St. Juliana Collegiate Church (Mosbach)

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Collegiate Church of St. Juliana

The collegiate church of St. Juliana is a simultaneous church in Mosbach in the Neckar-Odenwald district . The evangelical part is called the collegiate church , the catholic part the church of St. Juliana .

history

Prehistory as a Benedictine monastery

According to a not unlikely, but historically also not confirmed thesis, the Mosabach monastery was founded in 736 by Saint Pirminius as part of the diocese of Constance. In any case, the Benedictine monastery was first mentioned in a document in 825. The Franconian central authority (the Carolingians ) assigned four Benedictine monasteries to develop the unpopulated Odenwald forest: Lorsch Monastery from the west, Fulda Monastery from the north, Amorbach Monastery from the east and Mosbach Monastery from the south. In 976 the Mosbach monastery, which had previously been imperial direct, was handed over to the Worms Monastery by Emperor Otto II . Between 1000 and 1025 it was converted into a collegiate monastery by Bishop Burchard von Worms . The canons initially used the old monastery church for worship.

Collegiate monastery and collegiate church

The oldest document in which the church was mentioned dates from 1277. As early as 1295, expansion plans are mentioned. In 1297 relic particles were brought from the parish church in Neckarelz to the Mosbach monastery church. From 1370 the collegiate church was built in several construction phases by the collegiate monastery on the foundations of the monastery church. The choir probably dates from the late 14th century. Of the two originally planned towers, only the southern one was built. The church is built in the Gothic style and was dedicated to St. Juliana . The nave was built at the time of Count Palatine Otto I in the early 15th century and was extended to today's market square under Otto II in 1468, whereby the church was given a basilica character. Inside, a rood screen separated the choir, which was reserved for the canons, from the nave.

The Reformation was officially introduced in 1556, initially according to the Lutheran confession. In 1559 they switched to the Reformed Confession. From 1576 the city was again temporarily Lutheran (until 1583). In the course of the Reformation, the monastery was abolished in 1564. In Mosbach, the Evangelical Reformed Confession prevailed. The property of the monastery was given to the Reformed Church, and it was placed under the management of a monastery shop that still exists today .

To the north of the church was the monastery building, which was connected to the church by an underground passage discovered in 1967. In the Middle Ages, the old inner-city cemetery was attached to the southwest of the church. After a new cemetery was laid out outside the city walls at the Gutleutanlage in 1520 , the old cemetery became the market square, the Church of St. Cecilia, which was also located in the cemetery, was closed during the Reformation and converted into the Mosbach town hall in 1557/58 . Between the collegiate church and the market square, the no longer existing collegiate church was built, which roughly took up the space of the staircase leading from the market square to the collegiate church.

Simultaneous church

In 1685 the Catholic Elector Johann Wilhelm allowed the practice of religion in all denominations. In the Peace of Rijswijk after the War of the Palatinate Succession in 1697, the practice of religion with equal rights was established. In the Electoral Palatinate , common use was prescribed in all places that had only one church ( Simultaneum ). However, since there were still conflicts between the denominations, the elector issued a religious declaration in 1705 . All simultaneous churches should be divided by a wall.

A Franciscan monastery was founded in Mosbach in 1686, primarily at the endeavors of the later official schoolmaster Johann Michael Speicher . The priests had exercised the Catholic pastoral care until 1688, then secular clergy sent by the diocese of Würzburg came into play. Until the introduction of the Simultaneum, the Catholic community used the monastery chapel, then the Julianakirche together with the Reformed community. In 1698 a monastery church was also completed, but this was reserved for the Franciscans, so that the Julianakirche continued to be used simultaneously and was divided as a result of the 1708 declaration. The choir part of the collegiate church was given to the Catholics and separated from the nave reserved for the Protestants by a wall. The Protestants also received the tower with bells from 1580 on the Catholic side . However, the bells were and will also be rung for Catholic services. There were disputes over the separation because of the organ. The instrument was on the Protestant side, the bellows on the Catholic side. After the dispute was settled, the Protestant side built the rood screen into an organ gallery in the 19th century. The abbey courtyard to the south-east of the church was also divided among the denominations.

While in most of the other simultaneous churches the wall has been removed in the meantime, it still exists in the collegiate church today. In 2007, on the 300th anniversary of the separation, the Protestant and Catholic parishes agreed to open the separation wall. The wall was broken through and doors and a few steps were installed, which now connect the Protestant part with the somewhat higher Catholic part. On July 27, 2008, the doors between the two parts of the church were opened for the first time.

Today the collegiate church is the main church of the Protestant parish of Mosbach. The Church of St. Juliana is a branch church of the Catholic parish of St. Cäcilia Mosbach.

Furnishing

The catholic part of the church St. Juliana consists of the old Gothic choir part of the church extended from the west by side chapels . This is divided into four bays , to which a cross vault connects to the east . In the choir is a baroque altar from 1732, as well as the grave slab of Count Palatine Johanna. The other art treasures of the Catholic part also include a richly decorated pulpit as well as baroque altars and historical pictorial decorations in the side chapels.

The evangelical part is formed by the three-aisled nave from 1468 and the church tower. The nave is supported by four rectangular cross- Jochen spans. Architecturally valuable in the evangelical part are the rood screen and the stone Gothic pulpit from 1468, the front of which shows Veronica's handkerchief. The inscriptions indicate the consecration date: Ascension Day (May 26th) 1468, next to it the coat of arms of the Palatinate. Various historical grave slabs found during renovations are set up in the church.

The “Protestant” tower is connected to the “Catholic” choir section to the southeast. Due to the foundation situation on the north side of the choir, it is assumed that a second tower was at least once planned.

In 1958, frescos in the nave were uncovered and restored. A fresco on the north wall shows the sending out of the disciples, whereby Christ and nine of the twelve disciples surrounding him have been preserved. The baptismal order and parts of the creed are written in German, which was a rarity at the time. Under this scene a Madonna in a halo has been preserved. Another fresco on the north wall, probably a once extensive series of pictures on the life story of Jesus, has only survived in fragments. Below is the depiction of a donor couple with five children. On the south wall there is a large fresco with Jesus carrying the cross and a smaller crucifixion scene.

  • Protestant collegiate church

  • pulpit

  • Late baroque pulpit in the collegiate church of St. Juliana

  • Late baroque altar of Mary in the collegiate church of St. Juliana in Mosbach

  • High altar in the collegiate church St. Juliana zu Mosbach

  • Epitaph of the Countess Palatine Johanna von Bayern (1413–1444) in the Church of St. Juliana zu Mosbach

  • Epitaph Speicher (1644–1687) in the collegiate church of St. Juliana zu Mosbachl

literature

  • Rainer Koepke: Evangelical Collegiate Church, Catholic Church St. Juliana, Mosbach (= Schnell Art Guide No. 409). 3rd, completely revised edition. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-7954-4268-2 .
  • Ernst and Dorothee Brüche: The Mosbach Book . Verlag Laub, Elztal-Dallau 1987.
  • Oskar Friedlein: Contributions to the history of the Julianastiftes in Mosbach . In: Freiburger Diözesan-Archiv, Vol. 91 (1971), pp. 106–175 ( Freidok ).

Web links

Commons : Stiftskirche St. Juliana (Mosbach)  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c basic data. Monasteries in Baden-Württemberg, State Archives

Coordinates: 49 ° 21 ′ 9 ″  N , 9 ° 8 ′ 47.5 ″  E