Marienkirche (Büdingen)
The Marienkirche , also called Liebfrauenkirche , is the main church in the city of Büdingen in Hesse . The church was built under the reign of Heinrich von Isenburg (1340-1378) in 1367 and 1370 as a wooden "Liebfrauenkapelle" (Chapel of Our Lady) on what was then the marketplace within the city. It was the successor to the parish church of St. Remigius outside the city . The Marienkirche was often the subject of construction work over the centuries, so that today's building, which characterizes the cityscape, shows a wide variety of architectural styles .
Various military, political, spatial and religious requirements and constraints had an influence on the shape of the building. The architectural development of the Marienkirche can be roughly divided into four phases: In 1367 a wooden chapel was built as a temporary facility, which was replaced after ten years by a north-south oriented basilica . In 1476 and 1491, a late Gothic hall church was created from this, now facing east-west . Ultimately, under the influence of the Reformation , the church was significantly redesigned and expanded from the middle of the 16th century.
History of the Marienkirche
The "Liebfrauenkapelle"
As the population grew, so did the need to have their own place of worship in the city, so that in 1367 a wooden chapel was initially built as a temporary measure, which was supposed to spare the city citizens the often dangerous way to the Remigius Church, which is outside the protection of the city walls. In 1367 the “Liebfrauen Chapel” was mentioned for the first time as a wooden chapel.
Basilica of Count Johann
As early as 1377, ten years after its construction, the Marien- or Liebfrauenkapelle was rebuilt in stone under Johann I von Isenburg (1378–1395) and his wife Sophie von Wertheim (1367–1387), probably because the wooden chapel was no longer available was enough. The renovation took place as a three-aisled basilica , which was oriented north-south due to the need of the scarce space in the city. Essential structural remains of this first stone church are still preserved as components of today's Marienkirche, such as the triumphal arch and the first yoke of the choir on the south side, today's side chapel and the Gothic portal under the vault of today's tower on the north side, which shows the year 1370 as well as the inscription “Johann und Sphia hre. und frauwe zu Ysenburg and bodinge ” .
In 1378 the altar and fair service could be started in the new chapel. Diether von Isenburg (1412–1482), Archbishop of Mainz, allowed mass to be read in the Church of Our Lady because of the risk of hostile attacks on the way to and during the church service in the Remigius Church. In accordance with the increasing rights of the chapel, the Remigius Church in Großendorf lost its importance. From 1444 the “Salve Regina” could be sung in the Liebfrauenkirche. Archbishop Theodorius of Mainz approved a year later to hold a daily mass offering there. In 1456, the building between the church and the steeple was expanded to include the “New School”.
There were also chapels outside the city wall, for example the castle chapel dedicated to the Evangelist Johannes or the Corporis Christ chapel (built in 1350) between the city and the cemetery. The Corporis-Christi-Chapel, mostly called Herrgottskirche, served the Sebastian Brotherhood as a place of worship until the late Middle Ages. The location of the St. Nicholas Chapel is still unclear today. With the Reformation these chapels became orphaned, fell into disrepair and were later demolished. The only part of the chapel was in the castle.
The altar of the church was dedicated to three saints - the martyr Dorothea , Theobald (Thibault) von Provins (patron saint of tanners, charcoal makers and shoemakers) and Martin von Tours . During the excavations in 1956, a large number of grave slabs and an unadorned slab with just a hole and a cross were discovered in the nave. The plate was not made of Büdinger sandstone, but of a green and much harder material, as occurs in the forest near Schlierbach in the Brachtal. The material corresponds to that of the panels of the Remigius Church. Since documents also report that altar panels were transferred from the Remigius Church, it can be assumed that these are parts of the oldest altar panels in the Liebfrauenkapelle.
North-south orientation
The north-south orientation of the chapel, which deviates noticeably by 90 degrees from the “holy line” (west-east axis), was often doubted by experts despite historical records, as there are at most two or three churches in Germany that are oriented in this way. Only excavations during the renovation from 1957–1961 under the construction management of Peter Nieß brought the abandoned eastern wall of the old Büdinger Liebfrauenkirche from 1377 to light. The wall was framed by the paving of the old chapel on one side and the paving of the old market square on the other.
Various factors forced this orientation on the builders. The Büdinger market square around 1330 was oriented in its axis from north to south. Due to the existing Remigius Church in front of the city, a church within the city walls was not planned for urban planning. In addition, every free meter within the city walls was needed for the settlement of the castle men. In the absence of other free spaces, the Liebfrauenkapelle was built on the market square and in its place in 1377 the massive church building of the stone Liebfrauenkapelle, which is based on the urban planning conditions.
Altitude
The southern portal under the tower, due to its considerably recessed location, indicates a major problem in Büdingen's old town: the frequent flooding by the Seemenbach and the associated alluvial surface in the city area. The floor of the old chapel is over 1.25 meters below the level of the current street. The effect increased with every new paving of the streets and squares in Büdingen. This is probably one of the reasons for the rebuilding of the church in 1476.
Late Gothic hall church
Under the rule of the art-loving Count Ludwig II and his wife Maria von Nassau , the chapel was converted into a Gothic residential church between 1476 and 1491 , giving it its current structural form. Various houses in the old town had to be demolished in order to make room for the construction of the new church. As the building inscription shows, construction began with the construction of the light-flooded choir, which gives the church a solemn touch. As a result of the reconstruction, the alignment of the church was turned in the liturgical correct east-west direction. The building took up elements of the Frankfurt church building school in many areas.
With the floor plan of the nave, the count's construction hut under Master Hans Kune was obviously based on that of the nearby monastery church in Hirzenhain , while the wide-span net vault in the dominant central nave corresponds to the nave vault of the earlier St. Peter's Church in Frankfurt. In contrast to the figured vaults in the buildings of the Frankfurt School, there are no decorative foliage in the meeting point of the ribs. Instead, carved coats of arms of the ancestors of the builder Ludwig II and his wife Maria von Nassau were attached there to reflect its importance as a residential church. Such motifs were unknown before the construction of the Marienkirche on the Middle Rhine. The influence of the “Büdinger Bauschule” that arose during the construction period was formative for other buildings of the late high Gothic, such as for Hitzkirchen , Bischofsheim , Hanau , Babenhausen or Groß-Umstadt .
The narrow, longitudinally rectangular aisle bays are assigned to the wide, transversely rectangular central nave bays and thus form the basis of the wide-span arcade arches. The church was furnished with magnificent altars. In addition to the still existing high altar, a Marien Altar, a Martins and a St. George altar are mentioned. The walls were covered with impressive wall paintings, of which today only the depiction of the Last Judgment above the triumphal arch remains.
After the construction work was completed, the now Gothic hall church was elevated to the status of a town church. After its consecration in 1492, the church was also given the right to baptize in 1495 and thus took over all the functions of the St. Remigius Church in Großendorf. The city of Büdingen belonged to the Archdiocese of Mainz and was under canonical law the Archdiaconate of the Marienstift zu den Greden. The right of patronage over the parish church and the chapels was exercised by the Marienborn monastery .
The Last Judgment fresco
A special contemporary document is the mural of the Last Judgment above the triumphal arch between the hall and the choir. It dates from the time the church was built and impressively shows the medieval fear of the torments of hell. The people of that time were to be led to faith by this figurative threat and to be forced to obey God and his commandments. The fresco shows the Last Judgment from the parable of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew ( Mt 25,31ff EU ):
- But when the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then we shall sit on the throne of his glory, and all the nations will be gathered before him. And he will separate them from one another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep on one hand and the goats on the left.
The frescoes were whitewashed during the Reformation in 1601, citing the ban on images ( Ex 20.4 EU ). During the restoration in 1961, paint residues were discovered on the side walls. Other frescoes appeared as part of the renovations and were partially exposed.
The Last Judgment fresco shows Christ enthroned on a rainbow and a globe. His hands are raised in defense and blessing. The double-edged sword ( Rev 1.16 EU ) and a palm tree come out of his mouth . Above him, two angel figures with trumpets call to the resurrection. On the right his mother Maria , the church patroness. On his left is John the Baptist . Adam and Eve sit below the two . Further to Jesus' left, the hell dragon devours the damned. The eyes of the separated are on Jesus, but too late ( Jn 1,7 EU ):
- ... and all eyes and all who pierced him will see him.
On the right hand of Jesus, Simon Peter invites those who have risen from the graves, partly guided by angels, with a wave of the hand into the gate of heaven to eternal life.
Scraping marks
On the south side of the choir of the Marienkirche, a multitude of vertical scraper marks on the outer buttresses catch the eye. There are well -like depressions below the grooves . Presumably these are testimonies of the Büdingen "Wise Women" from the 16th century. They rubbed stone dust from the sacred site in order to produce medicines. The widespread superstition in the Middle Ages said that the dust that people liked to carry with them protected from all kinds of evil spirits. Medicines were often added to this dust to prevent or cure nasty diseases.
The engraver Matthäus Merian reports about another Büdinger remedy : “In this place in one field there is a lot of Krottenstein so externally and internally dispel the poison. Have a nice signature on the bufonis, just like the snake tongues in Malta have special signatures. ”The Krottenstones described by Merian are fossils of mussels from the Zechstein Sea . These were pulverized in mortars and medicines added. Today you can still find these prehistoric relics at the southern exit of the railway tunnel between Büdingen and Gründau.
Reformation and Calvinism
The Reformation also reached Büdingen in 1543. Initially, only a few changes of the liturgical nature were made, but the Latin mass remained until 1584, and the period of Lent was also retained. The furnishings of the church, such as the altars, saints, and baptismal fonts, remained unchanged with the introduction of Lutheran teaching . Since the Reformation, the choir has also served as the burial place for the manor and count's house, replacing the Marienborn monastery. A bronze plate embedded in the floor behind the altar proves this. The sandstone epitaph (grave monument) of Count Anton von Ysenburg and his wife Elisabeth von Wied from 1563, which is attributed to a Mainz sculptor “Schro”, is still there today. The life-size, courtly dressed figures of the count couple tell those who are still alive with the grave inscription: " Ego Mors Tua mors - I am dead and you will die too". Significant families from the Ysenburg feudal court were buried in front of the altar steps in the nave, as evidenced by some gravestones set up or walled in on the walls of the nave. In 1556 the "New School" was set up between the tower and the nave.
Count Wolfgang von Ysenburg-Kelsterbach, from the Ysenburg-Ronneburg line, joined the Reformed doctrine. His cousin Wolfgang Ernst I (1560–1633) from the Birstein line soon followed his example. According to the principle " Cuius regio, eius religio " , he introduced the Reformation in his part of the country. At that time, Büdingen was jointly owned by various Ysenburg lines, whose differences in denominational areas had a corresponding effect. The religious differences of opinion with Count Heinrich von der Ronneburg Line began in 1584 and did not end until Heinrich's death in 1601, after which Büdingen became Calvinist .
The confessional conversion was accompanied by an iconoclasm in which many elements of the interior were lost. In the churches and the few remaining chapels, everything from Catholic or Lutheran times was cleared. Altars, crucifixes, images of saints, baptismal fonts were removed and smashed and wall paintings were whitewashed. In St. Mary's Church only the high altar and the epitaphs mentioned survived the storm. The tombs were covered by wooden sheds. For many years the religious life of Büdingen was marked by the prohibition of “worshiping idols” (pictures, statues, vestments, etc.).
In place of the second yoke of the older Marian choir of the first stone church, the “New Consistory”, also called “ Presbytery ”, was built in 1602 on the south side . There the Consistory, the church council of the county of Isenburg and Büdingen met under the chairmanship of the then Count Wolfgang Ernst.
Later structural changes
In 1776 the damaged Gothic tower spire was replaced by a new baroque hood.
In the choir today there is a plaque of honor for those who died in the First World War. The altar is decorated with a late Gothic crucifix from around 1500 .
Further developments
By on 29 March 1712 by Count Ernst Casimir encouraged (1693-1749) issued Edict, settled as of the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648 and especially at the beginning of the 18th century inspired , separatists , pietists and other Christian sects in the city Büdingen and on the surrounding lands of the Ysenburg lords. Ernst Casimir allowed those who moved to Büdingen to have “complete freedom of conscience” and in return demanded that they “ behave in a bourgeois manner against authorities and subjects as well as in their homes as respectable, decent and Christian” . His real goal was to counteract the decline in population caused by war and plague.
As early as the 17th century, individual Lutherans were living in Büdingen again. Their number increased increasingly in the 18th century, so that in 1769 a separate parish was founded. After four years of construction, the Lutheran church in Schlossgasse was consecrated on August 26, 1774. The building served as a grammar school from 1829 and as a district court between 1879 and 1994 . Three hundred years after the Reformation in 1517, the Lutherans and Reformed Protestants also united in Büdingen in 1817 to form a Protestant community. In the last decades of the 19th century, a Catholic parish was established again in Büdingen.
Furnishing
The organ on the west gallery above the main entrance was built in 1971 by the organ building company Hillebrand (Hanover). The slider chest instrument has 28 stops on two manual works and a pedal. The upper work is swellable. The key actions and couplings are mechanical, the stop actions are electrical.
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- Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
- Playing aids: 2 free combinations, 1 free pedal combination, tutti
literature
- The Marienkirche in Büdingen - yesterday and today by Walter Nieß, Büdingen history workshop
- Hans-Velten Heuson: Büdingen - Yesterday and Today: Works on the history of the city and its surroundings (1300–1945) . Collection of articles by Hans-Velten Heuson. Collected and edited by Volkmar Stein, Büdingen 2004 for the author's 75th birthday
- Folded plan “Tour through Büdingen” with explanatory texts by Hans-Velten Heuson
- “Citizen information” of the city of Büdingen, BVB-Verlagsgesellschaft, 2003
- F. Herrmann: The fresco of the Last Judgment , in: 1491–1991–500 years Marienkirche Büdingen , Evangelical Church Community Büdingen, 1991
Individual evidence
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 17 ′ 32 " N , 9 ° 7 ′ 4" E