Ilbenstadt Monastery

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Former Ilbenstadt abbey church and convent building

The Ilbenstadt Monastery is a former Premonstratensian canon monastery in Niddatal - Ilbenstadt , Wetteraukreis , Hesse , in the Diocese of Mainz . It consisted of a men's monastery in Ober-Ilbenstadt and a women's monastery in Nieder-Ilbenstadt.

history

In 1122 Gottfried von Cappenberg and his brother Otto von Cappenberg gave their possessions after an encounter with St. Norbert von Xanten as penance for the destruction of the St. Paulus Cathedral in Münster to the Premonstratensian order and were ready to join the order themselves. Ilbenstadt also belonged to the Cappenberg estates . The construction of the basilica and the monastery began in 1122. Gottfried died in Ilbenstadt in 1127 and was buried in the parish church. In 1149 his bones were transferred to the basilica.

The first canons came from Prémontré . With the help of Kurmainzer , the monastery was able to maintain its independence from the Burggrafschaft Friedberg in tough conflicts . So it remained as a Catholic island in the Wetterau even after the Reformation and shaped the whole Wetterau for years through practical pastoral work .

In 1622, during the Thirty Years' War , the monastery and church were looted and desecrated by Mansfeld troops. Then the Swedes followed, who lay in the monastery for years. King Gustav Adolf gave it to Colonel von Wartenberg. In 1635 the imperial family came, but the “liberators” lived much worse. They tortured Provost Conradi, who died as a result. The steep rise of the provost's office from the ravages of the war was honored in 1657 when it became an abbey . The monastery complex was replaced in the following decades by a new building in the baroque style.

The abbey was dissolved in 1803 in the course of secularization . The Counts of Altleiningen-Westerburg received the monastery and the goods as compensation for their possessions on the left bank of the Rhine. In 1819 part of the east wing including the north cloister and the old parish church were demolished. The prelature served as a castle. In the same year Karl Graf Leiningen-Westerburg (Károly Leiningen-Westerburg), general of the Hungarian Revolution 1848/1849 and one of the martyrs of Arad was born here. A plaque attached to the prelature in 1999 commemorates him. In 1921 the counts sold the entire property to the People's State of Hesse , which created a state domain from it. In 1923 Benedictines from Kornelimünster moved into the leased convent building . In 1939 the Reich Labor Service came. After the end of the war, the Diocese of Mainz leased the buildings again in 1946 and bought them entirely in 1958.

St. Gottfried Girls' Home

In the 1950s, the monastery was a reform home , which was run by the nuns under the name Caritaswerk St. Gottfried . In 1963 the home was completely destroyed by fire. It was reopened in 1968 after an investment of four million D-Marks. About 100 girls were housed in six groups. After massive criticism in the context of the home campaigns in the 1970s, the home was transformed into a children's and youth home under the secular direction of Theo Wollweber and internationally known for its client-centered pedagogical-therapeutic concept . Despite widespread protests from the professional public, the building was closed by the church leadership in 1976 and completely dissolved in 1979.

The successor institution was the social pedagogical youth housing group Reichelsheim eV, in which a dozen of the young people were housed and looked after by former employees. The rest of the young people were distributed nationwide by the authority. In 1985 the youth group moved to Wölfersheim.

Education house

Today's St. Gottfried House has been used as a diocesan youth and education center for conferences since 1980. The focus is on music groups, choirs and choral societies. From 2005 to 2008 it was renovated for five million euros.

investment

basilica

Plan of the basilica after Dehio

The former abbey church of Maria, St. Peter and Paul, consecrated in 1159, was built in the Romanesque-basilica style. Around 1500 the previously flat wooden ceiling was Gothicized. From 1681 to 1699 Johann Wolfgang Frölicher created sculptures and altars as well as the pulpit for the monastery church. In the course of the baroque furnishing of the abbey church, Abbot Jakob Münch had the organ gallery and the organ front erected by Franz Vossbach between 1732 and 1734. For this purpose, Johann Onimus from Mainz created the organ that still exists today .

In 1803 the abbey church became a parish church in the course of secularization . The precious inventory of the former monastery church was squandered. On February 23, 1929 the church was opened by Pope Pius XI. with the Apostolic Exhortation Monasterii Sancti Benedicti raised to a minor basilica . The basilica, which was thoroughly renovated from 1960 to 1970, is still an imposing church today and is popularly known as the "Wetterau Cathedral".

Onimus organ

View of the Onimus organ

In the course of the baroque furnishings, Abbot Jakob Münch commissioned the construction of an organ. Organ gallery and organ front were built by Franz Vossbach, the organ was built in 1732–34 by the organ builder Johann Onimus (Mainz). There is a Latin inscription on the organ front; Translated it reads: May the Lord be praised with strings and shawms and melodious harps.

After the secularization, the organ fell into oblivion; the instrument was less and less in line with contemporary tastes and was even supposed to be demolished. In 1930 the organ was made playable again by the organ builder Julius Hembus (Kronberg). In 1970 this was changed in the course of a fundamental "renovation" according to the sound ideas of the time. The instrument has 29 stops on two manual works and a pedal. Preparations are currently underway to restore or reconstruct the instrument to its original (baroque) condition.

I main work C–
01. Principal 8th' H
02. Italian principal 0 8th' H
03. Gemshorn 8th' H
04th Gedakt 8th' H
05. Salizional 8th' H
06th Fifth 5 1 ⁄ 3  ′ H
07th Octave 4 ′ H
08th. Forest flute 4 ′ H
09. Octave 2 ′ H
10. Reed flute 2 ′ H
11. Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
12. Cornett VI-VI
13. Trumpet 8th'
II positive C–
14th Gedakt 8th'0 H
15th Viol 8th' H
16. Bifhara 8th' H
17th Principal 4 ′ H
18th Reed flute 4 ′ H
19th Octave 2 ′ H
20th Sif flute 1'
21st Mixture III
22nd Vox humana 0 8th'
Tremulant
Pedals C–
23. Principal 16 ′ H
24. Fifth 10 2 ⁄ 3  ′
25th Octave 08th'
26th Sesquialtera II 0 05 1 ⁄ 3  ′
27. Octave 04 ′ H
28. Mixture IV
29 trombone 16 ′ H
  • Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P.
  • Effect register: Zimbelstern
  • Annotation:
h = whistling wholly or partly by Johann Onymus (1735)

Convent building and prelate building

The convent buildings on the south side of the monastery church originally completely enclosed the cloister. After the demolition in 1819, the remaining buildings form an L-shaped courtyard. These are baroque buildings in a restrained style from the period between 1709 and 1716, in the central axis there is a portal with a blown segment gable.

Upper gate , so-called "Gottfriedsbogen".

Upper gate, so-called "Gottfriedsbogen"

The southern gate, usually called the Upper Gate or Gottfriedsbogen , is a two-storey building with a mansard roof and side staircase from 1721. It was built in the heyday of the monastery under Abbot Andreas Brand . There is a ballroom with a stucco ceiling on the upper floor. Outside the gate has a rich architectural decoration.

List of provosts of Ilbenstadt

  • Provost Philipp von Karben (officiated 1502–1521)
  • Provost Johannes Gewenner from Berstadt (officiated 1521–1536)
  • Provost Servatius Fyhe (or Freyhe) from Södel (officiated 1536–1538)
  • Provost Matthias Wolnstatt (officiated 1538–1540)
  • Provost Heilmann Winnecker (officiated 1540–1555, resigned)
  • Provost Sebastian Weisbrod or Weißbrodt (officiated 1555–1571, died 1571)
  • Provost Johann Bickel (officiated 1571 - July 18, 1589, resigned, died January 7, 1597)
  • Provost Theodor Werner (officiated 1590–1605, died 1605)
  • Provost Wendelin Falter (officiated 1605–1611, died 1611)
  • Provost Georg Conradi from Heldenbergen (officiated 1611–1635, tortured to death by looting soldiers in 1635)
  • Provost Georg Laurentii (officiated 1636–1657, then abbot)

List of Abbots from Ilbenstadt

  • Abbot Georg Laurentii (previously provost, officiated 1657–1662, d. 1662)
  • Abbot Christoph Born (officiated 1663–1667)
  • Abbot Leonhard Pfreundschick (officiated 1667–1681, died 1681)
  • Abbot Hermann Heysing (1681–1681, elected but not confirmed)
  • Abbot Andreas Brand (officiated 1681–1725)
  • Abbot Jakob Münch from Rauenthal (officiated 1725–1750, died 1750)
  • Abbot Sebastian Englert from Miltenberg (officiated 1750–1789)
  • Abbot Kaspar Lauer (officiated 1789–1803)

literature

  • Norbert Bewerunge: Ilbenstadt. Large Architectural Monuments Issue 266, Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1991.
  • Johannes Burkardt: Ilbenstadt. In: Friedhelm Jürgensmeier u. a .: The Benedictine monastery and nunnery in Hessen (Germania Benedictina 7 Hessen). Eos, St. Ottilien 2004, pp. 658–665. ISBN 3-8306-7199-7 .
  • Jonathan Burrows, Dirk Herdemerten: Excavations in the Ilbenstadt monastery - historical tradition / archaeological evidence. In Egon Schallmayer : Hessen Archeology 2007. Yearbook for archeology and palaeontology in Hessen. Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2008. ISBN 978-3-8062-2211-1 .
  • Ludwig Clemm : The Book of the Dead of the Ilbenstadt Monastery . In: Archives for Hessian History and Archeology . NF 19,2, Darmstadt 1936, pp. 169-274.
  • Ludwig Clemm, The documents of the Premonstratensian donors Ober- and Nieder-Ilbenstadt. In: Archive for Hessian History and Archeology. NF, Vol. 14 (1925), pp. 129-223, 617-666, Archive for Hessian History and Archeology. NF, 15: 147-224, 385-517 (1928).
  • Georg Ulrich Großmann : Central and South Hesse: Lahntal, Taunus, Rheingau, Wetterau, Frankfurt and Maintal, Kinzig, Vogelsberg, Rhön, Bergstrasse and Odenwald. DuMont, Cologne 1995, ISBN 3-7701-2957-1 (= DuMont art travel guide ), pp. 133-135.
  • Georg Ulrich Großmann: South Hesse. Art guide. Imhof, Petersberg 2004, ISBN 3-935590-66-0 , pp. 119f.
  • Pascal Hess: The monastery basilica in Ilbenstadt . Frankfurt am Main 2010
  • Leonhard Kraft, research on the construction and art history of the Ilbenstadt monastery. in: Archive for Hessian History NF 14, 1925, pp. 32–51 and 224–260 online .
  • Franz Paul Mittermaier, Friedberg. Ilbenstadt. Mainz. A contribution to the constitutional history of the Premonstratensian canons of Ober-Ilbenstadt in the Wetterau. in: Wetterauer Geschichtsblätter 5, 1956, pp. 87–115.
  • Stephan Alexander Würdtwein , Notitiae Historico diplomaticae de Abbatia Ilbenstad Ordinis Praemonstratensis in Wetteravia. Mainz (1766) online .

Web links

Commons : Ilbenstadt Monastery  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Basilica Maria, St. Petrus und Paulus (Ilbenstadt)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Ilbenstadt Monastery in Merian's Topographia Hassiae  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Wilhelm Justin Wagner : The former spiritual pens in the Grand Duchy of Hesse. 1st volume. Provinces of Starkenburg and Upper Hesse. Darmstadt 1873, p. 142ff.
  2. ↑ Wagner, former spiritual pencils, p. 142ff.
  3. ↑ http://www.bistummainz.de/bistum/bistum/ordinariat/dezernate/dezernat_Z/pressestelle/mbn/mbn_2008/mbn_080625.html#12
  4. ^ Friedberg registry court
  5. ^ Wölfersheim youth housing group
  6. ^ Pius XI .: Litt. Apost. Monasterii Sancti Benedicti , in: AAS 21 (1929), n.13, p. 591s.
  7. ↑ To the disposition
  8. ↑ Information on the organ and its restoration
  9. ↑ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Hesse (ed.): Convent building and prelate building In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse
  10. ↑ On the Upper Gate see State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (ed.): Upper Gate, so-called "Gottfriedsbogen" In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse .

Coordinates: 50 ° 16'49.1 "  N , 8 ° 48'9.4"  E