Gustorfer choir screens

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The Gustorfer Choir Barriers are a central work of Romanesque Cologne sculpture from the middle of the 12th century and at the same time one of the most extensive plastic picture cycles in Germany for that time.

As Gustorfer plutei three Romanesque relief panels are called, probably in 1150 in Cologne have emerged and the old Gustorfer church as choir screens were used. A lintel of the old Gustorfer Church refers to the year 1130, but the church building is not mentioned for the first time until 1275. It was the parish church of the Counts of Hochstaden , who were also bailiffs of the Knechtsteden monastery founded around 1130 and who probably commissioned the three panels. An earlier assumption that the choir screen was first in the Knechtsteden monastery and from there reached Gustorf at the beginning of the 19th century is now strongly disputed and doubted.

The three reliefs and the main altar

The three reliefs formed a barrier system around the main altar and were in a complex interrelationship with it. The altar is the place in the church where the sacrifice of Christ is liturgically repeated, whereas the choir screens refer to three other important episodes in the life of Christ: Adoration of the Magi, the Appearance of the Lord in memory of the Incarnation (plate presumably to the left of the altar ), then on the right the angel at the empty tomb, in the center Christ is enthroned on his return to the Last Judgment, accompanied by the apostles.

They show:

  1. Plate: Left: Adoration of the Magi, Middle: Mary enthroned, right hand raised in blessing, with the left hand holding the Child Jesus, Right: Annunciation to the Shepherds.
  2. Plate: Christ seated on the throne, right hand raised in blessing and holding a book on his left knee, assisted by three apostles who are dressed in a tunic and toga.
  3. Plate: The angel appears to the three women at the empty tomb on Easter morning and announces Jesus' resurrection.

Further history of the Gustorfer choir screen

When the choir was rebuilt or rebuilt, the reliefs were placed on the walls of the choir, then after August Rincklake rebuilt the Gustorfer Church in 1872-74 , they were embedded in the walls of the tower hall until 1939, from where they moved to the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in 1939 arrived in Bonn . Today there are replicas in the baptistery of the Gustorfer Church.

literature

  • Werner Schäfke : Sacred art in Grevenbroich churches. On the occasion of the exhibition of the city of Grevenbroich from April 27 to May 17, 1981 in the Hartmann house at the old castle. Neuss 1981, pp. 8-10.
  • Harrie de Zwart: Catholic parish church of St. Maria Himmelfahrt. Grevenbroich-Gustorf. Regensburg 2002 (Schnell, Kunstführer 2514), pp. 12-14.

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