Trinity Church (Ulm)

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Dreifaltigkeitskirche (House of Encounter) in Ulm (2015)

The Trinity Church was founded by the Dominicans in Ulm . The church building was largely destroyed in World War II and was in ruins for decades. The reconstruction took place with a change of use. The building has been used as a meeting place for the Evangelical Church Community of Ulm since 1984 .

history

Forerunner of the Predigerkirche

Outside the Staufer city ​​wall of Ulm (in front of the Diebstor, the former east gate), the Dominicans received a garden plot as a gift from Mechtildis Hunrärin , the wife of Dominus Krafft , and built a monastery with the three-aisled " Predigerkirche " (ship 1305) there in the following years , Choir 1321). The mystic Heinrich Suso , who worked in the Dominican convent in Ulm from 1348 , was buried in the church in 1366 (this grave was probably destroyed undetected in an excavation attempt in 1704).

The famous writer Felix Fabri (* around 1438/1439 in Zurich ; † probably March 14, 1502 in Ulm), the author of the Historia Suevorum and pilgrimage reports from the Holy Land , also lived in the monastery .

In 1531, after the Reformation , the Dominicans left Ulm. Prepared again in 1547 on the occasion of a funeral service that Charles V had held for his deceased sister-in-law, the church fell into disrepair in the following decades and was largely dismantled in 1538, only the choir remained covered.

In 1613 the monastery buildings were demolished.

Trinity Church 1617 to 1944

The Husband Organ from 1641 (copper engraving, 1643, Matthäus Merian the Elder)

At the efforts of the city council, it was decided to build a new church, as the number of Evangelicals in the Lower City had risen sharply and the Reformation anniversary was seen as a suitable time, Martin Banzenmacher (incorrect old information: Leonhard and Martin Buchmüller) ) In front of the Gothic choir of the Predigerkirche, an aisle church in the form of the transverse church was built in the Renaissance style from 1617 to 1621 on the foundations of the old nave , with an onion dome in the corner between the nave and the choir . The foundation stone was laid in 1617 and the inauguration took place on September 16, 1621.

The north wall of the nave of what is now the "Trinity Church" was given a pulpit pillar. In the south opposite a richly carved wooden gallery was built. The beamed ceiling was decorated with ornamented stucco fields , the wall below with a surrounding stucco frieze ( triglyph frieze with fruit hangings in the metope fields ). The pulpit and the high altar in the choir were made by Martin Buchmüller. Some of the choir stalls, which are otherwise signed HW (= Hans Wörz), probably came from Martin Buchmüller. The altar painting was made in 1621 by Hans Tenzel, the carver of the high-quality early Baroque main characters on the altar - if not Wörz himself - is unknown.

In 1641 the Ulm organ builder Johann Husband built a new organ on the west gallery , which was largely financed by Joseph Furttenbach and his brother Abraham Joseph. Just two years later, an engraving by Matthäus Merians the Elder appeared . Ä. (see adjacent illustration), which on the one hand represents the only depiction of an organ in his extensive oeuvre and on the other hand is one of the earliest surviving organ engravings. In 1714 the Menschann organ was renewed and finally replaced in 1857.

In 1809 the Dreifaltigkeitskirche became the parish church of the Ulm “lower town”. In 1817 paintings were added, including one by the reformer Luther. In the second half of the 19th century, various alterations and redesigns of the interior took place, the organ was replaced in 1857 and the organ gallery was renewed in 1895/96.

Because of its good acoustics, the Dreifaltigkeitskirche was also valued as a concert church, and the Ulm Oratorio Choir performed here regularly between 1896 and 1944 . On December 17, 1944, the church was destroyed in a heavy bombing raid, except for the outer walls of the nave, choir and tower. The entire valuable interior (altar, pulpit, choir stalls and gallery) burned. However, there are old pictures of the equipment.

After the Second World War

Fortification work and a temporary roofing of the burned-out ruins were carried out around 1950. From 1949 to 1951 the former sacristy was used as a " Trinity Chapel " for church services. Since there was no longer any notable parish in the area, it was decided in 1953 not to rebuild the Trinity Church as a church. Other parts of the partially preserved stucco frieze had meanwhile crashed. In the period that followed, the choir temporarily served as the stone magazine for the Ulm Museum , and the ship as the backdrop for the city ​​theater . A concert hall initially planned jointly by the city and church was not realized.

After a chunk of stone that had fallen from the 42 m high tower shaft damaged a parked car in 1975, the tower had to be secured. It was decided to renovate it and also restore the original tower onion. The tower renovation, completed in 1977, served as the initial spark for the reconstruction of the entire building in order to then use it as a church meeting center.

In the following years, the exterior of the church was completely restored and the interior was expanded in accordance with the new usage concept. The nave and choir were separated by a staircase and divided by horizontally drawn false ceilings. This is how u. a. a choir room (without restoration of the Gothic cross vault) with a new gallery and a large hall (with a reconstructed stucco ceiling and frieze) on the now second level of the nave with seating for around 500 people. Since 1984 the Dreifaltigkeitskirche Ulm has served as a meeting and education center for the Evangelical Church Community of Ulm under the name “ House of Encounters ”. In addition, it houses the office of the Evangelical District Education Center in Ulm / Blaubeuren, the archive of the Ulm Prelature and an Evangelical Media Office.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ M. Dietrich: Description of the city of Ulm . I. Eber'sche Buchhandlung, Ulm 1815, p. 50 .
  2. ↑ Augsburger Allgemeine of March 8, 2009 [1] last accessed on January 29, 2019
  3. ↑ a b c Johann Herkules Haid: Ulm with its area . Christian Ulrich Wagner, Ulm 1786, p. 67 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  4. ↑ Orell, Füßli and Compagnie (eds.): General Artist Lexicon, or: Brief message about the life and works of painters ... Second section. Zurich 1810, p. 1077 .
  5. ↑ For photos see Hubert Krins: Repair and reconstruction of the Trinity Church in Ulm as part of the priority program of the state government. In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg - news sheet of the state preservation of monuments. University of Heidelberg, accessed on December 20, 2018 .
  6. ^ Technical University of Berlin: Architecture Museum. Technische Universität Berlin, July 31, 2016, accessed on July 31, 2016 .
  7. ^ M. Dietrich: Description of the city of Ulm . I. Ebner'sche Buchhandlung, Ulm 1825, p. 262 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  8. ↑ Silke Bettermann and Michael Ladenburger: The Queen of Instruments. Organ engravings from Beethoven's time from the Hans Gerd Klais collection , Verlag Beethoven-Haus, Bonn 2000, pp. 58–59.
  9. ^ Karl Emil Otto Fritsch (Ed.): Monuments of the German Renaissance . E. Wasmuth, Berlin 1891.
  10. ^ Hubert Krins: Repair and reconstruction of the Trinity Church in Ulm as part of the state government's priority program. In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg - news sheet of the state preservation of monuments. University of Heidelberg, August 1, 2016, accessed on August 1, 2016 .

literature

  • Evangelical overall church community Ulm (ed.): House of Encounters - Dreifaltigkeitskirche Ulm , Festschrift 1984, Ulm.
  • Hellmut Pflüger: Ulm. The old cityscape. Volume 2 , Weißenhorn, Anton H. Konrad Verl., 1964
  • Hubert Krins: Repair and renovation of the Holy Trinity Church in Ulm as part of the state government's priority program . In: Denkmalpflege in Baden-Württemberg , 13th year 1984, issue 2, pp. 60–63. ( PDF )
  • Julius Endriß: Die Dreifaltigkeitskirche in Ulm. In: Württembergische Vierteljahreshefte für Landesgeschichte NF 20.1911, p. 328-412.

Web links

Commons : Dreifaltigkeitskirche (Ulm)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 23 '50.7 "  N , 9 ° 59' 51.2"  E