Wiblingen Monastery

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Wiblingen Benedictine Abbey

The Wiblingen Monastery is a former Benedictine abbey , which was founded in 1093 and existed until secularization in 1806. After that, parts of the monastery complex were initially used as a castle and barracks , in the 21st century it houses departments of the Ulm University Hospital and an academy for advanced medical training. The monastery complex is located in the triangle between the Iller and the Danube south of Ulm in Baden-Württemberg . The place Wiblingen is now a district of Ulm and is located on the Oberschwäbische Barockstraße , on the Main-Donau-Bodensee-Weg and on the Iller-Radweg .

founding

The Wiblingen monastery owes its foundation to the two Counts Hartmann and Otto von Kirchberg . In 1093 they decided to found a monastery on their land for the salvation of their souls . Such foundations were quite common in the High Middle Ages, they corresponded to the ideas of piety of the time; In return, the monks were obliged to pray for the salvation of the noble donors. The new monastery of those of Kirchberg was to be built in honor of Saint Martin of Tours and committed to the rule of Saint Benedict of Nursia . Therefore, the counts asked the abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Blasien , Otto, to establish a "colony". Abbot Otto sent a delegation of monks from his monastery to Wiblingen to meet the request of the Counts of Kirchberg, who made land on the Iller available, on which the monks set up a filiation of their abbey under the direction of experienced builders. It was inaugurated in 1099. Werner von Ellerbach , who had been the head of the delegation from St. Blasien, was appointed the first abbot of the new Wiblingen monastery . In the same year, the Counts of Kirchberg donated wood particles to the monastery, which allegedly came from the cross of Christ and which have since been kept in a shrine in the monastery church in Wiblingen and venerated. They had received the pieces of wood from Pope Urban II as a gift after their participation in the First Crusade (1096-1099) .

The monastery in the Middle Ages and early modern times

In 1271 a fire destroyed the monastery, which necessitated a new building, which was carried out at the end of the 13th century. Towards the end of the late Middle Ages, the until then exemplary coexistence in the Wiblingen Monastery reached a low point among a few weak abbots. However, initiated by the Melk Reform , abbots who were zealous for reform succeeded in reforming monastic life in Wiblingen in accordance with the Benedictine Rule from the second half of the 15th century . From this time onwards, the abbots' zeal for reform gave the monastery such a great, supra-regional significance as a new place of special Benedictine learning and exemplary monastic discipline that conventuals from the monastery repeatedly appeared as reformers of other Benedictine monasteries. In 1504, the Benedictine abbey and all the associated villages fell to the House of Austria , under whose rule it remained until it was abolished in 1806.

During the Thirty Years' War the monastery buildings were robbed and looted, soldiers were forcibly billeted. In addition, as a result of the war, the plague broke out in Wiblingen , which carried away many monks and also the abbot. Not least because of the important abbot Benedikt Rauh (term of office 1635–1663), who was also field bishop of the Bavarian army, the monastery was able to survive the difficult times of war without any problems and after the end of the war it experienced renewed growth. The growing economic and political importance under the abbots Ernest Fabri, Maurus Falkner and Modest I led in 1701 to the final dissolution of the bailiwick and elevation to the Upper Austrian media class .

New monastery in the 18th century

Monastery gate
Monastery church with the unfinished towers and south wing of the monastery
Interior of the monastery church

The status of the abbey as an independent Upper Austrian territory was probably the trigger for the new monastery building, which began in 1714 and is largely influenced by the late Baroque , with the exception of the church , which is a main example of early classicism in southern Germany. The medieval monastery building had an irregular structure and had been expanded and changed again and again, the church came from the Romanesque and had been rebuilt and expanded many times. Until the late 17th century, the monastery complex also underwent constant renovations and extensions.

When the monastery became Upper Austrian , a comprehensive re-planning began, based on the model of the Escorial in Spain, with a church in the center, which is surrounded by a symmetrical square and courtyards. According to the monastery chronicler Michael Braig , the important baroque master builder Christian Wiedemann provided the plan . According to this plan, influenced by the Mosbrugger project in Einsiedeln , the construction of the forecourts began. The first plan change (expansion) took place around 1730, which meant that the gatehouse and church were no longer on one axis. Further changes to the plan followed: the originally planned central building was replaced by a longitudinal building (handed down in an engraving by Gottfried Bernhard Göz ), probably based on the example of Weingarten and taking into account certain influences from Caspar Mosbrugger's church designs.

Library room
Bookcase and statue in the library room

According to Wiedemann's plan, the library hall, which later became famous, was built in the north wing of the monastery. At the time of its completion (1744), the construction management was probably already in the hands of Wiedemann's nephew, Johann, who had previously worked on the construction of the monastery as a parlier . In 1750 Johann Michael Fischer was appointed site manager. This revised Wiedemann's plans (which can best be read on the wooden model for the Schussenried monastery , which can be regarded as an extensive copy of the Wiblingen plans). Fischer's service for Wiblingen consists primarily in the redesigned east wing, which he has given a distinctive risalit and thus characterized the chapter house as the center of the monastic organization and the self-image of an abbey exercising territorial rule. The model for this facade was the building of the imperial court library in Vienna, a deliberate reference to the abbey from the region of Upper Austria to show its ties to the imperial family.

Inside the library room, which is largely kept in the Rococo style, there is a large ceiling fresco depicting religious scenes from Adam and Eve in paradise to their own monastery scenes. In front of the bookshelves, figures depicting four Christian and four secular allegories are designed on both ends and on both long sides. The life-size figures were carved, painted white, polished and decorated with gold leaf. They show, among other things, the Christian doctrine, asceticism, the natural sciences, Justitia and time (God Chronos). The bookcases, arranged according to subject area (there are corresponding instructions above the shelves), now accommodate several thousand writings, including valuable manuscripts from the 11th and 12th centuries.

Fischer's planning activity for church construction is controversial. According to the latest findings of historians, the "Regensburg cracks" are no longer ascribed to Fischer personally, but Purrmann has made it credible that they are copies based on Fischer designs that still show much of the ideas of the outstanding master builder, including a prospectus effect that is second to none and can easily compete with Ottobeuren and Zwiefalten . However, the cracks contain so many errors and inaccuracies that they cannot be original drawings by Fischer, but the compilation of the set of plans must have been transferred to another builder after Fischer's departure from Wiblingen (1757). Since the cracks later got to Neresheim (and from there to the Thurn and Taxis Central Archives in Regensburg), the draftsman Johann Wiedemann or his son Dominikus could be considered (Dominikus Wiedemann worked under Balthasar Neumann in Neresheim ).

Since the monastery suffered from a lack of money, the church building project could not be carried out until the death of Abbot Meinrad Hamberger (term of office 1730–1762). His successor Modest II (1762–1768) showed no interest in it or had no financial means. In any case, the funeral speeches for both abbots do not mention that they had started building the church, but otherwise all construction work, no matter how small. Abbot Roman Fehr (1768–1798) was the first to lay the foundation stone for the completed church, the master builder was Johann Georg Specht , who emerged from the late Auer guild and knew exactly how churches were built in St. Gallen and Birnau . He designed his building based on their model, and despite some simplifications , it would have been quite late Baroque if the fresco artist Januarius Zick , who had received an architectural training from Jakob Emele in Schussenried, had not succeeded in ousting Specht and building it in Greek Style , d. H. in French braid style , to be completed. At least on the inside, this succeeded, and the result was a harmonious spatial image of early classicism with baroque reminiscences. On September 28, 1783 , Leopold Wilhelm von Baden, Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Constance , to which the Wiblingen Abbey belonged, inaugurated the monastery church. The church facade with towers placed across the corner (see planning for St. Gallen) remained unfinished, although the last abbot, Ulrich Keck, tried in vain to complete it during the French invasions in the 1790s. The southern wing of the monastery district also had to remain unfinished until the Württemberg army administration, allegedly according to old plans, closed the area in 1917.

Secularization in 1806 and subsequent use

After the defeats in the Napoleonic Wars , the monastery belonging to Austria was occupied in 1805, first by Baden and then by Bavarian troops . The following year, the people of Württemberg moved into the monastery after the Bavarians had auctioned all of the furniture. The monastery was officially closed on March 27, 1806 as one of the last monasteries in the course of secularization . With this, the more than seven hundred year old Benedictine tradition that was at home in the Wiblingen Monastery died out. The monks gradually left the monastery; some of them emigrated to the Tyniec Benedictine Abbey near Krakow. Prior Gregor Thomas Ziegler was appointed Bishop of Tyniec near Cracow in 1822 and Bishop of Linz in 1827. The monastery became the residential palace of Duke Heinrich , brother of King Friedrich I of Württemberg . From now on, the residents of Wiblingen were forbidden to call the complex “monastery”, but rather “castle”. The name of the street running along the western monastery wall, which is still called Schloßstraße today, is evidence of this arrangement.

In the middle of the 19th century, the former Wiblingen Monastery became part of the Federal Fortress of Ulm and, since 1848, has mainly been used as an infantry barracks under the name Schlosskaserne . That is why the unfinished convent building that surrounds the monastery church was completed. In the years 1915–1917, the missing buildings on the other side of the church were built according to the earlier plans. It was used as a barracks until the end of the Second World War . It was then used to accommodate war refugees. In later years, parts of the Ulm University Library used the monastery.

Use in the 21st century

Main monastery building and farm building

Parts of the north wing and the adjoining former farm building house the Academy for Health Professions and the Ulm University Hospital .

The south wing of the monastery, which was rebuilt in 1917, serves as an urban retirement home.

Johannes Schumann's small microscope museum is also housed in the monastery.

Church building

The monastery church of St. Martin is used today as a Catholic parish church. It was raised on May 5, 1993 by Pope John Paul II with the apostolic letter Templum paroeciale to the Basilica minor . At the same time, parts of the equipment are pilgrimage destinations .

The church and library on the second floor of the north wing can be viewed individually or as part of a guided tour. The interactive exhibition with short film sequences, models and an audio guide provide all information for visitors. The monastery museum in the former guest rooms of the convent has been open since 2006. The historic monastery with its small history museum and library is looked after by the State Palaces and Gardens of Baden-Württemberg .

Organs in the church

View of the choir room, the organ prospectuses are visible to the left and right

The first organ in the church, which was actually only a makeshift, was a choir organ from the Johann Nepomuk Holzhey company . Their volume and their sound were not up to the large main room and the acoustics. A Benedictine monk from the 18th century, Michal Braig (1774–1832), described the situation as follows in his chronicle: “ The execution of the [main] organ, however, which should have given the majestic temple far more prestige, was made possible by the prevents sad times. “Except for the historic organ case, the inside has not been preserved.

The organ building company Reiser (Biberach ad Riß) installed a new instrument in its place in 1973. But this organ does not meet the tonal expectations either. The slider chest instrument has 30 stops on two manuals and pedal . The Spieltrakturen are mechanically, the Registertrakturen electrically. The pipework is located exclusively in the organ case on the south side of the choir room. The console was integrated into the choir stalls. The organ case on the north side is a blind prospect.

Disposition of the Reiser organ
I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Drone 16 ′
2. Principal 8th'
3. Viol flute 8th'
4th Tube bare 8th'
5. Octav 4 ′
6th recorder 4 ′
7th Nasal fifth 2 23
8th. Hollow flute 2 ′
9. cornet 8th'
10. mixture 2 ′
11. cymbal 12
12. Trumpet 8th'
II Pages C – g 3
13. Willow pipe 8th'
14th Dumped 8th'
15th Principal 4 ′
16. Reed flute 4 ′
17th Octave 2 ′
18th Third flute 1 35
19th Fifth flute 1 13
20th Sharp IV 1'
21st Hautbois 8th'
22nd Schalmey 4 ′
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
23. Principal bass 16 ′
24. Sub bass 16 ′
25. Octavbass 8th'
26. Gemshorn 8th'
27. Hindquarters 4 ′
28. Quintviola 4 ′
29. trombone bass 16 ′
30. Trumpet bass 8th'
  • Coupling : II / I, I / II, I / P, II / P
  • Playing aids : two fixed combinations (pleno, tutti), two free combinations, one free pedal combination, tongue holder

Due to the inadequate usability of the 1973 organ, the Catholic rectory decided that a completely new organ would have to be built especially for this monastery church. In addition to the normal tasks at church events, it should be used for public organ concerts and to accompany choirs and orchestras. To support this new building project, an organ support association was founded on November 1st, 2015 . The minimum price for the manufacture and installation of the instrument was determined to be more than one million euros . The project is based on an offer from the organ building company Claudius Winterhalter from Oberharmersbach . Appeals were made for donations from private individuals and companies, in particular a pipe sponsorship was offered; Price depending on the size of the organ pipe . (A sponsorship is also a good, and above all lasting, gift.) The sponsors receive documents, the name of the donor can be entered in the church's donor book and on a planned donation board if the donor agrees. Or the supporter becomes a member of the organ support association. When construction begins depends on the amount donated, which at the end of 2018 was around 40 percent of the amount required. The order for production could thus be placed.

Pilgrimage and worship

The former monastery church of St. Martin is home to the following three special sites that were or are the goal of worshiping the faithful and thus the goal of pilgrimages.

Holy Cross relic

The Holy Cross relic in the Olberg Chapel, the wooden particles of which were a gift from the monastery founders Hartmann and Otto von Kirchberg in 1099 (see above) and are said to come from the cross of Christ , formed or constitute the outstanding treasure of the monastery or basilica.

During the Thirty Years' War the monastery suffered a loss of the Holy Cross relic. For fear of robbery or destruction in the chaos of war, the then abbot Johannes Schlegel had them hidden in order to protect them from the plundering enemy army of the Swedes. After their departure, however, the hiding place was not found again, as the few monastic witnesses to the hiding place had died of the plague that broke out as a result of the war. The legend reports that an old bricklayer from Carinthia , who at the time had walled the cross relic behind the high altar of the Wiblinger monastery church in the presence of the few witnesses, had the vision of the Wiblinger Heiligkreuz in a dream, whereupon he decided to go back to the To make way into the distant Wiblingen to worship the particles. When he arrived in Wiblingen, legend has it that he was astonished that the wood particles were missing. The joy of all those present is said to have been great when he brought the relic to light again in the presence of the monks.

Since the donation in 1099, the Holy Cross has been venerated in Wiblingen in a special way and is still the destination of numerous pilgrims.

Bones of the blessed Werner von Ellerbach

To the left of the St. Joseph's altar in the basilica are the walled-up bones of the first abbot of the monastery, Blessed Werner von Ellerbach, who died in 1126 in a crossing pillar . Before the previous church of the current church was demolished, they were raised from their old berth in the old church building in 1782 and transferred to the new church for further veneration, the construction of which was already completed at that time. The fact that Werner was worshiped by the fact that up until the war year 1629, on his feast day, June 4th, small elongated loaves of bread bearing the name Werner breads were consecrated over his grave in his memory and distributed to the believers present testifies to that .

Hermit Madonna

To the right of the Martinus altar is a statue of the Virgin Mary with a halo from the late 17th century, which was venerated until 1811 in the Einsiedeln Chapel, which was inaugurated in 1681, not far from the monastery and where pilgrimages were made. The Einsiedeln Chapel corresponded in its furnishings and size to the Mercy Chapel in the Swiss monastery of Einsiedeln , where the Madonna was also made as a copy of the Hermit Madonna. After the secularization of the monastery, the chapel was demolished in 1811 and the Madonna was therefore transferred to the former monastery church.

Abbots

The first abbot after the foundation of the monastery was Werner von Ellerbach . The number of abbots from the last three centuries is:

Martin Stör 1504–1508, Georg Hacker 1508–1527, Heinrich Claus 1527–1550, Othmar Lauffenberger 1551–1553, Petrus Negelin 1553–1556, Augustin Widemann 1556–1563, Martin Hermann 1563–1572, Jodoc Todt 1572–1589, Urban Hafner 1589–1606, Gottfried Munding 1606–1618, Franz Schwarz 1618–1630, Johannes Schlegel 1630–1635, Benedikt Rauch 1635–1663, Ernst Faber 1663–1666, Maurus Falkner 1666–1692, Modestus Huber 1692–1730, Meinrad Hamberger 1730– 1762, Modest Kaufmann 1762–1768, Roman Fehr 1768–1798, Ulrich Keck 1798–1806.

literature

  • Gustav Bölz: The building history of the Wiblingen monastery . Dissertation. Technical University, Stuttgart 1922 (machine-copied).
  • Adolf Feulner: Wiblingen Monastery . (= German art guide; Volume 1). Filser, Augsburg 1925.
  • Alois Schwenger: Wiblingen Abbey . Zerle, Munich 1930.
  • Hermann Lemperle : Wiblingen Monastery Church , 1961.
  • Wolfgang Urban : Ex bibliotheca monasterii Wiblingensis: On the medieval manuscripts of the Tübingen Wilhelmsstift . In: Rottenburger yearbook for church history. 6, 1987, pp. 221-238.
  • Ingrid Kessler-Wetzig: Wiblingen Monastery. Contributions to the history and art history of the former Benedictine monastery . Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, Ulm 1993 ISBN 3-88294-189-8 .
  • Ingrid Münch: Wiblingen Monastery . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich a. a. 1999 ISBN 3-422-03058-1 (art guide).
  • Michael Braig: Brief history of the former Lower Austrian Benedictine Abbey in Wiblingen in Swabia. Joseph Rauch, Isny ​​1834 ( digitized version ); New edition: Konrad, Weißenhorn 2001, ISBN 3-87437-456-4 - work of a former Wiblingen conventual.
  • Johannes May: The library of the Benedictine monastery in Wiblingen . District Office Alb-Donau-Kreis, Ulm approx. 2002, ISBN 3-9806664-7-6 .
  • Frank Purrmann: Wiblingen and Schussenried. Building history and building political relationships of two Upper Swabian "Escorial monasteries" in the 18th century. Journal of the German Association for Art Research 2000. 358 pages .: 185 b / w illustrations. Hardcover. Deutscher Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft 2003. ISBN 978-3-87157-197-8 .
  • Martina Oberndörfer: Wiblingen. From the end of a monastery - the Wiblingen Abbey and its environs in the Baroque and Enlightenment periods. Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft Ulm in Jan Thorbecke Verlag 2006, ISBN 3-7995-8034-4 .
  • Staatsanzeiger-Verlag (ed.): Wiblingen: Monastery and Museum . State Gazette for Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-929981-59-9 .
  • Martin Kluger : The Fuggers around Augsburg, Munich and Ulm. Nobility, castles and churches . 1st edition. Context Verlag Augsburg, Augsburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-939645-43-6 .
  • Otto Beck, Heinz Mayer, Clemens M. Mayer: Basilica of St. Martin Ulm-Wiblingen . Kunstverlag Fink, Lindenberg 3 2013, ISBN 978-3-931820-55-8 (art guide).

Web links

Commons : Wiblingen Monastery  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. see Bölz (see literature), Baugeschichte, 1922
  2. see Purrmann (see literature), article: Wiblingen and Schüssenried, 2003
  3. cf. Ohngemach / Aubele (see literature), article by the Wiedemann family, 2001
  4. a b Details reproduced from the audio guide.
  5. see Dischinger, Fischer II, 1997 and Möhring, Diss. Fischer.
  6. www.akademie.uniklinik-ulm.de
  7. Homepage of the microscope museum .
  8. Visitor information
  9. a b Main organ basilica Wiblingen , flyer of the organ support association Basilika Ulm-Wiblingen eV , spring 2019, published by the support association together with the culture department of the city of Ulm.
  10. Information on the organ of the Wiblingen Monastery Church ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ^ Church - The draft for the main organ in Wiblingen is ready . on: swp.de from January 2019 , accessed on May 22, 2019.

Remarks

  1. The ancestral seat of the counts was in today's Oberkirchberg

Coordinates: 48 ° 21 '42 "  N , 9 ° 59' 31.2"  E