Wechselburg Abbey

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Romanesque basilica of the Holy Cross (monastery and parish church)
Rood screen pulpit
Rood screen
Choir
Main altar
Side altar
Grave of Dedo von Groitzsch

Wechselburg Monastery , formerly also known as Zschillen Monastery , is a Benedictine monastery in Wechselburg in Saxony . It belongs to the Bavarian Benedictine Congregation . As a late Romanesque basilica, the collegiate church of the monastery is one of the best preserved large Romanesque buildings east of the Saale. The rood screen with its sculptures is one of the most outstanding examples of German art of the 13th century.

history

Dedo von Rochlitz-Groitzsch founded the monastery , which was partially consecrated by Gerung around 1168 (eastern section of the late Romanesque basilica) as a house monastery. Monastery life according to the rules of St. Augustine began shortly after 1174 (monks from the Augustinian canons monastery Petersberg near Halle ). The completion of the construction of the three-aisled pillar basilica must be assumed around 1200. The convent buildings seem to have been erected only afterwards. Margrave Heinrich the Illustrious handed the monastery over to the Teutonic Knight Order in 1278 . In 1543 the monastery and all its possessions fell to Duke Moritz of Saxony , who immediately secularized it and exchanged it for the Lords of Schönburg for the places Hohnstein , Wehlen and Lohmen in what is now Saxon Switzerland . Therefore, the name Wechselburg came up for the place and the monastery complex. The Teutonic Order tried unsuccessfully until 1570 to get the monastery back by legal means.

Carl Heinrich Alban Graf von Schönburg-Fordglauchau (1804–1864) allowed private Catholic devotions to be held in the basilica since 1843. His son Carl Heinrich Wolf Wilhelm Franz Graf von Schönburg-Fordglauchau (1832–1898) and his wife Adelheid Countess von Rechteren-Limpurg (1845–1873) converted to Catholicism on March 19, 1869 in Rome during a trip to Italy . This sparked a dispute that lasted for decades: the Protestant regional church suspected that the Schoenburgers "were secretly turning the castle church into a public Catholic place of worship ... and were trying to silently remove the rights of the Protestant church to it". In addition, a Lourdes grotto was built in the castle park , and Corpus Christi processions have been taking place in the open air in the castle park since around 1879 ; probably the only such event in Protestant Saxony. Actually, only people from the count's family and household were allowed to take part, but this event increasingly attracted other visitors (especially migrant workers from southern Germany, Italy and Poland). On Corpus Christi 1900, the Leipzig district administration banned unauthorized persons from entering the palace gardens, threatened the count with a 100 Mark fine for each violation, and dispatched a police presence ("Wechselburger Kulturkampf"). Eventually the Schönburgers and the ministry came to an agreement; public Catholic masses were now allowed to take place. Officially a Roman Catholic parish church and also a place of pilgrimage , however, the basilica only became after the Second World War . Since then it has been one of two pilgrimage churches in the Free State of Saxony and the Diocese of Dresden-Meißen .

The collegiate church was badly damaged in the last days of the war by explosions of ammunition on the roof. There was consequential damage to the 19th century painting. A temporary roof was erected in 1946, restoration work began in 1953 and continued until 1965.

On August 28, 1993, the feast of St. Augustine, Benedictine monks of Ettal Abbey re- founded the Wechselburg monastery as a monastery settlement. The six monks run a youth and family home and are involved in pilgrimage and pastoral care. The monastery has been expanded since 2010. Father Georg Roß referred to the centuries of pilgrimage tradition in Wechselburg.

As part of the 2010 has become publicly known cases of abuse in Catholic institutions , which is also the parent Kloster Ettal concern, three monks were the Convention of Kloster Wechselburg suspended. Father Georg, who admitted sexual abuse in 2015 and was excluded from the order, had been assigned to youth work in Wechselburg . In 2016 he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment by the Regional Court Munich II .

On the consecration day of the Wechselburg basilica, September 14, 2012, the monastery was raised to a dependent priory of the Ettal Abbey in a solemn service by the emeritus Bishop Joachim Reinelt . The former headmaster and prior of Ettal P. Maurus Kraß OSB was appointed first prior of the monastery and thus deputy of the abbot of Ettal.

On September 16, 2018, the monastery church was elevated to a minor basilica by Pope Francis .

architecture

The monastery church is a late Romanesque basilica and is one of the best preserved Romanesque churches east of the Saale. It was already under construction in 1160, was partially consecrated in 1168 and must have been finished in the last quarter of the 12th century. At the same time and soon afterwards, the construction of the monastery buildings south of the church took place. The rood screen was installed around 1230/35 . The vaulting of the crossing and the arms of the transept took place in the first quarter of the 15th century; the nave vault is dated 1476.

The church is a cruciform pillar basilica with a total length of 54 meters with a main apse and a northern side apse. The apse in the south arm of the transept was later demolished and is indicated as a niche inside. In the west there is a stately tower made of unplastered ashlar masonry, which represents the Lower Saxon western bar type . Today it is only as high as the central nave and covered with a gable roof, but originally had octagonal attachments similar to the Neuwerkkirche in Goslar , which were probably removed in the 15th century. In the middle there is an impressive round window.

A double portal on the north aisle with a two-bay porch is richly decorated. The arched fields show reliefs with the battle of the basilisk against a lion and on the right the Lamb of God . In addition to motifs from Lower Saxony, the capitals show Upper Rhine and French influences.

The well-proportioned interior shows on the pillars of the five arcades of the nave, edge columns and carved profiles . Originally there was a three-aisled hall crypt under the choir, which was demolished in 1683; today the choir is almost at ground level with the nave. The west building opens to the ship with a large arch. A west gallery, which is supported by a double arcade, is inserted in the arch. The colourfulness of the white plastered surfaces and the red and white joint network painted stone parts corresponds to the original condition, but it was very likely that it was originally enlivened by wall paintings.

Furnishing

The art-historically most valuable piece of equipment is the rood screen with a triumphal cross group, made around 1230–1240. Around 1971/1972 it was rebuilt in its original location from largely preserved stone after it had been torn apart in 1863 and used partly as a pulpit and partly as an altar structure. The ingredients from 1971 were made in colored lime stucco.

The iconographic program relates to Christ's sacrificial death and to the sacrifice of the mass on the cross altar, left and right are depicted in high relief Abraham and Melchizedek . In the spandrels above the leaf arch Cain and Abel are shown with their offerings. On the front of the pulpit the elevated Christ is depicted with the evangelist symbols. In the pulpit, the sacrifice of Isaac and the exaltation of the brazen serpent by Moses are dramatically depicted. In the blind arcades depictions of Daniel , David as well as Solomon and a prophet (possibly Ezekiel ) can be found.

The crucifixion group shows Mary and John under the crucified Christ, who is carried and venerated by two approaching angels. In the upper end of the cross God the Father is shown with the dove of the Holy Spirit, below the cross the awakening Adam . Maria and John are into kings, which probably symbolize the conquered pagan and Judaism. Stylistically, the crucifixion group is related to the roughly simultaneous triumphal cross groups in Freiberg and Halberstadt cathedral from the first third of the 13th century. The monumentality and the scenic reference of the figures are reminiscent of French works around the same time, without any direct influence being detectable.

Groitzsch burial place with sheet mask

The tomb of the donor couple Dedo von Groitzsch († 1190) and his wife Mechthild († 1189) is only slightly younger than the rood screen sculptures and comes from the same tradition. The tomb is stylistically related to the cenotaph of Wiprecht von Groitzsch in the Laurentiuskirche in Pegau . The tumba in its current form dates from 1846.

A holy water basin and a porphyry baptismal font have also been preserved from the Romanesque period, but they come from the church in the Jerisau district of Glauchau .

A late Gothic carved altar from the district of Zaasch von Wiedemar from around 1510 has been installed in the main apse since 1979 . In the predella it shows female half-figures, in the shrine a Madonna with Mauritius, two bishops and Laurentius, and on the wings figures of the apostles in two rows. The first change shows painted representations of the Passion of Christ, the second the Christmas story.

In the north apse, parts of a carved altar from around 1510 are set up. This altar shows in the shrine an indefinable saint and the saints Blasius and Martin as well as Anna selbdritt and Maria Magdalena in the wings .

In the south apse is a neo-Romanesque representation of the angel's greeting with the miraculous image of Mary of Perpetual Help . In the southern transept is a representation of is the Sorrowful Christ from around 1500. An organ of the company Jehmlich of 1980 with 12 registers was Winfried Schrammek based on principles of medieval organ building scheduled .

Timetable

Augustinian Canons (1168–1278)

  • 1174–1189 First Provost: Thiedrich (Dietrich) von Lautenburg († December 7, 1189)
  • 1186 The provost of Zschillen Dietrich is entrusted with the management of a newly established archdeaconate district together with the Rochlitz parish. "As compensation, Dedo ceded the Marienkirche in Obergeithain, which he was previously entitled to, with its income to Bishop Eberhard von Merseburg."
  • 1189–1191 Second Provost: Tidericus II.
  • 1190 Death of Dedos
  • 1191–1200 Third Provost: Heidenricus von Zwenkau
  • 1196 Pope Celestine III. (1191–1198) confirms the Zschillener Konvent in a letter and grants him the right of patronage over Geithain.
  • 1200–1231 (?) Fourth provost: Wilhelm
  • Between 1209 and 1228 Archbishop Albrecht II of Magdeburg confirmed the jurisdiction of Provost Wilhelm in an undated document and gave him the right to interdict .
  • 1210 With the death of Margrave Konrad (son of Dedo), the male line of the founders expires
  • from 1230 construction of the rood screen and the tomb for Dedo and Mechthild in the collegiate church
  • 1278 visitation by Bishop Withego von Meißen . Abolition of the Augustinian canons monastery by the bishop at the instigation of Margrave Heinrich the Illustrious and transfer to the Teutonic Order

German Order (1280–1539)

Benedictine (since 1993)

The Wechselburg Priory is affiliated with the Ettal Abbey .

Abbots of Ettal and Wechselburg

  • 1993-2005 Abbot Edelbert Hörhammer OSB (re-establishment as a Benedictine monastery)
  • 2005–2010 Abbot Barnabas Bögle OSB
    • 2010 (February - July) P. Emmeram Walter OSB as vacancy administrator
  • since 2010 Abbot Barnabas Bögle OSB
Head of the Wechselburg monastery as representative for the Abbot of Ettal
Priory of the Wechselburg Priory

Use as a castle (old and new Wechselburg Castle)

After the dissolution of the monastery and the handover (exchange) of Zschillen in 1543 by Duke Moritz von Sachsen to the Schönburger - as an Electoral Saxon fief - the cloister buildings of the monastery , which was dissolved in 1541, were converted into a castle. These preserved older “palace buildings” from the late Gothic or Renaissance period are now known as the “ old palace ” of Wechselburg. Today (2018) these buildings are partly used as apartments. From 1582–1583 the Wolf III complex was used. von Schönburg (1556–1612) as a temporary residence after Rochsburg burnt down in 1582 . Wechselburg became a permanent residence in the 17th century under Christian von Schönburg- Penig (1598–1664), who had lived here since the 1620s. Samuel Heinrich von Schönburg-Fordglauchau (1642–1706) made Wechselburg a permanent residence of the newly established line Schönburg- Fordglauchau . In 1674, the first reconstruction of the three-wing complex of the former monastery cloister for use as a castle was completed. But already in 1721 a fire destroyed these buildings.

After the fire, a new Baroque building was built between 1753 and 1756 by Freiberg council builder Johann Gottlieb Ohndorff on behalf of the gentlemen of Schönburg as a three-wing complex on the foundations of the Romanesque monastery cloister - which adjoined the monastery church to the south. Parts of the preserved masonry of the cloister and Romanesque cellar rooms were included / preserved in the construction of the new castle. This new palace is a simple two-storey building with a high mansard roof. It is said that mainly locals were active here as builders. The monastery church initially served as a Protestant palace chapel.

After the Schönburg-Fordglauchau family moved from Kassel to Penig in 1813 , they lived in the castle there (New Castle Penig). After the death of Count Carl Heinrich III. von Schönburg-Fordglauchau (1757-1815) on April 14, 1815 inherited his younger brother Count Wilhelm. However, he died on September 2, 1815 in Wechselburg. The only ten-year-old Alban became an heir. Count Ludwig von Schönburg-Hinterglauchau (1762–1842) took over the management of his legacy as guardian. On November 18, 1823, Alban von Schönburg-Fordglauchau came of age and inherited the lords of Fordglauchau, Penig and Wechselburg.

Count Alban von Schönburg (1804–1864) and his wife Amalie Christiane Marie (1806–1880), called Emilie or Emmy, née Countess von Jenison-Walworth , moved into the new Wechselburg Palace in August 1824 after the renovation of the palace and some salons was completed. The furnishing of a salon in the New Palace is shown in the painting "The children of Count Alban von Schönburg in a salon of the Wechselburg Palace" from around 1837. The painting was presumably painted by the mother of the portrayed Countess Emilie and shows Emilie with her three children. At the invitation of Countess Emilie, the Dresden late romantic Johann Hermann Carmiencke (1810–1867) lived for a few months in Wechselburg and taught her daughters drawing and painting here. Emilie was friends with Countess Ida von Hahn , a writer who wrote her several letters and in the novel "Ulrich" describes the life of Count and Countess Schönburg in Wechselburg under pseudonyms (Prince Thierstein).

Alban von Schönburg enjoyed a great reputation for his tolerance in the religious field. From 1843 he made his Protestant castle church, the only surviving late Romanesque basilica in West Saxony available to the area's Catholics for church services. From 1829 to 1860, Alban had the church renovated in stages, partly from a historical preservation perspective. He was a member of the "German Society for Research into the Patriotic Language and Antiquities in Leipzig". On April 20, 1846, the marriage of his eldest daughter to the Catholic Count Otto von Quadt zu Wykradt and Isny ​​took place in the church. Alban was a knight of the Order of St. John and holder of the Grand Cross of the Order of Albrecht. He was buried with his wife Emilie in the Trinity cemetery in Dresden.

In 1869 the owners of Wechselburg converted to Catholicism, had the church renovated again and redesigned in the Catholic sense. The baroque palace is known as the " new palace " Wechselburg. As early as 1829, Count Alban von Schönburg had become the owner of the lordships Fordglauchau, Penig and Wechselburg. The Wechselburg castles were owned by the Schönburg-Fordglauchau family until 1945, who called themselves Schönburg-Glauchau again in 1900 (when the Hinterglauchau line was terminated) and also owned the Fordglauchau castles and the new castles in Penig and Rochsburg . The new castle belonged to the people of Schönburg until they were expropriated in 1945 and were also inhabited by them until they fled the advancing Red Army in 1945 .

In the GDR era, the new castle served as a “Children's Tuberculosis Sanatorium Dr. Friedrich Wolf ”. Around 1991 the new castle was still being used as a neurological-psychiatric children's hospital. The new castle stands empty today and is threatened with decay.

A number of paintings and several Empire furniture have been preserved from the works of art and furniture from the Wechselburg castles . The paintings show u. a. Members of the Schönburg-Fordglauchau and Schönburg-Glauchau branches of the family. These art objects are apparently in the inventory or in the exhibitions of the museum and the art collection of Hinterglauchau Castle . Late Gothic and Baroque sculptures / carvings formerly stored in Wechselburg on a large barn floor in the service yard of the castle were sold to the Altenburg art collector Finanzrat i. By Count Joachim von Schönburg-Glauchau (1873–1943) around 1901 . R. Hans Löbe (1870–1947) sold. When Hans Löbe sold parts of his collection to various museums, some objects came into the possession of the museum and the art collection of Schloss Hinterglauchau.

literature

  • Georg Dehio : Saxony II. The administrative districts of Leipzig and Chemnitz. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-422-03048-4 , pp. 1008-1013.
  • Heinrich Magirius: Stiftskirche Wechselburg ; The Christian monument; H. 94/95; Art Guide No. 2006; Schnell & Steiner publishing house, Regensburg; 2nd edition: 1997; 2003; DNB 950311014 . 4th edition: 2003; ISBN 3-7954-5734-3 .
  • GERMANIA BENEDICTINA. The monasteries in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony . Volume X-2 St. Ottilien 2012 [u. a.] Gabriel Heuser, OSB: Wechselburg pp. 1455-1460. ISBN 978-3-8306-7571-6 .
  • Joseph Prill: The castle church in Wechselburg, the former Zschillen monastery. To commemorate the 700th anniversary of the consecration of the church on August 15, 1884 . Lorenz, Leipzig 1884 ( digitized version )
  • Wolf-Dieter Röber , Steffen Winkler: Stiftskirche und Schloß Wechselburg , in: Series of publications Heft 6, Museum and Art Collection Schloss Hinterglauchau, City of Glauchau, 1986, GDR, p. 31–35 (on the history and construction history of the monastery and the collegiate church, takeover of power by die Schönburger, information on the new baroque palace building 1753–1756 under Johann Gottlieb Ohndorf, watercolor of the palace 1867 by W. Gebhardt p. 33)
  • Hans-Joachim Krause: The collegiate church to Wechselburg, 2nd part, building design and building history, Berlin, 1972

Web links

Commons : Wechselburg Abbey  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biography of Carl Heinrich Alban Graf von Schönburg (1804–1864). In: Saxon Biography. Retrieved June 26, 2020 .
  2. ^ Biography of Carl, Count von Schönburg-Fordglauchau (1832–1898). In: Saxon Biography. Retrieved June 26, 2020 .
  3. ^ Franz Blanckmeister : Saxon Church History. Quoted from: die-tagespost.de: When the Count became Catholic
  4. Wechselburg Forest Adventure Trail. In: Geopark Porphyry Land. Retrieved June 26, 2020 .
  5. When the Count became a Catholic. In: die-tagespost.de. Retrieved June 26, 2020 . .
  6. ^ Diocese of Dresden-Meißen: places of pilgrimage. In: bistum-dresden-meissen.de. Retrieved June 14, 2020 .
  7. ^ Heinrich Magirius in: Götz Eckardt (Hrsg.): Fates of German architectural monuments in the Second World War ; Henschel-Verlag, Berlin 1978. Volume 2, p. 465.
  8. ^ Archdiocese of Berlin : Wechselburg is growing. In: Day of the Lord 1/2010
  9. ^ D: Raid in Ettal Abbey ; Message from Vatican Radio dated March 3, 2010.
  10. ^ Claudia Möllers: After confession of abuse: Believed the wrong person. Münchner Merkur , February 28, 2015
  11. Seven years imprisonment for ex-father: Ettal Abbey is appalled. tz of August 10, 2016
  12. Steffen Zimmermann: Pope gives pilgrimage church in Wechselburg honorary title: East Germany has its first "Basilica minor". In: kathisch.de . November 13, 2018, accessed November 13, 2018 . Pope "ennobles" the pilgrimage church in Wechselburg. In: Saxon newspaper . September 16, 2018, accessed September 16, 2018 .
  13. ^ Elisabeth Hütter, Heinrich Magirius: Der Wechselburger Lettner. Research and preservation of monuments. Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar 1983.
  14. ^ Ernst Schäfer: laudation organi . 4th edition. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1982, p. 190-191 .
  15. ^ Author collective, u. a. Helmut Bräuer, Robby Joachim Götze , Steffen Winkler and Wolf-Dieter Röber : The Schönburger, economy, politics, culture . Brochure for the special exhibition of the same name 1990–91 in the Museum and Art Collection Schloss Hinterglauchau, Glauchau 1990, p. 36
  16. ^ Author collective, u. a. Helmut Bräuer, Robby Joachim Götze, Steffen Winkler and Wolf-Dieter Röber : The Schönburger, economy, politics, culture . Brochure for the special exhibition of the same name 1990–91 in the museum and art collection Schloss Hinterglauchau, Glauchau 1990, chap. "Castles and palaces" subchapter "(Castle) Wechselburg" p. 36
  17. ^ Robby Joachim Götze: Count Alban von Schönburg (1804–1864) in portraits of his time . In: Series 10, Museum and Art Collection Schloss Hinterglauchau, Glauchau 1994, p. 43
  18. ^ Robby Joachim Götze: Count Alban von Schönburg (1804–1864) in portraits of his time . In: Series of publications, issue 10, Museum und Kunstsammlung Schloss Hinterglauchau, Glauchau 1994, pp. 42-66 (Moving into Wechselburg and painting of Emilie with her three children in a salon of the New Schloss Wechselburg around 1837, p. 44)
  19. ^ Robby Joachim Götze: Count Alban von Schönburg (1804–1864) in portraits of his time. In: Series of publications, issue 10, Museum and Art Collection Schloss Hinterglauchau, Glauchau 1994, p. 45 u. P. 46
  20. ^ Robby Joachim Götze: Count Alban von Schönburg (1804–1864) in portraits of his time. In: Series of publications, issue 10, Museum and Art Collection Schloss Hinterglauchau, Glauchau 1994, p. 43, short biography of Count Alban von Schönburg
  21. Wolf-Dieter Röber : Series of publications, issue 10, Museum and Art Collection Schloss Hinterglauchau, Glauchau, 1994, p. 71
  22. ^ Statement by Georg von Schönburg-Glauchau (* 1940)
  23. ^ Author collective, u. a. Helmut Bräuer, Robby Joachim Götze, Steffen Winkler and Wolf-Dieter Röber : The Schönburger, economy, politics, culture . Brochure for the special exhibition of the same name 1990–91 in the museum and art collection Schloss Hinterglauchau, Glauchau 1990, current use of Schloss Wechselburg p. 20
  24. ^ Author collective, u. a. Helmut Bräuer, Robby Joachim Götze, Steffen Winkler and Wolf-Dieter Röber : The Schönburger, economy, politics, culture . Brochure for the special exhibition of the same name 1990–91 in the museum and art collection Schloss Hinterglauchau, Glauchau 1990, chap. "Art / painting and graphics and furniture", p. 90, art objects from the Wechselburg Castle
  25. Series of publications, issue 11, Museum and Art Collection Schloss Hinterglauchau, Glauchau, 1999, Wolf-Dieter Röber : Chap. "To the collection of sacred art of the Museum Schloss Hinterglauchau-catalog of the exhibition", p. 37 u. P. 49 (on the collection of Hans Löbe)
  26. Wolf-Dieter Röber : Series of publications, issue 10, Museum and Art Collection Schloss Hinterglauchau, Glauchau, 1994, p. 84

Coordinates: 51 ° 0 ′ 17.5 ″  N , 12 ° 46 ′ 16.1 ″  E