St. Nicolai (Lueneburg)
The St. Nicolai Church is the youngest and smallest of the three main churches in the city of Lüneburg . The church dedicated to St. Nicholas of Myra is a three-aisled basilica. It was built from 1407 to 1440 in the brick Gothic style like other churches in Hanseatic cities in the Baltic Sea region. Protestant services have been held in the church since the Reformation was introduced in Lüneburg in 1530 .
history
The predecessor of Lüneburg's Nikolaikirche, a chapel for the residents of the Wasserviertel, was consecrated in 1409 as the first sacred building initiated by the city itself. As early as 1420, the city council decided to expand the chapel into a church, which was completed around 1440. The construction of the tower, which only began 20 years later, remained unfinished for financial reasons and soon showed damage. It was not until 1587 that the compact tower was given a helmet. In 1831 the tower had to be demolished because it was dilapidated. The nave was also badly damaged by this time. In 1843 an association for the rescue of the church was founded, on whose efforts the repair of the nave from 1869 and the construction of the neo-Gothic tower completed in 1896 are based.
Building description
The church is one of the last remaining brick basilicas. Particularly impressive is the approximately 7.20 meter wide and 28.70 meter high Gothic nave with the eight-pointed star vault, which is unique in northern Germany, and with its medieval character. Numerous restorations have made the Gothic church strongly influenced by the 19th century.
The 92.7 meter high brick tower, which was built in the neo-Gothic style, was not rebuilt until 1895 and is one of the tallest church towers in Lower Saxony (see list of the tallest sacred buildings ). A clock tower is attached on three sides, but not on the north side, where the historic town center ends soon. The reason for this is the staircase, which did not allow a fourth dial to be attached.
Furnishing
The Nicolaikirche holds some treasures in Gothic painting and carving arts. The three-winged convertible altar around 1440 from the Lambertikirche, which was demolished in 1861, is the work of the Lüneburg master Hans Snitker the Elder. Ä. ; the wing paintings are attributed to the Hamburg master Hans Bornemann , on the predella six prophets in the style of medieval merchants can be seen.
In the ambulatory are the remains of the high altar from the abandoned Heiligenthal monastery near Lüneburg. The reliefs are Lüneburg carvings from around 1425, the panel paintings from around 1450 each show four scenes from the life of Laurentius and Andreas , one with the earliest view of the city of Lüneburg. They are also attributed to the Hamburg master Hans Bornemann, on the outside of the chancel the two stories complete with the remaining parts of the altar.
In the ambulatory with two wrought iron door grilles from a barrier donated for St. Lamberti in 1625, the baptismal font of the master Ulricus from around 1325 stood as the last witness of the Cyriacus church, which was demolished in 1651 near the St. Michael's monastery. The baptismal font is now in the chancel in front of the main altar.
organ
The organ in St. Nicolai was built in 1899 by the organ building company Furtwängler & Hammer . In the 20th century the arrangement was changed several times by the organ builder Emil Hammer (Arnum) (1930, 1946, 1955) and the instrument was changed in 1979 by the organ builder EF Walcker & Cie. electrified. In 2002, the organ building company Lenter restored the instrument, re-pneumatized it and returned it to its original condition from 1899 with 49 registers listed below .
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
-
Pairing :
- Normal coupling: II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
- Super octave coupling: P / P
- Sub-octave coupling: II / I
- Playing aids : melody coupler, general coupler, storage (pipe works), fixed combinations (tutti, forte, mezzoforte, piano, pianissimo), crescendo roller .
Bells
Five bells hang in the tower , two of them, the Katharinenschelle (1445) and Franziskusschelle (1516), do not count towards the actual ringing and serve as chimes for the clock strike . The largest bell is around 4,200 kg Marie Bell ; it was cast in 1491 by Gerhard van Wou and has the strike tone a 0 . After the Second World War, this bell came from the destroyed St. Lamberti Church on the tower. The small bell, cast in 1674 by David Dornmann in strike tone e 1 , was added as a "loan bell" from Fischhausen (East Prussia) . On July 24, 2009, the Rincker bell foundry from Sinn cast the peace bell - known as the Schiffer's bell - in the strike tone c 1 , which was hung in the open space of the massive wooden bell chair. The chime has thus been extended to an A minor triad, which was heard for the first time in this form on October 4th of the same year.
Tourist importance
Like the other two preserved churches of St. Johannis and St. Michaelis , St. Nicolai is also of high tourist interest with around 110,000 visitors annually. All three churches are important buildings of the brick Gothic and form stations on the European route of the brick Gothic . As a reliably open church , the Nicolaikirche is open to visitors during the day every day of the week except for church services and events.
literature
- Fritz von Osterhausen: St. Nicolai in Lüneburg ( large architectural monuments , issue 342). 5th edition, Munich / Berlin 1996
- Hansjörg Rümelin: St. Nicolai in Lüneburg. Building in a North German Hanseatic City 1405–1840 (= publications of the Historical Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen . 248; Contributions to the history of architecture and culture. Leibniz Universität Hannover . 2). Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-7752-6048-0 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c History of the Church
- ↑ History of the Organ ( Memento of the original from January 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 15 ′ 6 ″ N , 10 ° 24 ′ 36 ″ E