Metz Cathedral
The Saint-Étienne Cathedral ( German : Stephansdom ) in Metz , Lorraine , was built between 1220 and 1520 and is considered one of the most beautiful and largest Gothic church buildings in France . With a vaulted height of more than 41 meters , it has the third-highest interior space after the cathedral churches of Amiens and Beauvais ; The area of their stained glass is about 6500 m², the largest in a French cathedral, hence the name La lanterne du Bon Dieu - German: "The lantern of the dear God". The Metz Cathedral serves as the episcopal church of the diocese of Metz . The cultural monument was classified as a historical monument in 1930 and as such is under monument protection .
history
St. Stephen's Shrine (5th - 10th century)
Metz, an old Gallic city, became a bishopric in the 3rd century. As one can learn from a section of the "History of the Franks" ( Decem libri historiarum ) by Gregory of Tours (lib. II, c. 6), a shrine dedicated to St. Stephen ( Oratorium beati Stephani ) was the only building in the city which escaped pillage by the Huns on April 7, 451.
The “miraculous discovery” of the arch-martyr's relics in Jerusalem in 415 was followed by an upswing in the cult of the saint in the west. Several other French cathedrals are also dedicated to him ( Agen , Auxerre , Besançon , Bourges , Cahors , Châlons-en-Champagne , Limoges , Meaux , Sens , Toul , Toulouse ) and mostly appear in the 5th century. Hence, it can be assumed that the shrine was relatively new at the time of Attila's sacking .
Around 784, Paulus Diaconus , a Benedictine from Lombardy who was staying at the court of Charlemagne , wrote a story of the bishops of Metz , according to which Pippin the younger Bishop Chrodegang helped financially to work on the altar canopy, pulpit , presbytery and ambulatory .
The Romanesque basilica
Bishop Dietrich I arranged for the simple shrine to be rebuilt between 965 and 984 with financial help from Emperors Otto I and Otto II. The new basilica was completed under his successor Dietrich II of Luxembourg and consecrated in 1040. Due to the location of the site on the outskirts of the city and on the slope to the banks of the Moselle, the building could not, as usual, be easted, but had to be rotated more than 50 ° to the north so that its main axis is in a north-northeast direction. In 1186, the collegiate church Notre-Dame-de-la-Ronde was built on the west side of the Ottonian basilica, which ran at right angles to the nave of the cathedral, so that the choir of the small collegiate church now faced southeast. Although the two churches were wall-to-wall, there was no connection between them.
The gothic cathedral
Around 1220, at the suggestion of Bishop Konrad III. von Scharfenberg the construction of the new, Gothic cathedral made of Jaumont stone , which was built on the ground plan of the Romanesque predecessor church. From 1220 to 1380 construction of the main nave began and the two towers were built up to a height of 45 meters. In 1359 the entire nave was roofed over, from 1360 to 1380 the vault of the main nave was built.
After three centuries, the cathedral was completed in 1520. It was consecrated on April 11, 1552. In Metz, Valentin Bousch from Strasbourg supplied the cathedral with glass paintings from 1521 to 1539, which are worthy of the works of Hermann von Münster, who died in 1392 .
After completion of the cathedral, the dividing wall to the collegiate church, which has now also been Gothic, was removed. For this reason, the cathedral does not have a main west portal, but only two side portals below the two towers. The unusual location of the towers can also be explained as follows: They mark the end of the main nave of the cathedral, where it meets the older chapel. The main portal was the portal at the end of the south-eastern nave facing the Place d'Armes , which was inclined to the main axis of the church .
18th century
- Metz cathedral model, the cathedral and its surroundings around 1750
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After the chapter of the collegiate church of St. Maria was dissolved in 1728, the grid installed in 1381, which separated the cathedral and the collegiate church, was also removed.
With the expansion of the city of Metz as a French fortress city directed against the Holy Roman Empire, the city center was also adapted to the military requirements. The governor of Metz, Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet de Belle-Isle , had a parade ground laid out next to the cathedral from 1728. In addition, a new town hall, a parliament building, a bishop's palace and other buildings were to be built in the vicinity of the Metz Cathedral, which would form the new representative center of the city. Under Belle-Isle's successor, Marshal d'Estrées (1695–1771), the Parisian court architect, town planner and academy professor Jacques-François Blondel added a classical portal that was supposed to connect the cathedral with the surrounding square. The Metz city builder Gardeur le Brun directed the work, which began in 1764.
Instead of the old bishop's residence, which was located on the south-west front of the cathedral, an axially aligned forecourt was created. In order to provide the cathedral with an appropriate main entrance, Blondel blended a monumental classical portico in front of the new main front. The church portal was flanked by a pair of columns each with a segmental arch as a gable. At the side there were facades, in whose niches two large statues were placed on the left and right. The portal screen covered the lower part of the large Gothic southwest window, the glazing of which was partially destroyed. The lower window register from the 14th century has since been lost. The construction of the portal by Blondel was the votive offering of King Louis XV. who had been attacked by a life-threatening disease in Metz in 1744 and, after his recovery, which was attributed to divine help, had solemnly praised the redesign of the cathedral.
For the construction of today's parade ground between the cathedral and the town hall, a cloister, the chapter house, a refectory and a dormitory as well as a total of four churches (Alt-St. Peter, Groß-St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Gorgonius ) and two chapels (Chapelle des Lorrains, Chapelle des Foës) demolished. The lower part of the cathedral was now faced with single-storey porches, which corresponded to the ground floor of the opposite town hall. During this measure, the cathedral's Liebfrauen portal was built over and its medieval sculptures were largely destroyed. On the northwest side of the cathedral facing the Moselle, several existing buildings were also demolished and a monumental staircase was built. The cathedral portal, which led to the Kammerplatz (Place de Chambre), was bricked up. The cathedral was now surrounded by three classicist squares and a backdrop-like, classicist architecture blocked - at least in part - the viewer's view of the medieval-Gothic architecture of the cathedral, which was perceived as barbaric. The work was largely completed in 1768. Construction of the new bishop's palace began in 1785, although it remained unfinished when the French Revolution broke out in 1789 and its basement has served as the market hall of the city of Metz since 1831.
During the revolution, from 1791 to 1793, the Metz Cathedral was exposed to the most violent orgies of destruction by revolutionary religious enemies, which demolished almost all altars and historical burial sites. It was only for reasons of cost that the portrayals of saints on the windows of the cathedral escaped the Jacobin destructiveness . It was only with the Concordat of 1801 that the Metz Cathedral could again be given over to Christian worship in the following year, 1802.
19th and 20th centuries
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The chapter tower, which has remained unfinished since the Middle Ages, was raised to its current height between 1839 and 1844. However, there was no adjustment to the height of the Mütteturm.
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After a major roof fire, which broke out in 1877 after fireworks in honor of the visit of Kaiser Wilhelm I , the Metz Cathedral was significantly redesigned by master builder Paul Tornow in the last quarter of the 19th century . The strut system and the vaults were renewed, the roof was raised much steeper between 1880 and 1882, the transept gable and the gable above the western front were added. The south-eastern transept gable was completed in 1885, the north-western one in 1886 based on the Gothic canon of forms of the Metz Cathedral. The previous roof was hipped at the ends of the transepts and had a slope of 45 °. The new roof pitch of the iron roof structure has been 60 ° since the roof was rebuilt and is thus 4.50 m higher than before. Since then, the already relatively low cathedral towers appear even lower.
In the years 1880 to 1885, the entire Liebfrauen portal, whose medieval figurative decoration from the second half of the 13th century had been almost completely destroyed during the classicism period, was removed and rebuilt on a lower level. The reason for the lowering was that the Liebfrauenstiftskirche with its portal was about 1.50 m above the floor level of the cathedral. When the two churches were spatially united in 1728, the floor of the former Church of Our Lady was lowered, but the Liebfrauen portal was left at its original level. The aim was to eliminate this flaw during the restoration work at the end of the 19th century, but in doing so, the original height of the portal hall was reduced.
The inclination of the portal funnel to the rest of the building stems from the original octagonal architecture of the Marienstiftskirche. Until the Liebfrauen portal was blended with the Blondel Paradeplatz pavilions, this was the main entrance to the cathedral. Cathedral builder Tornow originally wanted to start the restoration work on the cathedral with the restoration of the Liebfrauen portal, but this project had to be postponed due to the roof fire in 1877. Tornow undertook an architectural study trip to the cathedrals of France on behalf of the government of the realm of Alsace-Lorraine in 1879 in order to be inspired for the redesign of the Liebfrauen portal. The designs produced in the process were then implemented in sculptural form from 1880 onwards.
The new, lavish figural decoration, which is closely based on the formal language of the Middle Ages, the portal gallery and the gable were completely redesigned. Only the tympanum field was damaged. Under the direction of cathedral builder Dujardin, who came from Paris , 232 figures were carved based on the model of cathedrals in northern France, which thematically refer to the Mother of God. The work was completed in the spring of 1885. Although it is a work of Neo-Gothic, the classicistic character of typical neo-Gothic sculptures and sculptures, which was common at the time, is not noticeable with regard to the statues on the Metz Liebfrauenportal in order to create the impression of a genuinely medieval portal. The remaining alterations by Blondel on the south-east side of the cathedral were all removed. In 1882 the "Cafe français" between the south-eastern transept and the sacrament chapel, and in 1885 the Blondel corner pavilion on the south-west corner of the cathedral was demolished. The roofs of the Carmel Chapel (Sancta Maria Rotunda / Notre-Dame-la-Ronde) and the Sacrament Chapel were renewed and the crypt was restored.
With regard to Blondel's classicist main portal, as early as 1847, the Metz city councilor Charles Paul Comte de Coëtlosquet had reprimanded the now unbearable break in style between the classicist mantle buildings and the Gothic cathedral and called for the portal to be replaced in favor of a stylish one. In 1859, the diocese of Metz commissioned the cathedral builder Jean François Racine (1827-1902) to draw up plans for the construction of a new portal in the Gothic style. The project presented by Racine was to include three portals - corresponding to the three-aisled structure of the cathedral - and took up the entire width of the south-west facade.
This plan was immediately taken up by the German government after the German annexation of the city of Metz. In 1873, the German cathedral builder Franz Jakob Schmitt designed a significantly weakened design compared to the monumental neo-Gothic portal by Racine and based on the portal front of the Reims Abbey Church of St-Nicaise, which was demolished in 1799 . The seven-axis arcade on eight slender columns with a raised central arcade and a single portal appears rather sparing compared to the monumental portal that was still in existence at that time. However, Schmitt's portal hall also takes up the entire width of the south-west facade.
Schmitt's successor, Tornow, designed several portal plans immediately after he took office in 1874. In terms of width, in contrast to his predecessors Blondel, Racine and Schmitt, Tornow reduced the width of the portal to the width of the central nave and only envisaged a one-piece gable portal. Based on the polygonal design of the predecessor church St. Maria rotonda, Tornow presented an alternative design in 1875 which, instead of a simple drapery portal, showed a wide, open vestibule with a large central passage and narrow side passages, which were crowned by high eyelashes. As a result of the roof fire in 1877, however, the redesign of the main facade had to be postponed.
The project was not started again until 1889. After a study trip through France in 1892, Tornow revised his previous plans and designed them in line with the already lavishly decorated new Liebfrauen portal in an almost lavish form with a lavish iconographic program. The project from 1875 was enlarged to an elongated octagon. This enabled him to give the new main portal visible significance compared to the already richly furnished Liebfrauen portal. The polygonal portal porches of the Norman churches of Saint-Maclou in Rouen or Notre-Dame in Alençon , which Tornow visited on his excursion to France, must have been the source of inspiration for the new Metz porch. However, Tornow officially gave churches of the Burgundian building school as his alleged models, such as the churches of Notre-Dame in Dijon , Notre-Dame in Saint-Père (Yonne) and Notre-Dame in Semur-en-Auxois. However, none of the alleged models has a polygonal vestibule, as was finally implemented in Metz. The iconographic program of the Metz porch follows the usual christological program, as it was also developed in the cathedrals of Reims , Amiens , Bourges , Sens and Auxerre .
Tornow's final draft of June 15, 1895 was approved by Kaiser Wilhelm II on September 2, 1895 and only slightly changed in the image program. The sculpture of the prophet Daniel , one of the four colossal figures of the Old Testament prophets Isaiah , Jeremiah and Ezekiel on the portal buttresses, received the facial features of the imperial client Wilhelm with a mustache twisted up. Daniel, who is considered to be the prophet of God's incarnation in the Christian interpretation , was probably immortalized in the Lorraine cathedral, as he is venerated as a biblical (male) - Saint Barbara of Nicomedia is the female patroness of miners - patron saint of miners . Thus, beyond the pre-figurative aspect , the sculpture could show Kaiser Wilhelm as the state patron of the coal mines in Lorraine and the neighboring Saarland . Supposedly cathedral builder Auguste Dujardin should have come up with the idea. The contemporary press, critical of the emperor, suspected the emperor himself as the unofficial commissioner of the Daniel sculpture, since the emperor and his wife had already been immortalized in other newly built churches; so in Jerusalem ( Auguste-Viktoria-Hospital , Himmelfahrtkirche ) or in the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche in Charlottenburg . In addition, a figure of the Archangel Michael as the patron saint of the Germans and the military was attached to the gable and a portal inscription identified the imperial client as the “most sublime emperor of the Germanic peoples”. After the transfer of the city of Metz to France in 1918, a poster with the Latin text " sic transit gloria mundi " was hung over the tape of the prophet Daniel to insult the emperor. Immediately after the Wehrmacht occupied the city of Metz , the German Nazi authorities had the emperor's mustache chiseled away.
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The German translation of the Latin inscription reads:
“Under the highest patronage of Wilhelm II, the most exalted German emperor, when Prince Hermann von Hohenlohe-Langenburg was governor of the emperor in Alsace-Lorraine, Willibrord Benzler, of the Order of St. Benedict, Bishop of Metz, and after the demolition of the previous portal , which had the chapter of this church built in 1764 in memory of King Louis XV, this new portal, in keeping with the style of the cathedral, was solemnly inaugurated in the year of the Lord in 1903, in the 15th year of the reign of Emperor Wilhelm II., In the 26th year of the pontificate of Pope Leo XIII. It was built by Paul Tornow, master of the work. "
Immediately after the approval of the portal design by the emperor, the renovation of the west gable began. The gap between the medieval gable and the steeper roof had previously only been temporarily clad with wooden slats. The south-west gable above the main portal was completed in 1897 with a nine-part gallery and rich fial jewelry .
On April 18, 1898, demolition work began on Blondel's classicist main portal. The demolition was completed on September 2, 1898. Initially it was planned to reuse the portal as the courtyard side of the adjoining market hall, but the city declined this for reasons of cost. The two monumental portal statues were brought to St. Avold , where they currently adorn the facades of the former abbey church of St. Nabor and that of the papal basilica Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours .
After a five-year construction period from 1898 to 1903, during which over 500 figures were installed based on designs by Auguste Dujardin, which were based as closely as possible on the formal language of the medieval Gothic and avoid any classicistic-oriented further development of the Gothic formal language in the sense of the neo-Gothic. May 1903 the portal was inaugurated in the presence of the imperial couple, political, ecclesiastical and military celebrities.
The Metz bishop Willibrord Benzler said in his opening speech regarding the special protection of the portal construction by the emperor:
“With a grateful heart, posterity will always be told how a noble German emperor has added a new, but entirely in the original spirit to the old building of the Metz Cathedral by a brilliant artist's hand, and today this magnificent portal is ceremoniously handed over to the Bishop of the Diocese of Metz have."
From 1900 onwards, all historical glazing was restored, the vaulted surfaces were repaired, the keystones were painted, the top of the helmet of the Mütteturm was renewed, new choir screens were made and the Carmel Chapel was redesigned. On the occasion of the inauguration of the main portal, Kaiser Wilhelm II also commissioned new wooden choir stalls. As a result of the First World War and the annexation of the city to France, it could only be erected in 1923. It was carved in the Colmar workshop of Theophil Klem (1849–1923) based on the model of the late Gothic choir stalls in the cathedral in Auch ( Département Gers ) in southwestern France .
The renewed elevation of the chapter tower to the level of the Mütteturm, which had been planned since 1882, was not carried out due to the underestimated foundations. Likewise, the erection of a 112 m high crossing tower based on the model of the cathedrals of Paris and Amiens was not carried out , although the foundations were considered suitable, because the Liebfrauen portal and the main portal had to be completed first. Tornow's successor in office, Wilhelm Schmitz, was responsible for restoring the interior of the cathedral and refurbishing the Metz Cathedral (1906–1919). The costs of all construction work were borne by the German Empire as the owner of the Metz Cathedral.
In the 20th century, some glass windows were built according to the designs of Marc Chagall , and the sacrament chapel was equipped with brightly colored windows by Jacques Villon . The earlier windows of the Sacrament Chapel were badly damaged in the fighting during the liberation of Metz in 1944.
Dimensions and orientation
Due to the problematic terrain on a hill above the Moselle, the Metz Cathedral is not oriented from west to east as usual, but from southwest to northeast. The cathedral has the following dimensions:
| Overall length outside: | 136.00 m |
| Total length inside: | 123.20 m |
| Width of the west facade: | 33.00 m |
| Height of the nave: | 42.00 m |
| Height of the transept: | 43.00 m |
| Height of the aisles: | 14.30 m |
| Width of the nave: | 15.60 m |
| Length of the transept: | 46.80 m |
| Width of the transept: | 16.80 m |
| Height of the "Tour du Chapitre" (north tower, chapter tower): | 60.00 m |
| Height of the "Tour de la Mutte" (south tower, Mütteturm): | 90.00 m |
| Interior floor area: | 3500 m² |
| Area of all windows: | 6496 m² |
| Area of the transept windows: | 848 m² (33.25 m × 12.75 m = 424 m² × 2) |
| Area of the main portal window: | 349.80 m² |
| Diameter of the rosette of the main portal window: | 11.25 m |
Choir of the former collegiate church St. Marien
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The apse windows of the former collegiate church come from the Mayer'schen Hofkunstanstalt and were installed in 1884. The designs come from cathedral builder Paul Tornow. The axis window donated by Abbé Adam Felix shows the coronation of the Virgin Mary by her son Jesus Christ in a golden ornamented mandorla with a stylized cloud framing. A night-blue sky and shining stars let the depicted place be recognized as the sky. The dove of the Holy Spirit hovering over the head of Mary and emitting rays , Mary's arms crossed over her breast, her white robe and blue cloak and a white lily sprouting up from a golden vessel indicate the virgin conception. Jesus Christ, with the wounds of the crucifixion, is dressed in royal priestly robes and his head is surrounded by a cross nimbus . For the purpose of his mother's coronation, he holds up a golden, jeweled crown that is decorated with lily flowers. Under the coronation group float, depicted in a smaller perspective, four jubilant angels. While two of the angels are waving incense barrels , the other two call the viewer to worship by holding their hands.
The windows flanking the coronation scene were donated by the Metz Rosary Brotherhood, which had its meeting place here, and each depicts visions of Mary under magnificent tracery canopies. On the left, Mary hands over the rosary to St. Dominic . The depiction refers to the legend first circulated by Alanus de Rupe around 1468 that St. Dominic, the founder of the Dominican order , received the present form of the rosary in 1208 during an apparition of the Virgin Mary and is said to have introduced it into his order. The Virgin Mary gave the rosary to St. Dominic as a weapon in the fight against the Albigensians .
In the window to the right of the axis window, the hermit and later Carmelite monk Simon Stock receives the order cap from the hands of the Virgin Mary. In 1251, the saint is said to have had a vision of the Blessed Mother who presented him with the shoulder dress of the religious costume. This scapular became part of the Carmelite habit . From the promise of the vision of St. Simon Stock, the so-called "little scapular" and the scapular brotherhoods developed .
In the tracery of the three central windows you can see Mary on the left in the adoring position of the Annunciation , in the middle she is depicted as Queen of Heaven and on the right as Mater Dolorosa wringing her hands . The lower parts of the three windows show from left to right the Metz bishop Chrodegang with a model of the Metz cathedral, the first Metz bishop Clemens expelling the dragon Grauli with a cross staff , the holy Glossinde , who is given the veil of Mary by an angel , the Metz martyr Livarius when he was beheaded during the persecution of Christians, the holy Metz bishop Arnulf , who holds the Metz bishop's ring and a fish in his hand, and on the far right the Metz bishop Ademar von Monteil with the floor plan of the cathedral. The Latin inscription on the three windows reads in German translation: "Donated by the Reverend Abbé Adam, designed by Paul Tornow, made by the Mayer Royal Court Art Institute in Munich in 1884."
The other windows show in medallions the secrets of the rosary and rose patterns, which refer to the invocation of Mary as "Rosa mystica" (mysterious rose) in the Lauretanian litany . They were donated by the Rosary Brotherhood and made in 1904 by the Mayersche Hofkunstanstalt in Munich. The designs come from cathedral builder Auguste Dujardin, who designed the windows in a deliberately medieval manner.
The neo-Romanesque-neo-early Gothic stone altar depicts Our Lady with the baby Jesus. It was created in 1859 according to the designs of Jules Racine and redesigned in 1912. The statue of the Virgin Mary was donated by the women of Metz to commemorate the siege of the city in 1870. In the Predella zone you can see three prophets on the left and three kings on the right , each holding banners in Latin. It is the beginning of a Gregorian chant in praise of Our Lady. The banner held by the prophets reads “Salve sancta parens” (German translation: “Greetings, you holy birthing woman”). The banner of the kings bears the text line “Enixa puerpera regem” (German translation: “You gave birth to the king”).
On the left wall above a Gothic blind arch, the medieval sculptors have attached the sculpture of a so-called Judensau to vilify the Jews. Since the pig is considered unclean in Judaism ( Hebrew tame ) and is subject to a religious food taboo, the aim was to humiliate the Jews who did not want to submit to the belief in the messianship of Jesus. The sandstone sculpture in the choir chapel shows several Jews suckling on the teats of a mother pig.
Quasi as the opposite of the “stinking” Judensau, three angels in neo-Gothic style are painted on the plaster in the three opposite blind arches on the right side wall. Two are playing musical instruments, the angel in the middle holds a rosary towards the viewer in an offering posture. The Latin text under the angels comes from a Gregorian chant and reads: “Florete flores quasi lilium et date odorem” (German translation: Blossoms, you flowers, like the lily and exudes fragrance.) Above the blind arch is a praying, bearded man as a console bust shown.
The lattice of the chapel was created in 1882 to replace the previous lattice, which came from the church in Diedenhofen / Thionville and was installed here in 1807. On the side aisle wall to the left of the gate entrance you can see a plaque from 1911 with the imperial coat of arms. The German inscription refers to three members of the cathedral parish who died as soldiers in Africa in 1894, 1903 and 1906.
Sacrament chapel
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The construction of the sacrament chapel began around 1350 and was completed in 1443 by Jean de Commercy. It served as the burial chapel of the Metz bishops . In the chapel are the bishops Adhémar de Monteil (term of office: 1327-1361), Dietrich Bayer von Boppard (term of office: 1365-1384), Konrad Bayer von Boppard (term of office: 1415-1459) and Claude Rouvroyu de Saint Simon (term of office: 1733 –1760) is buried. In 1858 some remains of the funerary tablets destroyed in the French Revolution were discovered, which were placed on the left and right of the chapel entrance. To the side aisle, the chapel is closed off by an artistically forged lattice from the workshop of Jean Lamours, in which the lattice on Place Stanislas in Nancy was also created. The medieval wall paintings were restored in 1909 by the Cologne painter Anton Bardenhewer (1857–1939), who at the time was one of the most important preservationists in the former Rhine province .
The windows of the Metz studio Maréchal-Champigneulle from 1871, damaged in World War II, were replaced in 1957 by new ones designed by Jacques Villon. The earlier windows of the Metz artist Laurent-Charles-Nicolas Maréchal (1801-1887) showed the Descent from the Cross , the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary , Isaiah as the prophet of the suffering servant of God with reference to Isaiah 53.5 EU and the Apostle John as Witnesses of the crucifixion of Jesus. In addition, the legendary Holy Empress Faustina, Catherine of Alexandria , the Archangel Raphael , Saint Sebastian and passion scenes were depicted in the windows .
The windows of Villons, which were made in the workshop of Simon-Marq in Reims , show the crucifixion of Jesus in the axis window, to the left of it the Passover night and Moses knocks water out of the rock at Horeb , to the right of it the wedding in Cana and the last supper of Jesus . The Pascha night is interpreted here by the artist as a prefiguration of the Last Supper, the water miracle at Horeb as a prefiguration of the wine miracle of Cana. The artist depicts the sacrificed lamb of the Passover meal as an anticipation of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Bread and wine of the Last Supper are the substitute for the bloody animal sacrifice by the plant-based sacrifice of the eucharistic forms of bread and wine. The crucifixion scene above the tabernacle illustrates the real presence of the crucified in the Eucharistic bread and the comprehension of the bloody sacrifice on the cross in the change from bread and wine to the body and blood of Christ on the altar.
To the left of the altar is the sculpture of Jesus as Man of Sorrows from the 16th century. Shackled and crowned with thorns, Jesus sits slumped and battered next to the scourge column of torture before his execution. The face of Jesus is turned towards the entering visitor of the sacrament chapel and seems to point him to the tabernacle with the fingers of his chained right hand.
Modern liturgical equipment
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The consecration of the new altar and the rest of the liturgical furnishings took place on December 17, 2006, the third Sunday in Advent (Gaudete). On the same day, the cathedral square in front of the cathedral was given the new name "Place Jean-Paul II" in honor of Pope John Paul II , who celebrated a pontifical mass in Metz Cathedral on October 10, 1988 and died on April 2, 2005 .
Under the aegis of the butcher Jean-Jacques Aillagon (Minister of Culture from 2002 to 2004), the renovation of the cathedral choir was completed by 2006. The Swiss artist Mattia Bonetti (* 1952) was responsible for the production of the liturgical furniture . After the installation of the new lighting in the nave in the form of wheel chandeliers in 2000, the initiators felt it necessary to replace the previous provisional celebration altar from the time after the Second Vatican Council with a new one. They also wanted to use part of the collected bronze that had been donated at the beginning of the 20th century for the creation of the doors of the great cathedral portal in 1903. In 1916, this bronze material was melted down together with the bells to make weapons for the First World War . Only in the period after the Second World War was the bronze given back to the cathedral community in the form of cannon barrels. Mattia Bonetti then made the new liturgical furnishings from this material. The biblical motto of this art event was the famous Bible passage from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah ( Isa 2, 2–5 EU ):
“At the end of days it will come to pass: the mountain of the house of the Lord is firmly established as the highest of the mountains; he towers over all the hills. All the nations flow to him. Many peoples go and say: Up, we are going up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God Jacob. He instruct us in his ways, we want to walk on his paths. For instruction and the word of the Lord of Jerusalem go out from Zion. He will create justice among nations and correct many peoples. Then they will forge their swords into plowshares and their lances into winemaker's knives. They do not raise the sword, nation against nation, and they no longer learn war. House of Jacob, up, we want to go in the light of the Lord. "
The pieces of equipment are made of earth-colored, slightly wavy bronze and have gilded, furrow-like lines that stand out vertically from the ground. Since the cathedral altar also contains relics of saints, the gold rivers shown should also be interpreted in relation to the Book of Wisdom ( Weish 3,1–6 EU ):
“But the souls of the righteous are in God's hand, and no torment touches them; they appear to be dead in the opinion of the fools, their passing is seen as a calamity and their separation from us as annihilation; but they are at peace. For even if people believed that they were punished, their hope was still entirely filled with a belief in immortality; and after having endured a short period of suffering, they will be blessed with great happiness, for God has only tested them and found them worthy of Him. He has tried it like gold in a furnace and accepted it like the gift of a whole offering. So they will shine brightly at the time of their grace and travel like sparks through dry reeds. "
Bells
In 1412 it was decided to install a bell, which had already been ordered in 1381, on the south tower of the cathedral. It was first cast in 1418. It was re-cast in 1479, then renewed for the last time in 1605. The bell, called the Mutte , weighs 11 tons and is 2.32 m in diameter. It sounds in f sharp °. The other bells have the tone sequence a °, c sharp ', e', f sharp ', a'. The belfry is made of wood. The fis' bell was cast by the Saarlouis bell foundry in 1954. It has a diameter of 1113 mm and a weight of 850 kg.
Organs
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There are a total of three organs in the cathedral : a main organ, a choir organ and a small, very remarkable Renaissance organ. A large organ on the north wall, dating back to the Middle Ages, was dismantled in 1805.
Main organ
The main organ of the cathedral was built in 1970 by the Haerpfer & Erman company using the pipework from the previous main organ by Cavaillé-Coll , Verschneider and Frédéric Haerpfer. It has 27 registers on two manuals and a pedal . The action actions are mechanical, the stop actions are electro-pneumatic. The disposition is as follows.
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- Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
- Playing aids : 1 free combination, Tutti, Appel des anches Grand Orgue, Appel des anches Récit, Appel des anches Pédale
Choir organ
In 1862 the organ building company Aristide Cavaillé-Coll built a small organ with 20 stops at the current location of the main organ. In 1882 Jean-Frédéric Verschneider added a pedal with 6 registers. In 1934, Frédéric Haerpfer re-used the case and the pipework from Cavaillé-Coll and Verschneider with three manuals and 47 registers on electrical sliders. This organ was dismantled in 1962 due to water damage after the war. When the main organ was rebuilt by Haerpfer & Erman in 1970, part of the pipework was used. The remaining registers and two wind chests by Frédéric Haerpfer were integrated in 1980 by Théo Haerpfer into a new building with 30 registers on two manuals and pedal. Only a torso of the front of the prospectus of the case from Cavaillé-Coll was used. This instrument was placed as a choir organ behind the main altar. The action actions are electric, the stop actions are electro-pneumatic. The instrument has the following disposition:
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Pairing :
- Normal coupling: II / I, I / P, II / P
- Sub-octave coupling: II / I
- Super octave coupling: II / I
- Playing aids : 2 fixed combinations, general tongue holder, Grand Orgue tongue holder, Récit expressif tongue holder, Pédale tongue holder
Renaissance organ
The renaissance organ goes back to an instrument that was built by the organ builder Jean de Trèves (Johann von Promsfeldt) from Verdun in 1537. Only a few parts of the organ case remain from this historical instrument. The organ was rebuilt several times and reconstructed in 1936 by the organ builder Frédéric Haerpfer, and again in 1981 by the organ builder Marc Garnier. Today the instrument has 10 stops on two manuals and a pedal. The playing and stop actions are mechanical.
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- Coupling : II / I, I / P
Cathedral treasure
Sacristy of Metz Cathedral with open vaults
Sacristy, view of the preparation table
Head of the "Gueulard"
Metz Cathedral Crypt, Entombment Scene
Metz Cathedral Crypt, burial chapel of the Metz bishops
Metz bishop's burial place, memorial plaque for Bishop Willibrord Benzler
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The cathedral treasure of the Metz Cathedral is kept in the sacristy and the crypt . The vestibule vestibule was completed around 1518. Iron-fitted cabinets from the 16th century were originally used to store the cathedral treasure. In the 18th century the sacristy was enlarged by a larger room on behalf of the cathedral chapter . The walls of the room are clad with oak paneling in Louis-quinze style. A depiction of Christ's crucifixion with St. Mary Magdalene hangs above the preparation table . It is an unsigned copy of a work by Charles Monet that was donated to the cathedral chapter in 1765. Another painting depicts Jesus in the temple and dates from the end of the 18th century.
The oldest piece of the cathedral treasure is a legendary ring that was probably worn by Bishop Arnulf, an ancestor of Charlemagne , at the beginning of the 7th century. The most precious is the so-called "coat of Charlemagne", a bicycle coat woven from purple silk , which was made in Constantinople in the 12th century . The magnificent gold-embroidered eagles and dragons in lush scent make it an imperial ceremonial cape. The hood that was added later depicts the crucifixion of Jesus. The cloak was changed in the 16th century and since then has also shown representations of the instruments of the Passion of Jesus. Due to its sensitivity to light, the coat is only displayed on special occasions.
On the wall of the sacristy hangs the so-called “Gueulard” (German: Schreihals), a wood-carved head as the remainder of the large cathedral organ from 1470. The figure could open its mouth, stick out its tongue and roll its eyes when the organist entered the register “ Vox humana ”moved.
Originally there was also a small equestrian statuette of Charlemagne from the late 9th century in the cathedral treasure . The metal sculpture shown in the cathedral treasure in the crypt is a copy from 1882, because the original is now in the Louvre in Paris . The statue is important because it is supposed to show an allegedly realistic portrait of the emperor. Precious Carolingian manuscripts from the Metz Cathedral were brought to the National Library in Paris at the instigation of Jean-Baptiste Colbert in 1674 and on the orders of Napoleon in 1802 . At that time, under the pressure of the circumstances, the cathedral chapter felt compelled to give the precious texts as "gifts". During the French Revolution , the cathedral treasury was massively looted, so that great efforts were made in the 19th century to equip the cathedral liturgy with various Vasa sacra again . Numerous chalices , monstrances , bishop's staffs and crucifixes are displayed in the cathedral treasury .
In the anteroom of the crypt, the dragon Grauli hangs on the ceiling (head from the 15th century, body renewed in 1864). In the crypt there are also models, drawings and photos that document the various development phases of the Metz Cathedral and its surroundings. You can also see models of the most famous French Gothic cathedrals and numerous figures of saints.
Cathedral sagas and legends
The following legends are passed down in connection with the Metz Cathedral:
Saint Bishop Clemens and the dragon Grauli
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The evil Grauli (from the German word "grayish") was a dragon , in the ruins of ancient Roman amphitheater of the city of Metz , together with an incredible amount of poisonous snakes did his worst. The monsters poisoned the whole area with their fumes, so that anyone who approached or left the city risked their life. In this threatening situation, Saint Clement , who came to Metz from Rome at the behest of Saint Peter, promised to save the people of Metz if they would renounce the worship of false pagan idols and serve Jesus Christ alone . The residents of Metz soon accepted the condition. As soon as the saint approached the old amphitheater, the snakes hissed and darted out of their hiding places to devour the man of God. Then St. Clement made the sign of the cross over the beasts and was able to banish their power. The missionary grabbed the largest and most poisonous of them, the Grauli, tied it to his stole and led it along with the rest of the snake crowd to the bank of the nearby Seille . Here he ordered the Grauli and his snake breed to run away on the spot and never bother the townspeople again. The monster obeyed him and threw himself and his brood into the waters. After the beasts had been carried away by the waters of the Seille , all the pagan inhabitants of Metz converted to Christianity in the face of this miracle and were baptized by St. Clement . In place of the old amphitheater, the missionary built a first church and became the first bishop of Metz. After the storm of the Huns in 451, the bishop's church was relocated to St. Stephen's Church, which was built in 415 and is now the Metz Cathedral. A model of the dragon Grauli, which was led through the city in processions, can now be seen in the crypt of Metz Cathedral. The head of the dragon dates from the 15th century, the body was replaced in 1864.
The cathedral builder and the devil
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The Metz cathedral master builder Pierre Perrat was just studying the construction plans of the new cathedral when a little man appeared in his room, quickly drew the design of a new cathedral, showed it to the astonished master builder and immediately wiped it out again. Cathedral builder Perrat then asked the stranger to help him build the new Metz Cathedral. The little man promised the requested help and immediately pulled out a parchment, which he presented to the builder in return for signature. Without thinking too much, Perrat hastily signed the contract and from then on had no more difficulties in building the new cathedral.
When Perrat died, his coffin was let into an inner wall of the new cathedral. After a while the little man appeared again in Metz at night, referred to the contract with Perrat's signature and, grinning maliciously, demanded that the corpse be handed over so that he could get hold of its soul. But the Archangel Michael , who kept vigil at the grave, replied to the little man that he could only take Perrat's soul with him when he was buried in the ground. But since Perrat is not buried, the little man has no rights to the soul of the builder. Pulling his hair up, moaning and leaving behind a strong smell of sulfur, the little man, in reality the devil in person, then ran away.
Saint Bishop Arnulf and the ring
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Legend has it that, before he ascended the episcopal throne of Metz, Saint Arnulf , full of self-doubt about his imperfection, crossed the Moselle bridge, threw his ring into the river and asked for the ring to be returned as a token of forgiveness of his sins. After a long time a fisherman brought the saint a fish he had caught. When the fish was removed for frying, the bowels were found to contain the ring that Arnulf had thrown into the Moselle. In the face of this God-wrought miracle, Arnulf wore a coarse dress day and night in penance and often fasted. The background to the bishop's fear was that during his time as a politician, when he was not yet Bishop of Metz, he had committed numerous violations of Christian ethics. He is attributed complicity in the cruel end of the Austrasian Queen Brunichild . The bishop's ring is now kept in the cathedral treasury. It's made of heavy gold. The embedded semi-precious stone is a milky carnelian . It is engraved with a fish in a trap , around which two smaller fish swim. The gold ring probably dates from the seventh century, the stone is likely to have been cut in the fifth century.
Metz cathedral factory
The Metz Cathedral (L'Œuvre de la Cathédrale de Metz) is a non-profit organization that promotes Metz Cathedral. The association was founded on March 21, 1885 by the Metz bishop Dupont-des-Loges. Its original aim was to arouse public interest in the mother church of the diocese in order to promote its preservation and restoration. Since its foundation at the end of the 19th century, the Metz Domwerk has sponsored projects such as the restoration or the new construction of the Liebfrauen portal, the large main portal, the installation of central heating and lighting, the restoration of the large sacristy or the restoration of the hanging organ. In addition, the Domwerk publishes publications about the cathedral in several languages and offers cathedral tours. The Domwerk supports the French state in maintaining the Metz Cathedral. The most recent project of the Domwerk was to equip the Metz Cathedral with principles by the Swiss artist Mattia Bonetti in 2006. The Domwerk currently has around five hundred members.
literature
- Christoph Brachmann: Gothic architecture in Metz under Bishop Jacques de Lorraine (1239–1260). The new construction of the cathedral and its consequences . Verlag Mann, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-7861-1967-8 (plus dissertation, TU Berlin 1994).
- Philippe Hiegel: The stained glass windows of Metz Cathedral, translation by Susanna Prause, Metz 1993.
- Marie-Antoinette Kuhn mother: La Cathédrale de Metz. des pierres et des hommes . Édition Serpenoise, Metz 1994, ISBN 2-87692-190-1 .
- Michèle Maubeuge: Metz Cathedral . Saarbrücker Verlag, Saarbrücken 1984, ISBN 3-921646-67-7 (illustrated by Gilbert Mangin).
- Jean-Baptiste Pelt : La Cathédrale de Metz, 3rd edition, Metz 1937.
- Jörg Schmitz: Life and work of the architect Wilhelm Peter Schmitz (1864-1944). Cathedral builder, monument conservator, art writer and Lorraine conservator. A Rhenish architect of late historicism (Aachen, Cologne, Trier, Metz). Volume 1: Biography and illustration part, Tönning 2005, 310 pp., 744 figs., ISBN 3-89959-382-0 ; Volume 2: Catalog of works, Tönning 2005, 746 pages, 4 tabs., 1 CD-ROM, ISBN 3-89959-383-9 .
- Marie-Isabelle Soupart and Philippe Hiegel: The Cathedral of Metz, translation by Susanna Prause, Metz 2003.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Construction dates for the Metz Cathedral
- ↑ Instead of a fixed altar ciborium , in order to protect the gifts on the cafeteria from dust, a cloth can be stretched over the altar or a canopy can be attached to the ceiling with ropes or chains.
- ^ Building history of the cathedral of Metz
- ↑ Link to the floor plan on the disk page. To the west (here: below) the towers clearly recognizable the Kollegiatkirche .
- ↑ Marie-Isabelle and Philippe Hiegel Soupart: The Cathedral of Metz, a translation of Susanna Prause, Metz 2003, p. 10
- ^ Niels Wilcken: Architecture in the border area. Public construction in Alsace-Lorraine (1871-1918) (= publications by the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, vol. 38), Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, Saarbrücken 2000, pp. 306-308.
- ↑ Timeline of the structural measures from the 17th to the 19th century (video) Retrieved on February 24, 2013.
- ↑ Expert opinion of the Royal Academy of Building , Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , July 7, 1883, p. 237, accessed on December 19, 2012.
- ^ Jean-Claude Berrar: Memoire en images, Metz, Saint-Avertin 1996, p. 85.
- ^ The consecration of the new cathedral portal in Metz , in: Metzer Zeitung of May 16, 1903.
- ^ The celebration of the inauguration of the new portal on May 14, 1903, in: Metzer Dombaublatt 16 (1906), pp. 23–32.
- ^ Wilhelm Schmitz: The Metz Cathedral, in: A. Ruppel (Hrsg.): Lothringen and his capital, A collection of orienting essays, Metz 1913, pp. 415-421.
- ^ Niels Wilcken: Architecture in the border area. Public construction in Alsace-Lorraine (1871-1918) (= publications by the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, vol. 38). Inst. For regional studies in Saarland, Saarbrücken 2000, pp. 304–323.
- ↑ Marie-Isabelle and Philippe Hiegel Soupart: The Cathedral of Metz, a translation of Susanna Prause, Metz 2003, p. 44
- ^ Philippe Hiegel: The stained glass windows of the cathedral of Metz, translation by Susanna Prause, Metz 1993.
- ↑ Marie-Isabelle and Philippe Hiegel Soupart: The Cathedral of Metz, a translation of Susanna Prause, Metz 2003, p 47th
- ^ Philippe Hiegel: The stained glass windows of the cathedral of Metz, translation by Susanna Prause, Metz 1993, pp. 7–9.
- ↑ Jean-Baptiste Pelt: La Cathédrale de Metz, 3rd edition, Metz 1937, pp. 65–70.
- ↑ Marie-Isabelle and Philippe Hiegel Soupart: The Cathedral of Metz, a translation of Susanna Prause, Metz 2003, p 8 u. 15th
- ↑ Jean-Baptiste Pelt: La Cathédrale de Metz, 3rd edition, Metz 1937, pp. 70–72.
- ↑ Pierre-Édouard Wagner: La cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Metz des origines à nos jours, Ars-sur-Moselle / Vaux (Moselle) 2015, pp. 192–193.
- ^ 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, especially pp. 89-95, 556 .
- ↑ The main organ on OrganIndex
- ^ Orgues de Lorraine. Moselle. H à Wed. ASSECARM. Metz, 1995, pp. 1187ff.
- ↑ The choir organ on OrganIndex
- ↑ Detailed information on the Renaissance organ .
- ↑ Michèle Maubeuge: Cathedral of Metz, Saarbrücken 1984, p. 11.
- ^ Günter Metken: Liebe zu Lothringen, Karlsruhe 1978, p. 83.
- ↑ Niels Wilcken: Vom Drachen Graully to the Center Pompidou-Metz, Metz, ein Kulturführer, Merzig 2011, p. 71.
- ↑ Marie-Isabelle and Philippe Hiegel Soupart: The Cathedral of Metz, a translation of Susanna Prause, Metz 2003, p 15 u. 30th
- ^ Pierre-Édouard Wagner: La cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Metz des origines à nos jours, Ars-sur-Moselle / Vaux (Moselle) 2015, pp. 54-55.
- ↑ http://cathedrale-metz.fr/notre-histoire/ , accessed on April 19, 2019.
Web links
- Official website
- Metz Cathedral on structurae.de , there also other links
Coordinates: 49 ° 7 '12.5 " N , 6 ° 10' 31.6" E