Magdeburg rider
The Magdeburg rider is an equestrian statue that was made around 1240 in the younger Magdeburg workshop. It is an early life-size round three-dimensional equestrian statue of medieval sculpture and is one of the first-rate works of European art history. Two virgins complete it to form a group of figures. The three statues consist of several blocks of fine-grain sandstone . There is a copy in the Old Market , the original can be seen in the Kaiser Otto Hall in the Magdeburg Cultural History Museum .
characters
equestrian
The rider sits upright on his horse and parries it with his left hand. The reins are not preserved. The right hand is outstretched with a majestic gesture; splendid clothing and a crown identify the rider as ruler. He wears boots, sits on a saddle , both feet are in stirrups . Under his belt he wears a weir hanger with scabbard and sword. The traveling coat, tied over the chest, falls down in folds on the horse's flanks . The rider's half-length curls are finely worked out. The facial features are distinctive and the ruler's mouth appears to be slightly open.
The horse's mane, eyes and ears are highly stylized without affecting the animal's liveliness.
Virgins
The two female figures only reach a height of 1.45 m, so they are shown subordinate to the rider. Virgos were part of the ruler's appearance before his people. The folds of the heavy clothes are draped on the floor. The sleeves are tight. The hair of the two virgins is tied in a braid at the nape of the neck and they wear headbands. The faces of the companions are expressive and proud.
The virgins differ in their attributes . The virgin on the right as seen by the beholder carries a shield on which an imperial eagle was originally painted. The virgin on the left carried a flag lance , which has not been preserved. The two figures also differ in their details. The woman wearing a shield wears a star-shaped brooch , the other a polygonal pin. The brooches indicate a high descent.
layout
The Magdeburg rider was examined for paint residues by the restorers during the current restoration, which will last until the end of October 2015. It was found that it was originally painted in the colors azurite blue, green, red and white, as was customary at the time, and was only gilded in the 17th century.
The group of figures, consisting of around 100 individual parts, consists of different sandstones, the original material that is still present in the rider itself comes from the region around Bernburg . Additions and repairs from the 19th century were made with materials from the Elbe Sandstone Mountains .
Origin and interpretation
Magdeburg has been an important border Palatinate to the Slavic settlement area on the middle Elbe since Carolingian times . On the large square on the north side of the cathedral stood since the time of Otto I an internationally acclaimed Palatinate . The building was connected to the monastery and cathedral church built under Emperor Otto by a covered corridor. Otto is considered to be the actual founder of the city, as he not only expanded the border trading center, but also had what was probably the largest German imperial palace built on what would later become the cathedral square. This made it a center of imperial rule.
Several monuments keep the memory of Emperor Otto alive, such as the emperor's grave in the cathedral or the incised drawing on the east wing of the cloister of the cathedral: It shows the emperor enthroned in a strict frontal view . The Spolia brought in from northern Italy on the orders of the emperor also point to Otto I.
It is not certain whether and who was represented with the group of sculptures, and the occasion and the original location are also unclear. The equestrian statue was the main work of the "equestrian master". The name of the artist is not known. He also created the statue of St. Mauritius in Magdeburg Cathedral .
placement
The original of the Magdeburg rider is in the Kaiser-Otto-Saal of the Kulturhistorisches Museum Magdeburg , as it was impossible to place it in the original place on the market square for conservation reasons.
Until a copy was made in 1966, the Magdeburg rider stood on Magdeburg's Old Market, first under an early Gothic canopy with a pointed helmet and crenellated crown , in 1651 the canopy was replaced by a baroque shape. A drawing from the late renaissance shows that a far-reaching renovation had apparently already taken place in the 14th century, as the entire base had been renewed at that time. Four figures were placed in front of the four pillars of the base. The tabernacle lifts the rider into a majestic, sacred, political and legal position above the crowd standing below and looking up at him.
The sculptures of the Magdeburger Reiter monument were secured in the Elbe bunker during the Second World War because of the air raids on Magdeburg .
Copy on the old market in Magdeburg
The sculptor Heinrich Apel made a copy of the statue in 1966. The group of statues under the canopy of the monument housing found its place in the old market and was gilded in 2000. Several changes have been made to the housing. The hood and canopy date from the late 17th and mid 18th centuries. The decision was made to dispense with the carrying figures of the four electors (three of which were completely new at the time) that were "restored" in the late 19th century. These figures were in front of the four slender pillars of the base.
symbolism
There are different interpretations of who the Magdeburg rider represents. The location on the Old Market speaks for Emperor Otto I. One of the female accompanying figures carries a shield with the imperial eagle , the other a flag lance - both symbols of the emperor. Since the Magdeburg rider was placed in front of the court square, it can be assumed that the monument is also intended to represent the jurisdiction conferred by the emperor. Emperor Otto not only founded the city, but also the Archdiocese of Magdeburg and was venerated by the citizens of Magdeburg for long periods of time.
The equestrian statue is one of the city's landmarks. It was a symbol of the city's freedom, as Emperor Otto was seen as a guarantor of urban independence. Otto had been the lord of the city since the Archdiocese of Magdeburg was established. The city was able to evade the influence of the archbishop during the 13th and 14th centuries. Urban freedom had to be defended. The statue symbolized the freedom of the citizens, as they had to feel exclusively obliged to imperial rule, nothing more.
Charlemagne as a role model
Equestrian statues were already a symbol of power in ancient times . This tradition was continued by Charlemagne. So he had Theoderich's equestrian statue brought to Aachen from northern Italy in 801 - presumably because there were no Franconian artists who could have carved a statue of similar quality. The emperor had this sculpture set up in front of the Palatinate. This equestrian statue has not survived, but literary sources state that it was "not least to secure the great emperor's respect and admiration as a Western Roman emperor and to ensure equality with the Eastern Roman resident in Byzantium". In addition, around 870 an equestrian statuette was created from the younger Metz school, which, according to a local tradition that can be traced back to the 16th century, depicts the riding ruler Charlemagne. This statue is in the Louvre in Paris.
Emperor Otto saw himself in the tradition of Charlemagne. The Ottonian Emperor claimed leadership of the West for himself and had Magdeburg expanded as the “new Aachen”. This makes it quite likely that an equestrian statue was erected in front of his palace during Otto's lifetime, but it has not been preserved.
literature
- Heiko Brandl: The sculptures of the 13th century in the Magdeburg Cathedral. To the sculptures of the older and younger workshop. (= Contributions to monument studies 4), ed. from the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt, Halle / Saale 2009, ISBN 978-3-86568-533-9 . Pp. 159-180.
- Ernst Schubert: The Magdeburg Horseman. Magdeburg 1994, ISBN 3-930030-04-7 .
- Berent Schwineköper : On the interpretation of the Magdeburg equestrian column . In: Festschrift Percy Ernst Schramm . Wiesbaden 1964, Vol. 1, pp. 117-142.
- Berent Schwineköper: Motivations and role models for the construction of the Magdeburg Equestrian Column. A contribution to the history of the equestrian image in the high Middle Ages . In: Institutions, Culture and Society in the Middle Ages. Festschrift for Josef Fleckenstein on his 65th birthday . Sigmaringen 1984, pp. 343-392.
- Gude Suckale-Redlefsen: Mauritius: The holy Mohr. The Black Saint Maurice. Menil Foundation, Houston / Verlag Schnell & Steiner Munich / Zurich 1987, ISBN 0-939594-03-X (USA) / ISBN 3-7954-02409 (D).
Web links
- Kulturhistorisches Museum Magdeburg
- "Magdeburger Reiter" from Playmobil inspires exhibition visitors
Individual evidence
- ^ Heiko Brandl: The sculptures of the 13th century in the Magdeburg Cathedral. On the sculptures of the older and younger workshop (Contributions to Monument Studies 4), ed. v. State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt, Halle / Saale 2009, pp. 159–180.
- ↑ a b Landmark: The lost colors of the Magdeburg rider. hda / dpa, Spiegel Online, April 7, 2015, accessed on April 7, 2015.
- ^ Ernst Badstübner : Building design and image function. Texts on the history of architecture and art. 2006, ISBN 978-3-86732-002-3 , p. 86.
- ↑ Ernst Schubert: Der Magdeburger Reiter , 1988, p. 2.
- ^ Ernst Schubert: Der Magdeburger Reiter , p. 27.
- ^ Ernst Schubert: Der Magdeburger Reiter , p. 25 ff.
- ↑ See Ernst Schubert: Der Magdeburg rider . Magdeburg 1994, p. 15 ff.
- ^ Ernst Schubert: Der Magdeburger Reiter , p. 15 ff.
- ↑ Cf. Johannes Kollwitz : Oströmische Plastik der Theodosianischen Zeit. de Gruyter, Berlin 1941, p. 15.
- ↑ See Ernst Schubert: Der Magdeburger Reiter , p. 37.
- ↑ See Franz-Reiner Erkens (Ed.): Karl der Große und das Erbe der Kulturen. Files from the 8th Symposium of the Medievalist Association. Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-05-003581-1 , p. IV.
Coordinates: 52 ° 7 '53.4 " N , 11 ° 38' 21.7" E