untere Werd, Vienna 1979, p. 39.
- ↑ Viktor Haunold, Contributions to the history of the fortifications and military system of the city of Vienna between the two Turkish sieges, diploma thesis Vienna 1995, p. 78.
- ↑ cf. on this Hedwig Heger, Die Brigittakapelle in Vienna. A historical and art-historical presentation, Vienna 1960, p. 4f.
- ↑ Parish of St. Johannes von Kapistran (ed.): The chapel of St. Brigitta. Vienna 1999, p. 1.
- ↑ Hofkammerarchiv , NÖ-HA, Fasz. B25, fol. 14-15, Imperial letter from July 1, 1651
- ↑ Hans Tietze, A visit to Vienna when Emperor Leopold I took office, based on a travel guide from 1660, in: Reports and communications of the Altertums-Verein zu Wien, Vienna 1918, vol. L, p. 40.
- ^ Georgian Orthodox Church in Austria , orthodoxe-kirche.at.
- ↑ Church of the Holy King David d. Renewer (Brigitta Chapel) (Georgian Orthodox) in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
Coordinates: 48 ° 14 ′ 42 " N , 16 ° 22 ′ 28" E
_-_Brigittakirche.JPG)
Roman Catholic churches and chapels: All Saints Church | Brigittakirche | Parish Church of the Divine Savior | St. Johann Kapistran • Others: Brigittakapelle (also georg-orth.)
Disused sacred building: Kaschlgasse synagogue