Monastery church (Münsterschwarzach, Carolingian predecessor building)
The Carolingian monastery church (also Martin-Dionysius-Benedict-Church ) in Münsterschwarzach was the first predecessor building of today's so-called Albert-Boßlet-Church of the Benedictine monastery, evidenced by structural remains . It existed from around 750 until the construction of the so-called Walther Egbert Basilica in 1023, with the church being adapted to the new liturgical requirements around 880 through a major renovation.
Building history
The settlement of the monastery area in Münsterschwarzach is closely connected with the Frankish colonization of the Main region in the 7th century. The first traces of monastic settlement can be found in Schwarzach in 742, when Matto, the progenitor of the East Franconian noble family of the Mattones , founded a monastery which also served to care for the second born of the family. A short time later, between 750 and 783, the first church was built in Schwarzach.
At the same time, the third wife of King Charlemagne, Fastrada , who was probably a Mattonine woman, established a women's monastery for the East Franconian nobility in Schwarzach am Main . The monastery church, which was completed in 783, was subordinate to the patrons Dionysius, Martin von Tours and St. Benedict and was equipped as a stone hall church with a free-standing campanile .
However, the church was only preserved in its form for a few decades, because as quickly as the rise of the convent was, so was its decline. Around the year 857, the convent, led by Abbess Bertha , daughter of Ludwig the German, left the area on the Main and settled in the Fraumünster of Zurich . The monastery church and the buildings fell into disrepair until around the year 877 monks from the Megingaudshausen monastery in the Steigerwald repopulated the monastery area.
The monks quickly began a comprehensive renovation of the monastery church. The reason for this was the changing liturgical requirements, which did not stop at the church. Around 880, literature started building the expanded Dionysius Martin Benedict Church. The bell tower was demolished and a north transept arm was erected in its place. In addition, the church received a square crossing tower, which was reminiscent of the Pantaleon Church in Cologne.
This church building was preserved for almost 150 years. Only with the consolidation of Wurzburg influence on the monastery in Schwarzach in the 11th century, it planned a complete new church, which the now Romanik has complied with and under Abbot Walther I. should be executed. It was not until 1935, when the fourth monastery church was being built, that archaeological finds were found that shed light on the Carolingian construction phase of the monastery church. Today the remains in the ground are classified by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation as a ground monument under the number D-6-6127-0062.
description
woman Church
The first Münsterschwarzach church was built in two phases around 750 and 880. After the first phase of construction, a stone hall church was built. It was pillarless inside and provided with a straight west end, a transept was missing as well as other extensions. The east end, which was probably formed by a semicircular, recessed apse , as was the case with the monastery church in Hersfeld, is controversial .
The clear width of the nave was probably 14.5 m. A ship length of 22 m was achieved. A special feature of the Nonnenschwarzacher Church was the round tower, which was worked as a campanile northeast of the choir . As a bell tower, it towered over the church, which had a ridge height of 20.5 m, with its approx. 30 m and a conical roof. During the excavations in 1935, molten bell ore was found inside the tower. The outer tower diameter was 4.95 m with a wall thickness of 1.10 m.
The first monastery church was roofed with a gable roof on the nave . The apse was closed by a bisected cone. In addition, the church had Obergaden with small arched windows, which were typical of Carolingian architecture. Melber suspects that the apse was also equipped with arched windows. Overall, the structure made a block-like impression, with no plinths or niches.
Inside, the western part was reinforced with six load-bearing pillars, which were the only structural element inside the church. They were attached to the north and south, respectively, and supported the gallery, which was similar to that in Corvey Church . It probably served as a nurse's gallery for the nuns who settled Münsterschwarzach at that time. There were probably no windows below the Gaden, so that light only came into the church through the upper aisles.
Men's church
The extension of the Carolingian church building around the year 880 began with the demolition of the free-standing bell tower. A transept arm was built in its place . The attached transept arms in the north and south were adapted to the eastern end of the old nave, so that an axis bend of −1.5 ° was created. After the reconstruction, the transept was 11 m long and 27 m wide.
In the east, the nave merged into the choir , which, like the older Frauenkirche, ended with a semicircular apse. The choir was expanded during the renovation. A square bell tower was installed above the crossing, with its pyramid roof reminiscent of the tower of the Pantaleon Church in Cologne. It was a special case in church architecture of the 9th and 10th centuries that in Münsterschwarzach there were no side apses in the transept arms.
Furnishing
Little is known about the original design of the interior of the church in the Carolingian predecessor buildings of the Münsterschwarzach monastery. Possibly an open roof truss formed the end of the church interior. Scenic wall paintings, as they are still present in the Müstair monastery today, are likely to have covered the walls of the church. There was also at least one altar in the chancel of the east apse.
literature
- Franziskus Büll: The churches of Münsterschwarzach in front of the early Romanesque Egbert basilica (1066): Carolingian churches and Walter church Evaluation of the excavation finds from 1935 during the construction of the Boßlet church . In: Franziskus Büll: The Monasterium Suuarzaha. A contribution to the history of the Münsterschwarzach women's monastery from 788 (?) To 877 (?) . Münsterschwarzach 1992.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mahr, Johannes: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey . P. 7.
- ↑ Melber, Patrick: The abbey church at Münsterschwarzach . P. 37.
- ↑ Geodata: Monument number D-6-6127-0062 , accessed on December 9, 2015.
- ^ Büll, Franziskus: The churches of Münsterschwarzach . P. 299.
- ↑ Melber, Patrick: The abbey church at Münsterschwarzach . P. 29.
- ↑ See: Melber, Patrick: The abbey church at Münsterschwarzach . P. 37.
Coordinates: 49 ° 48 '19.4 " N , 10 ° 13' 52.1" E