Munster Schwarzach

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Munster Schwarzach from the southeast

The Münsterschwarzach in the district Schwarzach the community Rheinmünster is the Church of St. Peter and Paul of the former Benedictine Abbey Schwarzach, which is 826 mentioned for the first time. The Romanesque cathedral in Schwarzach should not be confused with the Benedictine abbey of Münsterschwarzach in Bavaria .

History of the monastery

The baroque monastery gate
Baroque Offizin from the monastery Schwarzach, now in the German Pharmacy Museum

The Arnulfsau monastery near Stollhofen , founded by Count Ruthard around 748/749, was later relocated here. In the Pirminsvita, written at the end of the 9th century, Suarzaha (Schwarzach) is mentioned as the foundation of Pirmin . The monastery was first mentioned in a document in 826. When the place Schwarzach am Kloster emerged cannot be determined with certainty. When the Benedictines founded the monastery on the Schwarzen Ache, Schwarzach did not yet exist.

After the destruction of the Carolingian predecessor building of the Strasbourg Cathedral , Emperor Heinrich II handed the monastery over to Werner I von Habsburg , Bishop of Strasbourg, in 1014 to finance the new building.

In 1032 King Konrad II gave the monastery as a fief to the bishops of Speyer , who financially exploited the monastery. Only Heinrich IV released the monastery from the fiefdom of Speyer. For 1143, historiography reports the arrival of a new abbot, Konrad from Hirsau. The beginning of today's church building in the spirit of the Hirsau reform could be ascribed to his measures or those of his successor Hiltibert . In the 13th century, the abbey had to deal with its bailiffs , especially the knights of Windeck . The further lordship of the monastery is difficult. Over the centuries, the monastery complained against the sovereign rights derived from the margraves of Baden from their patronage over the monastery that had existed since 1422. A trial before the Reich Chamber of Commerce in Wetzlar was not decided by the end of the monastery. The monastery suffered destruction from the Peasants 'War in 1525 and the Thirty Years' War . In 1653 the bones of Saint Rufina were transferred to Schwarzach, which brought about a revival of monastic life. The monastery was also damaged in the Palatinate War of Succession 1688–1697, but was renovated all the more splendidly in the Baroque style around 1724/32 according to plans by Peter Thumb . In 1802/03 secularization ended the existence of the Schwarzach monastery; Baden took over the property and the building complex. Parts of the abbot's jewels were reused in the Baden crown. Apart from the church, only a few administrative and farm buildings with the monastery portal from the years 1761 to 1790 remain of the former monastery complex.

Church building

As the fourth church at this point, the building that is preserved today, which is a late example of the Hirsau building school , was built around 1140 to 1190, the vault in the sanctuary may have been drawn in a little later. In the absence of written sources and exact construction studies, the construction period was determined by comparing them with buildings with similar styles. The Worms Cathedral occupies a key position in the region, which earlier led to a late dating around 1220. Since the 1980s, however, the assumption that the Worms Cathedral was largely completed in 1181 has proven itself. The older dates of numerous buildings on the Upper Rhine must therefore be checked. The church is the only large-scale Romanesque building on the Upper Rhine made of brick . On the east side you can see that the earliest components are made of red sandstone , but halfway up the material changes to brick. The west facade, on the other hand, is again entirely made of sandstone. You can still see the beginnings of a vestibule on its wall. The west portal has a tympanum with Christ between the apostles Peter and Paul. The nave of the flat-roofed columned basilica is richly decorated dice and cup block capitals , as can be seen in the second half of the 12th century in the vicinity of Worms and Strasbourg often. Only the altar house is vaulted with ribs . The side aisles of the altarpiece end in apses ; originally two more apses were added to the transverse arms, so that an impressive east elevation with five apses was created (reconstructed). The churches of reform-oriented Benedictine monasteries in Gengenbach, Hirsau and Alpirsbach, for example, show similar floor plans and elevations. Gothic pointed arches can be found on the sound windows of the later built crossing tower. Parts of the choir stalls date from the Renaissance, while the high altar, which is moved into the left transept arm, dates from 1752 and the organ on the west gallery dates from the Baroque. The current shape, which is supposed to convey a true-to-style image of Romanesque architecture, can be traced back to a restoration in the 1960s, during which baroque and historical furnishings were removed or implemented.

literature

  • Ulrich Coenen: The architecture of the northern Ortenau. Monuments in Bühl, Bühlertal, Ottersweier, Lichtenau, Rheinmünster and Sinzheim. Verlag Badische Latest Nachrichten, Karlsruhe-Neureut 1993, ISBN 3-927725-14-5 .
  • Walter Hotz : Worms Building School 1000–1250 , Darmstadt 1985.
  • Peter Marzolff : The Schwarzach Abbey Church ( large architectural monuments , issue 237). Munich / Berlin 1976.
  • Rüdiger Becksmann : The Schwarzacher head. An Ottonian glass painting find , in: Kunstchronik 23, 1970, pp. 3–9, 13–16 (reprinted in: Arnold Tschira, The former Benediktinerabtei Schwarzach , 2nd edition Karlsruhe 1977, pp. 87–91)
  • Arnold Tschira : The former Benedictine Abbey Schwarzach , 2nd modified and expanded edition, Karlsruhe 1977, published by the Institute for Building History at the University of Karlsruhe and the Koldewey Society, Konkordia GmbH for printing and publishing in Bühl / Baden.
  • Rüdiger Becksmann, new acquisitions. Karlsruhe, Baden State Museum. Das Schwarzacher Köpfchen , in: Yearbook of the State Art Collections in Baden-Württemberg 44, 2007, pp. 131–132.
  • Peter Marzolff: The early medieval abbey of Schwarzach , in: Wolfgang Müller (Hrsg.): The monasteries of the Ortenau (The Ortenau 58). Offenburg 1978, pp. 243-262.
  • S. Gartner: Schwarzach Monastery (Rheinmünster) , in: Wolfgang Müller (Hrsg.): The monasteries of the Ortenau (The Ortenau 58). Offenburg 1978, pp. 263-341.
  • H. Schmid: The secularization of the monasteries in Baden 1802-1811. Überlingen 1980, pp. 199-202.
  • Werner Scheurer : Abbey Church of St. Peter and Paul Schwarzach. Fink, Lindenberg 1996. 2nd edition 2007.
  • Sabine Bengel: The Strasbourg Cathedral , Petersberg 2011.
  • Martin Walter (Ed.): Münster and Schwarzach Monastery - History, Architecture and the Present. (= Special publication of the Rastatt district archive, volume 12.) BadnerBuch-Verlag, Rastatt 2016.

Web links

Commons : Klosterkirche Schwarzach  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Hans Jänichen , Warin, Rudhart and Scrot. Property historical considerations on the early history of Buchau Abbey. In: Journal for Württemberg State History . Vol. 14, 1955, pp. 372-384
  2. Dethard von Winterfeld: The cathedral of Worms. Königstein im Taunus 1989, p. 10 f.

Coordinates: 48 ° 44 ′ 45 ″  N , 8 ° 2 ′ 52 ″  E