Liebfrauenkirche (Schotten)
The Evangelical Church of Our Lady is a Gothic church in the Hessian city of Schotten .
history
The church was built from 1350 to 1385. It was a foundation of Countess Lukarde von Eppenstein and Count Konrad von Trimberg. It was through a letter of indulgence from Pope John XXII. from Avignon to the pilgrimage church.
In the 15th century a register reports that there is a parish in Schotten with the altars of Saints Brigida, Saint Peter and Paul, Saint Barbara, Saint Jost, Jodocus and Maternus, John the Baptist, Nicholas and Georg. Could the current winged altar have been named after the existing wooden sculpture (in the Upper Hessian Museum, Giessen) after "John the Baptist"?
In 2015, a three-year fundamental renovation of the church was decided because of the leaning tower and the poor wooden construction.
Schotten winged altar
General
The winged altar (high altar) of the Liebfrauenkirche in Schotten is one of the main works of late Gothic painting. It is an "art historical gem of special rank" (S.Weil). The origin of the "Schottenmeister" from Bohemia, Prague, as the center of art at the court of Emperor Charles IV. Is not known, but the great similarities to the "Meister von Wittingau ”speak for it.
The Scottish master was already facing the next spiritual change, the Renaissance, so it is justified to call him a pioneer of the “Soft Style” (International Gothic around 1400). The painter thus belonged to the avant-garde painter of that time and began to abandon the schematic monotony (Byzantine) of pre-defined forms in painting. Instead, the individual, especially the facial expression, was adapted to the respective situation. Man was no longer simply interchangeable, but was painted as a unique personality.
The date of origin can be assumed to be 1373 and the completion in 1380 AD. The "evidence" lies on the ceiling of the first pair of pictures and consists of the painted Hebrew letters of the offering box. This decipherment is related to Hebrew letters in other images, which also all have a meaningful message. It is also noticeable that the labeling of the biblical and extra-biblical depictions of people from the life of Mother Mary and then also of Jesus Christ with "Jewish hats" suggests that the painter was interested in showing that the origin of the Christian faith lay in Judaism. The assumption that he himself was a Christian of Jewish origin is obvious. The pair of images depicting the circumcision of Jesus, the cleansing sacrifice and the redemption of the firstborn are not entirely unusual, but still relatively rare, all of them, even today, rituals of Judaism. The images over the temple also play an important role. So everything speaks for the above thesis.
The Scottish master's characteristic “pairs of images” differ from the usual division through the merging of the scenes. During this time they were mostly separated by an optical bar. Not with the Scotsman. So he probably wants to make the thematic context clear. The interpretation: question and answer (after Pastor U. Heuermann) would be a possible explanation.
Eight pairs of pictures form the inside of the altar (life of Mary and Jesus) and 4 pairs of pictures (Passion - Crucifixion - with the resurrection of Jesus) the outside. The number 12 corresponds to the 12 tribes of Israel in the old covenant or the 12 disciples (apostles) of the new covenant. This symbolism is also typically Jewish and also supports the aforementioned assumption.
The dimensions of the winged altar: the central panel is 0.85 m wide and 1.35 m high; both wings are each 1.00 m wide and 1.35 m high. The painting technique: The panels are painted with tempera paints on a fine white chalk background, i. H. with resinous binders or egg white. The following color pigments were usually used: lapis lazuli (blue), azurite (blue), malachite (green), green copper paste (green), cinnabar (red), iron oxide (red), lead-tin (yellow). The colors are still to be admired in their luminosity, despite the many years.
The message of the altar
- Jesus: whole person through his mother Mary - representation of her life and death.
- Jesus: God's Son - died on the cross for our forgiveness - came to life again in the resurrection and thus gave us the hope of eternal life.
"But that is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and whom you sent, Jesus Christ." (John 17.3)
organ
The organ in the Liebfrauenkirche was built in 1782 and 1783 by employees of the organ building workshop Philipp Ernst Wegmann from Frankfurt am Main . When it was built, it stood on the gallery of a rood screen in front of the choir that no longer exists . After this rood screen was demolished, it had its place from 1861 to 1972 on the south pore, which now serves as the choir gallery. In 1972 the organ was relocated to the west gallery during a general overhaul by the Schuke / Berlin organ building company . The organ contains 31 stops on two manuals, including 6 original stops from 1782/1783. The organ case with two trumpet angels is also original.
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- Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
literature
- Häring, the Schottener Altar , inaugural dissertation - Giessen University, 1976;
- The great lexicon of painting , Westermann, 1982;
- Beierle, "Evang. Liebfrauenkirche Schotten", Schnell & Steiner, Munich 1983
- Lübke, History of German Art , Reprint-Verlag, Leipzig, 1890;
- Baader, Semantics of Biblical Hebrew , 1st Edition, 1984;
- Dieter Oesch: The Schottener winged altar , Verlag Wort im Bild, 2001
- Dieter Oesch: History of the founding of the city of Schotten , Verlag Wort im Bild, August 2015, ISBN 978-3-88654-472-1
Individual evidence
- ↑ Pisa is just around the corner. Church of Our Lady. Leaning tower, ramshackle beams: renovation is not only expensive, but also has an impact on the city center , Kreis-Anzeiger, Saturday 23 May 2015, p. 37.
- ↑ More information on the Wegmann organ
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 30 '9.4 " N , 9 ° 7' 24.6" E