Cathedral Museum (Bremen)

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Missale secundum ritum ecclesie Bremense from 1511

The Cathedral Museum in Bremen's St. Petri Cathedral is an ecumenical museum for the history of the Church in Bremen, which was founded in 1987 to record finds from the cathedral's medieval bishops' tombs. It is sponsored by the Bremer Dom eV foundation

Excavations

During the last major cathedral restoration from 1973 to 1976, for which the cathedral was closed to the public, excavations took place in parallel. The Bremen state archaeologist was able to gain knowledge of the pre-Romanesque architectural history through excavations that lasted three years and their scientific evaluation and recovered the bishop's graves. A first attempt by Helen Rosenau in 1930 had to be broken off prematurely.

The project was favored by the intention of installing a circulating air heater in the underground of the central nave as part of the renovation and the fact that the pre-Romanesque bishop's graves had been reburied in a collective grave as early as 1200.

Tombs of the bishops and archbishops

The localization of the new Sepultur (burial place of the canons) on the basis of the Hanoverian plan drawn up under Adam von Bremen was not previously possible, because it related to points of the pre-Romanesque buildings, the position of which in relation to the existing building could only be determined by the new excavations.

The opening and recovery began in June 1974 under the direction of Karl Heinz Brandt. Eleven grave pits and grave complexes were found, but not all of them contained burials. In the partially intact graves, it is not possible to reliably identify the people with the methods used up to now. The grave finds are therefore only designated with numbers. Archbishop Unni , who died in Birka and whose head was transferred to Bremen, appears to be about 80 × 80 cm in size.

Archbishops, like popes and princes, were buried in full regalia in the Middle Ages . There were also the liturgical insignia and vessels: the bishop's staff , the ring , as well as the chalice and paten . The objects found in the cathedral provide important insights into the history of the Bremen church and are of central importance for textile research.

The few finds outside the graves mainly include coins, a few ceramic fragments and metal items.

Conservation of the finds

Even before the graves were opened and the buried were rescued, the methods of rescuing and preservation had to be explored.

After unsuccessful efforts in Germany, the textile workshop of the Swedish Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Stockholm , where material from eight graves was sent for examination, was found as a conservation center for the textiles . The work is expected to be completed in 2008.

The Lower Saxony State Institute for Marsh and Wurten Research (today Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research (NIhK)) in Wilhelmshaven took on the preservation of grave goods such as bishop's staffs, chalices and godparents.

museum

Museum entrance, a former chapel, with Gothic wall paintings (around 1414)
The "silver room" with the subject areas of the Diocese of Bremen and historical altar silver
The “textile room” with the excavation finds
Exhibition room in the new building with the Christ painting Man of Sorrows by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Ä.

The museum is located in the Romanesque and Gothic extensions in the south-east of the church and gives an insight into the early history and architectural history of the cathedral and the Archdiocese of Bremen .

The museum entrance in the corner between the high choir and the south transept leads into a room with wall and vault paintings, which were created at the beginning of the 15th century when a chapel with a Marian altar was set up here. From 1823 to 1984 this large double room contained the corpses ( mummies ) of the lead cellar , which had been protected from decomposition by natural desiccation and were relocated to a room outside the cathedral. Today there are exhibits made of stone, such as the stone coffin of Archbishop Bezelin that was found during the excavations in 1974, the sandstone relief of the Holy Communion (early 15th century) and the double relief depicting the saints Cosmas and Damian (c 1400).

In the stairwell to the next exhibition room there is an epitaph from 1549, the representation of the Trinity in the form of the mercy seat and the oldest exhibits in the museum: two animal reliefs from the 11th / 12th. Century. They were reused as building material in the 13th century and were found in the rubble of the old west facade during the great cathedral restoration at the end of the 19th century.

The "silver room" on the upper floor is dedicated to the history of the diocese of Bremen and the historical altar silver. Candlesticks and chalices from the period from 1400 to 1869, the two oldest pieces are from the pre-Reformation period. The oldest book from the collection of the cathedral library, the Missale secundum ritum ecclesie Bremense from 1511, the description of the rite for mass, which is only valid in Bremen, is in a desk showcase . There are only four copies of this book in Bremen.

In the darkened "textile room", the former cathedral treasury (Trese), the episcopal vestments and insignia ( crook and bishop's ring ) found in 13 burials during the archaeological excavation from 1973 to 1976 , as well as the symbols of the clergy ( chalice and paten ) are exhibited. The exhibits are marked with grave numbers because it was not possible to identify those buried in the graves when they were discovered.

Some finds from the bishop's and archbishop's graves were exhibited in the Bremen State Museum for Art and Cultural History ( Focke Museum ) from June 17 to September 30, 1979 .

The large L-shaped room in the extension part is characterized by paintings. Including a painting (170 × 110.5 cm) by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Ä. with the life-size representation of Christ as the Man of Sorrows , donated by Senator Dr. Gottlieb F. C. Horn. Two late medieval altar paintings, probably parts of a folding altar, date from around 1500.

In a desk showcase the hymn book of the St. Petri Cathedral parish from 1703 and a facsimile of the Dagulf Psalter from the 8th century, which came after an entry from 1450 in the Bremen Cathedral. Before the beginning of the 17th century, the cover and the written part were separated. The manuscript was given to Emperor Leopold I as a gift and came to the Vienna Court Library, now the Austrian National Library, between 1666 and 1669 ; the ivory panels on the binding are in the Louvre .

In other showcases, liturgical equipment from the Propsteigemeinde St. Johann and traditional equipment from the Bremen St. Jacobi Brotherhood are on display.

literature

  • Johann Christian Bosse, Hans Henry Lamotte : The Bremen Cathedral . Karl Robert Langewiesche successor to Hans Köster Verlagbuchhandlung KG, Königstein im Taunus 1998, ISBN 3-7845-4231-X .
  • Handbook and catalog for the special exhibition from June 17 to September 30, 1979, issue 49. The Bremen Cathedral. Building history - excavations - art treasures . Edited by Rosemarie Pohl-Weber . Sturm Druck, Bremen.
  • Detlev G. Gross (ed.), Ingrid Weibezahn: Treasures from the Bremen St. Petri Cathedral - guide through the Cathedral Museum . Edition Temmen , 1st edition 2005, ISBN 3-86108-540-2 .

See also

Web links

Commons : Dom-Museum  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Karl Heinz Brandt: Excavations in the Bremen Cathedral 1973-1976 . In: The Bremen Cathedral. Building history - excavations - art treasures - Helen Rosenau: On the medieval building history of Bremen Cathedral. In: Bremisches Jahrbuch 33, 1931, p. 36.
  2. ^ A b Margareta Nockert: Status and tasks of textile processing . In: The Bremen Cathedral. Building history - excavations - art treasures
  3. ^ Ingrid Weibezahn: wall paintings . In: Treasures from the St. Petri Cathedral in Bremen - Guide through the Cathedral Museum , pp. 18–23.
  4. ^ Ingrid Weibezahn: History of the museum rooms . In: Treasures from the St. Petri Cathedral in Bremen - Guide through the Cathedral Museum , pp. 17–18.
  5. ↑ Ingrid Weibezahn: The Last Supper Relief . In: Treasures from the St. Petri Cathedral in Bremen - Guide through the Cathedral Museum , pp. 24–27.
  6. ↑ Ingrid Weibezahn: The relief of the two doctor saints Cosmas and Damian . In: Treasures from the St. Petri Cathedral in Bremen - Guide through the Cathedral Museum , pp. 24–27.
  7. ^ Ingrid Weibezahn: The exhibits in the stairwell . In: Treasures from the St. Petri Cathedral in Bremen - Guide through the Cathedral Museum , pp. 39–40.
  8. ↑ Ingrid Weibezahn: The silver room . In: Treasures from the St. Petri Cathedral in Bremen - Guide through the Cathedral Museum , pp. 41–45.
  9. ↑ Ingrid Weibezahn: Textile Room I . In: Treasures from the St. Petri Cathedral in Bremen - Guide through the Cathedral Museum , pp. 52–60.
  10. ^ Ingrid Weibezahn: The textile collection of the Cathedral Museum Bremen - an undiscovered treasure. Alfeld: M&H Scheper, 2013
  11. ^ Ingrid Weibezahn: The new part of the cathedral museum . In: Treasures from the St. Petri Cathedral in Bremen - Guide through the Cathedral Museum , pp. 60–70
  12. ^ The large art dictionary by P. W. Hartmann
  13. ↑ Ingrid Weibezahn: Dagulf Psalter . In: Treasures from the St. Petri Cathedral in Bremen - Guide through the Cathedral Museum , pp. 86–89.


Coordinates: 53 ° 4 ′ 31 "  N , 8 ° 48 ′ 34.6"  E