Visitation of the Virgin Mary (Altdorf)
The Roman Catholic parish church of the Visitation (known colloquially as the Frauenkirche ) is a listed church building in the Altdorf market in the Lower Bavarian district of Landshut . It is assigned to the dean's office Landshut-Altheim of the diocese of Regensburg . The church was built in the 15th century by the Landshuter Bauhütte in the late Gothic style and the interior was given a Baroque style from around 1665 .
Location and use
The Frauenkirche is located on the outskirts of Altdorf on the road in the direction of Landshut at an altitude of 409 m above sea level. NN . Due to its location on a hill above the Landshut Wolfgangsiedlung, a view of the entire cityscape of Landshut opens up from the churchyard . The Altdorf parish cemetery, which has now been expanded several times, is directly adjacent to the church , so that funeral services are often held in the church . Since the inauguration of the new St. Nikola Church in the town center in 1984, however, the main services of the Altdorf parish have been held there.
The oldest part of the cemetery is surrounded by a late Gothic wall from the 15th century. A late Gothic portal has been preserved on the west side .
history
Due to changes in the diocese border between Regensburg and Freising , a church To our dear lady in Altdorf was mentioned for the first time in 1157 (and thus well before Landshut was founded in 1204) . This was then reclassified from the Ergolding parish to the Eugenbach parish .
In the first half of the 13th century, a Romanesque replacement building was built. This was probably caused by Duchess Ludmilla , as Schwaiger from the area had brought their sons Otto and Albrecht to safety from the invaded Bohemian King Ottokar. However, there is no scientific evidence for this story, which is why it is now understood as a legend.
A lively pilgrimage developed to the Frauenkirche , so that Altdorf received its own parish seat in 1365 . The late Gothic building, which has survived to this day, is likely to have been built between 1419 (the year from the registration number ) and 1466 - probably with longer phases of dormant construction activity . The actual start of construction probably took place well after 1419, whereby the choir can still be assigned to the first half of the 15th century. From the butt joints between the choir and nave in the attic it can be concluded that the two structures could not have been created at the same time. The execution of the nave vault is typical of the building activity of the Landshut Bauhütte in the second half of the 15th century. Albrecht Ratmulner, who belonged to the famous Landshut construction works of Hans von Burghausen , is the master builder . This is indicated by a stone figure of the Man of Sorrows from the early 15th century, which was originally housed in a niche on the south side of the tower. Today it is inside the church. The oldest verifiable votive inscriptions , which testify to the formerly flourishing pilgrimage, date from 1482.
Over the centuries, minor structural changes were made. In 1710, master mason Hans Widtmann from Pfeffenhausen and in 1770, Landshut court mason Felix Hirschstötter carried out repairs. The tower helmet was destroyed by lightning in 1771, and for three years the master mason Josef Dirlinger from Rottenburg built a new upper floor with a baroque hood . In the course of the 20th century, repairs were carried out in keeping with the style , most recently in the 1990s. In the last days of the war in 1945, the baroque tower spire and the windows were badly damaged by American shelling. The Americans had suspected a reporting post of the German Wehrmacht in the church tower . First the church windows were temporarily nailed up and the tower was provided with an emergency roof. It was not until 1970 that the upper end of the tower was faithfully rebuilt according to the baroque design.
architecture
Exterior construction
The parish church is a three-aisled hall church with a single-nave east choir , which is the same width and height as the central nave. Both structures are united under a common gable roof . The exterior is unplastered except for the west facade and the tower , so that the late Gothic brick masonry is visible. The nave comprises three bays . The choir, on the other hand, comprises two yokes and a five-eighths ending . The sacristy is built on the north side of the choir, and on the west yoke of the south aisle there is a vaulted vestibule that contains the only church portal .
The exterior is structured primarily by ogival window openings with sloping walls . Their tracery has not been preserved. The windows in the aisles are slightly wider than the choir windows. The windows at the apex of the choir and on the front wall of the south aisle were blocked. On the outside of the choir there are also double buttresses . A partly painted late Gothic roof frieze , which is typical of the Landshut construction works, extends around the entire church building with the exception of the west facade .
The six-storey tower with corner and central pilaster strips over a square floor plan comes from the Romanesque predecessor building by Duchess Ludmilla. Arched friezes were probably attached between the pilaster strips as the upper end of the individual floors, which are no longer recognizable from the outside today. However, they can still be seen on the east side of the tower under the roof of the nave. The tower is built on the west side of the main nave and is slightly offset from the central axis to the north. The sixth floor contains a large painting by Patrona Bavariae from more recent times on the south side . A seventh baroque tower floor rises above it, which contains the belfry, three bells and four clocks . It is structured by corner pilasters and sound openings on all sides and leads over to the tapering hood, which was put on in the 20th century.
inner space
The spacious altar house (11.40 × 7.30 meters) is spanned by a ribbed vault on flat, bevelled pilasters . The ribs arise from small head consoles . The inner crossings of the ribs are also studded with heads, those above the side stitches with round, plate-shaped keystones and applied heraldic shields . The pointed arches are chamfered. The high, pointed choir arch is stepped and chamfered on both sides.
The nave, which is around 18 meters long, is divided into three naves by squat round pillars and sharp dividing arches . At 6.80 meters, the central nave is significantly wider than the 3.90 meters wide side aisles. All three naves are spanned by a ribbed vault in a star-shaped configuration. The pear-shaped ribs in the central nave arise from head consoles with writing tape. The two eastern consoles are profiled and have pointed, pointed coats of arms. The keystones in the central nave are plate-shaped. The vault in the side aisles rests on the surrounding walls on rectangular, chamfered pilasters and has pointed, chamfered shield arches. The pear-shaped ribs arise from foliage consoles . The plate-shaped keystones are partly empty, partly decorated with a rosette or a blunt pointed shield. The west gallery, resting on two rows of square pillars, was only added in the Baroque period. The space below is spanned by a ribbed vault.
In the sacristy there is a net vault, the shield ribs of which arise from head consoles. The round keystones are decorated with pointed shields. In the southwest corner of the sacristy, i.e. directly in the corner between the choir and the nave, there is a spiral staircase that serves as a staircase to the upper floor of the sacristy, its attic and the pulpit .
In the vestibule there is a vault that has the same configuration as the sacristy. Here, however, the ribs arise from round, profiled corner consoles and strive towards another round keystone. The opening arch of the vestibule is pointed, has a beveled edge on the outside and is profiled in the arch with a fillet between chamfers. The ogival portal has a profiled wall made of three round bars between covings . The outer one runs around a rectangular panel over the pointed arch.
Furnishing
Most of the remarkable furnishings in the church date from the Baroque era in the late 17th and 18th centuries. However, valuable pieces from earlier eras have been preserved.
High altar
The baroque high altar from around 1690 has a structure that is supported by two twisted, vine-covered columns. In the center there is a high quality carved , life-size miraculous image of the Mother of God with the Infant Jesus in the early Renaissance style, which was donated by the wealthy Pätzing family around 1520. The sculpture is attributed to the Landshut sculptor Jörg Rot, a colleague of Hans Leinberger . The side figures of the high altar in the branch church of St. Katharina in Arth , which represent the saints Barbara and Katharina , can be ascribed to the same master and were possibly part of the high altar of the Altdorf Frauenkirche in the past. The Madonna, surrounded by a wreath of stars, was crowned around 1750 by the Landshut goldsmith Ferdinand Schmidt and equipped with a scepter in his hand. A halo of rays emanates from the image of grace, which is surrounded by numerous angels . The altar structure is flanked by two baroque figures of Saints Catherine and Barbara . These come from the hand of the Landshut sculptor Anton Hiernle. The antependium with carved foliage dates from around 1720. The tabernacle was created around 1750 and painted by the Landshut painter Matthias Darbürger.
Side altars
The side altars on the end walls of the aisles are likely to have been created at the same time as the high altar, as can be deduced from stylistic features. The assembly is respectively supported by two spiral columns, the shank in the lower part fluted is. Both contain altar leaves by Anton Pendl from 1703. On the left (north) side altar the holy clan is depicted, including a small painting of the birth of Christ and in the extract a depiction of Saint Anthony of Padua with the baby Jesus. The altar panel of the right (southern) side altar shows Christ as Pantocrator , who awaits his dying mother in eternity. The excerpt depicts the "Apostle of the Germans", St. Boniface . A relic of this saint has been kept in a shrine since the Baroque period .
pulpit
The baroque pulpit , built around 1710, is attributed to the Rottenburg carpenter Georg Schauer. The polygonal pulpit is divided into fields by winding columns, in which relief representations of the four church fathers can be seen. The body and cover are richly decorated with acanthus carvings.
Mural
Old frescoes have been preserved on the side walls of the choir. On the south wall you can see a protective cloak Madonna , on the north wall the Annunciation is depicted. The latter was uncovered again in 1937 and represents the oldest mural in the church. It was signed in 1504 by the painter Anton Mayr from Landshut. The arched walls of the central nave also contain significant frescoes. These were painted in 1656 by Paul Weinzierl and Hans Georg Schindl and show the twelve apostles. On the aisles there are parables and scenes from the Gospels .
Other equipment
Folk altar and ambo , which were created in 1981 by the church painter Stefan Scheffzyk, are based on the baroque style. In the choir you can also see a group of figures of Anna Selbdritt from around 1510 and a late Gothic relief of the death of the Virgin from around 1480. The latter comes from the Landshut sculptor Heinrich Helmschrot and shows Mary lying on her deathbed surrounded by the twelve apostles .
In the front of the Gothic portal is a stone tablet on which the priests in Altdorf and Eugenbach , who have been in office since 822, are recorded.
organ
The current organ of the church was built in 1704 for the Franciscan monastery in Landshut and was moved to the Altdorf Frauenkirche in 1802 after the Franciscan church was demolished in the course of secularization . The baroque prospectus is decorated with elaborate foliage . It was donated to the Franciscan monastery by the pastor Johann Erhardt von Bayerbach , as can be seen from a coat of arms inscription on the case: ARD IOANNES ERHARDT SS. THEOL. LIC. PAROCH. (1675-1701) IN PAYERPACH FIERI CURAVIT .
The slider chests instrument with mechanical play and register contractures comprises eleven registers on a manuals and established a coupled pedal . The pipework has been partially renewed over time. Restoration work , for example, was carried out by the Landshut organ builders Joseph Schweinacher in 1831 and Johann Ehrlich in 1850. The disposition is as follows:
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literature
- Churches, monasteries and pilgrimage routes in Germany. Sacred cultural property in Lower Bavaria and Upper Palatinate. United Churches-Kulturbuch-Verlage AG, Haßloch 1998, ISBN 3-901819-07-X
- Kath. Pfarramt Altdorf (ed.): Church leaders of the parish Altdorf . Posted by Ernst Greetings. Altdorf, 1996.
Web links
- Homepage of the Catholic parish
- History of the market town of Altdorf with interesting facts about the church history of Altdorf
- Pictures of the church on www.kirchturm.net
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Anton Eckardt (Ed.): Art monuments of the Kingdom of Bavaria - District Office Landshut. Oldenbourg, Munich 1914, pp. 20-32 ( digitized version ).
- ^ The historical development of the market town ( Memento from December 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). Online at www.markt-altdorf.de ; Retrieved May 3, 2016.
- ↑ a b Church leader of the parish Altdorf , p. 4ff.
- ↑ Landshuter Zeitung of July 4, 2018: Patronage of the "Frauenkirche" celebrated, p. 22.
- ↑ a b c d Churches, monasteries and pilgrimage routes in Germany. Sacred cultural property in Lower Bavaria and Upper Palatinate , United Churches-Kulturbuch-Verlage AG, 1998, ISBN 3-901819-07-X . P. 10ff.
- ↑ a b c d Church leaders of the parish Altdorf , p. 7.
- ↑ a b c d e Church leaders of the parish Altdorf , p. 9ff.
- ^ Table with the names of the priests since 822 . Online at kirchturm.net ; accessed on October 19, 2019.
- ↑ Bavarian organ database online
Coordinates: 48 ° 33 '32.6 " N , 12 ° 7' 6.3" E