Cathedral treasure of St. Stephen
Under the title "Cathedral Treasury of St. Stephen" refers to numerous masterpieces of religious painting, gold and silver work and hundreds of relics and other historical conglomerates of of owned Rudolf IV. Founded St. Metropolitan Chapter Stephan at Vienna are or the Church Magisterium .
They are presented to the public in the Dom Museum Vienna and in a permanent museum exhibition in the upper westwork, the oldest part of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna , with the title “Cathedral Treasure of St. Stephen” . Most of the objects are exhibited in the cathedral church, but those with a high cultural and art historical value such as the gold silk shroud of Rudolf IV and his portrait, which is considered the oldest oblique portrait of the West , in the cathedral museum.
More recent history of the cathedral treasure
In 1933 the Cathedral and Diocesan Museum was established in the rooms of the Archbishop's Palace . Objects of cultural and art historical value were transferred there from the cathedral. In 1973 the company moved to the Zwettlhof (Stephansplatz 6), and from the mid-1980s onwards, additional rooms were adapted for museum operations. From 2012 the cathedral and diocesan museum was closed for renovation. For this reason, significant pieces of art from the cathedral treasure were temporarily transferred back to the cathedral and on July 3, 2012 the exhibition “The cathedral treasure returns” opened there. In the following year, the expansion took place, with the opening of the newly renovated reliquary treasure chamber, consisting of the Valentine's Chapel and a tower chamber, on April 23rd. This was the first time in the history of the cathedral that the entire westwork was open to the public. One of the jewels, the relics - collection , in the Cathedral Museum in Vienna is the pelvic bone of the living in the 11th century Markgrafens , the Marcha orientalis ( Ostarrîchi ), of Leopold III. (Austria) called the "Saint Leopold" . The relic in a pure silver gilded shrine (in the shape of a palm frond ) was donated to the cathedral by the Habsburg Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria and later Queen of France at the end of the 16th century. Although Leopold III. From Austria a Babenberger , the Habsburgs saw themselves as the legitimate successors of the family tree . The bone is in the shrine behind glass and can be opened like a winged altar .
Historical background of the relic collection
Duke Rudolf IV († 1365) donated a large number of relics to the newly established "Cathedral Chapter" ( collegiate monastery ) in St. Stephen's Church , which were held in precious metal containers. They were kept in the cathedral, but on certain festive days they were shown to the public in the “ Heiltumstuhl ” built in 1483 (removed in 1699/1700). In 1502 the "Wiener Heiligtumbuch" was published, which documented 256 relics. In the course of the 1st Austrian Turkish War in 1526 and 1531, the precious metal mounts of the relics were melted down for the purpose of minting into coins, the precious stones were auctioned and the proceeds invested in the city fortifications. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the relics were rewritten, but to finance the coalition wars (from 1792) they were melted down again. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the relics have been kept in the specially adapted Valentine's Chapel, the counterpart to the Bartholomäus chapel, i.e. the upper northern western chapel.
The Valentine's Chapel was renovated in 2012 and 2013. A transition into the neighboring Romanesque tower chamber was also made, in which showpieces from the reliquary collection are now also exhibited.
Tour of the permanent exhibition "Cathedral Treasure of St. Stephan"
The entrance to the museum's permanent exhibition "Cathedral Treasure of St. Stephan" is at the main gate ("Giant Gate") in the right Heidenturm. An elevator takes visitors to an upper section of the tower. This is where the premises actually begin with their exhibits. The visitor can see the high grave of Emperor Frederick III through a glass window; down a few steps one arrives at the Bartholomew Chapel, where liturgical implements made of silver and gold are located. A spiral staircase made of iron leads down to the west gallery , which was originally the ruler's hall. It is located in the central nave , with a view to the east to the high altar, in it is also the "Kauffmann organ" and large altar panels. Before the cathedral treasure returned, special exhibitions were presented here. The cathedral treasure consists of valuable, ornate with gold plates ( gold ) and gems decorated reliquaries , monstrances , and very ancient liturgical texts ( manuscripts ), books, pictures, and garments together. From here the exhibition runs over, going up a few steps into the left Heidenturm. It contains objects that were once mounted outside on the wall facade or in the church, such as an old, weathered sandstone part of a fresco “The Stations of the Cross of Jesus Christ ” over two meters long . There are also stone statues, sacred old paintings, and Gothic altarpieces of Jesus of Nazareth with a crown of thorns . Another stone spiral staircase leads up to a compartment above near the Prinz Eugen Chapel or also called Morandus, Tirna, Kreuz and Liechtenstein Chapel . Most of the relics of the cathedral treasury are located here. So also a gold-plated glass coffin as well as large display cases and showcases. In a showcase there is the relic with the number 16, a relic of the namesake of the cathedral, St. Stephen . A modern steel staircase and a footbridge lead the visitor into another room in which there are showcases with religious devotional objects . From here you have the view down to Stephansplatz and on the opposite side, where the visitor has a view of the church through a glass window.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Dom Museum Vienna : exhibitions ; accessed on March 21, 2018
- ↑ a b Cathedral treasure of St. Stephan in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
- ^ Archbishop's Cathedral and Diocesan Museum in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
- ^ Archdiocese of Vienna : The cathedral treasure returns ; accessed on March 19, 2018
- ↑ Archdiocese of Vienna: The cathedral treasure is back ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2017 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. ; accessed on March 19, 2018
- ↑ Dom Museum Wien - Leopold Reliquary accessed on April 22, 2020.
- ↑ Parish office of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna: Valentine's Chapel and Romanesque tower chamber ( memento of the original from December 25, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; accessed on March 19, 2018
- ↑ Our St. Stephen's Cathedral → Architecture → Heidentürme , stephansdom.at, accessed on March 4, 2017.
- ↑ Our St. Stephen's Cathedral → Architecture → Prinz-Eugen-Kapelle , stephansdom.at, accessed on March 4, 2017.
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 31.3 " N , 16 ° 22 ′ 21.6" E