Hamersleben monastery

St. Pancras

Hamersleben monastery

The Hamersleben monastery is a former Augustinian canon monastery in the Halberstadt diocese in Hamersleben . Today the monastery belongs to the diocese of Magdeburg and is located in Saxony-Anhalt on the Romanesque Road . The collegiate church of St. Pankratius is owned by the Saxony-Anhalt Cultural Foundation .

history

Donated in 1108 in Osterwieck by Bishop Reinhard , rich land donations by the noble ladies Thietburg and her daughter Mathilde in 1112 caused the relocation to Hamersleben . Both founders came from the Bottendorfisch-Stadisch Veckenstedter family circle and, because of their origin, had access to important Stadisch-Walbeck estates. In the 12th century, these possessions reached into the Altmark near Salzwedel and Diesdorf , and in the south almost to Staßfurt . In the course of the 13th century they were gradually reduced through sales, so that around 1271 there was a consolidated core of ownership around Hamersleben, Ottleben , Neuwegersleben and Warsleben . This significant and lucrative possession was one of the basis for the abbey’s efficiency, which was evident in the construction of the collegiate church (completed before 1140) and in its outstanding scriptorium . Intellectual references can be proven as far as Paris to the university that is being developed there, in the vicinity of which the former Hamersleben novice Hugo von St. Viktor taught. As an important manor, the monastery had administrative and legal powers from the beginning. A brief sommerschenburgische Bailiwick shook the pen permanently in 1178, so that it secured by Episcopal, Papal and imperial certificates, in the 12th century had a considerable independence from external influences. Although it existed from its foundation as a so-called double monastery, was also richly endowed by noble ladies and profited to a great extent from them as a scriptorium, Bishop Ludolf I von Halberstadt in 1238, as in other double monasteries, forbade the acceptance of women .

After a temporary economic and cultural decline in importance, it was reformed in 1452 from Riechenberg and joined the Windesheim congregation . Energetic priors succeeded in paying off debts, reversing the pledging of goods, and expanding the convent with its farm buildings and the fish ponds. In 1525 the monastery was first plundered by farmers and then in 1548 by the Protestant Magdeburgers. The Magdeburg attack was the more momentous for the library and the monastic inventory. Since it adhered to the Catholic creed during the Reformation , the monastery became Swedish spoils of war from 1633 to 1649. After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the monastery and the Halberstadt monastery belonged to Prussia . Even under this rule, the monastery was able to maintain its old beliefs and its economic possessions, despite many challenges. After the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, the monastery was abolished in 1804 as part of the secularization . a. the land, which still consists of well over 4000 acres , is initially administered by the Halberstadt War and Domain Chamber, the library and archive are scattered, the prior and the 19 conventuals are retired and the art-historically important Romanesque collegiate church, a basilica from the 12th century, the Catholic diaspora community were handed over for use. Today the owner is the Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt .

On October 13, 2007 the community association "Eilsleben - Großalsleben - Hadmersleben - Hamersleben - Hötensleben - Klein Oschersleben - Oschersleben - Sommerschenburg - Völpke" was established, to which the church named after Pankratius belonged from then on . On November 28, 2010, today's parish “St. Marien " . The 2011 census in the European Union showed that of the 2315 inhabitants of the political community Am Großen Bruch , to which Hamersleben belongs today, 192, and thus around 8%, belonged to the Roman Catholic Church.

Construction work was carried out on the roof of the main nave by the end of 2018. For this reason, the church was not open to visitors until the end of 2018.

Interior view of the monastery church

architecture

The Hamersleben collegiate church is a columned basilica with a choir and barrel-vaulted side choirs, transept and nave with flat ceilings, but without a crypt. It shows the special features of the construction program for the churches in the succession of the Hirsau monastery church . Since the Hirsau monastery church and most of its successors no longer exist in their original form, the church of Hamersleben is a good illustration of a monastery church of the Hirsau building school . It is characterized by the slender proportions of the central nave and particular perfection in the stone processing. A special feature of the Hamersleben church is that there are two east towers, but the originally planned pair of towers in the west was not implemented. In contrast to the presumed model, the transept arms are lower than the central nave. The transept arms are further separated from the nave by a double arcade and choir barriers . A typical feature, on the other hand, is the chessboard frieze that runs along seven arcades of the nave. The eastern arcades of the nave are supported by a pair of pillars, which mark the boundary to the chorus minor , which was originally also separated from the western part by a choir screen across the central nave. This border is emphasized structurally by the fact that the horizontal chessboard frieze runs lower here. Particularly noteworthy is the ornamentation of the cube capitals from around 1130, which has been extensively appreciated in the art historical literature. They show symbolic representations of mythical creatures , people and animals, mostly fighting with one another, as well as stylized plant ornaments. The capital ornamentation is traced back to French suggestions. The Hamersleben church is only surpassed by the collegiate church in Königslutter in terms of richness and quality of execution of this ornamentation . The Hamersleben church has been described as the noblest high Romanesque building in central Germany.

Furnishing

Altar with the Coronation of Mary

altar

The multi-storey altar structure, which covers the main apse, dates from 1687. Above the high plinth area with tabernacle there is a painting with the Adoration of the Magi , which alternates with three other paintings, the Resurrection of Christ, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the Coronation of Mary can be. In addition, the saints Pankratius and Augustine are depicted as larger-than-life free figures. The crucifixion of Christ with Mary and John is depicted on the upper floor. In addition, depictions of Christ as the Man of Sorrows and Pilate can be found on pedestals ; The risen Christ with the guardians of the grave is shown above a strong cornice.

organ

organ

An organ was first mentioned in writing in 1570 in connection with the burial of the organist. In 1688 the organ, the prospect of which is still preserved today, was erected on a gallery on the west gable in connection with other items of equipment (altar, figures of apostles, choir stalls and pulpit). The builder of the work is unknown. The first organist was Johann Georg Meckenhäuser, who became a princely monastery and court organist in Quedlinburg in 1698. Meckenhäuser later worked with Johann Mattheson in Hamburg and achieved some fame with his work: Opusculum Musico-Mathematicum der musical temperature, about the twelve rationally identical Tonos minores from 1729.

The baroque organ was rebuilt in 1811, both in terms of sound and technology, according to the early romantic taste of the time, the principle of the work was abandoned and the Rückpositiv was shut down. The organ was thoroughly renovated in 1870/71. In the middle of the 20th century the walls of the west gable were so dilapidated that stones fell into the organ. To stabilize the masonry, a mighty steel girder structure was placed on the inside wall of the west gable in 1960. For this purpose the organ was dismantled, the pipework stored in the attic of the collegiate church, the technical organ work was lost and was disposed of. The prospectus was professionally dismantled by the state preservation authorities and, after the construction work was completed, rebuilt in a higher position than originally on the west gable, but without the organ. The prospectus only served as an optical counterpart to the altar.

New building from 1991

Starting in 1991, the Emil Hammer Orgelbau company built a new organ III + P / 41 of the classic style behind the historic prospectus in four construction phases. The reconstruction began in 1992 with the installation of the eight-register Rückpositiv. In 2001 the main plant and pedal plant were completed, in 2005 the substation was installed. The restored pipe work of the organ comes mainly from the two previous instruments and was supplemented by newly built registers.

Disposition since 1991

I Rückpositiv C – g 3 Dumped 8th' Praestant 4 ′ Wooden flute 4 ′ Forest flute 2 ′ Quinta 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ Cymbel III 1' Krummhorn 8th' Vox humana 8th' Tremulant

II Hauptwerk C – g 3 Drone 16 ′ Principal 8th' Gamba 8th' Reed flute 8th' Octava 4 ′ recorder 4 ′ Quinta 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ Octava 2 ′ Mixture IV 2 ′ Cornett III-V 8th' Trumpet 8th'

III substation C – g 3 Hollow flute 8th' Salicional 8th' Gedact 8th' Principal 4 ′ Viol flute 4 ′ Nassat 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ Transverse flute 2 ′ Schwiegel 2 ′ Third flute 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′ Mixture III 2 ' bassoon 16 ′ oboe 8th' Tremulant

Pedal C – f 1 Principal bass 16 ′ Sub-bass 16 ′ Violon 16 ′ Fifth bass 10 2 ⁄ 3  ′ Octave bass 8th' Bass flute 8th' Octave bass 4 ′ Mixture IV 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ trombone 16 ′ Trumpet bass 8th'

• Coupling : I / II, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P (kick to / from)

Technical specifications

• 41 registers.
• Housing / brochure :
  • Wood
  • Height 12 m.
  • Width 9 m.
• Slider drawer .
• Game table (s) :
  • Play closet.
  • 3 manuals.
  • 43 stops.
• Action :
  • mechanical sound contracture.
  • mechanical stop action.
• Mood :
  • Height a ¹ = 440 Hz.
  • tempered evenly

literature

• Anne-Christin Schöne: The Romanesque church of the former Augustinian canons in Hamersleben (= publication by the Department of Architectural History of the Art History Institute of the University of Cologne 68). Cologne 1999.
• St. Pankratius, Hamersleben. = (= Little Art Guide No. 1906). Schnell und Steiner publishing house, Regensburg 1991/2007, ISBN 978-3-7954-5628-3 .
• Walter Zöllner : The documents and ownership records of the Hamersleben monastery (= studies on the history of the Catholic diocese and monastery 17). Leipzig 1979.
• Ludger Kemming: Look into the history of the organ of the Hamersleben monastery , in: The new organ in the St. Pancratius Church Hamersleben 2001.
• Christian Eickhoff: The new organ in the collegiate church St. Pancratius, Hamersleben: review and documentation . Hamersleben 2002.
• Günter Peters: The Augustinian Canons Hamersleben. Formation and social environment of a double monastic community of regular canons in high medieval East Saxony . In: Yearbook for the History of Central and Eastern Germany , Volume 52, 2006, pp. 1–53.
• Stephan Kunze: History of the Augustinian monastery Hamersleben, along with old historical news from individual towns, villages, monasteries and castles of the former diocese and hereditary principality Halberstadt. Based on unprinted documents and manuscripts , printed and published by Gottfried Basse, Quedlinburg and Leipzig in 1835 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Hamersleben Monastery  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Internet presence of the parish
• Hamersleben Monastery at the Dome and Palaces Foundation in Saxony-Anhalt

Coordinates: 52 ° 3 ′ 48 ″  N , 11 ° 5 ′ 10 ″  E

• Portals and capitals of the St. Pankratius monastery church in Hamersleben on Portalsaeule.de
• Heinrich L. Nickel: Hamersleben monastery church - investigation of the capital ornamentation in the SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL OF THE MARTIN-LUTHER-UNIVERSITY HALLE-WITTENBERG

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Günter Peters: The Augustinian Canons Hamersleben. Formation and social environment of a double monastic community of regular canons in high medieval East Saxony . In: Yearbook for the History of Central and Eastern Germany 52 . tape 52 , 2006, p. 26 .
2. ^ Günter Peters: Hamersleben. The manorial rule of an East Saxon regular canon monastery in the 12th and 13th centuries . In: Yearbook for the history of Central and Eastern Germany . tape 54 , 2008, p. 23, 58 .
3. ^ Günter Peters: Scriptorium, worship and farm: The regular canons and canons of Hamersleben around 1200 . In: Dirk Martin Mütze (Ed.): Regular and secular canon pens in Central Germany . Dresden 2011, p. 84-95 .
4. ^ Günter Peters: New beginning and persistence. The Augustinian canons of Hamersleben between reform and reformation (1450/1550) . In: Saxony and Anhalt . tape 28 , 2016, p. 89-136 .
5. ↑ Günter Peters: The Hamersleben monastery and its social environment in the final phase of the Old Kingdom around 1800. "Abolition of this closter per conclusum commune ..." In: Yearbook for Central German Church and Order History . tape 13 , 2017, p. 119-160 .
6. ↑ http://www.bistum-magdeburg.de/front_content.php?idcat=1400&idart=2411&lang=5
7. ^ Community association letter of the community association Oschersleben, edition autumn 2010, pp. 1–2.
8. ↑ Website of the Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt
9. ^ Friedrich Möbius and Helga Möbius: Ecclesia ornata. Ornament on medieval church building . 1st edition. Union Verlag, Berlin 1974.
10. ^ Hans Joachim Krause, Gotthard Voss: The collegiate church of Hamersleben. Ed .: Fritz Löffler (=  The Christian Monument . No. 135 ). 1st edition. Union Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-372-00228-8 , pp. 20 .
11. ↑ ^{a b} Georg Dehio: Handbook of German Art Monuments. The district of Magdeburg. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1975, ISBN 3-363-00064-2 , p. 169-173 .