Lutwinus Chapel (Mettlach)
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The current Lutwinus Chapel in the Weiten district of Mettlach is a neo-Romanesque sacred building erected in 1892 on a rock high above the Saar . It marks the place where, according to legend, in the 7th century St. Liutwin / Lutwinus should have made the decision to found the Mettlach Abbey . Structural remains of the previous buildings have been preserved at the site. A memorial cross rises on the cliff facing the Saar. The chapel is a listed building .
Founding of the abbey
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At the end of the 7th century, the Franconian - Austrasian nobleman Liutwin / Lutwinus founded the Abbey of Saint Peter and Maria on a flood-free low terrace of the Saar (approx. 164 m above sea level ) in today's Mettlach and entered the monastery himself, which is subject to the Benedictine rule was. The legendary tradition from the 11th century tells that Liutwin / Lutwinus found himself on the hunt with a servant. He fell asleep exhausted on a rock high above the Saar in the blazing midday heat. An eagle is said to have hovered in the air above Lutwinus with wide wings, giving him shade from the scorching sun. When Lutwinus woke up, the eagle had flown away. The servant who saw this told his master. Lutwinus interpreted the incident as a heavenly sign that the monastery, which he had been planning to found for a long time, was now to be built here on the Saar. At the place of the legendary miracle, several chapels were later built one after the other. The current neo-Romanesque Lutwinus Chapel in Mettlach dates from 1892.
The place where the monastery was founded was characterized by a sheltered valley location, where the steep mountain slopes keep the north and east winds off. The plateaus are well suited for agriculture and the medieval metropolis of Trier was only a day's journey away.
When Liutwin later became Bishop of Trier (697-715) (also Reims , 717, and Laon ), it was over several centuries, until the 10th century, that the Trier bishop's seat and the management of the abbey were held in personal union were. While the Archbishop of Trier officially served as abbot of Mettlach Abbey, the monastery was headed by a provost on site .
There is nothing left of the monastery building, which was founded at the end of the 7th century, of the various churches only the old tower , which was built as a double chapel about 300 years after the monastery was founded and was rebuilt several times in the following years. The baroque monastery building that Christian Kretzschmar designed in the 18th century has been preserved.
The heyday of Mettlach Abbey was in the first four centuries of its existence. Two high phases can be identified: On the one hand, the time of the foundation and promotion by Liutwin and, on the other hand, the time after the free election of abbots was granted in the 10th and 11th centuries.
Construction of the neo-Romanesque chapel
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On the occasion of their golden wedding anniversary , Oktavie and Eugen von Boch donated the new Romanesque chapel on the rock in 1892, where Lutwinus is said to have made the decision to found a monastery in Mettlach at the end of the 7th century. Boch was raised to the Prussian nobility on the occasion of this marriage anniversary and in recognition of his services by Emperor and King Wilhelm II .
Karl August von Cohausen provided the plans for the chapel . A plaque on the left outer wall of the chapel reminds of the new building:
"O. (mnia) A. (d) M. (aiorem) D. (ei) G. (loriam) (German translation: Everything for the higher honor of God)
At the end of the 7th century the Franconian Duke Lutwinus made the decision to build a monastery in the valley of the Saar. After he founded the famous Benedictine abbey in Mettlach, he was appointed bishop of Trier and died in the name of holiness. His bones found a thousand-year-old resting place in the Marienkapelle (Alterthurm) and have been venerated in the local parish church to this day. In honor of his memory, the monastery built a sanctuary on the ruins of which the current chapel of Eugen von Boch and his wife Oktavie, née. Villeroy was built on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary in 1892. "
architecture
Exterior
The neo-Romanesque chapel was built from the local red sandstone . The outer walls with four arched windows are stone-view, the interior is decorated with ceramic tiles from Villeroy & Boch . The length is 5.40 m, the width 4.40 m. The roof is covered with red beaver tail tiles. Above it rises a small roof turret with a hexagonal high point. A small bell hangs in the open belfry . The semicircular apse with a radius of 1.50 m closes with a stone roof. The outer walls of the chapel building are decorated with a round arch frieze under the eaves and the verge . The round-arched chapel entrance with profiled walls and set pillars is protected by a small vestibule that rests on two pillars and pilasters . The wooden gable of the porch contains an approximately 60 cm high cross in its round arch. The entrance is barred to protect against vandalism.
Interior
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The interior of the chapel is 3.90 m long and 3.30 m wide. The maximum height is 3.75 m. There are four bench seats on both sides of the aisle. The inner walls and the floor are clad in ceramic. The choir arch with a width of 1.80 m and a height of 2.90 m is stone-see. The wooden ceiling is painted ornamentally. On the side walls and the two front walls there are statues of saints on angel-supported consoles: St. Anthony of Padua with the baby Jesus, St. Mary Magdalene in front of the cross, St. Lutwinus in the bishop's robe with his attributes eagle and "Old Tower" as well as a Mother of God with the baby Jesus .
The semicircular apse is raised by two steps opposite the chapel nave and illuminated by two coupled windows . It is completely covered with mosaic in shades of blue. The area up to the apse dome is dark blue and covered with a golden, diagonally aligned grid pattern. The base of the dome is marked by a golden frieze with circular ornaments. A light blue mosaic panel with six-pointed gold stars and a sunbeam ornament at the top rises above it.
The altar of the apse also shows rich ceramic decorations. The cafeteria, decorated with flower friezes, rests on a wall plinth and two black fluted columns with rich capitals . On the altar plate there is a central pedestal for the installation of a metal trefoil cross, which is flanked by two lower predella pedestals. The central pedestal shows the cross-cut Agnus Dei with a cross flag using mosaic technique . A stream of blood pours from his chest wound into a chalice. The secondary pedestals are decorated with sprawling acanthus leaf ornaments . The cafeteria bears the Latin inscription “Sitivit anima mea ad Deum fortem vivum. Quando veniam et apparebo ante faciem Dei. "(German translation:" My soul thirsts for the strong and living God. When may I come and appear before the face of God? "; Psalm 42.3 EU )
The altar stipes block shows in the center the standing Christ as Pantocrator in a mandorla in the manner of a medieval Majestas Domini representation. While Jesus Christ blesses the viewer with his right hand, his left hand holds the book of life . Long hair and a full beard frame a serious face that is directed at the viewer. The clothing of a ruler is quoted with an undergarment and toga. In the spandrels in the vision of the prophet of God appear Ezekiel described four worshipers before the throne of God ( Ezek 1.4 to 28 EU ), which is also the author of the New Testament apocalypse were taken ( Rev 4,6-8 EU ). In a clockwise direction these are in the Mettlach Lutwinus Chapel: an eagle , a winged bull , a winged lion and a winged person. The lion and the bull each carry a book. The gaze of the dimpled heads of the bull, the lion and the eagle is directed to Jesus Christ. Only the winged person looks at the viewer and points to Christ with his left hand. According to the testimony of the Bible, beings proclaim the holiness of God. The four heavenly beings are associated with the four evangelists John , Luke , Mark and Matthew in Christian theology . The human-faced being stands for the incarnation of Jesus, the bull-faced being for his sacrificial death, the lion-faced being for the resurrection and the eagle-faced being for Jesus' return to the Father.
Seen from the viewer on the left side of the Majestas Domini representation, the representations of St. Dominic (with lily, book and star), St. Augustine of Hippo (with crosier, arrow and heart) are in mosaic technique under indicated arched arcades , of St. Thomas Aquinas (with book and radiant sun) and St. Francis of Assisi (with book). The floor in front of the altar shows two representations of lions. The so-called lion of Judah is a symbol for Jesus Christ, as he is said to come from the tribe of Judah . In the book of Genesis Gen 49.9 EU the ancestor Jacob speaks of his son Judah as a Gur Aryeh (Hebrew for: “young lion”) when he blesses him. In the Revelation of John Jesus is referred to as the “lion from the tribe of Judah” ( Rev 5,5 EU ): “And one of the elders said to me: Don't weep! Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David , has overcome it to open the book and its seven seals. "
literature
- Carl Conrad: The beautiful Mettlach, Ein Heimatbuch von der Saar, 3rd edition, Saarbrücken 1938, pp. 20-22.
- Eugen von Boch: Letter to Karl August von Cohausen from August 25, 1945 to December 16, 1893, p. 116, here letter from November 15, 1891, Villeroy & Boch company archive.
- Benno König: Kapellen im Saarland, Volks- und Kulturgut, Illingen 2010, pp. 119–122.
- Roman Koll: Mettlach in its sanctuaries from old and new times, Mettlach 1948.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Roman Koll: Mettlach in his sanctuaries from old and new times, second, expanded edition of the first edition from 1923, Mettlach 1948, p. 6f.
- ↑ Andreas Heinz: Witnesses of Faith and Advocates, The Saints of the Saarland, Saarbrücken 1980, p. 54.
- ↑ Benno König: Kapellen im Saarland, Volks- und Kulturgut, Illingen 2010, pp. 119–122.
- ↑ Martin Klewitz: On the building history of the Benedictine abbey Mettlach, in: Gemeindeverwaltung Mettlach (ed.): 1300 years of Mettlach (tenth year book of the Association for Local History in the Merzig district), Mettlach / Merzig 1975, pp. 81–93, here p. 81.
- ^ Motto of the Jesuits
- ↑ Géza Jászai: Evangelist or God's symbols ?, On the iconology of the Maiestas Domini representation of the Carolingian Vivian Bible, in: Das Münster, Zeitschrift für Christian Kunst und Kunstwissenschaft, 1, 2019, 72nd year, Regensburg 2019, p 25-29.
Coordinates: 49 ° 30 ′ 10 " N , 6 ° 35 ′ 17.6" E