Laurenskerk (Alkmaar)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Laurenskerk from the southwest
Choir and apse vault with the Last Judgment

The Grote Sint-Laurenskerk , formerly the Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk (Great or St. Laurentius Church), is a Protestant church in the Koorstraat of the Dutch city ​​of Alkmaar . The current building was built between 1470 and 1518. Originally a Catholic church, consecrated to St. Lawrence , the church became Protestant in the course of the Reformation in 1573, and in 1996 it was divorced ; the building houses a permanent exhibition about its history and is used as a concert hall, mainly thanks to the two organs. It is a Dutch national monument with inventory no. 7258. The church is to be distinguished from the Catholic Laurentiuskerk (Alkmaar) from the 19th century.

history

Previous buildings

On the site of the Laurenskerk there was already a wooden church at the beginning of the 10th century, which burned down in 1133 in a Frisian attack. A successor building was destroyed in a fire in the city in 1388. In 1382 the church was expanded to include an adjoining church dedicated to St. Matthias. A bell tower was built nearby in the 15th century, which collapsed shortly before its completion on October 29, 1468 and damaged the double church.

The gothic basilica

Alkmaar decided to build a new building in the Brabant Gothic style , the foundation stone of which was laid on June 9, 1470. Completion is dated to 1518, as a result, the interior decoration was constantly being worked on. In 1573 the church came into Protestant hands. In the iconoclasm , which was comparatively less destructive in the Netherlands than in other countries, parts of the furnishings related to the Catholic rite were removed: altars, altarpieces, confessionals, images and statues of saints.

An extensive restoration began in August 1923, but was interrupted after four years due to lack of funds. Part of the church remained scaffolded. Work continued in 1940 and completed in 1949. The building is currently owned by the Foundation for the Preservation of Monumental Churches in Alkmaar and is rented out to the Theater De Vest / Grote Sint Laurenskerk Foundation , which uses the church for cultural activities.

Crucifixion triptych by Maarten van Heemskerck, 1540, since 1582 in Linköping Cathedral

The Odyssey of the Altarpiece

The high altar, consecrated to the Holy Trinity , was given a retable by the Haarlem painter Maarten van Heemskerck in 1540 with a crucifixion scene as the main image and further scenes from the Passion of Christ . With the wings open, the triptych measures six by eight meters; it is the largest altarpiece ever made in the Netherlands. The outer sides of the side walls bear depictions from the life of the church saint Laurentius. After the Reformation, the image was not destroyed by iconoclasts , but it was sent on an adventurous odyssey. It was shipped to Russia, but during the First Northern War the ship fell into Swedish hands. King John III Sweden appropriated the altarpiece, unclear whether it was spoiled by war or flotsam, and donated it to the Lutheran cathedral in Linköping in 1582 . It remained there as a retable of the main altar until 1812 and was placed on the wall of the south aisle as part of a controversial redesign of the church. In April 2018, parts of Maarten's altarpiece were returned to the Grote Kerk in Alkmaar for a special exhibition on loan for six months, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the church's consecration in 1518.

Building description

Like the previous buildings, the Grote Kerk was built on a slight elevation in the city center. The church was probably designed in the Brabant Gothic style by Andries I. Keldermans (1400–1488) from Mechelen , a member of the Keldermans builder dynasty , although in documents only his son Antoon I. Keldermans (approx. 1440–1512) was the builder of the church. is called. Antoon's colleague was his brother Matthijs II. Keldermans, after Antoon's death his son Antoon II. Keldermans completed the work.

Ground plan, plan drawing (1940) of the Reich Service for Cultural Heritage

Layout

The basilica with a cruciform floor plan has a three-aisled nave made up of six bays, with rows of chapels facing the side aisles. The ambulatory (7/8 apse) has no side chapels, the transept has a single nave with straight end walls. In front of the west wall is a small atrium.

View from the southeast of the roof turret, choir and sacristy
The roof turret with the carillon made of sixteen bells by Melchior de Haze

Exterior

The cruciform basilica has load-bearing brickwork and, like the crossing tower from 1525, is faced with white natural stone (Brabant sandstone from Gobertange, nl. Gobertingen, today a sub-community of Jodoigne). German tuff was also used for the walls of the nave .

The church does not have a pair of western towers like the cathedrals of the French High Gothic, but only a crossing tower as a roof turret with a carillon (carillon) by Melchior de Haze (1689). In the walls of the west facade and the crossing there are stair towers that lead to the galleries and the roof structure and whose position can be read on the outer walls. The chapels attached to the side aisles of the nave have hipped roofs, the ambulatory has a continuous pent roof, the original sacristy (Consistoriekamer) attached to the south of the choir has a detached saddle roof. In front of the closed west wall without a rose window, the atrium is also covered by a pent roof.

The windows of the choir are arranged one above the other, the closing windows of the transept with fish bubble tracery are among the largest Gothic windows in Europe and extend almost the entire height of the wall. On the south side of the outer wall, under a canopy arch, there is a sculpture of the church saint, Saint Laurentius, with the obligatory attribute of the grate on which he was executed. It comes from the Keldermans workshop.

Laurenskerk, interior view

inner space

The central nave is covered with a wooden barrel vault in frame construction. Horizontal bars are visible underneath, which act as tie rods . The '' consistoriekamer '' (church council hall, sacristy in Catholic times) also has a wooden barrel vault with remarkable ornamentation. The side aisles have cross and star rib vaults, the partition arches and side aisle vaults are supported by columns made of yellowish limestone.

Furnishing

In the wooden vault of the end of the choir, on nine spandrels bordered by wooden ribs with a total area of ​​almost a hundred square meters, a Last Judgment has been preserved, the Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen painted in 1518, before the church was built. From 2003-2011 it was restored by Willem Haakma Wagenaar and Edwin van den Brink. The paintings by Jacob Cornelisz above the north transept were believed to be lost, but were rediscovered by Wagenaar in 1999 in the depot of the Amsterdam Reich Museum . In the 17th century, the west wall was built with the slightly deep organ gallery resting on four very slender pillars. Above the organ, in the semicircular gable of the west wall, there is a picture ( The fight between good and evil ) by Romeyn de Hooghe .

After the Reformation, a baptismal font (1605) and the stalls in the nave (1651–1655) were added. One of the last pieces of equipment is the Protestant pulpit from 1655. The choir screen and the Gothic choir stalls have been preserved. Until 1830, the deceased were buried in the church in up to eight shifts. A large number of gravestones are set in the floor, including those of the poet Anna Roemers Visscher and the painter Caesar van Everdingen .

Organs

In the Laurenskerk there are two world-class organs . The prospectuses of both organs are covered by painted double doors that are mechanically opened for playing. The big organ is the instrument of the famous Kaasmarkt organ concerts: every Friday, on the day of the Alkmaar cheese market, the oldest in Holland, internationally renowned organists perform here.

Great organ

Great organ

The main organ was built between 1639 and 1646 by the organ builder Galtus van Hagerbeer (died 1653) and his sons Germer (approx. 1610–1646) and Jacob (1622–1670). The organ case was designed by Jacob van Campen . Caesar van Everdingen painted the double doors. The instrument has undergone numerous changes over time. The work of Franz Caspar Schnitger , who redesigned the instrument from 1723–1725 based on northern German organs, is particularly decisive for today's organ . After extensive restoration in 1982–1986, the Flentrop organ building company restored the organ again in 2014/2015, as the historical pipework and the conductors were affected by lead corrosion . The instrument has 56 registers , which are distributed over three manuals and pedal .

I Rückpositiv C – d 3
01. Praestant 08th'
02. Quintadena 08th'
03. Octav 04 ′
04th Nasat 03 ′
05. Flute 04 ′
06th Super octave 02 ′
07th Fifth flute 03 ′
08th. Forest flute 02 ′
09. Quintanus 1 12
10. Sexquialtera II
11. Mixture V-VI
12. Cimbel III
13. Trumpet 08th'
14th Bassoon 08th'
15th Vox Humana inferior 08th'
Tremulant
II Hauptwerk C – d 3
16. Praestant 16 ′
17th Praestant 08th'
18th Praestantquint 06 ′
19th Octav 04 ′
20th Quinta 03 ′
21st Octav 02 ′
22nd Flat flute 02 ′
23. Rauschpfeife II
24. Tertian II
25th Mixture VI
26th Trumpet 16 ′
27. Viola di gamba 08th'
28. Trumpet 04 ′
III Oberwerk C – d 3
29 Praestant 08th'
30th Baarpyp 08th'
31. Reed flute 08th'
32. Quintadena 08th'
33. Octav 04 ′
34. Fluit Dous 04 ′
35. Spitzflötef 03 ′
36. Super octave 02 ′
37. Capstan flute 02 ′
38. Sexquialtera II
39. Scherp IV
40. Cimbel III
41. Trumpet 08th'
42. Haubois 08th'
43. Vox Humana 08th'
Pedal C – d 1
44. Principal 22 ′
45. Praestant 16 ′
46. Cane quint 12 ′
47. Octav 08th'
48. Quinta 06 ′
49. Octav 04 ′
50. Night horn 02 ′
51. Rauschpfeife III
52. Mixture VIII
53. Basuin 16 ′
54. Trumpet 08th'
55. Trumpet 04 ′
56. Cornet 02 ′
  1. During the restoration in 1986, it was returned to the state of 1725 as a fifth 21 13 .

Choir organ

Small organ (choir organ)

Before the church was completed, an organ building contract was awarded to the organ builder Jan von Covelens, who completed the organ on May 1st, 1511. Thus, this organ was the first piece of equipment in the Laurenskerk and is now the oldest playable organ in the Netherlands. This instrument has also been expanded and rebuilt several times. Originally a single manual, a second manual was added later. The basic substance remained relatively untouched. This organ was last restored by Flentrop between 1994 and 2000 and returned to its Baroque state. The disposition with the unusual key ranges is currently:

I breastwork GFA – g 2 a 2
1. Quintads 8th'
2. Fluit 4 ′
3. Octaav 2 ′
4th Octaav 1 ′ (treble)
II Hauptwerk GFA – g 2 a 2
5. Stupid 8th'
6th Holpijp 8th'
7th Koppeldoof 4 ′
8th. Openfluit 4 ′
9. Sifflet 1 13
10. Mixture II-VI
11. Scherp III-VI
12. Trumpet 8th'
Pedal GFA – c 1
13. Trumpet 8th'

Web links

Commons : Laurenskerk (Alkmaar)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Keldermans, famille. In: msn-Encarta-Ecyclopédie. http://fr.encarta.msn.com , June 14, 2008, accessed on February 23, 2020 (French).
  2. Het laatste Oordeel gerestaureerd (The Last Judgment restored). In: Het laatste Oordeel gerestaureerd. Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar, October 3, 2011, accessed on February 23, 2020 (Dutch).
  3. Comprehensive information on the history and disposition of the organ ( Memento from March 6, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ Frank van Wijk: Van Hagerbeer / Schnitger Orgel 1646/1725 (German edition). Stichting [Foundation] Grote Sint Laurenskerk, Alkmaar 2002.
  5. Rogér van Dijk: Van Covelens organ anno 1511 (German edition). Stichting Grote Sint Laurenskerk, Alkmaar 2000.

Coordinates: 52 ° 37 ′ 57 "  N , 4 ° 44 ′ 38"  E