Marian column (Trier)

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Marian column

The Marian Column in Trier is a Marian monument in honor of Mary , the mother of Jesus. The monument and base are together 40.9 meters high and are visible from afar, on the left side of the Moselle valley at a height of 300 meters on the Pulsberg (i.e. over 150 m above the city center), above the West-Pallien district . This makes the Marian column the tallest building in Trier.

The Marian Column was built in the 19th century against the background of disputes between the Catholic city population and the Prussian- Protestant government. In spring 2007 the monument was completely scaffolded for renovation on behalf of the diocese of Trier . After the work was completed, the re-blessing by Bishop Reinhard Marx took place on September 14, 2007 .

history

View of the city from the Basilica of Constantine

In 1854 Pope Pius IX raised the immaculate conception of Mary became a dogma (bull “ Ineffabilis Deus ”: Mary was “preserved from birth unsullied from all hereditary guilt”), which gave new impulses to the veneration of Mary. As a result, Marian columns were built in many places .

In Trier, an argument between Catholics and Protestants was added as an additional motivation. In 1815, as a result of the Congress of Vienna , Trier fell under the rule of Prussia . The predominantly Catholic urban population rejected the Prussian rulers. The government assigned the previously Catholic Jesuit Church to the small Protestant community of Triers. The people of Trier emphatically demanded the "return" of the church.

This went so far that the Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm IV. , Took on the dispute himself: He ordered that the Jesuit Church should become Catholic again. Instead, he designated the former Basilica of Constantine as the new Protestant church , which first had to be dismantled and then, according to his wishes, would become the “second cathedral in the Rhineland” (next to Cologne Cathedral ). The Constantine Basilica was originally built for the Roman emperors. After it was integrated into the electoral palace in the early modern period , it was considered a symbol of Catholic rule in Trier. In the years 1841 to 1862, the basilica was restored to its original state, an imposing hall, by Carl Schnitzler ; from 1856 it was used by the Protestant community.

Against this background, the Catholic population collected money for one of the highest pillars of the Virgin in Germany, possibly even in the world (see discussion); the funds for the construction were raised by the citizens themselves. With them, the column was built in a prominent and widely visible place - on the 300 meter high Markusberg. The location was not aimed at pilgrims for whom a Marian column on the Trier Petrisberg (on the right bank of the Moselle) would have been more visible. Instead, the chosen location is directly above the city and, aligned on the Moselle, almost exactly opposite the basilica. Even at the time of construction, the Marian column was clearly recognizable as a reaction to the rededication of the basilica. Since the breakthrough of Constantine Street between the basilica and the Kornmarkt (i.e. on the axis of the basilica and the Marian column) after the Second World War, the Marian column is even more conspicuously visible from the forecourt of the basilica.

construction

The praying posture of Mary was chosen for the statue (i.e. without baby Jesus, see Marian column ). The design for the larger than life, 6.9 meter high statue was made by the sculptor Gottfried Renn from Speyer. The 34 m high tower was designed in the neo-Gothic style by the architects Christian Wilhelm Schmitt and Johann Peter Schmidt; It is unclear whether the style was just a taste of the times or whether it should also deliberately refer to the time before the Reformation. The same applies to the building material: the sandstone blocks are said to come partly from the old Roman city ​​wall, which would not have been unusual in the past, but at the same time could have been a symbol of the ancient tradition of the Catholic Church in Trier.

Construction began in 1859 under the direction of master builder and city councilor Joseph Weis. The sculptor Rief took over the execution of the statue. On October 8, 1866, Bishop Leopold Pelldram inaugurated the Marian Column. The night lighting is still financed today by donations.

use

A spiral staircase with 105 steps inside the rectangular substructure leads to a platform that was originally intended for visitors. It has not been accessible since an accident around 1905.

The Marian Column is a popular excursion destination, as its forecourt offers a wide view of Trier and the Moselle valley. There is a bus stop and a parking lot about twenty meters below the Mariensäule.

panorama

The panoramic view of Trier from the Marian Column (2009)

Similar structures

Bettinger tomb in Bobenheim-Roxheim , with a reduced version of the Immaculate from the Trier Marian column

The Marian column Kyllburg is very similar to the Trier Marian column, but is significantly lower.

In the cemetery of the Roxheim district , in Bobenheim-Roxheim , there is the tomb of Maria Josepha Bettinger († 1890), mother of Cardinal Franziskus von Bettinger , a sandstone stele by Gottfried Renn , with a reduced version of his monumental statue on the Trier Marian Column

literature

  • Arthur Fontaine, The Marian Sites on Trier's Markusberg. The ensemble of Mariensäule, Mariahilf-Kapelle and Stationsweg , Kliomedia , Trier 2010 (History and Culture of the Trier Land 11), ISBN 978-3-89890-148-2 .

Web links

Commons : Mariensäule  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual proof

  1. Michael Merten: “The Marian column is my life” . Katholisch.de, October 8, 2016, accessed September 2, 2019.

Coordinates: 49 ° 45 ′ 36.93 "  N , 6 ° 37 ′ 11.69"  E