Michaelskloster (Heidelberg)

This article deals with the Michaelskloster on the Heiligenberg near Heidelberg. The monasteries of the same name were the Heiligenberg monastery ruins above Jugenheim an der Bergstrasse and the Heiligenberg monastery near Bruchhausen-Vilsen (Diepholz district).

Michaelskloster on the Heiligenberg in 1645, by Matthäus Merian

reconstruction

The Michaelskloster on the Heidelberger Heiligenberg was founded as a branch of the Lorsch Abbey in the 9th century on the site of an old cult site. The remains of the foundations and two towers of different heights have been preserved from the complex, which was abandoned in the 16th century.

history

Artistic interpretation of the monastery garden of St. Michael's Basilica

Previous structures already existed in the times of the Celts . The area forms the highest point within a double ring wall system on the Heiligenberg. There is evidence of a Roman cult site under the basilica ruins, which is assigned to Mercurius Cimbrianus after a consecration stone has been found . The floor plan of the Roman temple with apse in the north is marked with stone slabs in the floor of the nave.

The place of worship was used by Christians as early as the 7th century , as evidenced by burials from the Merovingian era. Abt Thiotroch from Benedictine - Lorsch Abbey was the church transfer ownership and expanded it. A monastery building is mentioned in the Lorsch Codex for the year 870, but this cannot be proven archaeologically and possibly represents a back projection of the later founding of the monastery.

It was not until 1023 that the Saint Michael monastery and the Michael basilica were rebuilt by Abbot Reginbald , who later became the Bishop of Speyer , using Carolingian components. In 1070 Abbot Friedrich von Hirsau was buried in the monastery (grave slab in the crypt of the basilica). Thus the monastery became a place of pilgrimage (not canonized).

At the time of the new construction of the monastery, a water pipe was built from a spring on the White Stone to near the monastery, which replaced the weaker Bittersbrunnen as the most important water source on the Heiligenberg.

In 1094 St. Michael founded the St. Stephen's Monastery on the southern hilltop . The remains of fallen participants in the First Crusade (1096-1099) financed this construction.

When the Archbishop of Mainz took over the Lorsch Monastery in 1226, the Benedictine era ended. After a short interlude of the Cistercians, Premonstratensians from the Allerheiligen monastery in the Black Forest settled in the two monasteries.

Archeologically, traces of fire, dated to the time of the conflict between the Electoral Palatinate and Kurmainz , can be proven with subsequent reconstruction. In 1503 the collapse of the bell tower of the Michael's basilica is attested, in which three religious are said to have died in the bedroom. The abandonment of the monastery must have happened in the following period, as the monastery was considered abandoned in 1537.

As part of the secularization , the ruins were transferred to the University of Heidelberg , whose Senate decided in 1589 to demolish the monasteries and sell the stones in order to counteract the settlement of "rabble" in the ruins. As Merian's engraving from 1645 shows, this decision was probably only implemented to a limited extent. The current state of ruin is due to the surrounding farmers, especially from Handschuhsheim, who used the ruins as a quarry.

The two towers in the western part of the complex can be climbed as an observation tower, with only the north-west tower offering a view of the Rhine Valley due to its greater height of around 14 meters.

• Pictures of the Michaelskloster on the Heiligenberg
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  Aerial view of Michaelskloster from above

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  Aerial view of Michaelskloster from the west

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  Climbable north-west tower

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  Climbable southwest tower

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  North wing of the cloister

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  East crypt

literature

• Wilhelm Schleuning: The Michaels Basilica on the holy mountain near Heidelberg. An architectural study. Heidelberg, 1887.
• Dietrich Lutz: The Michael basilica on the Heiligenberg near Heidelberg, a threatened monument . In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg , Volume 6, 1977, Issue 1, p. 34. ( PDF )
• Peter Marzolff: Excavations in St. Michael on the Heiligenberg near Heidelberg . In: Denkmalpflege in Baden-Württemberg , 11th year 1982, issue 3, pp. 129–141. ( [1] )
• Eckhard Spatz: The Michaelskloster - Benedictines on the Heiligenberg: Series of photographs , published by the District Office Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, picture office Heidelberg, 1990.
• Bert Burger: St. Michael monastery ruins on the Heiligenberg. Article about the re-vaulting of the west crypt , in: District Association Handschuhsheim e. V. Yearbook 2005 , Heidelberg 2005, pp. 23-27.
• Bert Burger: St. Michael monastery ruins on the Heiligenberg. Beginning of the excavations by Wilhelm Schleuning in 1886 , in: District Association Handschuhsheim e. V. Yearbook 2006 , Heidelberg 2006, pp. 47–52.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Berndmark Heukemes : Archaeologists research the Bittersbrunnen , in: District Association Handschuhsheim e. V . 1990 Yearbook, pp. 9-11.
2. ↑ Information according to private investigation

Web links

Commons : Michaelskloster Heiligenberg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Benedictine Propstei St. Michael on the Heiligenberg in the database of monasteries in Baden-Württemberg of the Baden-Württemberg State Archives
• Reconstruction model of the St. Michael monastery church
• 3D-model of the Michaelskloster

Coordinates: 49 ° 25 ′ 33 "  N , 8 ° 42 ′ 22"  E