Liebfrauenmünster (Donauwörth)
The Cathedral of Our Lady is a Catholic parish church in Donauwörth in the Bavarian diocese of Augsburg .
history
The Ulrichskirche, built in the 11th century, stood on the site of today's church. Construction of today's three- aisled late Gothic hall church began in 1444 under city architect Hans Knebel. Brick was used as building material . When a side aisle collapsed in the 13th year of construction, Hans Knebel had to hand over construction responsibility to Ulrich Walther from Augsburg, who also finished building the church. On December 4, 1467, after 23 years of construction, the church was consecrated by the Augsburg auxiliary bishop Jodok Seitz OPraem . In 1607 the church was re-Catholicized . The tower of the minster, which houses five bells, was adorned with a Gothic pointed helmet until 1732. However, this was destroyed twice by lightning strikes and replaced by a low tent roof. In 1938 frescoes were uncovered, which presumably date from the construction period. During the air raids on Donauwörth towards the end of the Second World War on April 11 and 19, 1945, the cathedral suffered severe damage. The west facade was torn open by an explosive bomb, the star vaults and tracery windows in the choir were partially destroyed, the Herrgottsruhe chapel was totally destroyed and the Gothic tabernacle was badly damaged. The first securing work was carried out in 1945, restoration work was carried out by the Siebinger company until 1952, and the tower was restored in 1953, removing the plaster. Exterior renovations took place from 1981 to 1986 and 2012. The last interior renovation was from 1987 to 1991; The main altar with an ambo was made of gray shell limestone by the sculptor Franz Hämmerle from Windach. The 57 meter high church tower can be climbed as part of guided tours over 218 steps up to the viewing gallery in the tower parlor.
architecture
The church is a mighty, mostly plastered brick building with buttresses and vaulted portal porches. In the northern choir corner, the tower is built with a high, square substructure, which ends with a Gothic gallery and an octagonal tower with a tent roof from the period after 1730. The three-aisled staggered hall consists of a seven-bay nave with a heavily raised, windowless central nave, which is combined with the side aisles under a common, huge gable roof, and the single-nave choir with a five-eighth end . The floor in the nave rises in the course of the old Reichsstraße by about 170 cm from east to west. Octagonal pillars without warriors with services on the front side (which only attach to the upper pillar section on brackets) carry the ogival arcades with overlying blind arches. The central nave is closed with a parallel rib vault, the north aisle with a close-meshed, the southern with a wide-meshed reticulated vault and the choir with a star vault. Narrow, reticulated chapels are built on the easternmost yoke of the aisles, and busts can be found as consoles on the north side. The choir, like the side aisles, is illuminated by partly renewed large tracery windows.
Ceiling and wall paintings
The Gothic ceiling and wall paintings date from the 15th and early 16th centuries, were exposed in 1938/1939 and partially renewed after 1945. In the choir there are depictions of Saint Barbara, a Madonna in a protective cloak and a Man of Sorrows from around 1540. The frame painting around the Gothic tabernacle shows angels with the tools of the Passion . Two donor pairs of different sizes and the saints Ulrich and Afra are dated to the year 1449. A kneeling family of donors is shown with an inscription ribbon.
In the central nave, gray profiles decorated with crabs are painted over the arcades . In the side aisles, the vault caps are painted with charming plant motifs, figurative and heraldic decorations. On the eastern wall of the north aisle there is a depiction of the Mount of Olives, on that of the southern one there is a crucifixion of Christ with a view of the city from around 1500. Next to the north portal is a kneeling donor couple in Gothic architecture from the early 16th century. Female saints and a kneeling donor and a depiction of the Mount of Olives from around 1500 are painted on the northern row of pillars. On the southern row of pillars the Man of Sorrows and a kneeling donor and Christ in the mandorla can be found with the year 1467, furthermore the crucifixion of Christ with the year 1514. In the southern side chapel on the eastern pillar a female saint, presumably Mary, can be seen furthermore a representation of Maria lactans and the Mother of God , above the Saints Leonhard , George and John the Baptist . On the east wall there is a representation (from the end of the 15th century) of a fortified city and God the Father with donors underneath.
Furnishing
Historic furnishings
The most important pieces of equipment are a Gothic crucifix from 1513 above the high altar and a larger than life Pietà from 1508 above the right side altar. Probably the oldest piece of furniture is a stone Madonna above the vestry entrance , which was created around 1430 in the manner of Master Hartmann . The baptismal font and the sacrament house - the latter donated by Georg and Barbara Regel - are dated to 1503. The sacrament house in the form of a slender pillar with an elegant, tapering tracery pyramid is attributed to Burkhard Engelberg .
The choir stalls were created by Michael Bestle in 1690. In the north aisle there is a three-seater bed chair with strong acanthus, shell and notched ribbon decoration from 1721. Several paintings depicting the life of St. Bernard of Clairvaux were created by Gottfried Bernhard Göz and Johann Baptist Enderle around 1760/1765 and come from the summer refectory of the Kaisheim monastery . A depiction of a Herrgottsruhechristus from around 1710/1720 is attributed to Johann Paul Tschiderer. In the northern chapel there is an icon of Mary embroidered in silk in the style of Our Lady of Vladimir , presumably a late medieval Russian work.
Numerous notable tombs and epitaphs from the 14th to 18th centuries have also been preserved. In the north aisle there is a tombstone with the full figure of the Teutonic Knight Adam von Klingelbach († 1604) in a shell niche. A tombstone of Mayor Hans Gundelwein with an Ecce homo relief and the coat of arms is attached to the northern sign . In the south aisle there is a relief of the Commander in the costume of Johann von Preysing († 1599). A three-dimensional full figure of the Teutonic Order Commander Heinrich von Zipplingen († 1346) has also been preserved. A relief made of yellowish marble with the veneration of the cross of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux was created around 1580, this remains of an epitaph probably comes from Kaisheim. The epitaph for Mathias and Anna Bald from 1477 with the risen Christ is placed in the southern chapel.
The flat ceiling in the sacristy with frame stucco, acanthus wreaths and egg stick was made by Benedikt Vogel around 1700. There is also a painted wooden epitaph from 1515 with the risen Christ and a kneeling donor family.
Modern equipment
From 1960 to 1965 new leaded glass windows were installed, created by Josef Oberberger . Post-war furnishings also include the bronze tabernacle , the candlesticks (both by Anton Rückel , Munich) and the high altar made of red Trentino marble. The organ with 44 registers on two manuals and pedal was built in 1977 by the company Klais Orgelbau from Bonn.
Bells
The oldest bell in the minster is the 1,500 kilogram Marienglocke from 1388, which was already used in the previous church. The first Pummerin was cast in 1512. It had to be re-cast twice because of a crack: first by Johann Schelchshorn in 1677, then in 1886 by Theodor Wolfart from Kempten. The Pummerin weighs about 6,550 kilograms with a diameter of about 2.15 meters and has the strike tone as 0 . The largest bell in the minster and the largest bell in Swabia. There are three more bells hanging in the tower. The disposition of the bell is as 0 –c 1 –es 1 –f 1 –as 1 .
literature
- Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments. Bavaria III: Swabia. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-422-03116-6 , pp. 292-294.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Diocese of Augsburg
- ^ Hartwig Beseler, Niels Gutschow: Kriegsschicksale Deutscher Architektur. Loss - damage - reconstruction. Volume II. Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1988, ISBN 3-926642-22-X , pp. 1349-1350.
- ↑ GEDA involved in the renovation of the Donauwörther landmark on geda.de
- ↑ Sights: 14 - Liebfrauenmünster / Stadtpfarrkirche on the website of the city of Donauwörth
- ↑ Information about the organ on orgbase.nl. Retrieved April 4, 2019 .
- ↑ The "Pummerin" of the Marienmünster in Donauwörth
Coordinates: 48 ° 43 '9.2 " N , 10 ° 46" 37.5 " E