Nikolaikirche (Creuzburg)

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View from the south

The Nikolaikirche is the Protestant parish church of Creuzburg in the Wartburg district - it was founded as a sacred building by the Thuringian landgraves and was one of the first Protestant city churches in Thuringia. After a major fire in 1765, Goethe visited the burned-out church ruins and tried to rebuild them. It is therefore of great importance for the city and church history and is at the same time a monument within the meaning of the Thuringian Monument Protection Act .

location

View from the East (2007)

The city church is located in the center of the historic old town . It lies at the intersection of the streets that once led from the Marientor , Klostertor and Eisenacher Tor (also known as the bridge gate ) to the market square in front of the church. The Creuzburg town halls and patrician houses were in the immediate vicinity.

history

Tablet on the tower (1428)
Praetorius plaque (1921)

The Creuzburg city church was one of the first buildings to be started in the urban settlement founded by Landgrave Hermann I. It was under the patronage of St. Nicholas and served as a meeting place for the Creuzburg merchants. The original building idea was probably for a monumental Romanesque basilica , the choir with a diameter of 11 m can only be compared with a few Romanesque city churches in Cologne . Due to the long construction time for such a structure, only a fraction of the originally designed facility could be completed in the 13th century. The church, still unfinished, was one of the few structures that was preserved during a siege of the city in the summer of 1295 by King Adolf von Nassau . In the middle of the 14th century, the church was completed to the west to the dimensions it is today, but did not yet have a bell tower. This was started in 1428 and decorated with Gothic tracery windows on the fourth floor, a tower clock has also been mentioned. The patronage rights to the church had initially been transferred to the prioress of the Creuzburg nunnery, until the Reformation the church was a place of worship with abundant donations and donations, the library of the church also served as a research object for the chronicler Johannes Rothe, who was born in Creuzburg . During the iconoclasm, Creuzburg was also hit by religious zealots and the interior of the church was demolished. Numerous art treasures, files and books were destroyed. The church survived the terrible years of the Peasants 'War and the Thirty Years' War unscathed. In 1596, the wife of Duke Johann Ernst, who died young, was buried with a state funeral in the church. Her grave was opened during a church renovation in the 1920s and the gold jewelery stored in it was removed, the whereabouts are unclear. In 1765, St. Nikolai burned down completely in a major fire, the smoke-blackened rubble sketched Privy Councilor Goethe during a visit on behalf of Duke Carl August . In 1770 the temporary roof was completed and from 1783 the reconstruction of the church could begin, for this purpose donations gradually arrived from all over Thuringia, Saxony and Hesse. In 1786 the renewed building was consecrated again for worship. The interior was based on the taste of the time and a pleasant organ was procured. A memorial plaque on the church facade on the market side commemorates the baroque musician Michael Praetorius , a child of the city of Creuzburg. It was donated in 1921 in the anniversary year. On April 1, 1945, the church was again badly damaged by exploding ammunition during the attack by American troops, the church burned down to the foundation walls and remained a memorial and ruin in the cityscape until the 1960s. With the 750th anniversary of the city in 1963, the reconstruction of the Nikolaikirche gradually began, also supported by numerous donations from home and abroad. Since the end of the war, the Gottesackerkirche and the Liborius Chapel had to be used as an alternative for the church service until the re-consecration.

The ongoing maintenance work and the gradual modernization of the technical equipment are ongoing. As part of the Thuringian festival program in honor of Saint Elisabeth, the church became the venue in 2007. Most recently, the church received nationwide attention: on December 24, 2008, the ZDF broadcast the Creuzburg Christmas mass .

Structural matters

Window in the choir on the east side
inside view

The church consists of the Romanesque choir on the east side, begun shortly after 1200, and the nave made of yellowish sandstone, which was built from 1220 onwards. In the choir there are still some original remains of the original arcades despite the considerable damage caused by the city fire and at the end of the war. The unique architectural effect is enhanced by the hemispherical dome and Romanesque windows.

The interior of the church was whitewashed, the vault ribs and arches contrasting in dark red and gray tones. The destroyed baroque interior will probably not be used for stylistic reasons.

literature

Coordinates: 51 ° 3 ′ 10.1 ″  N , 10 ° 14 ′ 53.5 ″  E

Web links

Commons : Stadtkirche Creuzburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files