Limburg Bishop's House

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The Limburg Bishop's House 2013
Chapel of St. Maria, inner courtyard (left), private apartment (back)

The Bishop's House on Domplatz in the central Hessian city of Limburg an der Lahn has been the residence of the Limburg bishop since 2013 .

The property of the bishop's house is bordered on both sides by historic city walls and is directly adjacent to the diocesan museum of the Limburg diocese . The complex includes the completely refurbished Staffel House (the so-called Old Vikarie ), the former cathedral sexton house , which has also been refurbished, and a new building complex.

The house, inaugurated on June 29, 2013 as the Diocesan Center of St. Nicholas , was the subject of national and international reports while it was being built, as the associated costs were a central component of the controversy surrounding the incumbent Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst . The additional costs for which the bishop was largely responsible ultimately led to his resignation in March 2014. The successor to the bishopric, Georg Bätzing , did not move into the bishop's apartment in the house. It became part of the neighboring Limburg Diocesan Museum in 2019.

Components

Part of the historic wall and old vicariate

Historic walls

The area is bordered on the north and south by remnants of the former city walls. During the work on the diocesan center, the foundations of a defensive tower were uncovered. Like the walls, these were extensively renovated and preserved in situ .

Old Vicariate

The Old Vikarie was built in the first half of the 16th century and has since shaped the cathedral square. In the possession of the Diocese of Limburg since 1903, after the two-year renovation that began in 2011, it houses the offices of the bishop and his advisor, a conference room and another conference room in the extended roof structure, which is also to be used as an archive.

In the course of the construction work, major damage to the framework and roof structure became known, which made it necessary to install a support structure. According to the Episcopal Ordinariate, this cost around 2.6 million euros, while the actual renovation cost just under 1.6 million euros.

Cathedral sexton house

The cathedral küsterhaus was built as such in 1903/1904 on behalf of the episcopal ordinariate; Until 2011, it was the youngest building on Domplatz, together with the cathedral parish house that was built at the same time . Since the renovation and integration into the diocesan center, the cathedral sexton house has served as an apartment for two nuns of the Dernbach sisters who are entrusted with the management of the complex.

Mariengarten

Mariengarten

The Mariengarten, the former cathedral garden, on the lower slope of the Domberg was completely redesigned in 2011 by the Cologne landscape architects Club L94 . The garden can be viewed across the courtyard of the Episcopal Cathedral Museum. On the wall of the garden there are 14 bronze plaques with reliefs depicting the 14 stations of the cross .

New building complex

Chapel of St. Mary

Chapel of St. Mary

The St. Maria Chapel is the only new building that protrudes from the otherwise single-storey new building complex and stands out from the lighter-colored low-rise building from the outside thanks to the dark facade cladding with black basalt . It is intended to serve as the bishop's private chapel.

New buildings

Fountain in the courtyard
Remains of the defense tower in the basement
Relic room

The main entrance to the Bishop's House is seen from the Domplatz behind a forecourt between the Küsterhaus and the Old Vicarie. The entrance wall facing the Domplatz is covered by a large bronze relief by Thomas Duttenhoefer . It shows the diocese coat of arms and four blessed or saints particularly associated with the diocese. From left to right it shows:

With the exception of the prominently protruding chapel of St. Mary with the Apostles in the Upper Room opposite the existing buildings, the new buildings are kept flat and in some cases dig two storeys deep into the rock of the Domberg. There is a foyer behind the entrance . It leads over to the central atrium , in which there is a fountain designed by Richard Hess . There are conference rooms to the south of the atrium and the bishop's apartment to the west. The library is located between the bishop's apartment and the chapel. In the basement of the bishop's house, remains of the foundations of the city wall and a defensive tower are preserved in situ . The term “Fundamentum” for the meeting center in the basement is derived from this. Below the chapel in the Fundamentum is part of the cathedral sacristy , in which vestments and relics are kept.

Cost development

In July 2013 it was announced that the project would cost well over 10 million euros in total; the costs for the work on the historic site (excluding the new buildings) were named at 9.85 million euros. In an article dated September 1, 2013, Der Spiegel wrote that the cost is likely to be around 15 to 20 million euros. On October 7th, the diocese put the total cost of the construction project Diocesan Center St. Nicholas at 31 million euros. The asset management council of the Episcopal See accused Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of having deceived him and not providing him with sufficient information.

With reference to the architect Michael Frielinghaus , the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on October 13th that the bishop had known about the costs from the start. The German Bishops' Conference advertised on 24 October 2013, the Commission of a function to test the financial scandal in the Limburg Diocese, under the direction of the Paderborn Auxiliary Bishop Manfred Grothe . The final report of the inspection commission on the construction work on Domberg in Limburg with introductory explanations was published on March 26, 2014.

reception

In October 2013, the architecture critic Rainer Haubrich rated the Bishop's House as an “excellent example of contemporary architecture”. Apart from the construction costs, the building is "not ostentatious", the gesture of the architecture is even "extremely modest". The architecture "does not push itself into the foreground" and takes on the traditions, materiality and scale of the historical location. There is no doubt that the architect lived up to his claim to create a building that “will still be full of dignity in 100 years”. The costs of around 30 million euros are "not excessive". Haubrich is rather surprised "how this construction volume could ever be estimated at even a single-digit million figure."

Till Briegleb, the architecture critic of the art magazine art , pays tribute to the overall plan: “In the reduced play with basic shapes in a very cramped space, with the beautiful courtyard and a successful embrace of listed old buildings at the front, the architects from Friedberg im Taunus in Limburg are absolutely worthy a modern ensemble that can hardly be spit on as pomp ”.

Also dieter bartetzko praised in the FAZ the spectacular architecture and in particular the high quality of the ensemble by Michael Frielinghaus. The architect made the gospel word from the rock on which Christ wanted to build his church ( Mt 16:18  EU ) as a design model. The coexistence of the new building, archaeological remains and rock bed is a "comforting sign of historical continuity" and creates "cross-generational security". He described the late antique appearance of the reliquary storage in the basement, which is reminiscent of the catacombs of Rome. The rescue of the Old Vicariate, threatened by collapse, is a "model case of sustainable monument preservation" and the Hesse monument register speaks of this Limburg building as "the most important of the late medieval residential buildings there". Bringing new and old buildings together was a challenge for the architect, characterized by "tentative transitions", such as the respectful restraint of the front side of the new building next to the two old buildings. Bartetzko made comparisons of the chapel, which is not a private luxury of the bishop but an integral part of every episcopal official residence, with other contemporary buildings, such as the new Gent town hall by Robbrecht & Daem, the “Portikus” in Frankfurt by Christoph Mäckler and the “Quartier 65 ”in Mainz by Max Dudler , however, expressed the fear that the architecture would“ have to atone for the hubris of its autocratic client ”. The " hypertrophic bishop's apartment, the enormous sums of money imported from abroad, the arrogant rescheduling" can only be called a "monument to blind aestheticism and excessive waste." Bartetzko regrets that "the entire official residence has to pay for it".

The apartment is now used by the Diocesan Museum, which has led to a rush of visitors. The bedroom in the basement is used as a warehouse.

literature

Web links

Commons : Bischofshaus Limburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Resignation of the Protzbishop: Tebartz-van Elst puts blame on Vicar General Published on Spiegel Online on March 27, 2014. Retrieved on March 31, 2015.
  2. ↑ The swank residence in Limburg remains uninhabited FAZ, August 29, 2016th
  3. ↑ Verena Fuchß: cultural monuments in Hesse City Limburg. Published by the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Hesse . Konrad Theiss Verlag , Stuttgart 2007. ISBN 978-3-8062-2096-4 , p. 246
  4. ↑ Episcopal Ordinariate Limburg: Development of Planning Decisions Diocesan Center St. Nicholas (PDF; 3.4 MB) 2013. Accessed on October 13, 2013. P. 7f.
  5. ↑ Verena Fuchß: cultural monuments in Hesse City Limburg. Published by the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Hesse . Konrad Theiss Verlag , Stuttgart 2007. ISBN 978-3-8062-2096-4 , pp. 243f, 246
  6. ^ Website of the Diocese of Limburg: Structure and tasks in the work area of ​​the diocesan bishop ( Memento of October 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), of September 13, 2012, accessed October 16, 2013.
  7. ↑ a b Joachim Heidersdorf: The bishop shows his house ( Memento of October 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Published in the Nassauische Neue Presse on August 18, 2012. Accessed on October 12, 2013.
  8. ^ Club L94 club L94 Landschaftsarchitekten GmbH
  9. ↑ "Garden of Silence" is open to Weilburger Tagblatt, accessed on June 7, 2015.
  10. ↑ a b Dieter Bartetzko : The building everyone is talking about In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of October 16, 2013. (Accessed October 17, 2013)
  11. ↑ Insights into the Diocesan Center St. Nikolaus ( Memento from October 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Report from the Diocese of Limburg from September 6, 2013. Retrieved on October 10, 2013.
  12. ↑ The bishop's house will be even more expensive. In: Frankfurter Neue Presse . July 10, 2013, archived from the original on September 10, 2013 ; Retrieved April 8, 2013 .
  13. ↑ Controversial Bishop Tebartz-van Elst: Craftsmen secretly take photos of the magnificent Limburg building. spiegel.de, September 1, 2013, accessed on September 1, 2013 .
  14. ↑ Press release diocese of Limburg ( Memento of October 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ↑ Limburg Bishop Tebartz-van Elst: "The bishop is a sophisticated deceiver or sick." Www.faz.net, October 8, 2013 (accessed October 12, 2013)
  16. ↑ Architect charged Bishop Tebartz-van Elst . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, October 13, 2013
  17. ^ FAZ.net: Paderborn auxiliary bishop heads the Limburg Commission
  18. ↑ Final report of the inspection commission on the construction work on Domberg in Limburg from March 26, 2014 on dbk.de (PDF, 2.73 MB)
  19. ↑ Introductory explanations to the final report on the examination of the construction work on Domberg in Limburg from March 26, 2014 on dbk.de (PDF, 32.40 kB)
  20. ↑ Diocese of Limburg: Test report on the building projects on Limburg Domberg published , press release No. 050 of March 26, 2014 of the German Bishops' Conference on dbk.de.
  21. ^ Rainer Haubrich: No pretentiousness - buildings in Limburg are excellent In: Die Welt , published on October 12, 2013. Accessed on October 13, 2013.
  22. ↑ Art. The art magazine. October 15, 2013 ( memento of June 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on June 8, 2015.
  23. ↑ Arne Bensiek: Pilgrims to the show. Badische Zeitung, April 26, 2019, accessed on April 28, 2019 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 23 '19.4 "  N , 8 ° 3' 56.2"  E