Big and Little Angel
The Großer Engel house , usually just called the Großer Engel , is a historic building in Frankfurt am Main . In the "Ostzeile" bordering the Römerberg , it is the northernmost building with the address Römerberg 28 on the far left for the frontal observer . In the south the building borders on the Goldener Greif house , to the north the street Markt opens up . In the east, the Großer Engel is connected to the Kleiner Engel house, so that both buildings form a historically and architecturally related complex.
In 1562 the most ornate private building of the late Gothic period in Frankfurt was built, combining the two aforementioned parcels and possibly also some older material . As the corner house of the once closed-up market street with the cathedral rising behind it, the Great Angel in particular was and is one of the most frequently depicted and later also photographed motifs in Frankfurt's old town .
During the Second World War , the Big and Little Angels were almost completely destroyed during the air raids on Frankfurt am Main , but were rebuilt largely true to the original in 1983–1984 as part of the reconstruction of the east side of the Römerberg.
history
prehistory
( woodcut by Conrad Faber von Kreuznach )
The Great Angel was first mentioned in a document in 1342, some non-documentary sources go back to the year 1230 and connect the name of the building with its apparently first owner, Angelus de Sassen . On the other hand, written references to the Little Angel can only be found in the 15th century. It is unclear to what extent it can be concluded from this whether these two original parts of the building were built consecutively.
In the further course of the story it can be documented that the building became the property of the mint master Friedrich Nachtrabe in 1458 , who opened an exchange office on the ground floor . The next owner was the Frankfurt citizen Kaspar Schott , whose family owned the Großer Engel from the end of the 15th century. Obviously he continued the business of his predecessor, as a house deed confirms that he had an exchange office in the Großer Engel from 1488 to 1503 together with the electoral Mainz patrician and mint master Hans Bromm.
Probably the fact that the building continued to fulfill this function under subsequent owners is due to its alternative name “die Wechsel” or “Zum Wechsel”, which was preserved from this time until the late 19th century . The location of the building at the entrance to the market was ideal for this: as one of the main shopping streets at the time, it was roughly comparable in importance to today's Zeil .
16th century to World War II
Development of the house in its present form
In 1535 the building was owned by the hospital master Niklas, known as Steinmetz. In the course of the Reformation , in the same year he had renounced his dignity as dean of St. Bartholomew's monastery , the highest Catholic office in Frankfurt, and converted to Protestantism . The event also attracted attention beyond the borders of Frankfurt, as the Frankfurt Cathedral was of outstanding importance as the electoral church of the German emperors .
It should not go unmentioned here that the rest of the Niklas family stuck to the Catholic creed, which undoubtedly led to friction. The sons of the brother Hans Niklas became important Frankfurt personalities in the second half of the 16th century. The younger, Johannes Niklas, took up the post in 1571 which his uncle had given up 36 years ago. The older one, Kaspar Niklas, became Frankfurt's younger mayor in 1566. The journeyman's book of the ancient Frankfurt patrician society Zum Frauenstein shows that he died in 1591. Here you can still read the saying “civis optimus et catholicus” by his name , so he was a “good citizen and Catholic”.
As early as 1536, his aforementioned uncle married the daughter of Gilbrecht Burckhardt von Höchst, who was once widowed, which was downright scandalous in Frankfurt, which was still predominantly Catholic at the time. At the time, many certainly saw it as a punishment from God that he died in 1540, although his death from the plague was more likely due to his work as a hospital master.
The will determined his daughters Margaretha and Anna, who were born in the Haus zum Engel in 1537 and 1538, to be the heirs of the building. Until her death, however, the beneficiary was initially his wife Anna Steinmetz, who was now widowed for the second time. She married a third time only a little later, namely the successor in her husband's office, hospital master Menger. When he died in 1557, the two patrician sons Siegfrid Deublinger and Hilarius Harpf had married their two daughters. Since both chose the Haus zum Engel as their future home, they probably pushed for the building to be rebuilt.
Siegfrid Deublinger came from a wealthy family of the same name who immigrated from Ulm to Frankfurt as cloth merchants . His fortune grew considerably in the further course of his life, probably also with the addition of his wife's dowry . It is known that, in addition to other properties, he also acquired the prestigious Fürsteneck house east of the cathedral. Hilarius Harpf, on the other hand, came from the middle class of the Sachsenhausen bourgeoisie. In 1556 he was promoted from council clerk to arithmetic master, a position that was roughly equivalent to today's position of city treasurer. In this respect, it was only understandable for him that he wanted to live near the Roman , who had been the center of the city's administration since 1405.
The new building now planned was initially preceded by building negotiations with the council. Here the mother-in-law no longer appeared, but the aforementioned sons-in-law as negotiators and contract signers. This reinforces the assumption that the sons-in-law, and not the third-time widowed mother-in-law, took the initiative for the new building.
Before construction began, however, there was still a dispute with the owner of the neighboring house, Haus Schieferstein, Christian Egenolff. Egenolff was the son of the famous Frankfurt printer Christian Egenolff the Elder (1502–1555); He owned a type foundry in Frankfurt and the first permanent printing press that produced the first Luther Bible printed in the city . The neighboring house still appeared under the old name, the name of the Goldener Greif house probably came over later, which is also evident in view of its more baroque appearance.
Christian Egenolff initially felt that his window rights were impaired by the excellent bay window of the planned new building. A major legal dispute could, however, be avoided by a settlement that was sealed with a contract dated April 15, 1562. According to the wording, the two sons-in-law had Egenolff break two stone doors into the ground floor of the house at their own expense in order to withdraw his objection. Another additional contract dated May 1562 also stipulated that the construction costs for the fire wall between the two buildings should be evenly distributed between both parties. Both houses were completely rebuilt under one roof in 1562, as can be seen and documented by inscriptions on the building to this day. As with almost all richly decorated Frankfurt town houses, the richness of decoration of the building is mainly attributed to external influences, in this case the Deublingers; The high artistic quality of numerous half-timbered buildings in Ulm, of which, tragically, hardly a single one survived the last world war, showed clear parallels here.
It is interesting that, according to historical documents, the mother-in-law sold a house known there as Kollmann-Hölle , probably to cover the costs of the new building . This was undoubtedly the corner house Markt / Höllgasse, from which half a century later the Golden Scales , which in no way inferior to the Haus zum Engel , emerged. That she remained the builder despite the initiative of her sons-in-law is evident to this day from the fact that she immortalized the coats of arms of her first husband and her family as a carving on the bay window of the new building.
Over the centuries
The further history of the building is largely in the dark. In 1575 Justinian Reinisch sold the Little Angel to Konrad Erhard, the Big Angel was sold in 1597 by Siegfrid Deublinger's heirs.
It is obvious that the Great Angel in particular was a steady source of income for its owners through the masses and especially the coronation celebrations that took place there until the early 19th century, due to its location on the Römerberg. The building is graphically documented in various coronation diaries, which allows conclusions to be drawn about the time when large parts of the facade were slated. Leopold I's diary from 1658 shows the house, even if only very roughly, as a pure half-timbered house in its current state. Only a depiction of Charles VII's diary from 1742 shows the house again recognizable, here the entire facade facing the Römerberg is already slated, the side facing the market is still made of timber.
With the end of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in 1806 and the loss of the Frankfurt Fair to Leipzig only a little later, the function and financing of the owners of the Great and Small Angels may have changed fundamentally. Early photographs from the middle of the 19th century show various simple shops in a ground floor shop of the Great Angel.
In 1905 the city bought the building and had it restored by city architect Felix Grörich. Above all, the framework was exposed to such an extent that at least the most artistically significant decorations were visible again. Internally, too, the buildings were unified and the Great Angel's stairs were removed from the house to gain more space. Old town father Fried Lübbecke learned that the building was used as an antiques dealer by the art dealer Georg Knapp until the First World War . However, Lübbecke does not state when Knapp acquired the building or presumably just leased it. After Knapp was killed in the war, a pottery shop moved into the Großer Engel, who sold products from "all the farmer's potteries in Hesse that were still in existence" .
Second World War, Reconstruction and the Present
When Frankfurt was bombed on March 22, 1944, the Big and Little Angels, as well as the entire Ostzeile, were ignited by incendiary bombs , down to the stone ground floor. Remnants of the interior fixtures that were firmly connected to the building from its original period, especially a stucco ceiling on the second floor of the Great Angel, were irretrievably lost, as were numerous carvings, some of which were extremely important in terms of art history, on the timber-framed part of the building. The preserved parts of the building were dismantled and stored in the early 1950s. New buildings erected on the site were demolished as early as 1970 for the construction of the “ Römer ” underground station .
From 1982 to 1984 the entire east line of the Römerberg was largely reconstructed true to the original. The Big and Little Angels celebrated their topping-out ceremony on April 30, 1983. While the Big and Little Angels were relatively well documented due to their outstanding architectural importance compared to the other buildings, the other buildings mainly had to be based on drawings, photos and aerial photographs. The previously separate interiors of the sub-buildings were merged as part of the reconstruction in order to gain more space. This cannot be seen from the outside of the building, however, and it is also historically correct in that, depending on the owner, connections between the parts of the building have undoubtedly been established and closed over the centuries.
The rebuilding of the Great Angel, in particular, with exposed half-timbering and without slab, was controversial because the slab had shaped its image for almost 200 years. Furthermore, the removal of the slate on the first floor at the beginning of the 20th century revealed very rich jewelry in the stands of the framework, so that the reconstruction of the floors above can be described as speculative in the current state due to the lack of documentation of any comparable jewelry.
Further criticism was directed against the reconstruction, which was based on modern structural requirements. Pictures from before the destruction show the building, seen from the Römerberg, clearly tilted to the north or towards the market. This fact could be seen in particular in the stands of the framework. Although the building survived in this form for centuries and thus reduced all modern statics to absurdity, the reconstruction was “straightened out” in accordance with the compulsion of the regulations. On the other hand, the previous state was probably also the result of completely normal subsidence and deformation of the timber framework. B. show again today in the roof area of the reconstruction. In any case, the difference is only noticeable when compared with original photos or very old Frankfurters who still knew the building in its pre-war version.
The carving work on the building was carried out in an extremely high quality for a reconstruction. Nevertheless, even when compared directly with old photos, they do not achieve the impression or expression of the original work from the early 16th century. This falls e.g. B. when directly comparing the depiction of Adam and Eve on the corner post of the Little Angel, but also some grotesquely unusual figurines .
Just a few years after construction, significant structural damage became apparent, which made extensive renovation necessary. The beams on the first floor had to be supported by iron girders for several years because they had sunk. The cause of the damage was u. a. in the fact that the oak wood from Alsace used for the construction was stored too short and had warped while drying. This showed that the craft techniques of timber frame construction had meanwhile been lost by the companies involved. On the other hand, the reconstruction of a medieval timber framework was still uncharted territory in those years - comparable, later reconstruction projects such as the bone carving office in Hildesheim in 1986 or the Löwenapotheke in Aschaffenburg 1991–1995 could already learn from the mistakes made and ran smoothly.
From August to November 2010 the first major restoration of the building since its reconstruction was carried out for around half a million, in which the color scheme was also changed. There is currently a café with a souvenir shop on the ground floor, which, in good weather, offers seating on the Römerberg in front of it. Furthermore, as it was 500 years ago, money exchange is expressly possible here.
architecture
General
The six-storey building complex with ground and attic floors is architecturally a representative of the so-called transitional style that was common in Frankfurt before the destruction of the Second World War . The stone basement with its small windows and the transition from the bay window to an octagonal turret on the Great Angel are still influenced by the late Gothic style. The richness and type of decorations on the entire building, on the other hand, are already under the influence of the Renaissance . This supports the assumption that the new building, which took place in 1562, largely left out what was presumably the older stone ground floor, as was often the case with new buildings in old Frankfurt.
Floor plan of the Great Angel (around 1900)
Floor plan of the Little Angel (around 1900)
Exterior
Stone ground floor
In addition to the actual ground floor, the building's substructure, which is made of red Main sandstone , includes a mezzanine floor, known as a bob pavement , which is often found in old Frankfurt buildings . It is built on a plot of only 47 m² in total, with 25 m² being used by the Great Angel and 22 m² by the Little Angel. Diamond cuboids are carved into the capital and base of the pillar, which is filigree considering the height of the building, at the level of the ground floor, and a multi-segmented cornice runs above it .
The shape and size of the windows on both the ground floor and the mezzanine floor clearly show the late Gothic character of the building (cf. diagram of the structure). The lintel of the windows on the ground floor is made up of three butt-angled sides, which are also reproduced in the reconstruction in their different original preservation. The window of the Little Angel facing Rapunzelgässchen is in excellent condition. Before the Second World War, rows of houses with this window shape were still closed in various alleys in Frankfurt's old town, especially in Tuchgaden, a rarity even then. In the Middle Ages , they included fold-out shops called Gaden , which were prescribed by the guild regulations and through which craftsmen could sell their products directly from their own workshops.
On the mezzanine floor above the ground floor, the numerous small windows have a lintel shape called a curtain arch . It is formed from three fused, downward-facing halves of a circle, which intersect in their profile. The window walls, which extend over the full height of the window, have the same profile as the lintel over about 3/4 of their extent. Only the windows of the Little Angel facing Rapunzelgässchen have a straight, simple lintel. The parapet of the windows even recedes from the walls and makes it clear that they serve purely for the purpose of lighting the mezzanine.
The pillars on the ground floor continue beyond the cornice with a simple cassette embossing, even if they are set back in depth, and run out under the cantilevered half-timbered storey in elaborately crafted corbels . Already clearly marked by the Renaissance, they are curved by double subdivisions and animated by numerous horizontal incisions. About the central axis a Perlstab, it is the real, articulated by a multiple cornice fighter , on which finally rests the framework construction.
The corner corbels to both the Römerberg (Big Angel) and the Market (Little Angel) are much more massive, but also designed more individually. Like the pillars that precede them, both have a cassette-shaped embossing, but are curved in a pyramidal shape. Under the corner cantilever of the Great Angel crouches a tiny male figure with a cheerful expression on the head of which the warrior, designed as a simple slab and underlying the corner cantilever, is located (see picture).
On the other hand, the corner cantilever on the Little Angel is more likely to play a statically significant role, as it rises, interrupted only by a cornice, directly above the massive pillars of the ground floor. At the lower corner of the stone sits a winged angel's head, at the upper end a simple plate with an inscription separates it from the timber of the half-timbered building. Here, too, the number 1562 is carved into the stone - as mentioned at the beginning, the year the building was built (see picture).
The half-timbered building
General
The half-timbered construction houses three full floors and two floors within the steep gable roof . In addition to windows to the market, the top floors also have two dormers on the east and west side of the roof. Furthermore, on the west side facing the Römerberg, a bay window runs from the level of the first upper floor, which is closed by an octagonal observation tower with a pointed helmet attachment at the level of the first attic .
The first half-timbered storey, rising above the stone substructure, juts out strongly on all sides of the house. The second floor also juts out again, albeit not as strongly as the previous one. On the third floor, the cantilever on the original building was already 1.25 m. As a result, the area of the Great Angel was already 36 m², for the Little Angel 29 m², compared to the ground floor, 18 m² or almost 1/3 of the ground floor area was gained; even if no exact dates are known, the reconstruction seems to be relatively true to the original. From this floor the construction continues on all sides to below the steep gable roof with the same depth. The reconstruction here authentically reproduces the pre-war state with two overhangs, which was apparently based on guidelines issued by the city council in the 15th century, namely that no more than two overhangs should be built.
In its rather massive effect, the entire framework has not yet been freed by the Renaissance. Curved forms, for example on the gable, are to be used, as is the case e.g. B. was the case with the Golden Scales or the Salt House . The only large-scale decoration of the framework itself is a stylized pattern of St. Andrew's cross , which is repeated below the window, especially on the Great Angel. This underlines the late Gothic character of the building on the one hand, which on the other hand is countered by an enormous wealth of jewelry, which is already a clear expression of the subsequent style epoch. What this carving described below has in common as well as special is that it is representations that have not yet been influenced by folk art. Later Renaissance buildings show the beginning of Italian influences. Whether the representations once carried a deeper, allegorical meaning, or whether they were always purely for decoration, has been in the dark since their destruction and reconstruction at the latest.
Carved decorations on the building
The ornamentation begins with elaborate carvings on the corner post of the Little Angel that extend over two floors (see picture). On the first floor there is a classic depiction of Adam and Eve in Paradise with countless details: the tree of knowledge is depicted on the edge of the post, with the first two people to the left and right. The snake winds along the tree, which in the depiction is just reaching down to Eve one of the numerous fruits from the crown of the tree. To the left and right of the crown are two fantastic birds of the highest level of detail. Above the corner post of the second floor above, the Tree of Knowledge seems to continue striving towards the sky, as a trunk hung with plenty of foliage and fruit is carved here. Between the two depictions there is a grotesque pin figure , as is so often the case on the building, an antiquated, probably faun or satyr depiction . Here, so unique in the whole building, a second grimace peeks out between the legs of the figure in the foreground.
In 1878 the owner of the building at the time was bothered by the attention of numerous visitors to the old town for his house, which was due to the nakedness of the Adam and Eve depiction. At his instruction, a wire mesh was nailed directly to the beam and this was then almost completely plastered to cover the corresponding carvings of the Little Angel. When the decision was made in May 1900 to reverse this change, the nailed-down wire mesh was unprofessionally removed. The holes and cracks in the carving caused by the nails were also only repaired with putty in an amateur way, thus irreparably damaging one of the most historically significant decorations on the house. Today's replica no longer shows this flaw.
Following the view on the gable side of the house facing the market in a straight direction to the corner post of the Great Angel, one sees two further figural carvings (see pictures). They are already part of the Great Angel. Here, the actual studs are preceded by carvings worked into the stands of the half-timbered structure, the motifs of which appear more folksy than antiquated depictions: the eastern or left-hand side shows a grinning figure in swimming trunks, the western or right-hand side as seen from the market a crouching, winged demon. On the other hand, the figures above on the cleats adorned with typical Renaissance scrollwork are of a completely human nature. The figure on the left shows a soldier with a saber and a hooked box, the figure on the right a peasant woman with a chicken on her head, who appears funny because of her too large head. Both are dressed in the costume of the time.
The argument from the foregoing cleats Gerähms is decorated with carvings of an ancient triglyphs - Fries remember. Surrounded by the Renaissance scrollwork, you can see various grimaceous mask representations in the metopes ; they are repeated in keel arches over almost all the windows of the Great Angel, especially on the side facing the Römerberg. Only above the windows in the bay window at the height of the octagonal observation tower are the lintels that are most reminiscent of shamrocks.
The corner post facing the Römerberg on the Great Angel appears as a typical Renaissance depiction (see picture). Here, from bottom to top, various musical instruments can be seen on the left, and various weapons and armor parts can be seen on the right. Particularly noticeable here is the harp, which may also represent an eternity of the co-builder Hilarius Harpf, as he had a harp in his coat of arms. The representations are followed by two figures marching on a structure crowned by battlements, a bag balanced on their curved back. They appear as a chimera , as they share the same long-bearded head over the edge of the bar. In contrast to the Little Angel, the corner post on the second floor is not decorated with carvings. Instead, three figuratively perfect figurines underlie the overhang of the floor above. The middle one shows an angel with a scepter in his hand, the figure to the left appears to be a farmer, the one to the right a wild man . The wild man appears accordingly as long-bearded, covered with fur, armed with a club and rather good-natured-looking; the farmer, dressed in a period robe, carries a slaughtered duck in his right hand and a live goose in a net in front of his chest and shows himself with comparatively grim facial expressions.
Great Angel's Bay Window
The top of the carving art on the building is the lower part of the bay window on the Great Angel facing the Römerberg (see pictures). He sits with lion paws on the cornice that divides the stone ground floor. Continuing upwards, the lion paws develop into acanthus leaves each . In the further course of this, four profiled wooden struts become visible underneath, which end perfectly with the overhang of the beginning bay. At the upper end, the beams are designed as a kind of wooden corbel, which show carved masks in masterly detail, only one of which appears human. The other three heads are, apparently matching the lower end of the wooden struts, lion-like mythical creatures.
The wooden struts divide the western side of the bay window into three fields, whereby a detailed description of the countless ornaments and ornaments on the left and right fields would go beyond the scope of this article. The middle, largest field in terms of area shows an angel with a banner stepping out of a structure with a gate. Above his head is a plaque with a quote from the Bible, and at his feet are the coats of arms of Niklas and Anna Steinmetz (née von Höchst). The left shield, divided into two by a bar, shows two hammers in the upper field and one hammer in the lower; there are three clovers on the right shield.
On the narrow north side of the lower part of the bay window, facing the market, you can see an angel looking out of the arcades with a book in his hand, surrounded by further ornaments. Below his depiction is a plaque with a reference to another passage from the Bible. The opposite, equally narrow south side shows a similar picture, only here the angel is holding a scale in one hand and a sword in the other - a typical medieval allegory for divine justice.
- Oriel substructure on the Great Angel
North side
West side
South side
What is striking about the entire bay are the rusticated cuboids reminiscent of Dutch fortifications , which are repeated in the architectural parts of the carvings. It remains to be seen whether a conclusion about the origin of the unknown carving artist can be drawn from this. However, the construction of the building coincides with the beginning of the immigration of Dutch families to Frankfurt. Lübbecke, on the other hand, assumed that, in view of the constraints of the Frankfurt guild system of the time, it was definitely Frankfurt craftsmen who would never have allowed a foreign or immigrant professional company to participate in such a large order.
The wealth of ornamentation of the bay window continues in the half-timbered floor above, when all three existing stands of the framework are decorated in a similarly rich manner as the corner beam to the Römerberg. Again typical ornaments and scrollwork can be seen, at the upper end the lion-like masks appear to be repeated from the head ends of the bay substructure. The following three lugs with figural carvings are again typical satyr representations as they appear everywhere on the building and have already been described (see picture).
Interior
Since nothing is known about the interior of the reconstruction at the present time, the condition of the building before it was destroyed in 1944 is largely reproduced here. Since the outward appearance of the reconstruction was based on the condition after the renovation in 1905, the following description should largely also be applicable to the interior of the building as it is today.
The interior structure was kept very simple. After the parts of the building, which were spatially separated from each other, were united in 1905, there was now a large front room, the staircase, a small rear room and a small front room on each floor. The latter was created through the elimination of the staircase in the Großer Engel, as it was removed during the renovation of the building in 1905 as part of the merging of the building parts in favor of the stairwell in the Kleiner Engel (see pictures of the floor plans that still show the old state). The basement was accessible below the stairs on the first floor.
The basement of the building was designed as a barrel vault and covered a larger area than the house itself when it continued about three meters underground towards the Römerberg. From here it used to be reached through an entrance with stone stairs next to the front door, today there is obviously only the second entrance, which is in the hallway under the stairs. The cellar of the Little Angel, identical in construction to that of the Great Angel, has always only been accessible through a staircase inside. Obviously the basement rooms were also merged by 1905 at the latest, since then there has only been one staircase inside and thus only one way to enter it. The reconstruction should reproduce this condition relatively true to the original, provided the basement is still preserved.
Furthermore, only a few original interior fittings had survived until the war was destroyed, which most likely was not included in the reconstruction for cost reasons. This included a stucco ceiling in the large front room of the second floor (see pictures), which showed angels' heads framed by geometric ornaments. A door in the late Gothic style in the attic, which is not documented in pictures, was also from the early 16th century.
Inscriptions
A special feature of both the Little Angel and the Big Angel are the numerous inscriptions on the building, most of which are direct quotations from the Bible or references to them. They are reproduced in their actual spelling below, where the ancient spelling of the U as V dominates. Furthermore, text breaks by paragraphs or "kinking" on the edges of entablature or cornice are indicated here by a vertical line.
One of the few Middle High German inscriptions surrounds the fighter plate on the corbel of the Little Angel on three of four sides and reads:
- DIS HAVS SDEDEDN GOTES | HAND ZVM KLEIN ENGEL IS | T IT GENANT
A very similar inscription can be found on a banner in the hand of the angel, which can be seen on the west side of the bay window at the Great Angel. Since the banner is made three-dimensional and winds several times in the representation, it cannot be read completely. Based on what is to be read, the saying is probably what would only make sense at this point:
- DIS HAVS SDEDEDN GOTES HAND ZVM GREAT ANGEL IT IS GENANT
All other inscriptions on the house are quotations from the Bible or references to them in Latin. This begins with an inscription plaque above the head of the aforementioned angel on the bay substructure. It reproduces part of the first verse of Psalm 128 :
- BEATI OES | OVI TIMENT | DNM PSAL 1 2 2
On closer inspection one can see that the woodcarver made a mistake here when the passage mentioned (“Good for him who fears the LORD”) is found in Psalm 128 and not in Psalm 122. The reconstruction reproduces the error authentically.
On the north side of the bay window there is another plaque below another angel, which only contains the following reference to a passage from the Bible:
- APOCALIP | CAPIT XIIII
Presumably this is a reference to chapter 14 of Revelation , where in verses 6 and 7 a reference is again made to an angel and thus to the house name:
- And I saw another angel flying through the middle of heaven, who had an everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on earth, to all nations and tribes and tongues and peoples.
- And he said with a loud voice, Fear God, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment has come! And pray to him who made heaven and earth and sea and springs of water!
The longest Bible verse runs along the entire frame between the ground floor and first floor of the Great Angel. It begins on the side of the Great Angel facing the market and ends on the side facing the Römerberg shortly before the point where the building meets the neighboring Goldener Greiff . Here a total of four verses from the sixth chapter of the Proverbs of Solomon are recited:
- SEX SVNT QVAE ODIT DOMINVS ET SEPTIMVM DETESTATVR ANIMAE EIVS
- OCVLOS SVBLIMES LINGVAM MENDACEM MANVS EFFVNDENTES INNOXIVM SANGVINEM
- COR MACHINANS COGITATIONES PESSIMAS PEDES VELOCES AD CVRRENDUM IN MALVM
- PROFERENTEM MENDACIA TESTEM FALLACEM ET EVM QVI SEMINATE INTER FRATRES DISCORDIAS
According to Luther's translation, this means :
- The LORD hates these six things; he detests these seven
- proud eyes, fake tongue, hands that shed innocent blood
- a heart that forges wicked schemes, feet that are quick to do harm
- a false witness who speaks cheekily and who causes quarrels between brothers
interpretation
In view of the numerous biblical quotations and figurative representations from both heaven and hell, the question arises as to the intention of the artist and the client who commissioned him. In the literature, various approaches to the interpretation of the design of the building are shown, but due to the lack of information that has been handed down, they are to be regarded as pure theory.
Detached from the family background of the builders, it would be quite possible that the building should simply be a comparison of both fundamental biblical forces. On the other hand, an old house name that was already passed on often stimulated the imagination of the artists, as has been proven in many former architectural monuments in Frankfurt's old town. In addition, the style of the decorative work, which is still very much in the style of classical folk art and thus also in the popular belief of the time. Thus the evidence tends to support the thesis that all biblical references are simply the characteristics of a time characterized by strict faith and that the numerous demonic figures, following rather “pagan” folk beliefs, should serve to ward off evil spirits from the house.
Lübbecke took a different approach and interpreted the biblical sayings as being applied by the widow Burckhardt, who was responsible for the construction, to the Catholic part of the family of her deceased husband who had converted to Protestantism. And in fact, the quote from the Proverbs of Solomon in particular seems to fit almost perfectly on the house, if one assumes that there are internal family disputes as a result of the divided religious relationships. In view of the time, this should be out of the question, as society in the early 16th century was still strongly ecclesiastical. As a further indication, Lübbecke also interprets the reference to chapter 14 of the Revelation, which was considered the fighting chapter of the Lutherans against Rome .
literature
- Architects & Engineers Association (Ed.): Frankfurt am Main and its buildings . [Self-published], Frankfurt am Main 1886, p. 55 ( archive.org ).
- Johann Georg Battonn : Local description of the city of Frankfurt am Main - Volume III. Association for history and antiquity of Frankfurt am Main , Frankfurt am Main 1864, ( digitized )
- Johann Georg Battonn: Local description of the city of Frankfurt am Main - Volume IV. Association for history and antiquity in Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main 1866. ( digitized version )
- Hartwig Beseler , Niels Gutschow: War fates of German architecture. Loss - damage - reconstruction. Documentation for the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. Volume II: South. Panorama Verlag, Wiesbaden 2000, ISBN 3-926642-22-X , p. 830.
- Wilfried Ehrlich: The difficult-to-interpret truth about the "Haus zum Engel". In: Commerzbank AG (ed.): The house to the angel. Documentation published by Commerzbank AG on the occasion of the opening of the branch on Römerberg. Commerzbank, Frankfurt am Main 1985.
- Manfred Gerner : Half-timbered in Frankfurt am Main. Waldemar Kramer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1979, ISBN 3-7829-0217-3 , pp. 22-24.
- Rudolf Jung , Julius Hülsen: The architectural monuments in Frankfurt am Main . Third volume. Private buildings. Heinrich Keller, Frankfurt am Main 1914, p. 97-109 ( digitized version [PDF]).
- Fried Lübbecke , Paul Wolff : Alt-Frankfurt. New episode. Englert & Schlosser publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1924.
- Hannah Reeck, Fried Lübbecke: The house to the angel in Frankfurt am Main. Seven Bars Publishing and Printing Company, Berlin 1929.
- Walter Sage: The community center in Frankfurt a. M. until the end of the Thirty Years War. Wasmuth, Tübingen 1959 ( Das Deutsche Bürgerhaus 2).
- Patricia Tratnik: The »Haus zum Engel« and the beginnings of the banking industry in Frankfurt am Main. In: Commerzbank AG (ed.): The house to the angel. Documentation published by Commerzbank AG on the occasion of the opening of the branch on Römerberg. Commerzbank, Frankfurt am Main 1985.
swell
- ↑ Battonn 1866, p. 136; Quote: "OU 1342. H. uf dem berge by dem engil" .
- ↑ a b Tratnik 1985, p. 11.
- ↑ Battonn 1864, p. 180.
- ↑ Battonn 1866, p. 137.
- ↑ a b c d e f The house to the angel in Frankfurt am Main. Seven rods, Berlin 1929
- ↑ Old Frankfurt, New Series. Verlag Englert & Schlosser, Frankfurt am Main 1924, p. 39
- ↑ The Fate of War German Architecture - Loss, Damage, Reconstruction - Volume 2, South. Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1988, p. 830
- ↑ Frankfurt in the firestorm. Verlag Frankfurter Bücher, Frankfurt am Main 1965, pp. 168–171
- ^ Half-timbered houses in Frankfurt am Main. Kramer Verlag, Frankfurt 1979, pp. 22-24
- ↑ a b c d The architectural monuments of Frankfurt am Main - Volume 3, private buildings. Self-published / Völcker, Frankfurt am Main 1914, pp. 97–109
Web links
- The big and little angel. altfrankfurt.com
- Big and Little Angel . In: Virtual old town model Frankfurt am Main
Coordinates: 50 ° 6 ′ 38 " N , 8 ° 40 ′ 57.5" E
