Former rood screen in Münster Cathedral

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Lettner (steel engraving, 1852)
Floor plan of the cathedral in 1761 with the location of the rood screen
Height of the east side without parapet 4.39 m
Height of the west side without parapet 4.58 m
Height of the parapet 1.22 m
Width (towards the nave) 12.5 m
Height of the two gates 2.82 m
Width of the gates 1.57 m
Diameter of the stair towers approx. 1.70 m
Ground plan of the rood screen
1., 2. = stair tower to the rood screen stage
3 = rear central building
4., 5. = gate passages
6. = hall system under the rood screen stage
7. = cross altar (people's altar)
8. = step system
9. = choir screen

The former rood screen of the cathedral in Münster was a great renaissance - rood screen made of Baumberger sandstone , which was in the St. Paulus cathedral in Münster in Westphalia until 1870 . It connected the two western pillars of the crossing and separated the crossing, transept and choir from the nave .

description

Already in the early 11th century there seems to have been a so-called "pulpitum" in the (First) Cathedral, a kind of ambo with side staircases, which created a certain room separation. In the course of the construction of the Third (today's) Cathedral, the first (predecessor) rood screen was built, based on the French rood screen. This Gothic rood screen fell victim to the iconoclasts of the Anabaptists .

The second and last rood screen we are talking about was created in the years 1542–1549 by the brothers Franz and Johann Brabender . It was a so-called arcade or hall lettner, which stood free as a hall in the room. On top of it was a rectangular stage, which mainly served as a musicians' stage.

The rood screen is also called the Apostle Walk; This name comes from the fact that on the west side of the rood screen, facing the nave, in the niches of the parapet and the like. a. the figures of the twelve apostles were placed.

The numbers given in brackets in the following section correspond to those in the floor plan of the rood screen (illustration on the right).

East wall

The back wall of the rood screen (towards the high choir ) was solid and closed. There were two gates in it ( 4th and 5th ). They were about 4.10 m apart and were used to enable the clergy to get from the high choir into the nave, for example to distribute communion. In the middle there was a mighty central building ( 3rd ), to the side of the crossing piers there was a stair tower ( 1st and 2nd ) that led up to the rood screen.

The art historian Wilhelm Lübke describes the east side as follows.

The side facing the choir gives the impression of the main facade of a knightly castle. The areas of the central building, which is only playfully enlivened by applied tracery, which has two ogival gate openings, are flanked by two higher stair towers, the mass of which is pierced with stair-like ascending fields crowned by tracery and pointed gables, as in the Lamberti Church on the choir stairs. In the towers there are spiral stairs which lead to the upper parapet of the rood screen. A strong vine-leaf frieze closes the lower part of the entire work, and the crenellated crowning connected to the cornice reinforces the impression of the fort-like appearance. Above the battlements rises a piece of wall richly detailed by tracery, which closes lower on the central building with a vine-leaf frieze, rises higher on the towers and ends in a battlements from which slender, richly formed pinnacles rise. Two sediles are still to be mentioned, which lean against the central building between the two portal openings, to be compared with Thor towers, and are covered by tasteful canopies .

West side

The front (towards the nave ) was visible as a hall system ( 6th ), consisting of five round arches and a depth of a yoke and a total width of 12.5 m. The round arches rested on pillars or (laterally) on half-pillars attached to the crossing piers. The round arches were about 1.55 m wide. Up to the approach of the parapet, the front was about 4.58 m high, the parapet about 1.22 m.

The central arch was a little wider and higher, i.e. H. protruded into the parapet . In it was the cross altar, from which the masses for the people in the nave were read. Above this central arcade was a wooden crucifix about 1.58 m high and 1.30 m wide above the rood screen parapet. It stood on a stone plinth that symbolized the Calvary .

Over the four side arcades, the parapet was divided into four niches each about 13 cm deep, which were bordered on the rear by tracery grids and crowned with canopies at the top. In the niches there were figural representations that are now in the cathedral chamber:

The art historian Wilhelm Lübke described the front side as follows.

The side of the rood screen facing the ship has a different character. It represents an arch hall with a low and a middle, higher and wider arched arch, which rest on pillars. The pillars are enlivened in many ways, in that the whole measure consists of alternately stronger and weaker services, which join up to form niches and are crowned with canopies. The floors are brilliantly decorated with tracery stretched into them. The whole is crowned by a row of niches formed by extremely elegant branches and canopies with the seated statuettes of the apostles and other saints, in the middle Christ enthroned in a solemn posture on the globe. Six pinnacles crown the whole as the last offshoots of the six pillars, each carrying an angel making music on the top. A crucifix occupies the slightly raised center.

Cross altar

On the back wall of the middle compartment of the rood screen hall was the cross or lay altar ( 7th ), from which the masses for the "common people" were read. In front of the altar or the west side was a step system ( 8th ), which was bordered by a choir screen ( 9th ) to the nave. Within this demarcated area there were two further altars, which were placed in front of the crossing pillars as side altars. a. the so-called Sebastian Altar.

The altarpiece , which is now kept in the State Museum, is 2.63 m high and 2.16 m wide. It depicts the crucifixion of Christ and is surrounded by an ornate profile frame.

  • The cross of Christ, which was in the center of the picture, has been lost. The body of Christ was attached to the cross with three nails and was depicted as the deceased. The cross was flanked by the two crosses of the two thieves, only one of which has survived.
  • Above the cross is a depiction of God the Father with a tiara, below him the Holy Spirit, to the right and left of it the darkened sun and the darkened moon. There are also two praying angels above the cross.
  • At the foot of the cross, groups of riders are shown on the left and right, with the (broken) lance that sticks into Christ's side or a stick on which a sponge is held towards Christ. At the foot of the cross, Mary Magdalene is kneeling in the middle. Maria sits in the foreground, surrounded by other women. In addition to the depiction of other saints and a kneeling cleric in costume from the 16th century, there are a few young men on the side wearing coats of arms.
  • The entire representation of the cross is embedded in an idealized silhouette of the city of Jerusalem in the background, executed as a bas-relief.

Functions

The rood screen had various, mainly liturgical functions:

  • Masses for the people were celebrated in the nave from the cross altar .
  • The rood screen was used as a stage for musicians : it offered space for a singing choir or a choral schola (so-called Kamerata) or the cathedral music band, later also for the cathedral choir. The conductor of the ensemble was also responsible for leading the congregation singing from the rood screen.
  • A small organ with the function of a figured bass stood on the rood screen . This so-called rood screen positive is now in the west choir.
  • The epistle and the Gospel were also read from the rood screen .
  • Another liturgical function of the rood screen was to separate the clergy choir and the lay church . There were probably several reasons for this separation: for example, the different duration of the masses in the cathedral chapter in the high choir and the (much shorter) masses at the cross altar for the “simple” people who “only” fulfilled their Sunday duty; or very mundane reasons, such as protecting the clergy in the high choir from drafts or from being distracted by the "common people".
  • Made from Lettner also public service announcements , such as the (sung) proclamation of hard appointments of a liturgical year on the feast of the Epiphany , the proclamation of the election of a bishop, the proclamation of the election secular dignitaries, the promulgation fürstbischöflicher , in the 19th century royal decrees and exhortations .

Demolition (1870) and remains

As early as 1862 the cathedral chapter voted for the rood screen to be demolished, but this was prevented by Bishop Johann Georg Müller until his death in 1870. On November 30, 1870, the cathedral chapter again decided to demolish it, which was carried out in December 1870, which led to severe criticism (“vandalism”, “barbarism”).

The remains of the rood screen, including the numerous figures, were temporarily stored and finally reached the State Museum in 1870 , where the architectural pieces of the rood screen were assembled into larger units. During the Second World War, the figures were relocated in good time. The architectural parts in the State Museum were badly damaged in a bombing there. The figures of the rood screen and some architectural parts have been exhibited in the cathedral chamber since 1983.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The transept arms - Stephanuschor and Johannischor - were separated by simple walls between the southern and northern crossing pillars. The walls were about the height of the rood screen and had passageways.
  2. ^ A b Wilhelm Lübke: Medieval art in Westphalia, depicted according to the existing monuments; Leipzig: 1853, p. 308.
  3. ↑ a b Tobias Schrörs: The rood screen in Münster Cathedral - history and liturgical function (PDF; 4.5 MB), diploma thesis in Catholic theology, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster 2001. 1st edition 2005, ISBN 3-8334- 2658-6 .

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