Corona shrine

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The corona shrine is a reliquary of the Quedlinburg cathedral treasure . It is a house-shaped reliquary made of oak, which is gilded and partly colored. The shrine is 103 cm long, 35.5 cm wide and 59 cm high.

Relics of Saint Corona came to the Quedlinburg Abbey as early as 964, i.e. under Otto I , which had been built to care for the memoria of his father Heinrich . The report on the rededication of the collegiate church of St. Servatius after the fire in 1021 names Corona among the saints who were enclosed in an altar dedicated exclusively to female saints. A corona altar is named for the year 1344. It is not known whether the corona shrine had a predecessor; it was probably built in the second quarter of the 15th century.

The front of the shrine shows the martyrdom of Saint Corona, in the gable above a coat of arms with two black crossbars on a silver background. This coat of arms can be assigned to the von Isenburg family . The shrine was therefore probably built on behalf of Abbess Adelheid IV von Isenburg, who officiated from 1405 to 1435 and died in 1441. The opposite front side shows a king and queen holding a church. In the gable field there is another coat of arms, an eight-pointed silver star on a dark background. Katharina Ulrike Mersch assigns this to the provost Mechthild von Hackeburg, who appears in documents between 1406 and 1432. The side walls are adorned with eight incised figures: Saints Peter and Paul , Dionysius and the arch-martyr Stephen can be identified by their attributes. Two other figures represent holy bishops, one of them is certainly Servatius as patron of the Quedlinburg monastery. The last two figures are again a king and queen, which are very similar to the figures on the front, but the king and queen are marked on the long sides with halos and scepter or orb. Since the shrine bears no inscriptions, the identification in the literature is inconsistent. Labusiak assumes that the figures on the long and front sides show the same royal couple twice. A holy royal couple, who are often depicted with a church model, are Heinrich II. And Kunigunde . These were present at the rededication of the collegiate church in 1021, but relics of both are not documented in Quedlinburg. Labusiak thinks it more natural to see Heinrich I and Mathilde in the ruling couple . Katharina Ulrike Mersch points out the differences between the figures on the long and short sides and assigns the figures on the front to Heinrich and Mathilde, and those on the long sides to Heinrich and Kunigunde. The removable gable roof of the shrine is covered with shingle.

With the representation of the founding persons Heinrich I and Mathilde, the patron saint Servatius, the co-patron Petrus, Stephanus, who was venerated as patron of the diocese Halberstadt also in the near Quedlinburg, and Dionysius the shrine gathers important saints for the monastery. Mersch sees in the representation of the four Ottonian rulers an allusion to the old privileges of the Quedlinburg monastery, which should be assessed against the background of disputes within the monastery, but above all with the diocese about the exemption of the monastery. With the foundation, the abbess and provess tried to strengthen the status and identity of the monastery.

literature

  • Thomas Labusiak (author), Janos Stekovics (photographer): More precious than gold: the cathedral treasure in the collegiate church of St. Servatii in Quedlinburg (=  thesauri . Volume 2 ). Janos Stekovics publishing house, Wettin 2015, ISBN 3-89923-347-6 .
  • Katharina Ulrike Mersch: Social dimensions of visual communication in high and late medieval women's communities . Edited by Nikolaus Henkel and Jürgen Sarnowsky (=  Nova mediaevalia . Volume 10 ). V & R unipress, Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-89971-930-7 .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Katharina Ulrike Mersch: Social dimensions of visual communication in high and late medieval women's communities. P. 394.
  2. ↑ Thomas Labusiak: More precious than gold. P. 74.
  3. ↑ a b Katharina Ulrike Mersch: Social dimensions of visual communication in high and late medieval women's communities. P. 397.