Liebfrauenkirche (Jüterbog)
The Liebfrauenkirche in Jüterbog was built in 1161 on behalf of the Archbishop of Magdeburg Wichmann von Seeburg and is the second oldest surviving church in the state of Brandenburg . In addition, for 275 years it was the place of living and learning of the Cistercian women , in whose monastery they were included.
Building history
After Archbishop Wichmann of Magdeburg had taken the Jüterboger Land in 1157, he had the church built as a three-aisled brick basilica from 1161 (first documented mention) . He brought Premonstratensian canons from the collegiate monastery of God's grace near Calbe (on the Saale) as pastors for the colonists brought into the country from the Lower Rhine ( Flemings from today's Netherlands and Belgium ) to Jüterbog. The canons were also missionaries for the Slavs living around Jüterbog . Church patronage was also given to the Premonstratensians .
On the day Jüterbog was granted town charter, April 29, 1174, the Church of Our Lady (also called Marienkirche) was consecrated , according to the document as the main church (ecclesia principalis) of the Jüterboger Land. It was placed under the patronage of the Divine Grace Monastery.
After the (presumed) destruction in the Wenden uprising in 1179, the church was consecrated again in 1183. In 1225 it was enlarged by adding a transept with apses for two altars .
From 1282 the Cistercians built the nunnery "Zum Heiligen Kreuz" , into which the Liebfrauenkirche was incorporated. The church itself remained a parish church for the suburb of Damm. The Gothic choir was added around 1480 . The now cruciform church received one by the style of the Cistercian churches Vierungs - roof skylights . After the monastery was dissolved in 1557, it became a Protestant church. The roof turret was removed again in 1571 due to its dilapidation. Instead, a wooden bell house was built next to the church. Around 1575 bailiff Leopold von Klitzing (the younger) had the sacristy added .
It was not until 1722 that the church received a baroque half-timbered tower, which in 1845 was dismantled again except for a stump with a tent roof due to its disrepair . The current pointed slate tower was only built in 1891. During a comprehensive restoration and renovation in 1890/91, the colored choir windows were also made. Due to financial hardship, both aisles had to be demolished in 1798. The arches were bricked up and provided with larger windows.
In 1936/38, in addition to other restoration work, the wooden ceiling was painted according to old templates. In the years 2000 to 2005, the outer shell was extensively renovated and the roofs of the slate tower, the choir and the two transepts were newly covered.
Furnishing
After the Reformation was introduced in 1540 in the Archdiocese of Magdeburg and thus also in Jüterbog, only the Gothic winged altar of Mary in the choir remained of the seven altars in the church. The artistically valuable Gothic baptismal font in the shape of a goblet with a large fifth , around 1480, was still used by the Protestants, but was later covered with a baptismal bowl.
In 1575 bailiff Leopold von Klitzing donated the sandstone pulpit. The then well-known sculptor Georg Schröter from Torgau had designed it artistically very expressively. Schröter also created the pulpit of the monks' church in Jüterbog. In addition to the depiction of the four evangelists with their symbols, the two reformers Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon in the pulpit are particularly noteworthy. This is probably the oldest representation of the two reformers on a pulpit. The coat of arms of the von Klitzing family and Christ with the globe can be seen at the pulpit entrance.
The bailiff Leopold (also Lipold) von Klitzing (the elder) was given an epitaph (grave monument ) in 1562 , which is located in the choir on the east wall (behind the altar on the right). The other two epitaphs were created for the wife of the bailiff Johann Heinrich Ritter (1733) and the bailiff Friedrich Christian Krebs (1777, above the lectern). Six other people are buried in the choir area and near the pulpit in the Liebfrauenkirche.
The altar of Mary was replaced in 1710 by the ducal order by the baroque altar that still exists today. This shows the image program usual for this time and in this region: In the predella the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples, above it the depiction of a scene from the Passion story , here Jesus' prayer in the garden of Gethsemane , which is flanked by columns. Framed by palm trees and flanked by angels with instruments of suffering is the resurrection of Christ, looking through the clouds above the " God's eye " as a sign of God's presence and in the halo the triangle as a symbol of the Trinity of God. The altar is crowned by a halo . In the triangle you can see the Christ monogram XP (Greek Chi and Rho) and the Greek Alpha and Omega for the beginning and the end (first and last letter of the Greek alphabet).
When the altar was consecrated in 1418, there was already an organ in the church. Today's organ was built in 1737 by the Berlin organ builder Joachim Wagner , and - donated from the legacy of a Jüterbog long-distance trader - is still almost original in its baroque shape. The prospectus comes from the Jüterbog sculptor Johann Angermann. The intertwined letters J / A in the cartouche above the pipework should, however, refer to the sovereign Duke Johann Adolph II von Weißenfels, who was then responsible for Jüterbog . Changes to the church were made through extensive renovations.
In 1890/91, in addition to partial renovation of the masonry, the roof structure was also renovated, the tower was built, the seating was replaced and the organ gallery was lowered by 2½ meters and enlarged. A Berlin company created two colored choir windows with a total of four panels. Looking towards the altar, in the left window you can see Moses, who is erecting a metal snake on a stick as a sign of life during the deadly plague of snakes in the desert. Next to it as a counterpart the erected cross of Jesus as a sign of eternal life. In the second window, to the right of the altar, there are images of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.
In 1936/38, in addition to painting, the wooden ceiling was restored according to the old pattern. The royal box above the door in the north wing of the transept has been removed. In 1971/72 an interior renovation was carried out in the run-up to the 800th anniversary of the consecration of the church. The organ has also been partially restored. A parish room was set up as a winter church with gas heating under the organ gallery and an electric bench heater was installed in the main nave.
After its dedication in 1966, the following paintings came from the monks' church to the Liebfrauenkirche (orientation with a view of the altar): Left aisle (from left): Jeremias Crudelius (1711–1743), from 1738 deacon and rector of the grammar school, from 1740 Pastor M. Johann Christian Crudelius (1697–1738), his brother, from 1724 assistant preacher with his father M. Johann Abraham Crudelius, after his death from 1725 to 1738 successor in the pastoral office of Liebfrauen-Mönchen. Below: family of M. Johannes Pilichen (1577–1599), pastor at St. Nikolai from 1600 Right aisle: Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon, opposite another portrait of M. Johann Pilichen (buried in the monks' church in 1611).
Of the three bells, the oldest, which was cast by Hans Baudicke, dates from 1471. The smallest one no longer rings because of a crack. In addition, the two former bells from the monks' church ring when the tower clock of the Liebfrauenkirche strikes.
Only a remnant of the medieval painting of the church is preserved in the last southern window arch of the central nave, which possibly shows the Man of Sorrows between angels.
literature
- M. Gottfried Hecht: Res memorabiles of the city of Jüterbog. Wittenberg 1707
- Carl Gottfried Ettmüller: Anales of the district town Jüterbock. Museum in the Kulturquartier Jüterbog (handwritten), 1800
- Dr. Johann Carl Brand: History of the district town of Jüterbog and its surroundings. Jueterbock 1836
- Dr. Carl Christian Heffter: Documented chronicle of the old district town of Jüterbock and its surroundings. Jueterbock 1851
- Erich Sturtevant: Chronicle of the city Jüterbog. Jueterbog 1935
- Marie-Luise Buchinger, Marcus Cante: Monuments in Brandenburg. Teltow Fläming district, part 1: City of Jüterbog with Zinna monastery and Niedergörsdorf community. Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, ISBN 3-88462-154-8
- Hans-Jochem Göbel: From the history of the Protestant parishes in Jüterbogs. Herzberg: Verlag Bücherkammer 2007
as well as archive material from the Jüterbog ephoral archive and the archive of the Liebfrauenkirche Jüterbog
Web links
- Liebfrauenkirche Jüterbog
- Entry in the monument database of the State of Brandenburg
- Romanesque routes in Berlin and Brandenburg - Liebfrauenkirche and St. Jacobi, Jüterbog
Coordinates: 51 ° 59 ′ 26.3 " N , 13 ° 4 ′ 21.6" E