Hirzbach Chapel

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The Romanesque Hirzbach Chapel (also Marienkapelle Hirzbach ) in the hamlet of Hirzbach in the municipality of Hammersbach in the Main-Kinzig district in Hesse is one of the oldest church buildings in the Rhine-Main area .

View of the Hirzbach Chapel from the north
South side

Documentary mention

The first documentary mention of today's Hirzbacher Höfe , where the chapel is located, in a document from the Mainz cathedral chapter dates back to the year 1128. For the further history of the chapel , a document from the year 1252 is significant, in which the goods mentioned as early as 1128 may be Antoniterkloster Roßdorf will be transferred. Two and a half years later, the chapel itself was first mentioned: Reinhard I. von Hanau gave it to the Antonites in 1254 with its accessories . A Conradus de Hirsbach is mentioned in 1309 as a Hanau fiefdom . He could have been Burgmann in Hanau or Windecken .

Archaeological and building evidence

First chapel

Archaeological excavations that were carried out in the course of renovation work on the building between 1989 and 1992 have shown that the church is much older than the written records about it. During the excavations , two previous buildings could be identified. The most striking feature of the two predecessor churches are the strong deviations from the east-west arrangement common in church construction. Prehistoric finds made during the excavations are not directly related to the chapel.

The first chapel was built in the late 7th or 8th century, i.e. in the Carolingian period. Roman finds, including Roman military bricks that were built into the church, are likely to be spolia and come from the nearby Fort Marköbel . There were evidence of wooden threshold beams from the first church building , so it was probably a half-timbered building .

Several of the more than 100 graves also uncovered can be assigned to this first church, including a splendidly furnished burial in the interior of the church, which included a robe decorated with gold brocade .

Second chapel

The second chapel from the 9th or 10th century had stone foundations , as evidenced by excavation pits that were created during the construction of the chapel , which is still preserved today.

Third, today's building

The remains of the Romanesque chapel from the 11th or 12th century, which can still be seen today, underwent several alterations until the 15th century, as evidenced by numerous ornamented tiles that were discovered in the rubble of a demolition pit from 1906. They show that in the middle of the 13th century, after the transition to the Antonites, major construction work took place. Finds of two coins from the first half of the 13th century under the altar foundation support the date.

The chapel has the shape of a hall church and a size of 10.25 × 7.40 m. There was also a retracted rectangular choir measuring 6.6 × 5.4 m, so that a total area of ​​72.5 m 2 was available.

Several Romanesque portals and Gothic windows as well as the spoil of a two-lane tracery window have been preserved on site .

Historical evaluation and development

Eastern front with modern reconstructed foundations of the choir, which was demolished in 1906.

The archaeological evidence of the first church building, in connection with the historical context, indicates that it was the own church of an early medieval landlord. After a stone-based church replaced the first wooden church in the 9th or 10th century, numerous alterations can also be made to the third church that has been preserved.

After the donation in 1254, the relationship between the Antonites and the Hanau counts seems to have deteriorated. In 1441 the monastery was moved from Roßdorf to Höchst . After the introduction of the Reformation in the county of Hanau-Münzenberg , Roman Catholic services were held in the chapel until 1566 . From this point on, the Protestant pastor von Marköbel was obliged by the count's government to preach weekly in the Hirzbach chapel. The chapel remained the property of the Antonites, which led to the curious situation that Protestant services were held in a Roman Catholic church . The courtyards belonging to the chapel also remained in the possession of the Antonites until the secularization in 1803.

This situation provoked disputes between the Antonites on the one hand, the residents of Hirzbach, Marköbel and the count's government on the other, about the costs of maintaining the chapel. During the Thirty Years' War the area around Hanau Fortress was heavily depopulated , not least because of its siege in 1635/36. The low interest of the Antonites in the preservation of the remote church, used by denominational competition, as well as its sparse use by Protestant residents accelerated the decline. Towards the end of the 17th century, only two church services were held annually: on the Annunciation (March 25th) and on the Birth of the Virgin (September 8th). In 1734, the Hanau chronicler Johann Adam Bernhard wrote : This capell is still in the courtyard there today, but it is no longer needed than that a Reformed pastor at Marköbel, to the appreciation of the 4 eighths of grain, if he still has to enjoy it annually, worshiped with a sermon every year. The last of these services took place in 1840. After 1858 the building was used for agriculture, photos show, among other things, that it was also used as a pigsty. In 1906 the choir was demolished, exposing part of the building to the weather. The chancel arch, the most remarkable architectural part of the chapel, consisted of two heavily fluted columns on high bases, above them cube capitals that carried richly decorated battlements . The slab arch above was connected by binder stones. It was purchased by the Hanau History Association together with a sacraments house made of Main sandstone and exhibited in its association museum in the former Old Town Hall in Hanau . These components were partially destroyed in the air raids during World War II in 1945. Only the capitals and the sacrament house are still in the holdings of the Hanau Historical Museum .

Until 1988 the chapel was part of a farm. The chapel has been open to the public since the archaeological excavations and renovations were completed. It is used for cultural purposes and for civil weddings. The other buildings of the "Kapellenhof" are used for residential purposes and as a seminar center.

literature

  • Peter Jüngling : "This chapel is still standing today ..." Contributions to the history of the Marienkapelle in Hirzbach, Hammersbach community, Main-Kinzig district. Published by the Hanauer Geschichtsverein , Hanau 2004, ISBN 3-938149-01-9 ( Hanau writings on archeology and history 2 ).
  • Peter Jüngling: The Marienkapelle in Hirzbach. In: Guide to archaeological monuments in Germany, 27. Hanau and the Main-Kinzig district. Pp. 156-159. Theiss, Stuttgart 1994. ISBN 3-8062-1119-1

Web links

Commons : Hirzbacher Kapelle  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinrich Reimer : Hessisches Urkundenbuch. Section 2, document book on the history of the Lords of Hanau and the former province of Hanau. Vol. 1. 767-1300. Publications from the Royal Prussian State Archives, Hirzel, Leipzig 1891 No. 72.
  2. ↑ H. Reimer: Hessisches Urkundenbuch, Section 2, Vol. 1, No. 279.
  3. ^ H. Reimer: Hessisches Urkundenbuch, Section 2, Vol. 1, No. 298.
  4. ↑ H. Reimer: Hessisches Urkundenbuch, Section 2, Vol. 2, No. 76.
  5. ↑ P. Jüngling: "This chapel is still standing today ..." p. 25.
  6. ↑ P. Jüngling: “This chapel is still standing today ...” p. 145.
  7. ↑ P. Jüngling: “This chapel is still standing today ...” p. 42.
  8. ↑ P. Jüngling: "This chapel is still standing today ..." p. 146.
  9. ↑ Johann Adam Bernhard: Hanauer Kirchengeschichte bis 1642. Handwritten manuscript in the archive of the Hanauer Geschichtsverein (1734), p. 17.

Coordinates: 50 ° 13 ′ 7.9 ″  N , 8 ° 57 ′ 47.6 ″  E