Kalk Chapel
The Kalker Chapel in Cologne was rebuilt between 1948 and 1950 after it was destroyed in the Second World War . It has its origin in the early modern period around 1666/67. The chapel is located in the Kalk district at the junction of the Kalker Hauptstrasse and Kapellenstrasse, which branches off southeast in the direction of the Vingst district .
Beginning as a holy house
The history of the origins of the chapel goes back to the transition from the late Middle Ages to the modern era. It is linked to the Archbishopric of St. Severin and the veneration of Mary, which reached its peak in the 15th century . The Pietà dates from this period.
Wayside shrines, field chapels, holy houses , often referred to as footfalls , have been places that have been used for short devotions since earlier times and were mostly of only local importance. The reason for the construction was often an accident that affected someone at this location. The pastor and monk of the Benedictine Abbey of Deutz , Father Rupertus Hollwegh , also explains the events of that time, the council, the veneration of Mary and the origin (commissioner) of the Kalker Pietà . In his chronicle of 1715, he reports that two documents from the 15th century mention the wayside shrine in the Kalk flur and also about the convocation of a provincial council (provincial synod) by the Archbishop of Cologne , Dietrich II (Theodoric) in 1423.
Consequences of the Council, Pietà and pilgrimages
Following a suggestion from the founders of the Order of the Servites , established in Florence in the 13th century , it was decided to promote the memory of the fear and pain of the Blessed Virgin Mary . The Provincial Synod in Cologne in 1423 also set out to introduce a feast day or day of remembrance in honor of the “ Seven Sorrows of Mary ” and the veneration of the Sorrowful Mother of God : the Compassion Festival . The Angelus chime honoring Mary was also set up at that time. According to the Benedictine Hollwegh, the abbey of his order commissioned the preparation of a Vespers picture soon after the council resolutions in Cologne.
As a result of the Council, the birthday of the Mother of God on September 8th and due to the intense popular piety of the Middle Ages, became a widespread holiday. In addition to the many Marian churches, the churches or chapels equipped with a miraculous image received special attention on this day . Every year on September 8th, a procession took place at the Kalker Pietà, which was said to have worked miraculously .
In the hamlet of Kalk, whose main courtyard, the Kapitelshof , was subordinate to the St. Severin Monastery in Cologne , the procession to the miraculous image began at the Church of St. Severin in the southern part of Cologne (there is also a Pietà from this period in St. Severin's Chapel of St. , later also from Ensen (Porz) and Mülheim . The processions went in a kind of way of the cross, met in Deutz and then went the last seven of the 14 stations together to Kalk. The stations from Deutz described in Hollwegh's chronicle showed Jesus' farewell to his mother, shackling, flagellation, crowning of thorns, carrying the cross, nailing and crucifixion of Jesus.
1709 supported Pope Clement XI. the pilgrimage in addition, by granting the penitents a special indulgence , which was called from many pulpits in the sermons. In the middle of the 18th century, the Sunday after the birth of the Virgin Mary became the main day of pilgrimage.
It is not known which artist created the portrait, called Pietà or Vespers (at the ninth hour, the Vespers hour, Jesus died ) on behalf of the abbey. The Kalker Pietà probably originated in the year of the synod, 1423, or soon after, and found its place in a small wayside shrine .
Construction and destruction of the first chapel
After the plague subsided in the 1660s, from which Kalk was spared in contrast to neighboring Cologne, a first chapel was built for the Pietà in thanks for the protection granted against the epidemic . The approval was given by Vicar General Paulus Aussenius. The great popularity of the miraculous image made it necessary to build an additional side chapel (see woodcut illustration ). Nothing is known about the capacity and whereabouts of this additional chapel. The pilgrimage site developed particularly when the Pietà was recovered intact in the church, which was destroyed by a storm in 1703. The chronicler Hollwegh describes this extraordinary natural event in detail and concludes with the following:
- the chapel a ruined cairn; Hiebey was astonished at this, and also very comforting, that in such destruction the Vespers and the altar were not damaged in the least.
Thanks to numerous donations, the destroyed building was replaced by a new one the following year.
Description of the second chapel
In addition to the building from 1704, due to the increasing number of pilgrims, an additional smaller side chapel was built in 1714. Restored and modified several times in the 19th and early 20th centuries. By the year of the destruction, in 1941, the chapel was a simple, Baroque , from an open bell tower as a roof turret crowned with sechsseitigem helmet brick building. This had a small entrance hall in the west, in front of the central nave . It had a large double door on the front and two small entrances on the sloping sides. On the east side there was a five-sided choir , which was also joined by a sacristy . The single-nave chapel had a flat arched hall, the choir was separated by a triumphal arch . In contrast to today's design, the ceilings and walls were painted and gave the sparse space a festive appearance. An altar donated in 1674 on which the Pietà was placed was replaced in 1889 during a major renovation by an altar created by the Mülheim sculptor Ferdinand Hachenberg.
Today's third chapel
The new building was planned and implemented in 1948/50 by the architect Rudolf Schwarz (employee: Karl Wimmenauer ). The chapel to the north near St. Mary's Church was moved as a simple, single-nave brick building on a foundation made of hewn natural stone from its former location eight meters to the east and three meters to the south. The building, rotated 180 degrees in the new conception, assigned the choir side to the west, contrary to the usual construction method. Through the glass wall on the east side, the architects achieved an optical integration of the crossroads adjoining outside. The main entrance and exit that is now on the side of the parish church and its forecourt is no longer directly on the sidewalk. For the new building, rubble stones and other usable material from the old chapel were sometimes used. The building extends east, parallel to the church, up to the cemetery wall with stations of the cross that delimits the area from Kalker Hauptstrasse.
The east side is glazed over almost its entire surface. However, this concept only provides the barrel-vaulted church interior with sufficient daylight, which is no longer divided as it was in the past. The north wall has only sparse incidence of light, the south wall is adorned with a colored arched window designed by Georg Meistermann . The west side of the choir, decorated with a Christophorus figure (by Hein Minkenberg 1957), has no windows and no altar. It is replaced by the Pietà von Kalk , which is placed on a pedestal on a pedestal in a display case .
Pilgrimages today
From 1932 onwards, the men’s first night pilgrimage took place on the eve of Passion Sunday. It was banned by the authorities in 1940. This nocturnal “silent march” by Catholic men is taking place again today to celebrate the image of the Kalker Kapelle. On the day of the “Sorrowful Mother of God” festival (September 15) there is a pilgrimage to the Virgin Mary to the Kalker Kapelle on the second Saturday in September, followed by an evening mass and a light procession .
View from the Way of the Cross
Choir and Pietà
Interior from the east
Christophorus, by Hein Minkenberg
Literature / sources
- The Chronicle of Cologne . Chronik Verlag, Dortmund 1991, ISBN 3-611-00193-7
- Manfred Becker-Huberti , Günter A. Menne: Cologne churches, the churches of the Catholic and Protestant communities in Cologne . JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-7616-1731-3
- Stefan Volberg: History of the parish and the chapel for the 125th anniversary of the Cologne-Kalk church . Schüller Druck, Cologne Kalk, May 1992.
- Wiebke Arnholz: Form and function of the modern pilgrimage church , Tectum Verlag, Marburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-8288-6589-1 , pp. 81–87.
Remarks
- ^ The Chronicle of Cologne, pp. 146, 194
- ^ Stefan Volberg, History of the parish and chapel Kalk, p. 9
- ^ Stefan Volberg: History of the parish and chapel Kalk. Pp. 11, 12.
- ^ Heinrich Bützler, History of Kalk and the Surrounding Area, pp. 32 and 33
- ↑ Cologne Churches, page 116
- ↑ Volberg, History of the Parish and Chapel Kalk, p. 13.
- ^ Wolfgang Pehnt, Hilde Strohl: Rudolf Schwarz, Architect of Another Modernism . Verlag Gerd Hatje, Ostfildern-Ruit 1997, ISBN 3-7757-0642-9 , p. 263-264 .
- ↑ Volberg, History of the Parish and Chapel Kalk, p. 22.
- ↑ Cologne Churches, p. 116
Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 19.7 ″ N , 7 ° 0 ′ 32.6 ″ E
