Minster St. Maria and Markus (Reichenau-Mittelzell)
The Minster St. Maria und Markus is a Romanesque former Benedictine monastery church and today's Catholic parish church in the district of Mittelzell on the island of Reichenau in Lake Constance . The minster was the abbey church of the important Reichenau monastery (Latin: Monasterium Augiensis ) and is the largest of the three Romanesque churches on the island.
The monastery island of Reichenau belongs together with the church since 2000 on the World Heritage of UNESCO .
Building history
After the first wooden monastery church was probably built from 724 under the founding abbot Pirmin , Abbot Haito had a Carolingian basilica built on a cross plan, parts of which are still preserved today in the crossing and in the east transept . It was consecrated on August 16, 816 in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In 830, Bishop Radolt von Verona , an Aleman , brought relics from Italy to Lake Constance, including relics of the evangelist Mark from Venice . Haito's successor Erlebald (823–838) expanded the abbey church to include a nave - yoke , a west transept and a double-towered westwork . Walahfried Strabo names the priest monk Einmuot as the architect of this construction phase .
Another treasure trove, a Byzantine abbot's cross with a holy blood relic , came to the Reichenau in 925. In her honor, a rotunda based on the model of the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built to the east behind the basilica by 946 .
For reasons that have been handed down in legend and can only be assumed historically - the translation legend reports on Radolt's promise of secrecy - the veneration of St. Mark on the Reichenau only gained importance at the turn of the millennium and, after intermediate stages in the 10th century, required the expansion of the Carolingian Church under Abbot Berno The shape largely preserved to this day, most noticeably through a further west extension with a new transept in place of the old westwork and in front of it a monumental, rectangular and richly structured tower. This western building became the liturgical site of the exhibition and veneration of St. Mark's relics. Bernos Münster was on April 24, 1048, the eve of St. Mark's Day , by order and in the presence of Emperor Heinrich III. , consecrated by Bishop Theodoric .
The barrel-shaped "Norman" roof structure made of oak (open again since 1970) dates from 1236/37 .
In the late Gothic period, the Reichenau Abbey flourished and the Gothic choir was built . The Holy Blood Chapel was demolished for this.
The great grandson of Charlemagne , Emperor Karl III. ("Karl the Fat"), the last ruler of united France and the only king of the Alemanni, died on January 13th, 888 in Neudingen on the Danube and was buried at his own request in the cathedral. His grave slab, embedded in the choir of the minster, contains the inscription "CAROLVS III IMPERATOR † 888" ; it was moved to the sacristy in 1728. Some abbots such as Berno and Mangold von Brandis also found their final resting place in the church.
Equipment and treasury
Only parts of the former wealth of the Reichenau Abbey have been preserved. Numerous valuable manuscripts, liturgical vessels and vestments ended up in other churches and collections after the monastery closed in the 18th century. Nevertheless, the equipment of the minster with statues, grave slabs, wall and oil paintings from Gothic and Baroque is remarkable.
When entering the church in the east, the visitor will notice the baroque choir grille (1746) and behind it the Holy Blood Altar (1739). On the north wall of the Romanesque choir stump there is a sandstone sculpture of Our Lady with Child (around 1300) and a large picture of St. Christopher , opposite other late Gothic wall paintings (Christ on the Mount of Olives; picture of Mary with donors).
The altars of the side aisles bear a Pietà (around 1350; north) and a martyrdom of St. Stephen (1596; south).
In the Gothic high choir there is a winged altar with the coronation of Mary and saints by Rudolf Stahel (1498). Catechism-like wall paintings from the second half of the 16th century revolve around the theme of the Eucharist .
In the center of the western apse is the St. Mark's altar from 1477, which contains the St. Mark's relics in a copy of the original shrine .
The treasury keeps u. a. the original Markus shrine and other valuable reliquary shrines and vessels as well as, as the last remaining evidence of the Reichenau art of illumination, an evangelist from the middle of the 9th century.
Particularly outstanding is the holy blood relic, which, according to tradition, contains the blood-soaked earth of Golgotha, a splinter of the cross of Christ (behind a small golden Byzantine abbot's cross) and a blood-soaked silk handkerchief. The relic was given to Charlemagne in Jerusalem and then came to Reichenau. During the Thirty Years War this relic was moved to a monastery near Freiburg and only returned to the monastery in 1737 with a baroque setting and precious stones. In 1746 it was transformed into a monstrance. It is kept in the Holy Blood Altar in the cathedral.
organ
The organ of the church was built in 1967 by the Klais / Bonn company . It has 39 registers , divided into three manuals and pedal , a mechanical performance and an electrical stop action . The disposition is as follows:
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Bells
The cathedral has a total of nine bells, seven of which are partly old.
No. |
Casting year |
Caster |
Diameter (mm) |
Mass (kg) |
Strike tone ( HT - 1 ⁄ 16 ) |
tower |
1 | 1986 | Karlsruhe bell foundry | 1514 | 2350 | c 1 -1 | West tower |
2 | 1392 | unknown | 1390 | 2000 | e 1 ± 0 | |
3 | 1361 | unknown | 1150 | 1000 | g 1 -4 | |
4th | 1955 | Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling | 978 | 638 | a 1 ± 0 | |
5 | 1492 | unknown | 940 | 600 | c 2 -5 | |
6th | 15th century | Rottweiler foundry hut | 460 | 65 | h 2 +4 | Roof turret west tower |
I. | 1776 | L. Rosenlecher | 530 | f 2 +1 | Convent building on the roof | |
II | 1733 | 500 | f 2 -4 | |||
III | 1553 | unknown | 450 | b 2 +3 |
Since December 5th, 2015 the bells in the west tower can be rung again. A break had become necessary because the asymmetrical swinging of the bells caused damage to the structure. The bells were hung; they are now in a row. Accompanying this measure, the bell cage was mounted on a special rubber mass and a modern, electronically controlled ringing technology was installed.
literature
- Eva Moser: Lake Constance. Three countries - culture and landscape between Stein am Rhein, Konstanz and Bregenz. DuMont, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-7701-3991-7 , pp. 53-56.
- Theodor Fehrenbach, Alfons Weißer: The Reichenau and its three churches. 14th edition, Ehingen 2005.
- Carla Th. Mueller, Werner Hiller-König: The treasury in the Reichenauer Münster. With contributions by Gudrun Bühl, Agnes Krippendorf, Diane Lanz u. Birgit Schneider. Koenigstein i. Ts. (The Blue Books) 2003, ISBN 978-3-7845-3190-8 .
- Emil Reisser : The early construction history of the Reichenau Minster. Berlin 1960.
Web links
- Munster St. Maria and Markus on reichau-tourismus.de
- A tour of St. Maria and Markus in a 360 ° panorama on hegau-panorama.de
- In the choir of St. Maria and Markus in a 360 ° panorama
- In the treasure chamber of St. Maria and Markus in a 360 ° panorama
Individual evidence
- ^ Ottmar Friedrich Heinrich Schönhut, Chronicle of the former Reichenau Monastery: With views of the island , Google book search online
- ↑ The true mothers of Europe ( Memento of the original from April 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , published March 22, 2015
- ↑ Information on the organ
- ^ The bells of the minster on the website of the Archdiocese of Freiburg, accessed on May 13, 2017
- ^ Report on the renovation work in the tower in Südkurier , accessed on May 13, 2017
Coordinates: 47 ° 41 ′ 56 ″ N , 9 ° 3 ′ 45.1 ″ E