Former Church of St. Johannes Baptist (Eichstätt)
The former church of St. Johannes Baptist ("Johanniskirche") stands northeast of the east choir of the cathedral in Eichstätt on the cathedral square of the episcopal city.
history
Sacred use
In the early Middle Ages, the church was Eichstätt's parish church . Under Bishop Hartwig (reigned 1196–1223) the parish rights were transferred to the Romanesque basilica "To Our Lady" (" Collegiata ") on the market square, which was probably expanded in 1200 , the first evidence of this comes from the year 1196. In 1279, St Johannes Baptist in written sources as a dilapidated " old parish church in the cemetery ", the cemetery north of the cathedral, which was abandoned in 1535/36 because of the risk of plague (there were several cases of plague in the city in 1533/34).
In this cemetery there was another church, the Nikolauskapelle , which was demolished after the secularization and was archaeologically excavated in 1986 next to the cathedral main portal and thus less than 200 meters from the "Johanniskirche".
In 1296, the Johanniskirche, a small Romanesque complex with an apse (found during excavations in 1920/21), was restored. Although the patronage might suggest it, the Johanniskirche was not a baptismal church; the baptistery was identified as a small round church in the course of the cathedral excavations in the 1970s.
At the beginning of the 16th century the Johanniskirche was so dilapidated that it had to be replaced. 1520-27 was commissioned by the cathedral chapter , the resulting late-Gothic church, which incorporated remains of the previous building as a three-aisled hall church and was vaulted by the "parish Master" (architect) Erhard empire 1524th The consecration was in 1531.
After the destruction of the Jesuit church on Jesuitenplatz (today: Leonrodplatz) in the Thirty Years War in the town fire of 1634 caused by the Swedes, the Jesuits used the church until their own church was repaired after the church was temporarily left to the Marian Congregation in 1620. Around 1700, a sundial with accompanying figures of the Baptist and St. Willibald and painted with the cathedral chapter coat of arms. For 1766 a roof turret over the west gable - which is missing today - is still proven.
description
The exterior appears very simple. Only the simple tracery windows and a round window above the portal structure the wall surfaces. The sloping walls of the round window are the earliest harbingers of the Renaissance in Eichstätt . The choir closes on three sides without buttresses .
Inside, three round pairs of pillars support the cross vault, which is designed as a cap vault on the slopes of the choir . The vault ribs are made of stucco, so they have no structural function, the keystones are unadorned.
Some of the masonry of the previous Romanesque church has been preserved under the plaster, for example on the north side, but also in the west. The previous building, however, was significantly smaller.
Showroom
After secularization in 1807/08, the sacred space was used as a Schranne, then as a commercial hall. The gallery was removed around 1920. Since the renovation in 1978, the former church has served the city of Eichstätt as the "House of the Guest". Exhibitions and events take place here. Outside of these events, a large glass door allows a view inside.
literature
- Felix Mader: New construction of the St. Johannes Baptist church on the former cathedral cemetery in Eichstätt from 1520 to 1527, in: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Eichstätt 22 (1907), pp. 71–77
- Hermann Graf: The Romanesque baptistery of St. Johannes in the "Domfreithof zu Eychstett" , in: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Eichstätt 35 (1920), pp. 24–26, 84 (1991), p. 9
- Felix Mader (editor): The art monuments of Bavaria, administrative region Middle Franconia, I. City of Eichstätt . Munich, 1924 (Reprint Munich, Vienna, 1981, ISBN 3-486-50504-1 ), p. 368f.
- Collective sheet of the historical association Eichstätt 59 (1961/62), p. 15
- Alexander Rauch: City of Eichstätt . (Monument topography of the Federal Republic of Germany, Monuments in Bavaria, Volume I.9 / 1). Munich, Zurich, 1989, ISBN 3-7954-1004-5
Coordinates: 48 ° 53 ′ 30.8 " N , 11 ° 11 ′ 4.2" E