Matthias Altar

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Matthias Altar

The Matthias Altar is a late Gothic winged altar with thirteen statues of saints in Minden Cathedral , designed in the form of a triptych and located on a substructure made of Obernkirchen sandstone in the south transept. It consists of a fixed shrine and two wings with which the altar could originally be closed. The outside of the wings were painted, the inside and the shrine decorated with sculptures. The carvings are partly colored, partly gilded. By the end of the 19th century, the condition of the retable had deteriorated so much that the original condition could no longer be reconstructed. During a restoration at the beginning of the 20th century, the patronage of the altar and the identity of the main character were determined by the apostle Matthias .

history

View of the Matthias Altar 1815

It has not yet been possible to determine who created the altar. Workshops from the area around Göttingen and Hildesheim come into consideration, attributions to Barthold Kastrop or the circle of the Hildesheim Johannes-Meister are mentioned. The first quarter of the 16th century comes into question as the date of origin. The question of the original patronage of the altar is also unanswered, as it is unclear who was represented as the main character in the center. According to the clothing and depiction of the central figure, it could have been a statue of St. Lawrence, who has been another patron of the cathedral since 952. At the time the altar was built, there was a Vicarie of Laurentius .

There have only been detailed reports about the folding altar since the 19th century. For the assessment of the reredos it is important to have a photograph documenting the condition of 1895. At this point there was no predella , no more cracks and no decorative elements. With the exception of the carving above the figure of Mary, all the veil ornaments in the individual niches above the statues were lost, and there was not much left of color or gilding. The figures currently known as Matthias , Rochus , Johannes , Laurentius , Petrus , Paulus and Norbert had no attributes , the additions of Markus and Bartholomäus were only preserved in fragments. The loss of the attributes is one of the reasons why the statues can no longer be fully identified. The unchanged identity from the Gothic to this day is indisputable with the Crescent Madonna , Anna selbdritt and the Apostle Andreas . There are trustworthy attributions from literature, also based on the period from the Gothic to the present day, for John, Peter, Paulus and Bartholomäus. The other saints can no longer be clearly identified or have been rededicated, as is probably the case with Matthias and Laurentius. The photo from 1895 also shows that the figures are still in the same places today as they were then. A suspected exchange of Sebaldus and Norbert must therefore have taken place before this point in time.

In 1898, the church council of the cathedral applied to the government in Berlin for the restoration of the golden table and the Matthias altar. The government rejected the suggestion made by the monument conservator Albert Ludorff to sell the Matthias Altar to the State Museum in Münster in order to reduce the cost of the Golden Plate. Both reredos were to be preserved in the cathedral. In September 1900 the Matthias altar was brought to the workshop of Mormann and Goldkuhle in Wiedenbrück . Two months later, however, the government refused to cover the cost of restoring both folding altars. There is no precise information about the further development, in 1904 the altar returned to Minden in only a partially restored condition. With the renovation in Wiedenbrück, the patronage of the altar was set on the apostle Matthias , who was now given a halberd as the main character. The identity of most of the other saints was also decided. New attributes were made and the veil boards are said to have been renewed at that time.

After the First World War there were plans to convert the altar into a war memorial altar. The intention was to place the triptych on a high predella, into which the wooden Pietà from 1420 should be inserted, which has been in a devotional chapel in the north tower of the westwork since 1995. It was planned to write down the names of the fallen on both sides of the Pietà.

From 1938 to 1940 the reredos were restored in the workshop of the State Museum in Münster . The colored version of the statues was completely renewed and a new predella was created, which extends beyond the main shrine to the middle of the wings and supports them. Two invocations from the Latin version of the All Saints' Litany were inscribed on the predella : Sancte Matthia ora pro nobis / Sancti et sanctae Dei / intercedite pro nobis (Saint Matthias pray for us. Saints of God pray for us). The second invocation was removed again at an unknown point in time.

During the Second World War, the altar was closed because of the threat of bombing, it was painted with fire-proof paint and it was placed in paradise. In 1957 it was placed on a pillar of the nave. After it had been cleaned and damaged areas repaired, in 1991 it was given a new place on a substructure made of Obernkirchen sandstone in the south transept.

description

The square center section of the carved wood altar has an edge length of 1.47 meters. When the wings are open, it is 2.94 meters wide. With the exception of the figure in the middle, which is twice the height and width of the others, all sculptures are arranged in two rows.

Everyday page

When closed you could see the everyday side of the altar. From the sparse remains of the paintings on the outside of the wings, one can only see that they were figurative representations. It is no longer possible to determine which motives could have been involved.

Holiday page

On holidays the wings were opened and the painted and gilded sculptures were presented. The statues of the main shrine stand in three-sided niches. Their back walls are provided with a gold-plated pattern, the partially gold-plated side surfaces are decorated with tracery. The niches on the wings are only equipped with a flat, also patterned and gold-plated back wall. Since the end of the 19th century, the altar has only been shown when it is open.

Main shrine

The large figure in the middle today represents Saint Matthias. He is dressed as a deacon and holds a halberd in his right hand as an attribute ; in his left you can see a book. The main character in the upper row is flanked on the left by a crescent moon Madonna , on the right by Anna herself . Mary is crowned and holds the baby Jesus on her right arm. A scepter can be seen in her left hand. Saint Anne is shown as a standing figure with a swaddle on her head. Her daughter Maria is sitting on her left arm, and the unclothed baby Jesus is on her right. Matthias is accompanied by two apostles on the lower floor. On the left you can see Peter with a key, on the right Paul with a sword as a sign of identification.

wing

The left wing probably shows Rochus von Montpellier at the top left , but he lacks the usual pilgrim clothes and staff. Next to him is possibly the evangelist Mark , whose attribute is not recognized as a lion, but is called a monster. The statue with the church model on the lower left could be Sebaldus von Nürnberg , whereby it should be noted that the model shows no resemblance to the twin-towered Sebalduskirche in Nuremberg or Wendelin , in which the church attribute is interpreted as a reference to his burial place in Trier . The apostle Andrew , with the cross named after him, is the only unequivocally identified figure on this wing.

On the right wing is the youthful figure of the Evangelist John with a chalice in his left hand, the right one raised to bless. The figure next to it today represents Laurentius of Rome , who has been given a grate standing on the floor. Under John stands the apostle Bartholomew , whose attribute, a knife, has only survived in fragments. The last statue, with a goblet in his left hand, could be Norbert von Xanten .

Predella and sprouts

The triptych stands on a predella that extends beyond the main shrine to the center of the wings. It bears the inscription in Gothic letters: Sancte Matthia ora pro nobis ( Saint Matthias, pray for us ). The original blast has been lost.

literature

Web links

Commons : Matthias Altar in Minden Cathedral  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Roland Pieper , Anna-Beatriz Chadour-Sampson: City of Minden . Part II: Old Town 1 & The Cathedral District. In: Fred Kaspar, Ulf-Dietrich Korn (Hrsg.): Architectural and art monuments of Westphalia . tape  50 . Klartext-Verlag, Essen 1998, ISBN 3-88474-632-4 , p. 656 .
  2. ^ A b c Roland Pieper , Anna-Beatriz Chadour-Sampson: City of Minden . Part II: Old Town 1 & The Cathedral District. In: Fred Kaspar, Ulf-Dietrich Korn (Hrsg.): Architectural and art monuments of Westphalia . tape  50 . Klartext-Verlag, Essen 1998, ISBN 3-88474-632-4 , p. 652 .
  3. ^ A b Roland Pieper , Anna-Beatriz Chadour-Sampson: City of Minden . Part II: Old Town 1 & The Cathedral District. In: Fred Kaspar, Ulf-Dietrich Korn (Hrsg.): Architectural and art monuments of Westphalia . tape  50 . Klartext-Verlag, Essen 1998, ISBN 3-88474-632-4 , p. 650 .
  4. ↑ Provost Paul Jakobi: The cathedral in Minden - witness of faith . S. 80 f .
  5. ^ A b Roland Pieper , Anna-Beatriz Chadour-Sampson: City of Minden . Part II: Old Town 1 & The Cathedral District. In: Fred Kaspar, Ulf-Dietrich Korn (Hrsg.): Architectural and art monuments of Westphalia . tape  50 . Klartext-Verlag, Essen 1998, ISBN 3-88474-632-4 , p. 653 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 17 ′ 19.5 ″  N , 8 ° 55 ′ 10.5 ″  E