Holy Cross Monastery Church (Regensburg)
The Roman Catholic Church of the Dominican nunnery Heilig-Kreuz Heilig Kreuz zu Regensburg , called Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche , is the monastery church of the oldest still existing and never canceled women's monastery of this order in Germany. In its present form it is characterized by a uniformly designed theological program. The monastery has had its seat at Am Judenstein 10 in Regensburg without interruption since 1233 . There are only a few monasteries in Germany that go back to the Middle Ages and that have never been destroyed, never lifted or transplanted. With the restorations for the jubilee of its 750th anniversary, the monastery can be described as a “jewel of the Bavarian Rococo”.
location
The monastery church Heilig Kreuz (Nonnenplatz 1) is located in the north-western old town. Not far away is the Dominican Church of St. Blasius as the male pedant .
History and construction of the church
On February 22nd, 1233, the foundation stone for the monastery was laid with a donation of a building site from Bishop Siegfried von Regensburg to an association of pious women from Regensburg. This donation was confirmed and four years later Count Heinrich von Ortenburg and Murach left the parish of Schwarzhofen to the “guardians of the city in the west” . Monetary resources were generated from this parish and the monastery could be financed and the construction of a church began. The building site was at the end of an initially unnamed alley in the western fore of the city. Around 900 Duke Arnulf I (Bavaria) had opened a quarry there, which had supplied stones for the construction of the Arnulfini city wall . After the excavated quarry was filled in, the area of the former stone pit became the site of the new church and the later monastery buildings. The area and the alley were initially called Arnulfswinkel or Arnoldswinkel . The names for today's alley, Hl. Creuzgäßl or Kreuzgasse , come from the time after 1800.
The church was built in the years 1237–1244. The broad, rectangular, single-nave nave had a simple wooden ceiling and fourteen high, very narrow windows. To the east, the three-sided broken, integrated choir with vaults joined. The Romanesque crucifix that gave the monastery its name was moved from the convent to the church in 1669 to make it accessible to the people for worship. In 1246 the Monastery of the Holy Cross was officially handed over to the Dominican Order. The Gothic figure of St. Blasius in the south-eastern wall niche next to the confessional reminds us that the friars from the Dominican monastery of St. Blasius worked as confessors and spiritual advisors to the sisters.
The general reform efforts led to great success in 1484 with the incorporation of sisters from the St. Catherine's Monastery in Nuremberg . After 1800 during the period of secularization and the associated dissolution of monasteries, Elector Carl Theodor von Dalberg made the continued existence of the monastery with the requirement to open a girls' school. After the hesitant fulfillment of the requirement, the monastery remained and in 1872 the city built its own schoolhouse, today's Kreuzschule.
Under Mother Benedikta Bauer's priory, new foundations were established in Niederviehbach ad Isar and in the USA (Brooklyn / New York, 1859 and Racine / Wisconsin, 1862) from 1853 .
Remodeling of the church in the 18th century
In 1751 the prioress Hyazintha Hämmerl decided to redesign the church in the spirit of the Rococo . The altar builder Simon Sorg , the plasterer Johann Baptist Modler and Otto Gebhard as a painter played a key role in this . The remodeling work was completed by 1757.
Three basic lines can be identified in the concept of transformation:
- According to the preaching order of the Order of Preachers, the most important contents of the Catholic faith are made clear
- The meaning of the cross of Christ for the exercise of faith and its symbolic content is shown
- Through the way in which the prominent personalities of the Dominican order are represented, the church visitor should gain insight into its objectives. Hyacinth of Poland , Thomas Aquinas , Raimund von Peñafort and Vinzenz Ferrer were depicted .
The church was badly damaged by bombs during World War II. From 1980 to 1983 the monastery church was renovated and returned to its original color.
Interior
The high altar with a Romanesque crucifix depicts the redemption through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Romanesque cross dates from the time it was founded. The external contrasts between Romanesque and Rococo can be seen. The figure of Christ represents the "Rex triumphans". The healing mystery of death, resurrection and exaltation of Christ is shown again in summary in the figure of the apocalyptic lamb above the tabernacle frame. The same theme is posted in the ceiling painting of the nuns choir (to which only the nuns have access). The ceiling painting of the presbytery depicts the fall of the dragon, which can be seen as a descriptive element in the baroque era.
literature
- Johanna Geßner OP: Dominican Church of the Holy Cross Regensburg . 2nd, completely revised edition. Schnell & Steiner, Munich, Zurich 1989 (Small Art Guide; 773).
- Commemorative 750 years Dominikanerinnenkloster Holy Cross from 1233 to 1983, . Regensburg 1983.
Web links
- Internet presence of the Dominican Convent of the Holy Cross
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Regensburg, Dominican convent , basic data and history:
Peter Morsbach: Holy Cross in Regensburg - the oldest Dominican convent in Germany in the database of monasteries in Bavaria in the House of Bavarian History - Photos of the furnishings in the monastery church, in the Warburg Institute Iconographic Database .
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl Bauer: Regensburg Art, Culture and Everyday History . 6th edition. MZ-Buchverlag in H. Gietl Verlag & Publication Service GmbH, Regenstauf 2014, ISBN 978-3-86646-300-4 , p. 439 f .
- ^ After: Johanna Geßner: Dominican Church of the Holy Cross. Munich / Zurich 1989, p. 6.
- ↑ https://www.bavariathek.bayern/ Wiederaufbau/orte/detail/regensburg/ 38
Coordinates: 49 ° 1 ′ 13 ″ N , 12 ° 5 ′ 7 ″ E