Heribert Tower

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The Heribert Tower in Koblenz-Ehrenbreitstein
Heribert Tower, aerial photo (2016)

The Heribert Tower (also Heribert Tower in older research literature ) is a former defensive tower in Koblenz . The tower built in the 16th century with a neo-Gothic half - timbered tower stands in the Ehrenbreitstein district and was incorporated into the city ​​fortifications there after 1671 . Since 1848 it has served the Catholic parish of Heilig Kreuz as a clock and bell tower.

history

In the 13th century the Holy was in Ehrenbreitstein Heribert consecrated chapel . In their immediate vicinity, a beguinage was built towards the end of the 13th century , which later became a convent of Franciscan Sisters of the Third Order , which in 1460 was converted into an Augustinian monastery under the supervision of the Augustinian Canons' Abbey in Niederwerth . The Archbishop of Trier and Elector Johann II of Baden moved the nuns to Schoenstatt (Vallendar) in 1487 and had a new monastery built in Ehrenbreitstein, which was inhabited by Augustinian hermits until 1572 .

After the Augustinian monastery was dissolved in 1572, an electoral cellar was set up in its buildings , and in order to protect it, Elector Johann VII von Schönenberg had the Heribert Tower built around 1588. The tower got its name from the patronage of the nearby old Heribert chapel, which stood on the site of today's Holy Cross Church. The chapel was destroyed by French troops in May 1632 during the Thirty Years' War, along with most of the other buildings, only the Heribert Tower largely escaped destruction. After 1671 the Heribert Tower was included in the Ehrenbreitstein city fortifications , which Elector Karl Kaspar von der Leyen had expanded as a defensive measure against the troops of Louis XIV of France .

In 1848 the tower had lost its strategic importance and was converted into the bell tower of the neighboring Holy Cross Church, built on the site of the former Heribert chapel in 1707, whose own bell cage had proven to be too weak. Here, the old timber-framed tower was demolished in the 16th century by a larger, on cleats replaced far cantilevered truss structure in neo-Gothic style, whose design Johann Claudius of Lassaulx can be assigned.

In 1890 the city of Ehrenbreitstein handed over the Heribert Tower to the parish of Heilig Kreuz. While the neighboring Holy Cross Church was destroyed in an air raid on Koblenz in 1944 and rebuilt between 1962 and 1964, the Heribert Tower survived the First and Second World Wars without major damage. From 1985 the half-timbered top of the tower and the bell cage were extensively renovated, and in 1992 the interior of the tower was also renovated.

Construction and equipment

Outside

The stone round tower, which today stands isolated halfway up the mountain , was integrated into an extensive system of walls, today only recognizable in building remains, from which it only protruded with the polygonal neo-Gothic half-timbered top. Inside, without any further expansion, it was designed as a pure stair tower that offered the shortest route from the former monastery buildings down to the Ehrenbreitstein valley. For this purpose, a door at the base of the tower leads to the outside, from where a stone staircase led to today's Helfensteinstrasse. Remnants of this staircase could still be seen in the garden of the property at Helfensteinstrasse 73 in 1992.

The originally octagonal half-timbered structure at the top of the tower consisted of unadorned corner posts with short chest and head ties and decorated head ties between them. Some of the stands had keyhole loopholes for handguns ; smaller windows were probably added later.

Bells

After the conversion to the bell tower of the Holy Cross Church, three bells from the Aachen bell foundry Gaulard were installed in the Heribert Tower in 1848 ; According to a notice board on the tower, two were confiscated after the First World War in 1919. In 1927, the Otto bell foundry in Hemelingen delivered five bells to Ehrenbreitstein. With three of these bells, the community replaced the bell of the tower in Gauland, namely with the bell of Mary, the bell of Christ the king and the bell of Sebastianus. The Christ the King and Sebastianus bells were melted down for armament purposes during World War II.

Since 1952, the ringing of the tower has again consisted of three bells, namely the Marienglocke from 1927, the newly cast second Christ the King bell from the Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock bell foundry from Gescher and the second Sebastianus bell made by the same foundry. They are provided with the following sayings:

  • Marienglocke: The angel of the Lord brought the message to Mary. Rejoice you queen of heaven. Alleluia.
  • Christ the King Bell: I protect the living, I accompany the dead.
  • Sebastianus bell : I cry for the people who lost their lives in the fight for the fatherland - Saint Sebastianus strong man pray for us.

Tower clock

A special feature of the Heribert tower is the tower clock from 1891, which was commissioned by the city of Ehrenbreitstein in 1890 from the Bockenem tower clock factory JF Weule before the tower was handed over to the parish . It does not have a dial , but taps the time every quarter of an hour by means of a bell. The movement was extensively restored in 1992 and has been in operation again since then.

Monument protection

The Heribert Tower is a protected cultural monument according to the Monument Protection Act (DSchG) and entered in the list of monuments of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . It is located in Koblenz-Ehrenbreitstein in the monument zone Tal Ehrenbreitstein .

The Heribert Tower has been part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002 .

literature

  • Udo Liessem: The Heribert Tower. In: Dähler Blättchen , issue 30, December 1992 (selected chapters from the history of Ehrenbreitstein), pp. 5–8. (with further evidence and references)
  • Ulrike Weber (edit.): Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany. Volume 3.3: City of Koblenz. Districts. Werner, Worms 2013, ISBN 978-3-88462-345-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johann Jakob Wagner: The former monastery of the Augustinian hermits in Ehrenbreitstein and its relationships with Martin Luther. Rheinische Verlagsgesellschaft, Koblenz 1931, here p. 141 ff .; Fritz Michel: The art monuments of the city of Koblenz. The mundane monuments and the suburbs. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1954 (Die Kunstdenkmäler von Rheinland-Pfalz, Volume 1), here p. 441.
  2. ^ Building description based on Udo Liessem: The Heribert tower. In: Dähler Blättchen , issue 30, December 1992 (selected chapters from the history of Ehrenbreitstein), here p. 6 f. (with further references to sources, ibid. p. 8.)
  3. ^ Fritz Michel : The art monuments of the city of Koblenz. The mundane monuments and the suburbs. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1954 (Die Kunstdenkmäler von Rheinland-Pfalz, Volume 1), here p. 434.
  4. ^ Gerhard Reinhold: Otto bells. Family and company history of the Otto bell foundry dynasty . Self-published, Essen 2019, ISBN 978-3-00-063109-2 , p. 588, in particular pages 352, 529 .
  5. ↑ Gerhard Reinhold: Church bells - Christian world cultural heritage, illustrated using the example of the bell founder Otto, Hemelingen / Bremen . Nijmegen / NL 2019, p. 556, in particular pp. 315, 491 , urn : nbn: nl: ui: 22-2066 / 204770 (dissertation at Radboud University Nijmegen).
  6. ↑ General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Informational directory of cultural monuments - district-free city of Koblenz (PDF; 1.5 MB), Koblenz 2013

Coordinates: 50 ° 21 ′ 34.9 ″  N , 7 ° 36 ′ 46.6 ″  E