Carmelite Church (Mainz)

Carmelite Church in Mainz

Floor plan of the Carmelite Church in Mainz taken in 1876

The Carmelite Church in Mainz is under monument protection standing Roman Catholic church. Since 1924 it has been from the Carmelite - mendicant used. The three-aisled Gothic basilica with a turret is located in the old town at Karmeliterplatz 5.

history

The Mainz branch of the Carmelite mendicant order was first mentioned in a document in 1285 . After a few decades, numerous foundations from wealthy citizens and nobles made it possible to build a church and monastery on the site of the Zum Hersfelder farm, which was acquired in 1326 . In the period from 1477 to 1797, the University of Mainz held its rectorate elections here every year . From 1700 to 1713 the monastery was rebuilt in the baroque style. After Mainz became the capital of the French Département du Mont-Tonnerre , a military magazine was set up in the church in 1798. In 1802, in the course of secularization, the monastery was abolished, and in 1812 it came into the possession of the city. In the same year, the Mainz-based company had the old Am Brand department store demolished and transferred its function to the church for a while. The monastery buildings then served as a school, the church as a warehouse since the 1830s, including for carnival floats .

Since the museum could not be used as planned in 1913 for lack of money, the city council decided in 1922 to demolish the church. Due to the massive public protest, the committee revised this decision and the Dutch Carmelite Province took over the church in 1924. The architect Paul Meissner was commissioned to restore the monastery church. In 1965 she built the new monastery east of the choir. When it was taken over by the Carmelites and as a result of the war damage on August 11, 1942 , extensive restorations were carried out. The ceiling paintings, which were newly applied to the vaults in 1924 based on the medieval originals, were able to reappear in their old beauty in 1952 thanks to a technically improved process. The end of the choir is characterized by a small bay window that opens to the interior of the church with a pointed arch. On the west facade under the four-lane tracery window is the baroque sandstone relief of a Coronation of Mary from 1743.

A comprehensive interior renovation took place between 2009 and 2010, including an altar island with a new wooden altar in the central area. The west facade of the Carmelite Church is to be renovated in mid-2013.

architecture

The basilica consists of a three-aisled, three-bay nave and two-bay choir with a five-eighth end . The choir came up against the city wall, which is no longer in existence today, and is therefore only passed under the windows and gussets to the five-eighth closing; the three-sided altar bay protrudes from it. The eastern nave yoke is wider; the rood screen stood here in the central nave . The north-eastern side aisle yoke was originally closed off to the west by a wall and on the top by a low, six-part vault; the simplified state that existed in the 1970s has existed since around 1710-20. The south aisle is wider than the north, the confessional chapels between the buttresses were built in 1924 instead of shutters. Vaults in the choir above consoles, in the nave via circular services ; in the east yoke of the central nave elevator ring for the roof turret once above . In the choir, relatively large windows with simple tracery, in the nave large west window and small, high-seated upper clad windows.

Furnishing

The vault paintings in the choir were created at the beginning of the 15th century and show the face of Christ , angels and prophets . In 1924 these were traced and repainted.

The high altar with the Coronation of Mary is located between two Carmelite saints on whose wings are the twelve apostles . The relief figures were placed on an oak wood panel from 1395–1400 in 1517, among them the remains of the older, painted figures of the same subject.

Choir of the Carmelite Church in Mainz

Inner

Standing Mother of God with scepter of the cross, stone, excellent work in the Middle Rhine region around 1400, same type as the Mother of God from Korbgasse which is in the Landesmuseum Mainz and the Mother of God in St. Stephan (Mainz-Marienborn) .
Saint Anna selbdritt , remains of an altar from Kiedrich that was burned in 1942. In the choir the tomb of Margarethe von Rodemachern († 1490).
Above the church portal outside the coronation of the Virgin Mary, relief from the former Dompropstei, around 1730.
In the sacristy there is a Romanesque crucifix , probably from the 11th century, and wall paintings from the beginning of the 15th century ( Whitsun miracle and the Assumption of Elijah ).

The church windows were designed by Jan Schoenaker in 1970 . In addition to the Mainz city arms , the middle choir window also shows two Mainz males .

monastery

Next to the church is the monastery building, which was built between 1700 and 1713. Facade of the south wing with a magnificent baroque portal , around 1710, niche figure of St. Joseph ; cloister included in new school building ; new monastery building (Karmeliterstraße 3), mansard - hipped roof building , 1950/51

Pilgrimage

The day of pilgrimage today is the feast of St. Valentin von Terni on February 14th. However, the importance of pilgrimage has steadily decreased. More important is the second pilgrimage of the Carmelite Church, in honor of St. Therese von Lisieux takes place. It has been taking place since 1925, the year Therese was canonized. In the church there is a statue of St. Therese and it also houses a reliquary of the saint. The main pilgrimage day is October 1st. The reliquary is also publicly exhibited every Tuesday for veneration.

literature

Georg Dehio : Handbook of German Art Monuments , Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland, German Art Publishing House:
- Edition: 1972; Pp. 511-512
- Edition: 1984
Historic Mainz: Middle Ages 500 to 1500 AD
Georg Lenhart : Festschrift for the rededication of the Carmelite Church in Mainz , Mainz, 1924
Ernst Neeb : The wall and ceiling paintings in the Carmelite Church in Mainz, Mainz magazine 20/21, 1925/1926

Individual evidence

^ History of the City of Mainz # The Effects of the French Revolution on Mainz
↑ ^a ^b Günther Gillessen (Ed.): If stones could talk. Mainz buildings and their stories. Guided tours through an urban landscape. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1991, ISBN 3-8053-1206-7 , p. 84
↑ August Schuchert : The Mainz churches and chapels copy 150 of 200. Verlag Johann Falk III. Sons, Mainz 1931
↑ West facade on renovation plan - renovation start is not yet scheduled on Allgemeine-zeitung.de from March 19, 2013
↑ Dehio: 1970; P. 511
↑ Martin Haag: Under the Crown of Life - Two pictorial representations in the Carmelite Church . Mainzer Allgemeine Zeitung. August 15, 2013. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
↑ Dehio: 1970; P. 511
↑ Article in the Dutch Wikipedia about nl: Jan Schoenaker
↑ Carmelite Church - Monastery of the Begging Order on mainz.de; online on the Internet: March 30, 2013
↑ Feußner / Schröder, Flehlappe, Käsbrot and Batzkuche - pilgrimage and prayer places in the city of Mainz, Mainz 2000, p. 75