Churches and monasteries in the city of Zurich in the Middle Ages
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| 1 preacher monastery (Dominican) | 6 Fraumünster Monastery (Benedictine Sisters) | ||
| 2 "Collection" of Saint Verena (Beguines) | 7 Parish Church of St. Peter | ||
| 3 Barefoot Monastery (Franciscans) | 8 Augustinian monastery | ||
| 4 Grossmünster canon monastery | 9 Oetenbach Monastery (Dominican Sisters) | ||
| 5 Wasserkirche | |||
In the Middle Ages there were nine churches and monasteries in the city of Zurich .
Preacher's monastery
The preacher's monastery was a Dominican monastery since about 1230. During the Reformation the monastery was closed and the buildings were assigned to the Hospital of the Holy Spirit . The church, which had a choir in the high Gothic style in the 14th century , was still used for sermons. Parts of the building were also used as a wine trot and grain chute. Since 1614 the Predigerkirche was a parish church for the Wachten Neumarkt and Niederdorf as well as the communities Oberstrass , Unterstrass and Fluntern . The university and cantonal library was set up in the choir of the Predigerkirche in 1873. The buildings of the monastery survived until 1887 when they were destroyed by fire. The church then stood alone and was supplemented with a tower from 1898 to 1900. Today's central library was built on the site of the monastery building between 1915 and 1917 and the church choir was converted into the state archive . The music department of the Zurich Central Library is currently housed in the choir .
St. Verena
Several buildings belonging to the “collection” of Saint Verena in today's Froschaugasse belonged to the St. Verena convent (house number 4 was originally the medieval synagogue ). It was abolished in 1525 and sold to the book printer Christoph Froschauer in 1551 . Since then, the building has been called "Zur Froschau".
Barefoot Monastery
The monastery housed monks of the Franciscan order and was founded before 1247. During the Reformation the monastery was closed in 1524. The buildings were used for various purposes and finally became the seat of the rear office, the central administration of the income of the former preacher's and barefoot monastery and the St. Martin's monastery (until 1833). Since the administration was headed by a chairman, who had his official residence in the former monastery since 1557, the buildings have been called the chairman's office ever since . A theater ( Actientheater ) was built into the monastery church in 1833/34 and the northeast wing was converted into a cantonal office building. The canton rebuilt the north-western wing for the higher and criminal courts, with the cloister being partially destroyed. The theater burned down in 1890. In 1937 the buildings were renovated. Today the cloister is the only partially original preserved in the city of Zurich. Today the higher court of the Canton of Zurich has its seat in the former chairman's office.
Canons' monastery at Grossmünster
The Grossmünster was a church with secular Augustinians - Canons . The Canon Monastery was founded in the 9th century and abolished in 1832. The monastery buildings were converted into a girls' school and demolished in 1849/50. Between 1850 and 1853 a new schoolhouse was built in the neo-Romanesque style, which contains a copy of the old cloister. Today the Theological Faculty of the University of Zurich is located in this building . The church has been rebuilt several times, but largely retains its Romanesque appearance from the 12th century to this day. Until the Reformation, the Twelve Messenger Chapel housed the relics of the patrons Felix and Regula within the church . The striking towers date from the 15th century and were given their current neo-Gothic pointed hoods between 1783 and 1787. Since the Reformation, the Grossmünster has been a parish church.
Water church
The first church on a small island in the Limmat has been documented since 1250. The origins of the church are unclear. The tomb of the church is said to have been the site of the martyrdom of the city saints Felix and Regula . The church that still exists today was built between 1479 and 1784. After the Reformation, the church first served as a warehouse, then intermediate floors were moved into the hall and the citizens' library moved in. The ditch between the island and the banks of the Limmat was gradually made to disappear by backfilling. From 1925 to 1928 the Wasserkirche was renovated and the original room layout restored. The Helmhaus is attached directly to the Wasserkirche .
Fraumünster
The Fraumünster was a Benedictine convent whose members were recruited from the high nobility. The monastery was founded in the 9th century and was given extensive land holdings by King Ludwig the German. The Fraumünster monastery received immunity in 853 and its abbess had the rank of imperial duchess. During the Reformation the monastery was closed in 1524. The monastery buildings housed the Fraumünsteramt until 1803 and a music hall from 1715. In the 19th century, the buildings were converted into a school and demolished in 1898 for the construction of the city of Zurich's new town hall . Parts of the Romanesque cloister were recycled in the inner courtyard of the town house. The church dates essentially from the 13th century and was originally flanked by two towers. From 1728 to 1732 the north tower was raised and received its present shape. The south tower was partially demolished and the rest brought under one roof with the south transverse wing. The church has belonged to the parish of Fraumünster since 1911.
Parish Church of St. Peter
In the Middle Ages, St. Peter was the only church in the city of Zurich that was not connected to a monastery. Your parish comprised the city on the left bank and all the area between Albis and Limmat from Leimbach to Schlieren . The oldest surviving bell in the canton of Zurich dates from 1294 from the tower of the church. The first clock with an hour hand was installed in 1366; In 1538 a new clock with four large dials was installed. To this day, the clock tower of St. Peter is said to have the largest dials in Europe. In 1705 the nave was rebuilt. St. Peter is therefore considered to be the first Protestant church building in Switzerland. Numerous gravestones were found during the renovation, including that of Mayor Rudolf Brun . Johann Caspar Lavater's tombstone can be viewed in the vestibule .
Augustinian monastery
The Augustinian Hermit Monastery was founded in 1270 and closed during the Reformation in 1524 . A trot was set up in the monastery church, and in 1525 the marriage court moved in. In 1537 the monastery buildings became the seat of the alms office and the Rüti office , which administered the income of the former Rüti monastery . In 1596 the city set up its mint in the choir of the monastery church. Parts of the monastery buildings and the cloister were demolished in the 18th century. In the nave of the former monastery church, the first Catholic church after the Reformation was established in 1842. The canton library was set up in the church choir (until 1873). The church passed into the possession of the Christian Catholic Church in 1873 during the Kulturkampf . Various institutions found shelter in the monastery buildings until the newly founded University of Zurich moved there until 1832/37 (until 1864). The buildings later gave way to new buildings. The Augustinian Church was rebuilt and renovated in 1936 and 1958/59. Instead of the choir, today's parish hall of the Christian Catholic Church was built in 1936.
Oetenbach Monastery
The Dominican convent was founded around 1240/1260 in the swampy area 2 km from the city (today the Seefeld district). It takes its name from the Oetenbach, today's Hornbach . In 1251 the monastery was rebuilt within the city walls on the Sihlbühl and in 1285 the monastery church with 3 altars was consecrated. In its heyday, around 120 sisters settled in the monastery. A well-functioning scriptorium had existed since the first half of the 14th century , where nuns carried out writing and illuminating for a fee. During the Reformation in 1523 the monastery was closed. The corn office and the front office were set up in the monastery buildings. The church remained unused until 1655. In the parts of the building around the cloister an orphanage and a breeding facility were operated from 1637 to 1700. After the new orphanage was built next to the monastery (today the main station of the city police), the monastery served exclusively as a corn office, penitentiary and police barracks. The monastery buildings were heavily rebuilt in the 19th century and demolished together with the church in 1902/03 to build the office buildings, the Urania and the Uraniastrasse.
Further monastery buildings in the immediate vicinity of the city of Zurich
St. Martin Monastery
The Monastery of St. Martin (often called monastery on the Zurich mountain called) is regulated in 1127 as a branch Augustinians - Canons in today's Quartier Fluntern emerged.
Selnau Monastery
The Cistercian monastery of Selnau , founded in 1256 and, like St. Martin, dissolved in the course of the Reformation in 1523/25. The monastery buildings are on the Hans Leu d. Ä. The altarpiece from the «Twelve Messenger Chapel» of the Grossmünster below the Uetliberg is easy to see.
See also
- Reformation and Counter-Reformation in Switzerland
- History of the city of Zurich
- List of churches in Zurich
literature
- Regine Abegg, Christine Barraud Wiener: The Art Monuments of the Canton of Zurich , New Edition Volume II.I, Bern 2002
- Regine Abegg, Christine Barraud Wiener: The Art Monuments of the Canton of Zurich , New Edition Volume III.I, Bern 2007
Individual evidence
- ^ Website of the city of Zurich: On the trail of the medieval synagogue of Zurich. Archaeological investigations in house Froschaugasse 4. ( Memento of the original from December 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
