Holy Spirit Church (Landshut)
In the background the Holy Spirit Church as it was built in 1809; note the tower's windows, which were not yet bricked up at the time
The Heilig-Geist-Kirche (also Spitalkirche Heilig Geist ) in the old town of Landshut is a subsidiary church of the Catholic parish of St. Martin. It was built between 1407 and 1461 according to the plans of Hans von Burghausen . Today it is used as a place for exhibitions.
location
The Heilig-Geist-Kirche is located in the extension of the Landshut pedestrian zone, only a few meters from the Isar . It thus forms the architectural end of Landshut's old town to the north. Opposite it is the Heilig-Geist-Spital , founded in 1208 , which is historically closely related to the church.
history
The foundation stone was laid in 1407 where a Romanesque church previously stood. The plans for the church came from Hans von Burghausen , under whose direction the Martinskirche in Landshut was built at the same time . After his death in 1432 - the choir and the two eastern bays of the nave had been completed so far - Hans Stethaimer took over the construction work. In 1444 the roof structure was put in place and the high west gable was bricked up, in 1446 the church roof was covered. In 1461 the work could be completed with the retraction of the vault . This is testified by the vault stone in the central nave. The arched gallery in the western yoke of the central nave was built in the 16th century.
Many parts of the church's baroque furnishings were replaced by neo-Gothic elements towards the end of the 19th century , but these were removed again in 1960/1961 with a few exceptions. The last altar in the church, which was erected after 1961, was by the sculptor Fritz Koenig, who lived in Ganslberg near Landshut . Since it has been used as an exhibition space since 1998, much of the furnishings have been removed. In the last days of World War II, the church was badly damaged when retreating troops blew up the nearby Heilig-Geist-Brücke over the Isar. Since the renovation, which was completed in 1998, only a few traces of this damage can be seen.
description
Architecture and equipment
The Heilig-Geist-Kirche is a three-aisled, late Gothic hall church with a north tower and an adjoining Katharinenkapelle as well as a two-story sacristy on the opposite south side. The three equal naves of six yokes with a star-shaped vault provided. Based on the choir pillar in the central axis, the side aisles are continued in the indicated ambulatory and thus formally enclose the central nave with the wedge-shaped closed inner choir . Due to this architectural design and the uniform height of the aisles, the interior of the church appears particularly spacious. The portal vestibule built on the west side is also unusual and served as a model for many other churches. The two-storey sacristy on the south side of the church is attached to the outside as well as the north tower and the adjoining St. Catherine's Chapel. With these additions, the hall church is additionally emphasized in its design. The church has three portals, the west portal with the vestibule being the most richly structured, while the north and south portals have simpler forms. The west portal is attributed to Hans Stethaimer and his colleagues and has ornamental stucco . The tympanum shows a Last Judgment scene, which also contains an image of the womb in the center above the central pillar of the portal . Above the pointed arch is the year 1462, which probably indicates the year of its creation.
The sacristy with a vaulted console interpreted as a self-portrait of Hans von Burghausen adjoins the sixth yoke of the south aisle, the tower with a rectangular floor plan is exactly opposite the north aisle. The Katharinenkapelle, which is built directly onto the tower, is therefore connected to the fifth yoke from behind. It is also equipped with an elaborate eight-pointed star vault and has windows with artistic glass paintings from 1511 - designed by the painter Sigmund Gleismüller and made by his professional colleague Hans Wertinger . The chapel also contains a wall fresco of the Man of Sorrows , surrounded by two angels and various tools of suffering .
Originally it was planned that the tower should be even higher than that of the Martinskirche. However, this was not implemented for cost reasons, as can be seen from the “short” tower. Other voices, however, argue that the tower holds back elegantly on the one hand because of the Martinskirche, on the other hand because it wants to direct the view of the entire building, namely from the "entrance side" of the old town; hence the tower's unusual north position.
In the ambulatory are late Gothic figures of the apostles from around 1470 to 1480. The classical Figurentabernakel to the wall responds with Christ the Savior , Mater Dolorosa and apostles created Christian Jorhan the Elder around 1790. From the sculptor comes and the Rococo - Crucifix in the sacristy, the was made around 1760.
The church contains various funerary monuments, some of which deserve special attention:
- the heraldic tombstone of Hanns Altheimer († 1414),
- the epitaph of the hospital master Barbara Elsendorfer († 1460), a late work by the architect and stonemason Hans Stethaimer,
- the figural tombstone of the ducal council and knight Ulrich von Breitenstein († 1487),
- the red marble epitaph of the hospital master Oswald Wolfauer († around 1510), an early work by the Landshut carver Stephan Rottaler
Appreciation
Due to its balanced proportions, the Heilig-Geist-Kirche can be regarded as the most successful and thus as the masterpiece of Hans von Burghausen. Along with the Martinskirche and the Jodokskirche, it is one of the outstanding examples of Landshut's brick Gothic .
Role model function
The Heilig-Geist-Kirche occupies an important place in the southern German church architecture of the late Gothic, which gave it a certain role model function. Important basic architectural concepts of the Landshut church were adopted during the Assumption of Mary in Pischelsdorf am Engelbach , St. Johannes in Dingolfing and St. Jakob in Schrobenhausen . The Hospital Church of the Holy Spirit in Merano , which also has a choir center pillar, could have been modeled on the Holy Spirit Church. The elaborate sacristy vault is reminiscent of that of the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague and creates a connection to the Parlerschule .
Non-sacred use of the church
After extensive renovation work, especially on the foundation , which was completed in 1998, the church is now part of the museums of the city of Landshut and is used as an exhibition space for changing themes of sacred and secular art. The church is not profaned , but a Catholic service currently only takes place once a year, namely during the patronage on Whit Monday.
The church was already used for non-sacred purposes during the period of secularization in Bavaria : in 1809 the church was used as an ammunition dump for the military, and in 1811 it lost its status as a separate parish. A few years later, the use as a city theater was discussed, but this was ultimately not implemented. In 1816 the church was supposed to be completely demolished, but the demolition did not take place due to protests by the citizens of Landshut.
Exhibitions
The following exhibitions were shown in the Heilig-Geist-Kirche:
- Karl Reidel - retrospective 1948–2002 (2002/2003)
- With calculation and passion - staging of the sacred in Bavarian baroque painting (2003/2004)
- To Leinberger - students and contemporaries (October 21, 2006 to March 11, 2007)
- New museums in Bavaria since 2000 - 17 new museum and exhibition buildings in Bavaria since 2000 - models, photographs, floor plans (June 15 to November 11, 2007)
- seligenthal.de - living differently since 1232 (April 12th to September 14th, 2008)
- The Art of the Long Sword - Worlds of Knights in the Late Middle Ages (June 26 to September 20, 2009)
- 90+ - Landshut since 1918 - Exhibition on the city's history (2010/2011)
- The city as a stage for pictures - Landshut Sculpture City (June 16 to October 14, 2012)
- Landshut Wedding 1475 (June 27, 2013 to October 6, 2013)
- Götterdämmerung - King Ludwig II (November 8, 2013 to February 16, 2014)
- The Golden Century of the Rich Dukes (November 13, 2014 to March 1, 2015)
- Sigrid Barrett - The sculptural work and works on paper 1979-2012 (July 31, 2015 to January 6, 2016)
In addition, the church is part of the Landshut Nativity Trail during Advent and Christmas .
literature
- Hans Bleibrunner: Landshut. The old Bavarian royal seat: a guide to its sights. Landshut: Landshut Tourist Association 1988
- Volker Liedke: City of Landshut. Ensembles - architectural monuments - archaeological site monuments. Munich, Zurich 1988
- Georg Spitzlberger : Heiliggeistkirche Landshut, Munich, Zurich 1991
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Volker Liedke: Monuments in Bavaria - City of Landshut, p. 132ff. Schnell & Steiner, Munich 1988. ISBN 3-7954-1002-9 .
- ↑ a b c RegioWiki for Lower Bavaria & Altötting: Heilig-Geist-Kirche (Landshut) . Online at regiowiki.pnp.de. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
Coordinates: 48 ° 32 '19 " N , 12 ° 9' 9.4" E