Petersberg Monastery (Petersberg)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Collegiate Basilica of St. Peter in the aerial view from the southeast
Main nave with a view towards the choir
Cenotaph of Hans Walther II, around 1567

The Petersberg Monastery (formerly Lauterberg Monastery ) on the highest elevation of the Saalekreis, the Petersberg in the Petersberg community , has been a monastery of the Christ Brotherhood Selbitz community since 1999 . Almost a thousand years ago as the hereditary burial place of the Wettins to maintain the Wettin memory of the dead and to consolidate the place as a religious and ideal representational center of the Wettin rulership, it houses among other things the grave of the founder of the uninterrupted Wettin rule in the male line up to the end of the monarchy in 1918: the Grave site of Konrad the Great and his wife Luitgard, b. by Ravenstein.

history

middle Ages

Until the late Middle Ages, the Petersberg was only known as Lauterberg (the name Petersberg did not appear until the 14th century). Archaeologists suspect a fortified hilltop settlement on the mountain, which was expanded into a Slavic cult site during the 8th and 9th centuries. Apparently a refuge with its ramparts enclosed a Slavic sanctuary, which was located on the highest elevation of the Slavic populated land between Harz and Oder , the Ore Mountains and the Baltic Sea .

Around 1100 the Archdiocese of Magdeburg built a small chapel on the Lauterberg . Remains of this round, Romanesque Cappella vetus (Latin, "old chapel") can still be seen in the monastery cemetery today. The Lauterberg chronicler reported in 1124 that the brother Conrad the Great , Count Dedo IV of Wettin , founded an Augustinian canon consecrated to Simon Peter on the mons serenus (Lauterberg) and transferred part of the income from his allodial property to him. After King Heinrich IV. (HRR) had blocked the Wettins from any expansion of their territory west of the Saale since 1069, the orientation of the Wettins to the area east of the Saale and to the highest elevation of the Saalekreis seemed to make sense for the establishment of a monastery: They wanted to be here in create a worthy burial site near their ancestral castle Wettin , which was to serve, among other things, to maintain the Wettin commemoration of the dead and to strengthen the place as a religious and ideal representation center for the exercise of Wettin rule. It made sense to connect to an existing cult site. The old chapel could be used as a place of worship until the monastery basilica was built. The Christianization of the still largely pagan Slavic population around the Petersberg presented a great challenge. The then ascetic movement of Christianity contributed to seeing every possible expansion of monastic settlements as a religious duty. On the advice of the bishops of Magdeburg and Merseburg, Count Dedo IV. Von Wettin also accepted his wife Bertha, whom he had rejected, with honor before his pilgrimage to the Holy Land . The pilgrimage and the founding of the Lauterberger Stift can therefore also be seen as an atonement for the wrongdoings that he committed against his wife. He appointed his brother Konrad Margrave von Meissen to carry out the pious project. However, since Dedo IV died on the way back from Jerusalem, Conrad the Great put his brother's wish into practice. He is therefore seen as the actual founder of the Augustinian Canons Monastery of Petersberg .

Konrad referred to himself as Marchio Saxioniae (lat., "Margrave of Saxony") and as "by God's grace among the princes of Saxony the sole owner and protector of the Mark Meissen " (who also belonged to his homeland, the County of Wettin). He became the most powerful prince between Saale and Oder, took part in the Wendenkreuzzug to Christianize the Slavs in 1147 and promoted his salvation in 1145 by visiting the holy places in Jerusalem. Konrad and his wife Luitgard (Lukardis) endow the regulated Petersberg monastery, which was confirmed by Honorius II (Pope) on March 7, 1128 and at the same time became the property and protection of the Holy See , with extensive property: the chapels in Löbejün at 26 Hooves, in Ostrau with 4 hooves and 120 hooves from his own property. Through his wife Luitgard Margravine von Meißen, the monastery received 18 Hufen in Hitzkendorf, 13 Hufen in Salzmünde, 6 Hufen in Uden, 5 Hufen in Pfützthal and 2 Hufen in Plötz. Konrad granted the Lautenberg Convention the right to freely elect the provost , but he was actively involved in the electoral process in 1128, 1137 and 1151. He placed the ecclesiastical jurisdiction and the right of consecration in the hands of the Archbishop of Magdeburg . He claimed the bailiff for himself and his descendants. Until 1224, due to the high proportion of Slavic residents, missionary tasks were in the foreground. Just as Konrad and his wife equipped the monastery with possessions, their descendants have repeatedly given rights and property to the monastery.

Built in 1124 as a house monastery and burial place for the Wettins , construction of the collegiate church of St. Petrus finally began in 1142 . The three-aisled, cross-shaped basilica has an unusual floor plan because of its location on the ridge: the nave is only a little longer than the transverse tower , the aisles appear too wide. On the mountainside that arose exam with multiple basement levels.

“This is how things change in the world that has had a long time
now becomes a monk; the lion as lying still like a lamb. "

- Popular saying

Conrad the Great did not live to see the completion of the collegiate church St. Petrus in 1184. When he felt his near end, for which he had done everything as a margrave, as a count, as a founder of spiritual institutions, as a promoter of the German eastern settlement in this world in accordance with the Roman Catholic faith and his ideas, he consciously prepared himself for a life beyond . With the consent of Emperor Friedrich I (HRR), he arranged his succession and divided his imperial fiefs and allodial counties among his five sons. In November 1156 he laid down the arms and symbols of his worldly power in a solemn form in the cathedral in Meissen and went to the Petersberg Monastery on the Lauterberg, which he and his wife had so richly appointed for himself and his descendants as well as those of their followers as the new burial site and whose prosperous development he was always concerned about (he donated three altars on the occasion of the funeral of his wife Luitgard (Lukardis) in 1145 and had them equipped with 18 hooves and in 1149 dissolved the Niemegk monastery founded by his parents and dissolved its property Petersberg Monastery as a gift). He took off the margrave's clothes in front of the altar of St. Peter. Archbishop Wichmann dressed him on St. Andrea's Day , November 30, 1156, in the simple, spiritual monk's robe . He was able to visit his wife's grave every day, his soul and the daily needs of life were taken care of in a regular way. However, Konrad did not live long in the monastery. He died three months later, on February 5, 1157. Archbishop Wichmann buried him in the middle of the not yet completed collegiate church St. Petrus, where on his right Luitgard (Lukardis) Margravine von Meißen, nee. Ravenstein and after her on the same side his sister Mathilde, Wichmann's mother, had been buried. With the exception of Otto I (the rich), his sons and numerous guests took part. The Lauterberg chronicler described the situation as follows: “God wanted Konrad to be recalled, since he was still glowing from his first spiritual zeal, and not to subject him to the temptation to see his sons in princely honors, his former servants in splendor and splendor, while he himself was very poor, and therefore soon let him go from the 'evil world' to the bliss he deserved. "

From 1145 to 1217 ten members of the Wettin family from four generations were buried in two rows under the floor of the nave between the second and third pair of pillars. Although Konrad the Great had designated the collegiate church as the hereditary burial place of his family, he was the first and at the same time the last Margrave of Meissen to be buried here.

Modern times

General view of the monastery ruins, around 1830

After the Reformation , the secularized property of the monastery was formed into the Petersberg district of Saxony . On August 31, 1565, the church tower was almost completely destroyed by a lightning strike and the collegiate church with many farm buildings by the subsequent fire. The Wettin coffins were also badly affected. The collegiate church has been restored, but the division of pillars in the central nave has been moved further apart. In 1567, Elector August von Sachsen had the cenotaph Domus Sepulturae built by Hans Walther II over the graves of his ancestors .

In 1697 the Petersberg office was sold to Brandenburg-Prussia and was affiliated to the Saalkreis in the Duchy of Magdeburg . Only when Goethe and Schinkel campaigned to secure the ruins after a visit at the beginning of the 19th century did the Prussian state funds reconstruct the collegiate church of St. Petrus almost true to the original from 1853 to 1857 (status: 1565). The cenotaph, which was built later, was therefore moved to the west wall of the collegiate church, and the sandstone coffins were also opened. New grave slabs, five with personal reliefs (Konrad the Great, Lukardis and their three life-size sons), were made; on the others only crosses with decorative elements can be seen. The burial chapel was torn down. In the presence of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV , the ceremonial inauguration of the reconstructed collegiate church of St. Peter took place on September 8, 1857.

After increasing deterioration and increasing weather damage, the roof was re-covered with slate from 1965 to 1966 and then the interior was extensively renovated. In addition to the painting and removal of the furnishings from 1857, the choir floor was returned to the medieval horizon and new brick slabs were laid throughout the monastery church. During the complete restoration, which lasted until 1971, archaeological investigations were carried out by the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin, Department of Art History. As a result, the grave slabs were removed from the nave and placed on the south and west walls of the collegiate church in the order from left to right: Luitgard (Lukardis), Konrad the Great, Mathilde, Heinrich I, Heinrich II., Dietrich III., Friedrich I. and Heinrich III. Since then, the original grave has been marked by the simple stone slabs embedded in the floor with names and years of death.

After the fall of the Wall, the Collegiate Basilica of St. Peter was connected to the Romanesque Road . Since March 1999 brothers and since October 2012 also sisters of the Evangelical Lutheran Community Christ Brotherhood Selbitz have lived in the old abbey. The extension building started in 2008 with a new prayer room is used.

The monastery complex is the property of the Petersberg Church Foundation.

Community Christ Brotherhood Selbitz

The Community Christ Brotherhood Selbitz is an order within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. With three public prayer times in the collegiate church of St. Peter, she invites guests and people from the area to daily prayer. Ora-et-labora weeks, retreats, contemplative weekends, fasting and silent retreats, Ignatian individual retreats and short contemplative retreats, pilgrimage days and meditative dance as well as pastoral weeks are offered. The community also welcomes individual guests who would like to treat themselves to a time of quiet and contemplation.

Web links

Commons : Petersberg Monastery (Saalekreis)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Chronicon Montis Sereni. In: Monumenta Germaniae historica. Scriptores Volume 23, Hannover 1874, pp. 130-226. (now also in German: Chronik vom Petersberg , translated by W. Kirsch, Halle 1996).
  • HG Bothe: Brief historical description of the former famous Augustinian monastery on the Petersberg. Hall 1748.
  • FA Ritter: The monastery church on the Petersberg near Halle and its restoration in the years 1853 to 1857. In: Zeitschrift für Bauwesen. 8, 1858 pp. 31-64.
  • Zeitschrift für Bauwesen 1858 issue 1 situation plan ; History of: Chapel, monastery and monastery church, burial chapel; Probes and gentlemen; Reporting of the pr. Restoration building - by Mr. Ritter, pages 17–34, (pdf)
  • Zeitschrift für Bauwesen 1858, Atlas , pages 17-20, (construction) drawings (pdf)
  • A. Nebel: The beginnings and the ecclesiastical legal status of the Augustinian canons of St. Peter on the Lauterberge (Petersberg near Halle). In: Thuringian-Saxon magazine for history and art. 6, 1916 pp. 113-176.
  • R. Spindler: The monastery on the Petersberg near Halle. Its building history up to the restoration by Schinkel. Berlin 1918.
  • Hans-Joachim Krause: The Romance cloister on the Petersberg near Halle. In: Art of the Middle Ages in Saxony. Festschrift Wolf Schubert. Weimar 1967, pp. 60-85.
  • Hans-Joachim Krause: The collegiate church on the Petersberg near Halle. Berlin 1974 (The Christian Monument)
  • Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments. Saxony-Anhalt II. Administrative districts Dessau and Halle. Munich, Berlin 1999, pp. 650-654.
  • Gerlinde Schlenker, Axel Voigt: Konrad I, Margrave of Meißen and the Saxon Ostmark. Hall 2007.
  • Hans-Joachim Krause: The collegiate church on the Petersberg near Halle. Regensburg 2012.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ludwig Puttrich : Monuments of the architecture of the Middle Ages in Saxony. 1. Department: The Kingdom of Saxony, the Grand Duchy and the Duchies of the Ernestine Line, together with Anhalt, Schwarzburg, Reuss. Volume 1: The castle church in Wechselburg . Leipzig 1836–1843. P. 2.
  2. Petersberg. Former Augustinian Monastery Church of St. Peter. In: Straße der Romanik Halle 2005, p. 173.
  3. Gerlinde Schlenker / Axel Voigt: Konrad I. Margrave of Meißen and the Saxon Ostmark, ed. Church Foundation Petersberg, 2007, p. 13
  4. Nebel, Arthur, The beginnings and the ecclesiastical legal status of the Augustinian canons of St. Peter on the Lauterberg (Petersberg near Halle), in: Thüringisch-Sächsische Zeitschrift, Vol. VI, Halle 1916, p. 134
  5. See Cronica Montis Sereni, p. 12; Pätzold, St., 1997, pp. 301ff .; Schlenker, G .., Schellbach, A., Junghans, W., In the footsteps of the Wettins in Saxony-Anhalt, Halle 1998, p. 134
  6. See CdSR, 1.Hptt., 2. Vol., No. 73, p. 59; Cronica Montis Sereni, pp. 12f .; Pätzold, St., 1997, p. 192f.
  7. Konrad I. Margrave of Meißen and the Saxon Ostmark, ed. Church Foundation Petersberg, 2007, p. 29
  8. Cronica Montis Sereni, p. 39
  9. See Cronica Sereni, p. 41
  10. See ibid., P. 40; Wichmann, CR, Chronicle of the Petersberg near Halle adS, Halle 1857
  11. ^ The Petersberg Office on the homepage of the State Archive of Saxony-Anhalt
  12. Gerhard Leopold: Archaeological research on medieval buildings. In: Monuments in Saxony-Anhalt Weimar 1983, pp. 177–178.
  13. Petersberg Monastery grows after 800 years. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on October 14, 2010 ; Retrieved February 9, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.halleforum.de

Coordinates: 51 ° 35 '47.3 "  N , 11 ° 57' 12.9"  E