Niedermünster Abbey (Alsace)
Niedermünster (French: Niedermunster ) is a former Benedictine monastery and today a historic site at the upper end of a secluded Vosges valley near the French commune of Saint-Nabor in the Bas-Rhin department ( Alsace ).
history
The monastery dates back to a hospital hospice that St. Odilia founded between 700 and 710 at the foot of Mount Odile . A few years later, this hospice was expanded into a monastery under the direction of St. Gundelinde , a niece of Odilia. From its foundation up to 1017 it was dependent on the sister abbey Hohenburg (Odilienberg). In 1017 independence was guaranteed by the free choice of the abbess and a bailiff . The importance of the abbey declined in the 14th century. When the church and the abbey building burned down in 1542, they were no longer rebuilt.
One of the abbesses was Margareta Senn von Münsingen (died 1379).
Founding legend
Niedermünster was in possession of a valuable cross reliquary that came to the Jesuit church in Molsheim after the fire in 1542 and was kept there until the revolution . According to the founding legend of the monastery, Hugo von Tours received the relic from Charlemagne , who in turn received it from the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Hugo had the precious cross-shaped reliquary made for the relic, and in order to find a worthy place for it, he loaded it on a camel. When this stopped at the foot of Mount Odile, he saw in it the sign of the foundation of the monastery. The camel with the cross became the symbol of Niedermünster's coat of arms.
description
Today only the ruins of the monastery church have survived, but they still give a good idea of the once important complex. The church was built between 1160 and 1180. It was a three-aisled groin vaulted basilica with a transept and a rectangular choir with a crypt . A double tower facade with a vestibule and gallery formed the west end with pilaster strips and round arch friezes . The nave was designed in a bound system (two aisle bays per main aisle bay), correspondingly cross pillars alternated with columns. Stylistically and qualitatively there is a close relationship to the nearby church in Rosheim .
Saint-Nicolas chapel
A few hundred meters down the valley is the Romanesque chapel Saint-Nicolas, rebuilt in the 19th century, with a flat-roofed hall and choir tower.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tina Maurer: Senn von Münsingen. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . December 18, 2012 , accessed July 6, 2020 .
- ↑ Felix Wolff: An old glass window from the monastery church in Niedermünster . In: The arts and crafts in Alsace-Lorraine , 3rd year 1902–1903, pp. 141–155 ( digitized version )
Coordinates: 48 ° 26 ′ 6 ″ N , 7 ° 24 ′ 30 ″ E