Coming St. Elisabeth

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Deutschherrenkapelle with tower from 1868
Building stock in 1774 and 2005

The Kommende St. Elisabeth in Saarbrücken is the former branch of the Teutonic Order in Saarbrücken. She was at the end of the life of Count Simon III. who had participated in the Fifth Crusade . In common parlance it was formerly referred to as “ Deutschhaus” or today mostly subsumed as “ Deutschherrenkapelle” , but strictly speaking this only describes parts of the ensemble.

But not only the chapel in the northern part of the complex is protected as a single monument, but also the associated tithe barn from 1738 and the Deutschhaus (originally the Komtur's residence ), which was probably built in 1557/61 and rebuilt in 1953-59 with major changes , are listed as individual monuments.

Upcoming were the smallest organizational units of the Teutonic Order , which were regionally combined into Balleien . The branch in Saarbrücken was part of the Deutschordensballei Lothringen , based in Trier. The closest comers of the Teutonic Order were the Kommende Beckingen and the Kommende Einsiedel (today Einsiedlerhof near Kaiserslautern ).

Field names, street and path names in the Saarbrücken district of Alt-Saarbrücken still point to the extensive possessions of the coming: Am Ordensgut, Deutschherrnpfad, Deutschherrnstraße, Deutschmühlenweiher, Behind the Deutschhaus, Komtursteig, Komturstraße, Ober der Deutschmühle, Ordenspfad, Ordenstreppe, Deutschhausweg and Deutschmühlental.

history

Topographic map of the Coming St. Elisabeth Saarbrücken from the end of the 18th century (Landeshauptarchiv Koblenz)

The foundation goes back to the year 1227. The letter of foundation of Count Simons III. of Saarbrücken reads in the German summary:

“Count Simon III. gives his mistress, Saint Mary, and the brothers from the German House an area to build a house near Saarbrücken on a place that he and the Teutonic Order Master will still agree on, 4 yoke of oxen and enough land for the plow in that Count forest near Saarbrücken called Hagen and hay for those 8 oxen. In addition, he will designate land for the herb garden and a fish water, has already handed over his orchard at the Saarbrücken city gate as well as 10 untamed horses including a battle horse and pastures in his forests Warndt and Quiiev, construction and firewood in the forest Quiigart, as well as 2 places for or shares to salt pans in Marsal and 5 Schilling Pfennig interest with the right of patronage in Geberstorf together with the Saarbrücken castle chapel. "

- Kurt-Ulrich Jäschke: Saarbrücken's fame in a time with few sources. In: Journal for the History of the Saar Region, Volume 47, Saarbrücken 1999, p. 69

After the death of Simon III. The Metz bishop Johann von Apremont confirmed the foundation as liege lord in 1236.

The founder's daughters, Countess Lorette (reign: 1235–1271) and her sister Mathilde (reign: 1271–1274), furnished the coming family with additional goods.

Deutschmühlenweiher

The decline of the coming began by the 15th century at the latest. The highlight of this phase of decline is likely to be the dismissal of Landkomtur Dietrich von Nassau in 1532. He was accused of excessive lifestyle. His successor Geiselbart Schenk von Schmidtburg made a fresh start, which u. a. made noticeable in the construction of a new residential wing, which was completed in 1561. The year can still be seen in the lintel of the building. In 1554 he acquired the Breitenbacher Mühle, a little further down in the valley, which in 1558 was exchanged for the Coming of the Teutonic Order and since then has been called Deutschordensmühle or Deutschmühle for short . The associated Deutschmühlenweiher has been part of the Franco-German garden since 1960 .

In 1575 the county of Saarbrücken became Protestant , but the possessions of the Teutonic Order as a direct imperial institution were not affected.

In 1793, under the new French rule in the course of the French Revolution, the commandery was dissolved and the monuments were auctioned. The city of Saarbrücken acquired the entire system and set up a. a. an orphanage. Today the “Jugendhilfezentrum” children's home is located in the correspondingly converted buildings, and it comes very close to the original purpose of the facility. The chapel is used for all kinds of events and can also be rented by private individuals.

Saarbrücken-St-Johann, Church of St. Elisabeth of Thuringia

The Catholic patronage of St. Elisabeth of Thuringia of the Saarbrücken Teutonic Order Chapel as well as that of the Metzer Coming St. Elisabeth, which was dissolved in 1552, was continued with the construction of the St. Elisabeth Catholic Church between 1953 and 1954. The architect of the sacred building, whose floor plan with a large main nave and two projecting side aisles is modeled on the contours of the sacred skirt , was the representative of the Episcopal Building Commission of the Diocese of Trier Fritz Thoma . The plans for the construction of a new church for the eastern part of the then large parish of St. Johann go back to the time before the Second World War . Between 1931 and 1937, a riding hall in the former Uhlan barracks served as an emergency church. Not quite two years after the Saar area was re- annexed to the German Reich in 1935 , in 1937, the police authorities of the new Nazi rulers claimed the former riding hall used by the parish. In disregard of the agreements made with the government commission of the Saar region , the Catholics were disputed the right to continue using the church service room, which had been set up at great expense. Financial compensation for the investments made was refused by the Nazi authorities. So the church had to look around for an alternative. The first part of what would later become the church site on Halbergstrasse was acquired in 1936. Due to the Second World War and its consequences, the church was not built until the early 1950s as the tenth subsidiary of the parish of St. Johann. The reinforced concrete church with a free-standing campanile and crypt is illuminated by large windows and has 600 seats. The window glazing was designed in 1954 by the painter Reinhard Heß , the production was carried out by the Trier glass manufacturer Kaschenbach. The tower cross, which fell in a storm in 2013 and was damaged, was recovered and now hangs in the apse as an altar cross from the ceiling in a deliberately unrestored condition. Since then, a new tower cross has adorned the campanile. The church organ with dragging windchest, manufactured in 1960 by the Bonn-based organ building company Johannes Klais Orgelbau , has 35 stops spread over three manuals and a pedal. The instrument is divided into two parts and flanks the altar area. The design of the outside area of ​​the church is inspired by the ancient idea of ​​the Holy Grove or the Garden of Eden and is now also used as a kitchen garden. Since 2007, the sacred building has also been used as the so-called “Church of Youth”.

The Deutschherrenkapelle

Jost Haller: The beheading of John the Baptist, panel of the altar of the Coming St. Elisabeth Saarbrücken ( Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlung , Munich )

The chapel, which still exists today, dates from the time when the Kommende was founded, the 13th century, and is Saarbrücken's oldest preserved building. The chapel should have served as a hospital right from the start, as was customary in the churches of the Teutonic Order. In the square, ten by ten meter large, plastered nave of the chapel was the actual hospital ward, in the choir made of stone with buttresses was the altar and the service was held so that the sick could participate. The four by four meter tower, which is also square and built on the south side of the choir, was given a baroque dome in 1774. In 1868 the tower was rebuilt and received a neo-Gothic battlement and a pointed tower dome. The upper part of the tower shows certain architectural similarities with the cubature of the main tower of the Königsberg Castle , which in turn was redesigned in a neo-Gothic style according to the design by Friedrich August Stüler in the years 1864 to 1866.

Excavations carried out by the State Conservator in the 1970s revealed further information. In this way, a facility could be examined that had obviously served as a prison, after all the order, as sovereign sovereignty, had its own, albeit limited jurisdiction .

A famous folding altar by the painter Jost Haller, who worked in Strasbourg and Saarbrücken , used to stand in the chapel . Two of the four fold-out panels are now privately owned, one each - the “Beheading of John the Baptist” and “The Birth of Christ” - hang in museums in Munich and Nuremberg .

"Buckingham" organ

organ

Since October 2007 there is a historic organ from the English royal court in the chapel, which is also called the "Buckingham organ". Since then, the chapel has also been used by the Saar University of Music as a practice and concert space. As a reminder of the royal origins of the instrument, the organ is decorated with the Royal Standard and the flag of the Kingdom of Scotland , the "Lion Rampant".

The instrument was built after 1780 with a manual by the organ builder Samuel Green. It stood in Windsor Castle and, after being expanded to two manuals, was transferred to a private chapel in Buckingham Palace (London) in 1842. After several renovations, it was in the Holy Trinity Church (Kingsway) from 1970 and in the Main Hall of the Latymer Upper School from 1992. Today the instrument has 19 stops on two manual works and a pedal.

I Great Organ C – g 3
1. Open principal 08th'
2. Stopped diapason 08th'
3. Principal 04 ′
4th Suabe Flute 04 ′
5. Principal 02 ′
6th Furniture IV
Solo stops C – g 3
7th Royal Trumpet 08th'
Royal Trumpet 04 ′
II Swell Organ C – g 3
08th. High tide 08th'
09. Chimney Flute 04 ′
10. Principal 04 ′
11. Gemshorn 02 ′
12. Sesquialter II
13. Larigot 01 13
14th Trumpet 08th'
15th Oboe (labial) 08th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
16. Bourdon 16 ′
17th Principal 08th'
18th Fagotto 16 ′
19th Shalmey 04 ′
  • Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P.
  • Playing aids: Fixed combinations (p, mf, ff)

Say

According to a medieval legend, there is said to have been an underground passage from the Deutschhaus to the former provost's office of the Wadgassen Abbey in today's Probsteigasse. According to this legend, clergymen met here to celebrate feasts.

literature

  • Wolfgang Adler: Alte Ritterherrlichkeit, emergency excavation in the Saarbrücker Kommende of the Teutonic Order , in: Preservation of monuments in Saarland, annual report 2014, ed. from the State Monuments Office in the Ministry of Education and Culture, Saarbrücken 2015, pp. 75–79.
  • Stefan Flesch: Joachim Conrad and Thomas Bergholz: Monks on the Saar, The medieval branches of the order in the Saarland-Lorraine border area , Minerva-Verlag, Saarbrücken 1986. ( ISBN 3-477-00073-0 )
  • Kurt-Ulrich Jäschke: Saarbrücken's fame in a time with few sources , in: Journal for the history of the Saar region , 47th year, Saarbrücken 1999, section "On the Foundation of the Teutonic Order House from 1227", pp. 69–72.
  • Fritz Kloevekorn : History of the Evangelical Church Community Alt-Saarbrücken , Saarbrücken 1961.
  • Rainer Knauf: The Deutschhaus in Saarbrücken , monographs on the art and cultural history of the Saar region; 5. Walsheim. Edition Europa 1999. ( ISBN 3-931773-19-1 )
  • Albert Ruppersberg : History of the former county of Saarbrücken , 3rd part, 1st volume, 2nd edition, Saarbrücken 1913, section "The German House", pp. 153-165.

Individual evidence

  1. Knauf 1999, p. 6
  2. ^ Saarbrücker Regesten Online 1227 . Latin text in: Mittelrheinisches Urkundenbuch, Volume III, Koblenz 1874, pp. 268 f., No. 334. Online .
  3. Saarbrücken Regesten Online 1236-03-03
  4. ^ Gerhard Bauer: The field names of the city of Saarbrücken. Röhrscheid, Saarbrücken 1957, p. 319.
  5. ^ Walter Faas: Modern Church - especially for the youth, Saarbrücker Zeitung, SZ-Extra Momente, E 1, 23./24. June 2018.
  6. Paul Peters: From the emergency church to the modern sacred building, in: Festschrift "40 Years of St. Elisabeth", Saarbrücken 1994, pp. 8-16.
  7. http://www.pfarrei-st-johann.de/st-elisabeth.html , accessed on January 1, 2018.
  8. http://institut-aktuelle-kunst.de/kunstlexikon/saarbruecken- Bezirk- mitte- st- arnual- st- johann-universitaetscampus-katholische-kirchen- 1866 , accessed on January 1, 2018.
  9. ^ Archive link ( Memento from March 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Information page of the city of Saarbrücken, page 27f.
  10. An English organ for the Deutschherrenkapelle , podcast of the Saarländischer Rundfunk from November 12, 2007. Accessed on March 24, 2020.
  11. http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=E01469 .
  12. Information about the organ on organindex, accessed on August 20, 2020.
  13. Extension of Trumpet 8 '
  14. Charly Lehnert : The Saarland Geheichnis, Volume 1: Stories and glosses . Lehnert Verlag, Bübingen 2014, ISBN 978-3-939286-18-9 , Unheimliches am Schlossberg, p. 289-290 .

Web links

Commons : Upcoming St. Elisabeth  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 49 ° 13 ′ 52 ″  N , 6 ° 58 ′ 19 ″  E