Verden Cathedral

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View from the southeast
View from the northwest; The west side of the tower was not faced with sandstone until 1583

The Cathedral of St. Maria and Cäcilia was the cathedral of the former Roman Catholic diocese of Verden , after the introduction of the Reformation in Verden in 1568 until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 the seat of the Lutheran prince-bishops of Verden. Today it houses the Evangelical Lutheran cathedral parish in Verden .

Building history

Layout
The Romanesque bell tower, brick in the Veronese format, shortly after the middle of the 12th century, on a sub-structure made of porta sandstone

At the site of today's cathedral there was already a church built around 814, which became the seat of Bishop Walter in 849. After a fire in this Carolingian church, Bishop Amelung had a new wooden building built. Both previous buildings were located in 1966/67 through excavations in the area of ​​today's central nave . However , around 1000 ( according to Thietmar von Merseburg ), Bishop Bernhard II put a stone tower in front of the wooden ship.

Under Bishop Wigger (tenure from 1013-1031) the first stone basilica was built, mainly made of lawn iron stone and boulders. Like those of the previous wooden buildings, their choir was located in the area of ​​today's crossing. According to the Klosterkammer responsible for this church today, who comes sandstone substructure of the tower even from this Ottonian ( pre-Romanesque ) church. It was consecrated in 1028 to Saints Mary and Cecilia . The previous patronage of the Apostle Andrew was transferred to today's St. Andrew's Church, located south of the cathedral cemetery , which may have initially served as the bishop's house chapel. In the 11th century the cathedral was renovated in two steps, with brick as the main material. Bishop Hermann , who officiated from 1149 to 1167, had the Romanesque bell tower, which is still preserved today, built according to the Italian model and the construction of a cross basilica began, which was completed between 1181 and 1185, under the next but one bishop, Tammo . During a war with the conflict-ridden Archbishop Hildebold von Wunstorf from Bremen , the Romanesque brick basilica went up in flames in 1268, but, temporarily repaired, remained in use for more than twenty years.

The Guelph Bishop Konrad I began building today's high-Gothic hall church in 1290. Due to lack of funds, the work progressed slowly and between 1306 and 1311 the first parts were given a roof. In 1323 the choir and possibly the transept were consecrated, but it was not until 1326 that these parts were completed with a provisional gable facing west. The Romanesque nave still stood from there to the tower. After a break of almost 150 years, the construction work did not start again until 1474, but was then completed in 1490, albeit with a completely unadorned provisional west gable. The final abandonment of a second west tower marks the establishment of the Mandelsloh Chapel.

Southern transept, aperture gable of brick Gothic architecture on sandstone brickwork, gable edge with crab and finial made of sandstone

Soon after 1560, Bishop Georg von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, who came into office entirely according to Catholic rules, introduced the Lutheran church order. From 1567 the cathedral chapter was predominantly Lutheran. With the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 it lost most of its powers, as the bishopric of Verden was converted into the Duchy of Verden under Swedish sovereignty. In 1651 the cathedral chapter dissolved.

With a renovation in 1829 under the direction of the architect Leo Bergmann equipping parts of were renaissance and baroque eliminated and the cathedral in the romantic spirit re-gothicised.

architecture

Exterior construction

South portal

Apart from the base of the tower made of sandstone blocks, the walls are mostly made of brick. In the Romanesque tower there are flat bricks according to a standard common in Verona in the 12th century , but covered on the west wall in 1583 by a square facing. Since the Gothic period, the tower had triangular gables and a pointed spire. After it was destroyed by a hurricane in 1737, it was given today's tent roof, which barely towers above the church roof.

The bricks of the ship are about 8 cm high in the lower area of ​​the monastery format . On the choir, on the southern transept and on parts of the eastern nave yoke, they are faced with sandstone; the brick is mostly exposed on the wall surfaces, which were only built in the second Gothic phase from 1476. The gable triangles of the transept gable are designed in the style of North German brick Gothic , with pilaster strips made of red and dark glazed bricks and plastered panels . Nevertheless, the gable edges are set with sandstone and decorated with crabs made from this material.

North side of the nave and north gable of the transept from the cloister of the cathedral monastery

  • left fighter zone

  • right fighter zone

The south portal does not have a tympanum , but the fighting zone is livened up with animal sculptures. a. a lion. The tracery of the five-lane window above the portal could be inspired by that of Minden Cathedral . A buttress shows the sculpture of a deacon with a sundial.

The exterior of the windows is shaped by the restorations of the 19th century.

inner space

Hall choir with altar

The nave is a three-aisled hall with four bays . The choir is provided with an equally high handling . The transept is short and the crossing is square. The walls of the choir and nave are divided by large tracery windows and buttresses . The spacious and light-looking interior is divided by canted round pillars with strong belt arches and thin services . The color of the vaults is an ingredient of the 1960s.

  • inner space

  • Interior to the east

  • Vault of the hall choir

  • Capital adorned with foliage

meaning

The overall appearance of the building is uniform despite the long construction time. “ The language of this building is highly rational. Nothing is superfluous. Everything about this earliest hall choir in German architecture has been streamlined to the point of sparseness ”. Architecturally, the cathedral is based on the cathedral of Reims and the cathedral in Minden . He himself was also a model for various churches, including the Johanniskirche in Lüneburg and the choir of the Lübeck Cathedral .

Furnishing

The severity and sobriety of the interior is, however, also a result of the removal of all inventory items that did not correspond to the ideal of early Gothic uniformity sought around 1830. For the period around 1500 one has to imagine 40 altars in the cathedral. The original materiality of a retable from around 1323, which was replaced by today's high altar, but in its current form has retained essential formal elements of the original, has also largely been lost. Its shrine-like substructure, reduced to a predella, and the row of arcades is secured by a description from 1826 and the blast was reused by Bergmann in 1829. However, the wings of the retable , which had previously been designed as a convertible altar , were not renewed and the iconography was thoroughly modified. The ornamentally decorated baptismal font resting on four pillars probably dates from the late Romanesque period.

The draft for the pulpit as well as the staircase and the choir screen are made of cast iron for Bergmann's neo-Gothic furnishings.

Three seat

At the time of the consecration of the Gothic cathedral in 1323 or only a little later, the Levite's chair was probably created. Liturgical furniture of this type is rare and the Verden specimen is one of the best quality. The structure, which is closely based on real architecture, with its tracery forms and leaf capitals, reflects the rigor and clarity of the classic, high-Gothic style of the choir building. The three-seater bench made of oak, crowned with eyelashes and pegs , is closed on the sides by cheeks, which in their openwork tendrils show four pairs from the Old Testament on one side , opposite representations of the stands . The half-figures and half-length portraits are markedly hard and neatly drawn despite all the plasticity of the physical.

Tombs

All the grave monuments are no longer in their original place.

  • Tombs

  • Sarcophagus of Bishop Philipp-Sigismund

  • Bronze grave plate of Bishop Berthold von Landsberg

window

Except for the central choir window, which dominates the room, by Franz Lauterbach from Hanover from 1913, all windows were destroyed in the Second World War. Only in the north transept window behind the organ are some preserved colored ornamental fields in the inventory.

After the war, the remaining window areas were provided with pale to colorless glazing made of cathedral glass, which became damaged over the years.

In 2010 the monastery chamber of Hanover commissioned the glass painter Günter Grohs from Wernigerode as the administrator of the Verden cathedral structure fund with the creation of an artistic concept for the redesign of all, except for the already refurbished and colorless lead-glazed windows.

The aim was to close the window openings with a serial ornament, taking into account the different lighting requirements in the room.

As early as the end of 2011, the central and one side window in the south transept could be used in the course of the facade renovation. These windows deal with a lying, densely woven and varied diamond motif in different degrees of color and transparency. They were made in collaboration with the Peters glass painting company, Paderborn. Further designed windows are to be produced and installed with the necessary repairs to the outer facade in the following sections.

Organs

In addition to two small organ positives , Verden Cathedral has three organs: the "romantic organ" on the west gallery, the large organ on the north gallery, and the choir organ.

"Romantic Organ"

Prospectus of the Furtwängler & Hammer organ on the west gallery

The so-called "romantic organ" on the west gallery was built in 1916 by the organ building company Philipp Furtwängler & Hammer (Hanover). The instrument has pneumatic pocket drawers and 51 sounding registers (3496 pipes ).

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
01. Principal 16 ′
02. Major principal 0 08th'
03. Fugara 08th'
04th Double flute 08th'
05. Drone 08th'
06th Dulciana 08th'
07th octave 04 ′
08th. Reed flute 04 ′
09. Cornet v 08th'
10. Mixture IV
11. trombone 16 ′
12. Trumpet 08th'
II Swell C – g 3
13. Drone 16 ′
14th viola 16 ′
15th Principal 08th'
16. Gamba 08th'
17th Quintatön 08th'
18th Harmony flute 08th'
19th Soft flute 08th'
20th Dolce 08th'
21st Horn principal 04 ′
22nd Transverse flute 04 ′
23. Forest flute 02 ′
24. Intoxicating fifth II0
25th Mixture II-III
26th clarinet 08th'
III Swell C – g 3
27. Quintatön 16 ′
28. Violin principal 08th'
29 viola 08th'
30th Concert flute 08th'
31. Open flute 08th'
32. Covered 08th'
33. Aeoline 08th'
34. Vox coelestis 08th'
35. Principal flute 04 ′
36. Fugara 04 ′
37. Distance flute 04 ′
38. Flautino 02 ′
39. Sesquialtera II
40. Harmonia aetherea IV0
41. Trumpet harmonique 08th'
42. oboe 08th'
Pedal C – f 1
43. Principal bass 16 ′
44. double bass 16 ′
45. Sub bass 16 ′
46. Viola bass (= No. 14) 0 16 ′
47. Subtle bass (= No. 13) 16 ′
48. Octave bass 08th'
49. cello 08th'
50. Flute bass 08th'
51. Soft flute (= No. 19) 08th'
52. octave 04 ′
53. trombone 16 ′
54. baritone 08th'
  • Pairing :
    • Normal coupling: II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
    • Super octave coupling: III / III, III / II, II / II, III / I, II / I
    • Sub-octave coupling: III / III, II / II, III / II, II / I
  • Playing aids : Fixed combinations (Tutti, Pedal pp), 2 free combinations, various shelves, crescendo roller

Large organ on the north gallery

Hillebrand organ from 1968

The large organ on the north gallery was built in 1968 by the organ construction company Hillebrand , Altwarmbüchen (Hanover). The slider chest instrument has 43 registers (2996 pipes) on three manuals and a pedal . The playing and stop actions are mechanical.

I Rückpositiv C – g 3
01. Principal 08th'
02. Reed flute 08th'
03. Quintad 08th'
04th octave 04 ′
05. Gedaktflute 04 ′
06th recorder 02 ′
07th Sif flute 01 1 ⁄ 3  ′
08th. Sesquialtera II0
09. Sharp IV
10. shelf 16 ′
11. Krummhorn 08th'
Tremulant
II Hauptwerk C – g 3
12. Quintadena 16 ′
13. Principal 08th'
14th Gedakt 08th'
15th octave 04 ′
16. Reed flute 04 ′
17th Fifth 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
18th octave 02 ′
19th Rauschpfeife II0
20th Mixture IV-VI
21st Third cymbal III
22nd Trumpet 16 ′
23. Trumpet 08th'
III Breastwork C – g 3
24. Gedakt 08th'
25th Pointed flute 04 ′
26th octave 02 ′
27. Fifth 01 1 ⁄ 3  ′
28. flute 01'
29 Terzian II
30th Sharp III
31. Vox humana 08th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
32. Principal 16 ′
33. Sub bass 16 ′
34. octave 08th'
35. octave 04 ′
36. Night horn 02 ′
37. Pointed flute 01'
38. Rauschpfeife II0
39. Mixture IV
40. trombone 16 ′
41. Dulcian 16 ′
42. Trumpet 08th'
43. Trumpet 04 ′
  • Pair : I / II, III / II, I / P

Choir organ

The choir organ was built in 1972 by the Hoffmann Orgelbau company and has 11 stops on two manuals and a pedal. The purely mechanical slider tray instrument has the following disposition :

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Quintadena 08th'
2. Principal 04 ′
3. Forest flute 02 ′
4th Mixture II 01'
II Swell C – g 3
5. Dumped 8th'
6th Reed flute 4 ′
7th octave 2 ′
8th. Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Pedal C – d 1
9. Pommer 16 ′
10. Night horn 0 04 ′
11. Dulcian 08th'

Bells

Four bells hang in the tower of the cathedral. The two lowest-sounding bells come from the Gothic; they were cast in Hanover in 1510 by the caster Hinrich Bargmann on behalf of the cathedral dean Heincke von Mandelsloh. The bells are dedicated to the two patron saints of the cathedral, Mother Mary and Cecilia.
The two small bells come from the baroque era. They are so-called godfather or loan bells and were shipped to a bell warehouse in Hamburg at the end of the Second World War. Bell no. 3 comes from the Steindammer church in Königsberg, bell no. 4 comes from the church in Engelstein near Angerburg in East Prussia. In 1952 they were hung up on the bells of the cathedral and were consecrated at Pentecost in 1952.

No.
 		 Surname
 		 Casting year
 		 Caster
 		 Ø
(cm)		 Height
(cm)		 Mass
(kg)		 Nominal
 		 Inscriptions, notes
 
1 Mother mary 1510 Hinrich Bargmann 173 156 3000 h 0 Transcription (translated from Latin): “HOLY MARY, O DIVINE MOTHER OF CHRIST, BECAUSE I CARRY YOUR NAME, YES, LET ME RISE MY BELL IN PEACEFUL TONES! TO GOD'S SANCTUARY MAY PUT OUT ETERNAL THANKS, FASTER HURRYING THE WHOLE COMMUNITY INTO OCCUPATION. IN THE YEAR ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND TEN GOSS ME A SKILLED HAND FROM SHIMMERING ORE.
2 Cecilia 1510 Hinrich Bargmann 156 146 2350 cis 1 Inscription: “HOLY CÄCILIA! O MY VIRGIN CÄCILIA, BE, I PLEASE, MERCY YOUR DAUGHTER: THAT YOU SHINE OVER THE STARS THROUGH GREAT MARTERTY! THAT AS SOON AS MY SOUND HAS A LOT OF WATCHING TO THE HOLY HOUSE - 1510 - "
3 1714 Dornmann 126 100 1120 dis 1 Lettering below the crown: "SOLI DEO GLORIA"

Bridge in the leaf frieze: "LAUDATE DOMINUM IN CYMBALIS BENE SONANTIBUS PSALM CL"
Inscription under the frieze: "H. HEINRICH SCHOENFELDT D. OBERKIRCHENVORSTEHER H. JOHAN JACOB GRAEBER PASTOR "
Inscription under the coat of arms:" FUGIDA CHRISTICOLOS CRUX CUM DIADEMATE SIGNAT NAM CRUCE CHRISTE TUA PARTA CORONA POLI CHRISTIAN HELM KIRCHENVORSTEHER with the translation "Because yours Acquired crown, o Christ, be embellished by the cross. ”)
Inscription opposite the coat of arms:“ HORAS DESIGNO NOCTURNAS ATQUE DIURNAS FUNERA PLANGO IGNEM AD SUMMAQUE SACRA VOVO RUPTA HAEC CAMPANA ANNO MDCCXIII DOMINA ULTIMA POST TRINITATIS ”(translation:“ I determine the hours by night and by day. I cry over mourning, I call to the fire and the highest service. The bell broke in 1713 on the last Sunday after Trinity. ")
Inscription on the brass knuckles:" REFUSA ANNO MDCCXIV A. JOHANNES JACOB DORNMANN REGIMONTI "(Translation:" Re-cast 1714 A. Johannes Jacob Dornmann, Königsberg ")

4th 1721 Dornmann 105 84 650 f sharp 1

In the upper quarter the bell is adorned with a wide leaf frieze (like Bell III), in the middle of which runs a narrow web with the inscription (in Latin capital letters): "OMNIA FIANT IN DEO GLORIA".
Inscription on the mantle: "H.MELCHIOR ERNST V.KANITZ BRIGADIER AND oN hereditary lord Maxheim H.PAUL MEY AMBTSSCHREIBER "
inscription on the block opposite:" H.GEORGIUS Borcio Farrer H.SERAPHIM ABEGIDY CAPLAHN ADAM ADAM DEMBOFFSKY LANDCAEMER PROPERTY, GEORG MASOVIUS CHRISTIAN SAGLO, church fathers "
inscription on the bridge on the brass knuckles: "ME FUDIT JOHAN JACOB DORNMANN IN KOENIGSBERG ANNO 1721" (above the name 'Dornmann' you can see a small angel's head)

Personalities

More than 50 Verden bishops who worked at the cathedral or a previous building can be found on the list of bishops of Verden . In addition, a number of canons and theologians are connected to the Verden Cathedral. As the seat of the Diocese of Verden, the cathedral is often the subject of chroniclers and various historians.

Trivia

Stone man at the cathedral in Verden

Playing the organ in the cathedral caused a legal dispute in the years 2009–2011 about the (un) unreasonableness of noise emissions in the area around the cathedral. An immediate long-time resident had sued for an omission . The Higher Regional Court of Celle has confirmed the first instance judgment of the Regional Court of Verden that dismissed the action. The identified noise pollution was classified as "insignificant" noise pollution, which "according to the perception of an average person" and "is reasonably reasonable (...) even considering other public and private concerns". The decision is final .

On the outside of the cathedral there is a figure of a person sticking out of the wall. It represents a cathedral sexton who is said to have embezzled church funds. It got stuck in the wall when the devil wanted to fetch it and is today one of the “most famous sights of Verdens”.

literature

  • Arend Mindermann: Document book of the bishops and the cathedral chapter of Verden , Volume 1, From the beginnings to 1300, series of publications of the regional association of the former duchies of Bremen and Verden, Stade 2001, ISBN 3-931879-07-0
  • Arend Mindermann: Document book of the bishops and the cathedral chapter of Verden , Volume 2, 1300-1380, series of publications of the landscape association of the former duchies of Bremen and Verden, Stade 2004, ISBN 3-931879-15-1
  • Arend Mindermann: Document book of the bishops and the cathedral chapter of Verden , Volume 3, 1380–1426, series of publications of the regional association of the former duchies of Bremen and Verden, Stade 2012, ISBN 978-3-931879-52-5
  • Thomas Vogtherr : Chronicon episcoporum Verdensium, The Chronicle of the Verden Bishops , series of publications by the Landscape Association of the Former Duchies of Bremen and Verden, Stade 1997, ISBN 3-931879-03-8
  • Urs Boeck u. a .: The cathedral in Verden . (DKV-Kunstführer 394) Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 2001.
  • Adolf E. Hofmeister : 500 years of the Gothic cathedral in Verden. Documents on the history of the Verden Cathedral . Cathedral parish, Verden 1990.
  • Ernst Andreas Friedrich : The Verden Cathedral . In: If stones could talk , Volume III, Landbuch-Verlag, Hanover 1995, ISBN 3-7842-0515-1 , pp. 54–56.
  • Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments. Bremen Lower Saxony , Munich 1992, pp. 1298–1304.
  • Walter Schäfer: Dom und Domplatz, contribution to Verden cultural history , in: Heimatkalender für den Landkreis Verden 1978, ISSN  0948-9584 , pp. 32–37.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ City of Verden: St. Andrew's Church
  2. ↑ Study by the building researcher Dirk Schumann, http://www.backsteinbau.de/
  3. ^ Dehio, p. 1302.
  4. ↑ a b Hoffmann, p. 198.
  5. ↑ Urs Boeck: The retable of the former high altar in the cathedral of Verden (Aller). In: Low German contributions to art history , vol. 10, Munich / Berlin 1971, pp. 103–112.
  6. ↑ Horst Appuhn: Masterpieces of Lower Saxon Art of the Middle Ages , Bad Honnef undated [1963], p. 116.
  7. ^ Till Warning: New questions about old inscriptions in the cathedral and in St. Andreas, Verden . In: Yearbook for the district of Verden 2019, ibid. 2018, pp. 159–174.
  8. ↑ Walter Jarecki: Traces of the Reformation in Verden . In: Yearbook for the district of Verden 2017, ibid. 2016, pp. 203–215.
  9. ^ Rainer figure: The sarcophagus of Bishop Philipp Sigismund in Verden Cathedral , in: Hans-Herbert Möller (Ed.): Restoration of cultural monuments. Examples from the preservation of monuments in Lower Saxony (= reports on preservation of monuments , supplement 2), Lower Saxony State Administration Office - Institute for Monument Preservation , Hameln: Niemeyer, 1989, ISBN 3-87585-152-8 , pp. 89f.
  10. ↑ On the history of the cathedral organs ( Memento of the original dated December 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.webworkserver.de
  11. ↑ On the dispositions of the organs
  12. ↑ Information about the choir organ ( Memento of the original from April 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.webworkserver.de
  13. ↑ Information about the bells
  14. ↑ On the judgment of the Higher Regional Court of Celle from June 29, 2011 - 4 U 199/09.
  15. ↑ Henrik Schaper: Steinerner Mann is even easier to find. In: weser-kurier.de. July 31, 2012, accessed December 28, 2019 .

Web links

Commons : Verden Cathedral  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 55 ′ 1.2 ″  N , 9 ° 13 ′ 44 ″  E