Princely residence

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The residence with the structurally connected collegiate church of St. Lorenz in the collegiate town
View of the southwest corner tower

The prince abbot's residence in Kempten (Allgäu) is the first monumental monastery complex that was built in Germany after the Thirty Years War . Under the prince abbot Roman Giel von Gielsberg , the construction of the baroque monastery complex began in 1651 on the site of the destroyed medieval Benedictine monastery. Michael Beer from Vorarlberg was initially employed as a master builder . His successor was the Graubünden architect Johann Serro . At the same time the collegiate and parish church of St. Lorenz was builtwhich is connected to the residence via a sacristy. The highlight of the interior are the state rooms, which Prince Abbot Anselm von Reichlin-Meldegg had built until 1743. The lavish splendor of its furnishings with paintings by Franz Georg Hermann , who trained in Italy , with sculptures by the Munich court sculptor Egid Verhelst (1696–1749) and with stucco work by Johann Georg Üblher and other artists of the Wessobrunn school make it one of the most important buildings of the southern German Rococo .

The architecture of the residence as a double courtyard is a fundamental new concept, which should be groundbreaking for the further development of the south German monastery architecture; a century later it was impressively quoted and continued when the Ottobeuren monastery was being built. The residence was both a prince's seat and a monastery. Originally, the stately rooms were set up in the eastern wing, to whose inner courtyard the magnificent entrance opened from the courtyard garden. The western area, oriented towards the church, was used for seclusion and the spiritual life. With the construction of the state rooms on the southwest side in the 1740s, the use was exchanged: the eastern wing was assigned to the convent, the western part was used by the prince's court.

Today the residence serves as a court building for the Kempten district and regional court . The tours through the state rooms are organized by the Heimatverein Kempten . “Landlord” is the Bavarian administration of the state palaces, gardens and lakes .

location

The residence, together with the St. Lorenz Basilica, formed the center of the Princely Monastery of Kempten . The building complex built in the monastery town of Kempten at the gates of the imperial city of the same name is now framed to the north by the associated courtyard garden and south by the Residenzplatz. The southern forecourt is designed with a green strip and a flat staircase as well as a water basin with fountains and a watercourse. To the west is Hildegardplatz with the St. Lorenz Church on the church hill, to the east there is a large department store opened in 1972, originally owned by Horten AG , today Galeria Kaufhof , as can still be seen from the facade design . Due to its size, the department store is a strong visual competitor for the residence. Before the department store was built, the city slaughterhouse was on this property.

history

The monastery before it was destroyed in the Thirty Years War: The outline of the monastery that was subsequently drawn in was perhaps done by the prince abbot, who used it to sketch the scope of the new building area.
Concert in the inner courtyard (west courtyard) of the Residenz (2015)

The baroque residence is the successor to the Romanesque monastery with the monastery church, to which a cloister was added to the south. The monastery, which was largely built in the 13th century, followed the older monastery, which was founded here in the middle of the 8th century and of which no representations have survived. The founder and first abbot was Audogar , who was perhaps related to the Carolingian Queen Hildegard .

There are several illustrations of the late medieval monastery, which was built from 1225, e.g. B. on the city view by Johann Hain and Fridrich Raidel from 1628, which gives a good impression of the buildings. The new monastery church was a Romanesque, three-aisled basilica with a western transept and a pair of towers in the east.

In 1382 the three-aisled Marienmünster , on the area of ​​which the residence was later built, was given pointed Gothic tower ends. There were further major construction works in the monastery buildings around 1500. During the Thirty Years War , the entire monastery complex was destroyed by an attack by the Swedes with the support of the Kempten imperial townspeople on May 22, 1632. Here, the 973 St. Nicholas of Myra consecrated came Nikolauskapelle broken. It was the first in southern Germany. After the war the ruins were torn down.

In 1648, under Roman Giel von Gielsberg , the first plans to build a new church and four-wing monastery were made. Gielsberg originally wanted to have the new monastery built at a location further away from the imperial city. At the old location, in loco fundationis (at the place of foundation), only the parish church with farm buildings was to be built. In the end it was decided to rebuild the old location. The building originally intended as a granary, which was already under construction, became a wing of the residence in 1651. Michael Beer from Vorarlberg was the builder of the project . The residence was partly built over the foundations of the destroyed three-aisled Romanesque basilica. In 1656, under Beer's successor, Johann Serro, the middle transverse wing of the residence and in 1660/61 the wings around the eastern courtyard were built. In the years 1661 to 1664 the south and west wing around the western courtyard and at the same time the first parts of the interior were built. In 1665, Serro had parts of the residence built by Beer demolished. The northwest corner tower was completed in 1668. In the same year the prince abbot moved into his premises.

In the center of the eastern courtyard, the Hildegard Chapel was built in 1670 , which was demolished in 1804 after the secularization. After completing the Hildegardis Chapel, Serro was dismissed for reasons of age.

Towards the end of 1674, the year after the death of Roman Giel von Gielsberg, the convent moved into the new building. From 1732, under Prince Abbot Anselm Reichlin von Meldegg, numerous rooms were redesigned into state rooms with lavish Rococo furnishings as a mansion; the convent moved to the eastern part of the residence, which became the convent courtyard.

After the secularization in 1803, the canons and the last prince abbot Castolus Reichlin von Meldegg were allowed to stay in the residence for some time. The Bavarian military moved into the vacant areas and was to remain in the so-called castle barracks until 1945. The courtyard garden was largely closed with military barracks, a parade ground and, in the 19th century, a riding hall.

After 1945 the residence became a camp for the numerous displaced persons who had been uprooted by the Second World War . Especially Lithuanians stayed for several years in the residence. After that, the rooms were gradually renovated and converted for the justice system. Trials were also held in the state rooms . In 1952 it was possible to make the state rooms and the prince's hall accessible to the public again, thanks in part to the commitment of the district administrator Alfred Weitnauer .

architecture

Outdoor area

Corner tower with hoods and lantern structure
Architectural structure in the west courtyard

The residence has a rectangular floor plan measuring 145 by 43 meters. The division by a transverse building creates two courtyards of almost the same size . Overall, the symmetry and overall disposition is unbalanced, which can be explained by the change of builders as well as interventions by the builders and the associated plan changes.

Square towers with a short octagon protrude from the corners . Pressed hoods with open lanterns rest on the octagons .

On the south facade there is a flat, six-axis risalit under the parapet, which was only built in 1895 as a new entrance area. Originally there was no door opening on the south side - towards the imperial city. The north front is divided into the protruding west wing by Michael Beer, which was probably extended by two axes to the east in the 19th century, and the east wing with a central projection, the former entrance portal, by Johann Serro. In the intermediate wing towards the eastern courtyard, a dwarf with a gable protrudes. The south and west wings in the western courtyard are divided by arcades, pilasters and half-columns designed by Serro.

The architectural paintings have been renewed based on the original remains.

Indoor

The appearance with the original furniture elements of the rooms and halls of the residence can no longer be reconstructed. After the secularization, some of the furnishings were auctioned by the Electorate of Bavaria. Over the decades the furniture was distributed all over the world; some pieces were bought back.

The sequence of the rooms corresponds to the scheme that was binding for apartments of secular rulers in the 18th century: ballroom - anteroom - audience room - bedroom. These princely rooms are complemented by the coat of arms hall in the north, the princely hall and other rooms.

The rooms served more for representation and court ceremonies than for practical use as living space.

Coat of arms hall

The oldest representative room in the monastery is located on the second floor of the northeast wing. As you can see from the coat of arms, the coat of arms hall was created in the time of Giel von Gielsberg. With four window axes facing the convent courtyard, it is one and a half stories high. In the mirror vault , into which the mezzanine windows cut wide, the coat of arms of the abbot and the convent is framed in a tondo .

Fürstensaal

Fürstensaal

The Prince's Hall was furnished around 1680 under Prince Abbot Rupert von Bodman . The space on the second floor takes up the entire width of the west wing. In the 19th and 20th centuries it was shortened to make room for a modern staircase. The ceiling is equipped with dense, stuccoed tendrils , which are subdivided with fields of leaf and fruit stick frames. Large-format paintings on canvas with portraits of the prince abbots hang between the windows; The mostly fictional portraits were painted by the court painter Franz Georg Hermann . The room has been restored since 2012 due to water damage.

State rooms or princely rooms

The throne room, a state room

  • chancellery

  • bedroom

  • Day room

  • Audience room

  • Entrance hall

  • Escape from the throne room to the office

The office , the corner room facing Hildegardplatz, is the first room that is connected to the other princely rooms by the enfilade . The ceiling, stuccoed around 1733, showed the coat of arms of the commissioning Prince Abbot Anselm Reichlin von Meldegg. In the 1950s, the ceiling was restored from existing remains after a partition was removed. Around 1790/91 the court chancellery was built from the room. It was decorated with frescoes by Franz Joseph Hermann, the son of Franz Georg Hermans. The frescoes were worked into the stucco of the original equipment. Putti and their additions refer to the elements, seasons and signs of the zodiac. The classicist doors with the overhangs date from the time of redesign.

The bedroom is divided by an arch. The northern half of the room contained the sleeping cabinet with a parade bed during the times of the abbot. The south side of the window is richly decorated. The window reveals are covered with fine stucco. The cove is decorated with younger early rococo stucco with putti and busts. The coat of arms of Reichlin von Meldegg is placed in the room. The ceiling picture shows Jacob's dream of the ladder to heaven. In the corner cartouches are scenes that relate to Jacob, Tobias and Raphael; The death of St. Benedict , the founder of the order, and the death of St. Scholastica , the sister of Benedict, are depicted in the corner cartouches of the sleeping cabinet . The painful Maria is depicted above the door.

The day room is almost square, only the corners of the room are carved out as rounded niches. In three of them there are cabinets, in the fourth there used to be a matching ceramic oven. It is no longer preserved and was replaced by an 18th century ceramic furnace from an Immenstadt castle. The decorations on the walls are similar to those of the audience room. Instead of mirrors, there are oil paintings with the four cardinal virtues. The pictures by court painter Hermann were made in 1734. The other paintings in this room also come from him: the ceiling shows the path of the Christian soul to heaven, the corner cartouches show the virtues of faith, penance, self-control and vigilance, above the doors are the vices pictured.

In the audience room there is a stucco marble fireplace between two doors from the corridor with the god Chronos as a symbol for time. Hercules wears the globe which contains a clock. In the wall fields between the windows and doors are mirrors from the princely glass workshops in the Kürnach. The remaining wall surfaces up to the covings are richly decorated with stucco and stucco marble. The sequence of pictures on the walls shows the contrasts between virtues and vices. The ceiling painting by Franz Georg Hermann shows the Queen of Sheba in front of Solomon. The cartouches in the corners contain allegorical representations of peace, justice, wisdom and prosperity. The allegories of hostility, greed, lies and indolence are painted over the doors.

The antechamber extends over three window axes. The space was restored in 1955 by removing a modern partition. Today there are two historical display cabinets from the 18th century that come from the Academy of Sciences in Munich, where the volumes from the prince's work library are kept. The books are a gift from the Kempten publisher and owner of the Köselverlag Paul Huber (1917–2010) to the city of Kempten; he made it a condition that the volumes be returned to their original location in the residence. After secularization, the working library with volumes in a wide variety of disciplines from law to medicine to agriculture and theology came into the possession of the last court printer, Joseph Kösel, from whose printing works the Kösel-Verlag emerged .

Charlemagne and Hildegard on a ceiling painting in the throne room

The most important representation room in the residence is the throne room , it was built between 1740 and 1742. The stucco is by Johann Georg Üblhör , the four allegorical female figures by Egid Verhelst. The one and a half storey high room is vaulted by a mirror barrel and equipped with four windows on the south side. There are two doors to the neighboring rooms on each of the narrow sides. A central door opens to the corridor in the north, directly opposite the now empty throne niche. The wall structure consists of stucco marble pilasters; the vaults are shaped by a curved stucco balustrade. The magnificent ceiling painting by Hermann shows, among other things, the monastery donors Hildegard and her husband Charlemagne .

Above the north entrance to the room is the allegory of science (astronomical devices and books), across from the throne is the coat of arms of abbot Anselm Reichlin von Meldegg with insignia of a spiritual and secular prince (sword, scepter, abbot's staff) Allegories of the arts (musical instruments) as well as those of geometry and architecture. At the same time, there are also numerous allusions to the history of the prince monastery and its economy, plus views of the old and new monastery buildings.

The long sides in the area of ​​the ceiling balustrade are decorated by pairs of putti with references to the seasons. Below that, in front of the double pilasters that separate the windows and mirrors, are four allegorical female figures made of painted wood on consoles. They show the ruler's virtues: next to the north entrance, peacefulness and love, next to the throne, power and wisdom.

The guest rooms are the end of the state rooms. They were built around 1760 and have a simple enfilade . Compared to the representative rooms, the rooms are more modest. There is rococo stucco on the ceilings. The lamperia are carved, painted in white and gold and covered with fabric that has now been renewed. Some of the rooms are decorated with paintings of ruined architecture, ancient scenes and plant motifs. The sequence from west to east is as follows: red room, green room, southeast corner room, northeast corner room, corridor in the north wing of the convent building. Today the guest rooms are partly used as courtrooms, partly they belong to the office and meeting rooms of the district court president.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Georg Dehio (ed.): Handbook of German Art Monuments. Bayern III, Schwaben, Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2008 Berlin / Munich, 2nd edition, ISBN 978-3-422-03116-6 , p. 559.
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Petz, Josef Kirmeier, Wolfgang Jahn and Evamaria Brockhoff (eds.): "Citizen diligence and prince-luster." Imperial city and prince abbey of Kempten. House of Bavarian History , Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-927233-60-9 , p. 274.
  3. ^ Hugo Naumann: Kempten St. Lorenz. Kunstverlag Peda, Passau 2011, ISBN 978-3-89643-836-2 , p. 6.
  4. ^ Alexander Duke of Württemberg: City of Kempten (= Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation [Hrsg.]: Monuments in Bavaria . Volume VII.85 ). Schnell & Steiner publishing house, Munich / Zurich 1990, ISBN 3-7954-1003-7 , p. 74 f .

literature

  • Brigitte Klingmann: The portrait gallery of the prince abbots of the prince monastery Kempten (=  Allgäu research on archeology and history ,  4). Likias Verlag, Friedberg 2019, ISBN 978-3-9820130-2-2 .
  • Birgit Kata u. a. (Ed.): More than 1000 years: The Kempten Abbey between founding and relinquishment 752–1802 (=  Allgäu research on archeology and history ,  1). Likias Verlag, Friedberg 2006, ISBN 3-9807628-6-6 .
  • Volker Laube: Conceptual change in the architectural history of the baroque monastery in Kempten. In: Allgäuer Geschichtsfreund , No. 100, Kempten 2000, pp. 61–96 ( online ).
  • Volker Laube: The St. Lorenz Basilica and the Residence in Kempten: A major construction project of the 17th century in public debate. In: Histoire des Alpes , No. 7, 2002, pp. 67-81 ( online ).
  • Wolfgang Petz, Josef Kirmeier, Wolfgang Jahn and Evamaria Brockhoff (eds.): “Citizen hard work and prince-luster.” Imperial city and prince abbey of Kempten. House of Bavarian History , Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-927233-60-9 .
  • Wolfgang Haberl: The Fürstensaal in the residence in Kempten. no year
  • Helmut Haum: The state rooms of the princely residence in Kempten. Restoration 1986–1991. no year
  • Friedrich Zollhoefer: News from the residence in Kempten. Partial restoration of the north wing and the transverse structure. In: Heimatverein Kempten (Ed.): Allgäuer Geschichtsfreund. Kempten 1952.
  • Hugo Schnell: The royal residence in Kempten and its state rooms. Schnell & Steiner, Munich 1947.
  • Alois Stadler: A little guide through the residence building in Kempten / Allgäu. Kempten 1916.
  • Hugo Schnell: The importance of the knight's or princely hall in the Kempten residence.
  • Norbert Lieb, City of Kempten (ed.): Rococo in the residence of Kempten. Kempten 1958.
  • Kornelius Riedmiller, Heimatbund Allgäu (ed.): Guide through the state rooms of the former royal residence (Allgäu). Verlag für Heimatpflege, Kempten 1968.

Web links

Commons : Princely Residence  - Collection of Images

Coordinates: 47 ° 43 ′ 41.7 "  N , 10 ° 18 ′ 47.7"  E