Helmstedt Cross

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Crucifix of the Werden- / Helmstedt cross (copy)

The Helmstedter Kreuz , more likely to be called the Werden Cross , is an important late work of Ottonian art. The name Helmstedter Cross received the so called crucifix because it made Helmstedt by Will (a district of today food was brought). The cross , of which only the figure of the crucified Christ is medieval, is located under inventory number L 5 in the treasury of the former monastery church of Werden Abbey , the provost church of St. Ludgerus . A copy of the cross hangs in the church's Ludgeriden crypt.

history

The origin of the crucifix is ​​in the dark. It was probably cast in Werden, probably by a very experienced caster; perhaps the so-called Ludgerus chalice was intended for the sister abbey in Helmstedt. Around 1060 , extensive construction work was carried out in the St. Ludgeri monastery , which formed a double monastery with Werden , on which craftsmen sent from Werden were active, such as the almost identical acanthus capital in the Johannes chapel in Helmstedt, the Ludgerid crypt in the Werden abbey and in Werden Lucius Church very strongly suggest. It is therefore assumed that the Helmstedter Kreuz was created in this context for the refurbishment of the monastery church, but this has not been proven. Scientific investigations prior to the restoration showed that the composition of the material of the crucifix and the chalice are identical, which means that the casting must take place on the same day. The cross was first mentioned in 1547. In that year the monastery of St. Ludgeri was threatened by Protestant iconoclasts . Werdener Abbot Hermann von Holten , who in personal union was abbot of Helmstedt, brought the cross and the chalice of the Holy Liudger of Helmstedt to becoming safe. Hermann von Holten was accompanied on this trip by Werdener Cellerar , the later abbot and historian Heinrich Duden , who reported about it in his annals of Werden Abbey. The cross was venerated in Helmstedt as a relic of Charlemagne, who was venerated as a saint, and was carried in front of him as a standard during the Saxon Wars . Heinrich Duden states that in Helmstedt the German words were carved in stone above the cross:

"Dit Cruitz has Carolus in his hand,
As he kekierden dat Saxenland."

- Heinrich Duden : Historia regalis et insignis monasterii et Abbatiae Werthinensis

It is not known whether the transport of the cross to Werden was planned for good or only as a temporary evacuation. In Werden, the cross, which in Helmstedt was presumably originally attached as a triumphal cross above or on the cross altar, was attached to the high altar above the Gothic altar panels by Jan Joest and the shrine of Saint Liudger. Around 1700, the Werden abbey church was given a baroque interior in which the crucifix did not fit. It was removed from the church and kept in the sacristy . After the abbey of Werden was abolished by the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1802, the crucifix became the property of the parish of St. Ludgerus in Werden. The cross has been the focus of the exhibition since 1979, when a treasury was set up at the former Werden abbey church.

As one of the most striking sculptures of its era, the Werden- / Helmstedter Cross has been seen several times outside of Werdingen, for example in the exhibitions Forgotten Times - Middle Ages in the Ruhr Area 1990 and The Millennium of Monks 1999 in the Ruhrland Museum in Essen , 1992 in The Empire of the Salians 1024– 1125 in the Historisches Museum Speyer and most recently in 2006 in the Canossa exhibition . Shaking the world. History, art and culture at the rise of the Romanesque in the Diocesan Museum Paderborn .

On February 11, 2008, the Werden- / Helmstedter Kreuz was evacuated due to a fire in the east wing of the Werden abbey building, which houses the treasury. In the event of a fall during the decrease, the middle finger of the right hand broke off and the right shoulder was dented. After intensive metallurgical investigations in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, the restoration was carried out in the restoration workshop of the Cathedral Museum in Hildesheim at the end of 2016 . Until the end of May 2017 it was on display in the exhibition "Triumph and Death - Early Crucifixes". Most recently, the crucifix was on view, together with many other high-ranking testimonies of Ottonian and Salic art from European museums, in the Kunstmuseum Basel (exhibition "Gold & Glory - Gifts for Eternity" from October 11, 2019 to January 19, 2020). The results of the research and the restoration are reported in a small exhibition in the treasury itself.

description

Detail of the loincloth

The crucifix is ​​105.5 cm high from head to feet, the wingspan of the arms is 96 cm. It is made of copper and its gilding has been preserved under a layer of corrosion to this day. The body was cast and assembled in five individual parts. These parts are the individually cast arms and legs as well as the torso and head including the loincloth. The individual parts are connected with tenons . The tenon joints of the legs are hidden under the edge of the loincloth and are connected to the loincloth by three rivets with threads, which allow easy dismantling of the legs. The rivet heads are decorated according to the pattern where they lie in the hem of the loincloth, which was already laid out in the casting. In the case of the arms, the connection to the body is easier, a pin engages in a corresponding opening in the shoulder without any further securing. Between the two arms there was a mortise with a wooden wedge as a stabilizing cross connection, so that the mortise connection between arms and shoulders seems almost coherent (the division of the wax model at this point has caused a small loss); the diameter of the pegs is smaller than the receptacles in the shoulders. The drawing of the musculature, which is clearly developed on the chest of the body, is not recorded on the arms. The body, arms and legs are metallurgically identical according to the investigations from 2016 and confirm the analysis from 1941. This material analysis showed that it is a high-copper alloy (not bronze) and that all parts have a largely identical chemical composition:

copper lead tin zinc iron gold
head 94.4 2.1 0.9 1.3 0.4 0.05%
legs 94.5 2.1 1.6 0.7 0.1 0.1%
poor 95.0 2.1 1.6 0.6 0.1 0.3%

Christ is depicted as a dying man who has overcome death, with a bulging stomach, head bowed slightly forwards and to the right, and eyes closed. The shins are burr-like and accentuated, the knees emphasized by double grooves. When viewed from the side, the body appears flat. The legs stand next to each other on the suppedaneum , so the crucifix belongs to the four-point phase of Christian iconography (in the three-point phase, the legs lie one above the other and are shown pierced with a nail). The perizonium (loincloth) is tied at the side with a knot and falls into two corners and a flap in the middle. The loincloth forms two flat folds of the bag that rest on the thighs. On the comparatively small head, the pretzel-like ears are apparently set too high. The original way of looking at the crucifix from below, however, makes this "mistake" disappear (visitors to the treasury can try this out for themselves). A narrow cheekbone starts at the top of the ears. At the back of the head there is a tongue-shaped recess that is flanked by two holes. The shapes of the sculpture are clearly defined: the crucifix hangs strictly frontal and almost completely related to the vertical axis of the cross on the cross, only the slight inclination of the head and the slightly upward-pointing arms break the rigidity.

The original crucifix is ​​currently displayed lying down in a showcase. On the wall, on which the original hung until 2008, is currently a copy from around 1927 made of wood (painted bronzed), which is mounted on an unadorned wooden cross attached to the wall. The simple wooden cross on which the crucifix was attached until 2008 was destroyed in the fall. In the last century, this replaced an older wooden cross with curly and tetrapassically cut arms, which was also not original. The appearance of the original cross is unknown. A certain proximity to the appearance of the Minden Cross is assumed.

Art-historical classification

The picture of the crucifixion fol. 15v, Freiburg University Library Cod. 360a

Rademacher interprets the tongue-shaped indentation and the holes on the back of the head as attachment for a cross nimbus , which was lost at an unknown point in time. He reconstructed the original arms on the basis of parallels between the crucifix and depictions of the crucifixion in book illumination, the so-called drawing phase of the Cologne School of Illumination, especially the crucifix in a gospel book that is kept in the Freiburg University Library (Cod. 360a), stretched upwards and at an angle angled downwards in the wrist, although his own investigations suggested that the arms are also original (see above). In contrast, in his reconstruction, Wundram assumed almost horizontal arms, similar to the current shape, with the Minden cross as a guide. As recent metallurgical investigations (2016) have shown, all cast elements were cast from exactly one and the same material on the same day.

The Werden- / Helmstedter Cross has like most Ottonian crucifixes influences of Cologne Gerokreuzes on, particularly in the training of the abdominal and chest and in the head position, but also the loincloth, which still corresponds to the basic shape of Gerokreuzes, but after Seeks symmetry. There is a closer relationship to the crucifixes on the younger Mathildenkreuz of the Essen Cathedral Treasury and on the Cologne Hermann Ida Cross , both of which were cast in Werden. There are also clear parallels to reliefs in the treasury of Werden Abbey, which come from the abbey church. These reliefs are possibly a grave structure, according to another interpretation, the border of a fenestrella (window), which allowed a view from the church interior of the sarcophagus of St. Liudger in the crypt. The same layered folds as on the perizonium and the same border-like decorations that appear to have been applied can be found on the garments of these reliefs. The parallels to the crucifix from the Cologne manuscript Cod. 360a of the Freiburg University Library are particularly close. This representation shows the same particularly slim proportions of the limbs. The unmoved straight posture of the body is also identical. There are also similarities in the individual forms. Both in the illumination and on the Helmstedt crucifix, the chest muscles are delimited by strong lines. Particularly characteristic is an arched line, which rarely occurs in cross representations, which indicates the end of the sternum and which in the Helmstedt crucifix is ​​drawn together to form a flat breast shield. Due to the dating of the sacramentary as well as the reliefs in Werden, the Helmstedt cross is dated to around 1060.

The Werde / Helmstedter Cross was thus created in the Salian era . The incipient solidification of the body, which in Ottonian sculpture seemed to move more organically, marks the Werden- / Helmstedt cross as a transition piece to Romanesque sculpture .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andrea Wegener, Daniela Krupp, Katharina Hülscher (eds.): Golden times? - The restoration of the Werden crucifix . Publisher adson fecit Dr. Gregor Meder Essen, Essen 2019, ISBN 978-3-9816594-8-1 , p. 61
  2. ↑ Quoted from: Rademacher, p. 146.
  3. ↑ Jan Gerchow (ed.): The millennium of the monks. KlosterWelt Werden, 799–1803 . Wienand, Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-87909-643-0 , cat.no.50.
  4. ↑ Rademacher p. 145.
  5. ↑ Rademacher, p. 146.
  6. ↑ Wesenberg, p. 59.

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