Nordshausen monastery
| Nordshausen monastery | |
|---|---|
 Nordshausen monastery church (drawing by Philipp Hoffmeister 1843) |
|
| location |
 Germany Hessen |
| Lies in the diocese | Archdiocese of Mainz (in the Middle Ages) |
| Coordinates: | 51 ° 16 '49.4 " N , 9 ° 25' 59.2" E |
| Patronage | St. Maria |
| founding year | before 1257 (first mentioned) |
| Year of dissolution / annulment |
1527 |
| Mother monastery | no filiation, but stately establishment in an own church |
|
Daughter monasteries |
no |
The Nordshausen monastery , located at the foot of the Brasselsberg in the Nordshausen district of Kassel , was used as a convent by Cistercian women from around 1257 to 1527 . The monastery church is considered to be the oldest preserved church in today's Kassel city area. Nordshausen was incorporated into Kassel in 1936.
Medieval (building) history
The Cistercian monastery in Nordshausen is first mentioned in a document in 1257 and was very likely a foundation of Count Albert von Schauenburg (later von Wallenstein ). On the southern outer wall of today's nave, preserved stone masonry, walled up arched windows and low supporting pillars still point to a previous building: a Romanesque chapel probably from the 12th century, which is to be regarded as a count's own church, belonging to the neighboring Fronhof (Vogtei). This chapel probably had a flat roof at first, but was vaulted in the course of its redefinition in connection with the tower extension and had an entrance on the north side, the outlines of which became visible during the renovation in 2012. The tower in the style of the Romanesque-early Gothic transition period was added to the chapel in the west before the nuns came to Nordshausen, initially as a defensive tower (various signs and relics suggest this), then after a longer construction break in the context of the founding of the monastery as Bell tower provided (with moderate ornamentation). Political backgrounds probably played a role in this reorientation. Detail forms of its pointed arch windows (acoustic arcades) refer to the middle of the 13th century. The lower part of the tower's masonry shows a mixture of tuff and sandstone blocks, above a visible construction seam only carefully worked sandstone blocks. Because of the extension of the convent house for the nuns (still existing today) and the establishment of a corresponding cloister area (cloister and nuns' cemetery) on the north side, the entrance for the village population was relocated to the south wall of the nave.
For the Cistercian women who came to Nordshausen shortly before 1257, a nuns choir (prayer room) soon had to be built on an initially modest gallery; The elevation of the existing church can still be proven by walled up slim lancet windows and two medium-high supporting pillars. In the 15th century the nave was extended to the east - the two high pillars and above all the double-lane Gothic tracery windows testify to this - based on the model of French Cistercian churches as a simple hall with a flat choir. It was covered with a Gothic ribbed vault, which suffered no loss in World War II and is the only one in Kassel that has been preserved in its original form. With this extension a second increase and at the same time a considerable extension of the nuns choir was connected; it can still be recognized today by the high-lying windows on both sides of the church, which are fitted with the most modern late-Gothic tracery of the time. An entrance connected the gallery directly with the nuns' enclosure, on the outside (not accessible today due to private property) it is still well preserved. From the choir of the church, too, a door led north to the nuns' cemetery, which was part of the cloister, and to the economy, whose stables and warehouses formed an incomplete rectangle around the interior; after the Reformation it was closed by the new owner Johann von Nordeck with conspicuous red sandstone blocks, as were the other openings on the north side.
The walled-in entrance was reopened in 2012 as part of a comprehensive redesign of the north side by the Friends of the Culture and Social Center Klosterkirche Nordshausen eV. This area of a “meditative path” was also equipped with a bronze sculpture by Gisela Eufe from Worpswede , a winged figure with the title “The Messenger”, which invites reflection. Around 1495 (inscription above the portal) the southern entrance to the church was given its current late Gothic portal shape, which already refers to the Renaissance ; In 1957 it was moved to the tower to make more space for the church interior.
Legends about the monastery church
There are legends about the old church. One is about a nun who, as a headless spirit, is said to have been up to mischief at the church at night. Others are more profound and more expressive (see Philipp Hoffmeister: Sagen, 1869). In Pastor Hoffmeister's chronicle of the monastery church, written around 1858, the rumor of a secret passage that is said to have connected the former monastery with the former monastery of Weißenstein (Wilhelmshöhe), which was inhabited by monks, is also cited - a well-known hiking legend, which is rumored in many historical places. Apart from that, Weißenstein was already rededicated as a women's monastery at the time the Nordshausen monastery was founded.
History of impact and current state
After the Reformation , which Landgrave Philip I introduced in Hesse , the monastery was dissolved and privatized in 1527. Johann von Nordeck, Chancellor of the Landgrave, acquired the convent house with parts of the monastery garden in order to set it up as a retirement home for his parents. The grave slab of his father Friedrich Nordeck, which stages politically explosive symbols, is in the tower hall.
Among other things, the three pointed arcades of the portico on the east side of the convent house were bricked up, which the nuns - next to their cemetery inside the building - served as a short rain-protected cloister. Instead, on the left (immediately next to the north wall of the church), a wide gateway for deliveries was broken; Devices for lifting loads are still preserved. The church was given to the Lutheran congregation and is still a Protestant parish church today. The monastery economy (whose successor farm from 1855 is still in the same place) was kept in operation, the proceeds went to the newly founded University of Marburg. Some of the stables that adjoined the north-east wall of the church have been abandoned.
Around 1858, the pastor of Nordhausen at the time, Philipp Hoffmeister - who made a name for himself as a draftsman, naturalist and collector of legends and was also the storyteller of the Brothers Grimm - created a detailed chronicle of the monastery church, which was actually intended for printing. It didn't come to that. One of the two handwritten versions is kept in the regional church archive, the more recent, a revised fair copy, in the Murhard library.
In 1905 the church was completely renovated and the sacristy was rebuilt. The large, three-lane tracery window on the eastern choir wall received its late Nazarene style Bible window shortly before 1900, which also survived the war without damage. A simple roof turret without a bell was attached to the tower; the stepped gable was probably built around 1500, as drawings from around 1700 suggest, it was rebuilt and completed in a simplified form around 1880. After the Second World War, the gallery was shortened and the main entrance was relocated to the tower.
From the once closed monastery complex only the church, the building of the convent house (private property), a considerable part of the monastery wall and the tithe barn , which was converted into a parish hall in the course of the post-war renovation from 1957 to 1960, remain today. In order to secure the preservation of the church, the "Kulturstiftung Klosterkirche Nordshausen" was founded in 2003, which tries to raise the necessary funds through concerts and other cultural events. Since 2004, the “Friends of the Culture and Social Center Klosterkirche Nordshausen eV” has been dedicated to the history and use of the medieval ensemble. From 2006, a monastery garden was laid out for visitors in the south of the church based on the basic ideas of the St. Gallen monastery plan, which was redesigned in 2013 with considerable effort. The association is also a sponsor and publisher u. a. a monograph by Josef Mense ( Die Klosterkirche Nordshausen. From the beginnings of the Cistercian monastery to today's Protestant parish ), which summarizes the result of many years of well-founded studies in a critical examination of the previous representations.
Special sights
In the so-called "Second Reformation", Landgrave Moritz introduced the Calvinist Reformed creed as the state religion to the scholars in Hessen-Kassel (1605), which meant that all existing wall paintings were whitewashed as well as all movable cult objects removed from the service room, except for a cross.
This also applied to the baptismal fonts, which were replaced by the use of baptismal bowls. Curiously enough, there are three baptismal fonts from three epochs in the monastery church. Their complex history can be read in the book by Josef Mense: “Medieval Pictorial Worlds.” The two older baptismal fonts (late Romanesque and Renaissance) are among others. a. interesting because of their number-symbolic dimensions.
In addition, the church has several remarkable keystones and capitals, including two faces of Christ, which are out of the ordinary in terms of form, but also because of a very reflective theology. A small, expressive depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus on the southern exterior indicates the time of the plague. Three grave slabs, all of which differ from the usual in their own special way, each tell a very profound story. The history of theology from the 15th to the 18th century can be practically traced on the basis of three murals exposed in 2013. Climbing the tower leads to two bells that reveal unusual stories: one is the re-casting of a medieval bell that burst when it was rung during a funeral; the other is a Silesian “loan bell” that came from the Hamburg bell cemetery after the war.
literature
in order of appearance
- Philipp Hoffmeister : Some notes about the church in Nordshausen, the monastery and the so-called good born there . o. O. [Nordshausen] o. J. [around 1858] [Manuscript, handed down in two versions, in the regional church archive in Kassel and in the Murhard library in Kassel].
- Philipp Hoffmeister : Hessian folk poetry in legends and fairy tales, swaying and purring etc. Ehrhardt, Marburg 1869.
- Alois Holtmeyer : The architectural and art monuments in the administrative district of Cassel , edited on behalf of the district association of the administrative district of Cassel. Vol. 4: District of Cassel-Land . Marburg 1910, pp. 113-123, panels 67-77.
- Carl Schäfer : History and description of the Nordshausen monastery . In: Ders .: Of German Art. Collected essays and posthumous writings . Berlin 1910, pp. 1–7, plate 1.
- Karl-Hermann Wegner: Nordshausen - a village within the city . Kassel 1984.
- Förderverein Kultur- und Sozialzentrum Klosterkirche Nordshausen eV (Ed.): "Capellam ..., que dicitur Nordershusen". 750 years of Nordshausen monastery in front of Kassel . Kassel 2008.
- Josef Mense: The Nordshausen monastery church. From the beginnings of the Cistercian monastery to today's Protestant parish . Kassel 2017.
- Josef Mense: Medieval imagery. A special kind of travel guide for North Hesse and the surrounding landscapes . Kassel 2018.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ "Nordshausen, Cistercian Convent, City of Kassel". Historical local dictionary for Hessen. (As of June 25, 2014). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
- ↑ See, inter alia, the website of the Nordshausen monastery church .
- ^ Josef Mense: The monastery church Nordshausen. Kassel 2017.