Elisabeth Church (Wroclaw)
The Elizabeth Church (Polish: Bazylika św. Elżbiety ) is a brick Gothic church in the old town of Wroclaw and is one of the oldest and largest churches in the city. Between 1525 and 1945 the church was the main Protestant church of Wroclaw, then the parish church of the Polish Evangelical Lutheran congregation . It has been a Catholic garrison church since it was expropriated in July 1946 .
location
The church building is located on the northwest corner of the Ring (Rynek) between Herrenstrasse (ul. Kiełbaśnicza), Oderstrasse (ul. Odrzańska), Nikolaistrasse (ul. Św. Mikołaja) and An der Elisabethkirche (ul. Św. Elżbiety). The two houses Hansel and Gretel are in front of the building .
history
The first wooden church on the same site already existed in the 11th century. A Romanesque church dedicated to St. Laurentius was built between 1220 and 1230 , the remains of the foundation can still be found today. After the destruction of Wroclaw by the Mongols and the granting of Magdeburg law in 1242, a new church was built and consecrated to St. Elisabeth of Thuringia by Bishop Thomas on November 19, 1257 . Today's three-aisled basilica in Gothic style was built at the beginning of the fourteenth century under Duke Boleslaw III. From 1452 to 1456 a new, 130 meter high church tower was built, which at that time was one of the tallest buildings in Europe.
In the course of the Reformation , on April 6, 1525, St. Elisabeth became one of the first churches in Silesia to become Protestant. At the suggestion of the reformer Johann Hess , Ambrosius Moibanus became its first Protestant pastor.
The 130 m high church tower collapsed in 1529 due to a storm and heavy hail. In 1535 a new 90 m high church tower in the Renaissance style with six bells was built. On September 10, 1649, shortly after the morning service, a pillar in the north aisle collapsed because it could no longer bear the weight of the organ. More pillars collapsed four days later, with two chapels and the organ being destroyed. The renovation work was completed two years later. An explosion in the neighboring house destroyed part of the church windows in 1749. On October 29, 1857, two pillars collapsed again during renovation work on the interior. As a result of further renovation in the outside area, the church received a checkered tile roof in the years 1890 to 1893.
When the 600th anniversary of the church consecration was celebrated on November 9, 1857, the Prussian royal couple met in Breslau. As a jubilee gift, they presented a 77-foot-high glass window that had been made in the Berlin Royal Glass Painting Workshop. In the lower part it showed mosaics, in the upper part figures: Duke Heinrich II. With his wife Anna, St. Laurentius, St. Elisabeth and Christ . The entire composition was designed by the fresco painter Gustav Eich.
The church survived the Second World War with only minor damage. The city dean Joachim Konrad gave the last German sermon on June 30, 1946 in this church. After the end of the war, it initially served the Polish Evangelical Lutheran Church as a parish church, but was confiscated on July 2, 1946 and handed over to the military ordinariate of the Roman Catholic Church as a garrison church . She has held this position to this day.
In 1962 and 1975, lightning strikes destroyed the church spire. A fire on June 9, 1976 destroyed large parts of the interior of the church, including the Engler organ, the roof trusses and the ribbed vault. The renovation did not begin until 1981, as archaeological investigations were carried out first. The remains of the foundations of the old Romanesque church were discovered. Prior to this, valuable art treasures were relocated, some of which were distributed to museums all over Poland and some of which could only be returned in 2002. When the church was rebuilt after the great fire, modern building materials such as reinforced concrete were used. The reconstructed church tower is 91.5 m high and has a publicly accessible viewing platform. In 2004 the church was given the title of a minor basilica .
In 1999 a monument by the sculptor Karl Biedermann for Dietrich Bonhoeffer , who came from Breslau, was erected in front of the church .
architecture
The three-aisled brick building without transepts has a basilica elevation. The 10 yokes of the central nave, vaulted with cross ribs, are extremely steeply proportioned with a height of almost 30 m, an impression that is further enhanced by the high-ceiling windows . The church is 68.2 m long and 34.5 m wide. The main nave is 29.7 m high, the church tower 90 m high. The church has 2000 seats and is therefore one of the largest churches in Silesia .
Furnishing
The baroque high altar was donated in 1653. In its center a copy of the miraculous image of the Mother of God of Czestochowa replaces a painting by Michael Willmann removed in 1945 .
In the immediate vicinity of the altar is the 15 m high sacrament house , a slender Gothic sandstone architecture.
The richly decorated choir stalls date from the early 15th century.
The pulpit, completed in 1652, is made of Italian marble.
At the end of the central nave, one of the few remains of the originally rich furnishings is still the gallery built between 1741 and 1743 for the Prussian King Friedrich II . Inside the church as well as on the outer facade there are numerous epitaphs and grave sculptures. Most of them date from the 16th century.
pulpit
Choir stalls
Frescoes
.JPG)
organ
The history of the organs in the Elisabeth Church goes back to the 15th century. The first instrument was built by Stephan Kaschendorf around 1460. In 1629 Wilhelm Haupt completed a new organ that hung as a swallow's nest on the north wall of the ship. When one of the pillars on which the instrument was hung collapsed, the organ was destroyed. In 1657 a new instrument with 35 registers was completed.
In 1750 Michael Engler the Younger was commissioned to create a new instrument. This instrument has also been repaired and changed several times over the years. In 1879 the instrument was rebuilt by the organ builder Schlag & Söhne (Schweidnitz); it received a cone shop, the manuals were equipped with barker machines, and the disposition was changed. After the renovation, the instrument had 62 registers. In 1907 the instrument was rebuilt again by Schlag & Söhne and expanded to 71 registers. From 1939 to 1941 the organ builder Wilhelm Sauer (Frankfurt / Oder) rebuilt the instrument according to the ideals of the organ movement; the action was applied electrically, the cone chests were replaced by slider chests; In addition, two Rückpositivs were set up again, which had been dismantled over time. In addition, the disposition was again considerably expanded. The instrument was destroyed in a church fire in 1976.
The organ is currently being reconstructed to the condition as it was in 1750 by Michael Engler the Elder. J. was built. Several companies are involved: The Zych workshop (Wołomin / Poland) is responsible for the housing and the supporting structure. Orgelbau Thomas (Stavelot / Belgium) will supply the wind chests, and Orgelbau Klais (Bonn) will supply the action, the console, the wind system, the pipework and intone the instrument. The figurative jewelry is made in a specially built atelier.
The galleries have already been installed, the housing and the figural decorations have been largely reconstructed and installed.
Bells
Three bells hang in the tower of the Elisabethkirche.
| No. |
Surname |
Casting year |
Caster |
Weight (kg) |
Chime |
inscription |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hero bell | 1923 | Torgau-Lauchhammer | 4678 | a 0 | THE HEROES OF THE WORLD WAR IN HONORABLE MEMORY 1923 OUR FAITH IS VICTORY |
| 2 | 1471 | Mathias Haubnitz Brno | ~ 3500 | c 1 | * O REX * GLORIE * VENI * CUM * PACE ** MATHIAS HAUBNICZ * | |
| 3 | 1460 | ~ 1500 | e 1 | * O REX * GLORIE * VENI * CUM * PACE * AVE MARIA * GRATIA * PLENA * DOMINUS TECUM * ANNO * DOMINI MCCCCLX ” |
literature
- K. Klöppel: Wroclaw - Lower Silesia and its millennial capital. Trescher Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-89794-256-1 , pp. 60-64.
Web links
- History of Wroclaw: The main and parish church of St. Elisabeth ( Memento of July 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- Heinrich Wilhelm Teichgräber: The St. Elisabeth Church in Breslau. 1839. ( digitized version )
- Bazylika św. Elżbiety - Elisabeth Church, Kościół Garnizonowy. Galeria archiwalnych i współczesnych zdjęć na portalu polska-org.pl (Polish)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Daily news. In: Die Presse , November 1, 1857, p. 3 (online at ANNO ).
- ↑ Science and Art Notes .- In: Royal privileged Berlinische Zeitung of state and learned things Berlin , June 4, 1857, Supplement p. 2
- ↑ Peter Pragal: We'll see each other again, mein Schlesierland, Piper-V., Munich, 2012, p. 179.
- ↑ Information about the reconstruction on the website of the organ building company Klais
- ↑ Information about the bells (Polish)
Coordinates: 51 ° 6 ′ 42 ″ N , 17 ° 1 ′ 49 ″ E