Trinity Church (Konstanz)
The Dreifaltigkeitskirche is a church building in Constance on Lake Constance . Since they in the late 13th century. For the local convent of the Augustinian hermits was built, it is also Augustinian Church called. It functioned as a monastery church until the monastery was dissolved in 1802 and, from the 17th century, also as a garrison church , then as a hospital church , an old Catholic church and today an ecumenical “ city church ”. Due to its harmonious combination of simple Gothic architecture of the mendicant order , late Gothic frescoes and baroque picture and stucco decoration , it is one of the most important sacred architectural monuments of the city and one of the sights of Constance .
history
middle Ages
In the thirteenth century the Bishopric of Constance already owned two monasteries of mendicant orders ; the Dominicans (1236) and the Franciscans (1240) had settled here. In 1268 the monastery of the Augustinian hermits was founded within the city walls near the lake . The city assigned the monks an area in the raised shallow water zone. The church was built immediately after it was founded; individual components close to the ground can be dated to 1279.
Originally the church was probably under the patronage of Maria Magdalena ; the patron saint Augustine of Hippo is only mentioned in the late Middle Ages. In 1398 a fire destroyed part of the city and, among other things, the Augustinian Church to an unknown extent, but it was rebuilt unchanged.
During the Council of Constance was King Sigismund at the turn of 1417/18 a guest of the monastery, as well as other dignitaries. The king donated a painting for the interior of the church, which Constance painters carried out. Since Sigismund was known as a defaulting debtor, it is questionable whether he actually paid the painters.
During the Reformation , the church was profaned, the churchyard leveled and the furnishings largely destroyed. After the re-Catholicization of the city, the monastery was repopulated and the church was re-consecrated in 1551.
Baroque period
From 1684 the Augustinian Church served as the garrison church of the Austrian regiment stationed in the city. From 1686 to 1687 a Lady Chapel was built in place of the sacristy , in which the miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary, which had previously stood on the St. Nicholas altar, was housed.
From 1740 the church building was redesigned in the style of the South German Baroque . Baroque ceiling frescoes, stucco decorations and a vault in the central nave were created. The windows in the upper storeys were rebuilt and rearranged, so that large parts of the late medieval murals in this area were destroyed. At this point at the latest, the remaining medieval frescoes disappeared under a uniform layer of paint and stucco. In 1745 the patronage changed to the Trinity .
Rededication to the hospital and parish church
Under Emperor Joseph II , like many other monasteries, the Augustinian hermits were no longer allowed to accept monks from 1782 and were thus dried up and gradually expropriated before the state secularization ; the last monk of the convent died in 1813. The Spitalstiftung Konstanz concluded the so-called vitality contract with the remaining four monks in 1802. The hospital foundation took over the monastery buildings, the obligation to build the church as well as the buildings, assets and property of the monastery, including two wineries. In return, the foundation undertook to pay the monks and their descendants an annuity. In 1812 the church became a parish church . In the same year, the hospital foundation relocated the hospital to the former Augustinian monastery, which turned the church into a hospital church. In 1840 the baroque furnishings were removed again. It was not until 1872 that the hospital moved from the monastery buildings to a new building. The old convent buildings were demolished in the course of a station quarter around the Konstanz station , which was newly built in 1863, with the aim of being representative . Two stair towers were built to the left and right of the choir, which destroyed the eastern part of the baroque Lady Chapel. Also at the time of the Kulturkampf , the cattle market was renamed Bodanplatz and Augustinerstrasse was given its current name as Rosgartenstrasse.
From 1873 to 1904 the church served as a place of worship for the Old Catholic Congregation , which, however, was finally assigned the Christ Church, a former Jesuit church, and continues to operate it today.
Conrad Gröber , later Archbishop of the Diocese of Freiburg im Breisgau , began his career in 1905 as pastor of the Trinity parish. It is thanks to him that he rediscovered the late medieval paintings on the nave and initiated the restoration. The restoration of the exposed frescoes was, however, far less considerate than is usual today; Many well-preserved areas were destroyed, unnecessarily painted over, missing paintings were generously “reconstructed”, which greatly changed the image program of the original painting. Another renovation followed in the 1950s, as well as an exterior renovation in 1967 for the 700th anniversary of the former monastery.
Restoration 1999–2006
On April 1, 1997, the church building changed hands from the municipal hospital foundation to the parish. The transfer fee of 7.5 million DM went entirely into the restoration of the building. During the extensive interior and exterior restoration, the church was closed from Easter 1999 to June 2006. The most important measure was to secure the structure, which had sunk to the north due to the damp subsoil and had to be secured; for example, on the 16 m high north wall, over the centuries an overhang of 56 cm had arisen. In addition, further, previously undiscovered frescoes between the nave windows were uncovered. Older fresco restorations were not reversed, but the frescoes were cleaned, fixed and damage repaired. The limestone floor was replaced by sandstone that is more typical of the region.
On June 11, 2006 (Trinity Sunday) the ceremonial reopening took place with a service under Auxiliary Bishop Rainer Klug . The church now serves as a city pastoral agency , which is intended to represent a “low-threshold” religious offer, especially for passers-by. Concerts also take place in the Dreifaltigkeitskirche.
architecture
The Dreifaltigkeitskirche is a simple three-aisled basilica with a just completed choir without a transept . Without its original connection to the monastery buildings, it stands today in the midst of residential and commercial buildings on the southern edge of downtown Constance. As a mendicant order church, it does not have a bell tower , but only a small roof turret . The central nave has had a baroque mirror vault since 1740 ; before that the ceiling (like that of the aisles today) was flat.
The central nave has simple octagonal columns with pointed arch arcades. Their capitals are redesigned in baroque style. Compared to the Middle Ages, the floor is about 130–190 cm higher, as it was repeatedly piled up against the groundwater that was pressing down from below ; the surrounding streets were also significantly increased in the 19th century. The original impression of the space is significantly reduced and the bases of the columns disappeared into the ground; only with two columns is the base visible through an excavation shaft. For static reasons, the floor could not be lowered back to the original level during the most recent renovation.
Frescoes
Of particular importance are the frescoes on the high walls of the nave, which were created after the Council of Constance (1414–1418), i.e. in the first half of the 15th century. The frescoes with an area of 530 m² are divided into three horizontal strips, of which the upper one has been largely destroyed by the baroque renovation. The names Heinrich Grübel, Kaspar Sünder and Hans Lederhoser are passed down as painters. No other works are known by these artists, who allegedly came from Constance. The painting was done al fresco (damp plaster) above the tape . executed, below al secco (dry plaster). The frescoes on the north wall are significantly influenced by the extensive restoration work carried out around 1907, while those on the south wall largely correspond to the originals. The rococo stucco interferes with the image fields. The sculptures were probably based on a stringent program, which was difficult to determine due to improperly carried out restoration measures in the years 1906/1907.
The restoration and examination of the murals in 2004/2006 did not provide any information as to the interpretation of the picture program. It was not until 2011 that the Constance historian Harald Derschka made it possible to recognize previously unknown details of the monk's pictures and to interpret the image program in a meaningful way. He had received research from the church historian and theologian Karl Suso Frank (1933-2006) through the State Monuments Office . In the Marienbibliothek in Danzingen he came across a document from the time of the Council of Constance, in which a Polish council member had painted the murals and described their contents.
The lower row of pictures of the nave frescoes shows figures of saints in the spandrels between the nave arcades , a total of four on the south wall and seven on the north wall. Some figures sit on a kind of throne under a canopy painted in perspective . Memories of the founder Sigismund von Luxemburg and his wife Barbara von Cilli can be found on the north wall ; but not illustrated themselves but their saintly patron saints , the Holy King Sig (is) mouth (above the organ loft), the Saint Barbara (?) and other male and female saints, but for lack of attributes are no longer identified can .
On the middle picture frieze, scenes from the history of the order and monasticism are shown. Framed by a perspective-painted architecture of colonnades and floor tiles, a row of large-figured religious saints can be seen on the south wall, each of which presents a scroll or banner to a small group of monks . The sheet of writing with the inscription "Augustine" represents the Augustine rule , on which numerous religious communities are based. The saints have not yet been identified in detail. A long row of kneeling monks is depicted on the north wall, facing the church exit in the west; both friezes are optically divided by painted arched arcades. The faces of the monks are individually designed. According to the different religious affiliations, their habits also differ from group to group.
Some medallions of Old Testament prophets are partially preserved in the vaulted arches , including Moses with the tablets of the Law , Ezekiel (?), Micah (?) And David (?). Before the baroque renovation of the upper aisle , these circular image fields alternated with oculi of about the same size . Small-format figures, angels, animals and grotesques are painted around the image fields .
The vault of the central nave is dominated by the central ceiling painting The Assumption of St. Augustine into Heaven , created in 1740 by the Baroque painter Franz Joseph Spiegler , who lived in Constance .
Furnishing
The furnishings in the Augustinian Church were largely collected from various locations in the 20th century. The high altar and two double altars in the side aisles come from St. Michael's Church in Zug , which was demolished in 1898. Pastor Conrad Gröber initiated the purchase in 1906. The high altar is by Kaspar Weber , his carved figures by Johann Baptist Wikart (1668/69). The altarpiece shows Christ with the cross and originally hung in the Konstanz Minster . On the second floor of the early baroque high altar, a smaller altar panel from 1904 shows the Trinity .
On the side altar of the north aisle there is an altar painting by the Constance painter Marie Ellenrieder with the title Jesus as a Child Friend (1845). The work in the style of the Nazarenes was extensively restored in 2005.
The modern liturgical furnishings were created by the Münstertal artist Franz Gutmann .
organ
The organ was built in 1926 by the organ builder Mönch (Überlingen). The instrument has 38 registers on three manuals and a pedal . The actions are pneumatic.
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Couple:
- Normal coupling: II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
- Sub-octave coupling: II / I, III / I, III / II
- Super octave coupling: I / I, II / I, II / II, III / I, III / II, III / III, I / P
literature
- Harald Derschka: The council frescoes of the Trinity Church in Constance . Fink, Lindenberg 2015, ISBN 978-3-89870-934-7 .
- Harald Derschka: Constructed Past. The murals in the Augustinian Church in Constance . In: Badisches Landesmuseum (ed.): The Council of Constance 1414–1418. World event of the Middle Ages. Catalog . Theiss Verlag, Darmstadt 2014, ISBN 978-3-8062-0001-0 , pp. 136-137.
- Harald Derschka: The murals in the Konstanzer Dreifaltigkeitskirche (Augustinian Church). Origin, rediscovery and interpretation . In: Karl-Heinz Braun, Mathias Herweg, Hans W. Hubert, Joachim Schneider, Thomas Zotz (eds.): The Council of Constance. Essays. 1414-1418. World event of the Middle Ages . Theiss Verlag, Darmstadt 2013, ISBN 978-3-8062-2849-6 , pp. 204-209.
- Christoph Halves: Our church is changing: Augustinian Church - Spitalkirche - Dreifaltigkeitskirche - City Church. Constance 2006.
- Manfred Hermann : Trinity Church Constance. Fink, Lindenberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-89870-459-5 .
- Bruno Kirchgäßner: Trinity Church Constance. (Quick Art Guide No. 159). 3. Edition. Schnell & Steiner, Munich / Zurich 1988.
- History of the Trinity (Augustinian) Church in Constance. Constance 1969, DNB 750822112 .
- State Office for Monument Preservation in the Stuttgart Regional Council (ed.): Trinity Church of Constance. ( Cultural monuments in Baden-Württemberg , issue 6). Fink, Lindenberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-89870-431-1 .
- Hannah Müller: Hidden Treasures: The restoration of the frescoes in the Trinity Church has been completed. In: Konstanzer Almanach 2006. Konstanz 2006, ISBN 3-7977-0523-9 .
Web links
- Mathias Trennert-Helwig: The checkered history of the Dreifaltigkeitskirche. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 30, 2007 ; Retrieved February 24, 2013 .
- The Trinity Church in Constance - built on damp ground. in: Monuments , April 2005, accessed on October 8, 2017. (About the restoration)
- City pastoral in the Trinity Church
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Sebastian Brauns: Konstanz: Historiker airs secrets , suedkurier.de, July 14, 2011, accessed on February 24, 2013.
Coordinates: 47 ° 39 ′ 31 ″ N , 9 ° 10 ′ 29 ″ E