Nikolaikirchhof Goerlitz
The Nikolaikirchhof (also Nikolaifriedhof ) was probably the main burial place of the city of Görlitz in the 12th century until the opening of the municipal cemetery in 1847 . It was first mentioned around 1305 in the oldest Görlitz town book . Due to its rich tomb - and Epitaphenbestandes from the early 17th to the mid 19th century and the crypt houses the 17th and 18th century, he is considered a rare example of early modern Protestant cemetery culture. Along with the Nikolai Church and the Holy grave he belongs since 1996 to the foundation property of the Evangelical Cultural Foundation Görlitz .
history
Originally the churchyard surrounded a previous building of today's late Gothic Nikolaikirche . Its area was initially largely limited to the paved southern square in front of the church as well as the area north of the church. An expansion of the area to the north as early as the Middle Ages is likely. The enlargement of the church yard by its entire western area through the incorporation of the area of an earlier rectory is documented for the year 1624. In the early 19th century, the surrounding wall south of the church and the access gate located there were demolished. This area of the churchyard was redesigned into a tree-lined forecourt for the church.
The Nikolaikirchhof is a member of the garden culture trail on both sides of the Neisse . This improves the possibilities of care ( park seminars ) and the prospects for funding and tourist development.
type
The Nikolaikirchhof embodies the type of a Protestant sacred ground, as it developed with the Reformation . The shape as a fine, quiet place is characteristic , as Martin Luther had demanded. Burial places should be used for contemplation of death , judgment of the day, and resurrection . In accordance with the reformer's vision , many of the tomb and epitaph inscriptions show passers-by the transience of earthly life. They encourage religious contemplation and point out the fundamental importance of blessed death .
According to Protestant beliefs, the intercession of a saint or a church prayer no longer influenced the salvation of the dead. Therefore burial in or at least at a church was no longer desirable, as was customary throughout the Middle Ages. As elsewhere, the social topography of burials changed as a result of this changed conception in the Nikolaikirchhof . Noble bourgeois burial places were built in all areas of the churchyard, but preferred in the western part, which, as it was only added to the terrain of the churchyard in 1624, was particularly suitable. The crypt houses the most prestigious Görlitz families are not only on the outer wall of the Nikolai Church, but also free-standing on the field and also directly at the churchyard wall . Before the Reformation , this place was mainly reserved for unpopular and suspicious groups of people. The tendency towards the arrangement of the crypt houses in a row can be seen particularly on the northern wall . An influence of the post-Reformation Camposanto cemeteries can be seen here.
Funerary monuments and epitaphs
Around 850 tombs and epitaphs have been preserved in the Nikolaikirchhof. These date from the early 17th century to the middle of the 19th century. More recent grave monuments or memorial plaques are an exception, as after 1847 only existing crypts and crypt houses were still occupied. Stylistically , the tombs can be assigned to Mannerism , Baroque , Rococo and Classicism . The later tombs show forms of romanticism and the emerging historicism . While the gravestones were carved from Silesian sandstone until the early 19th century , the trend towards softer Elbe sandstone and cast iron with letters on top can be observed in the following decades . The beginnings of industrial prefabrication can already be seen here .
Especially the grave times of the 17th and 18th centuries through extensive inscriptions partly religious and edifying , partly biographical in content. Their picture program shows a broad repertoire of transience motifs. The Christian virtues of faith, love and hope are shown repeatedly in the form of allegories . Numerous stones are provided with Christian emblemata .
Crypt houses
Of the original at least 21 crypt houses, 17 have been preserved. The earliest known construction period of a crypt house is around the year 1618. However, the majority of the buildings were built around 1700 and in the time after the city fire of 1717, when the affected mausoleums were rebuilt or structurally changed. A special display of magnificence can be observed inside the building , where the tombs can take on an abundance of altar-like shapes with fully plastic allegory decorations. Many of the tombs were originally framed by painted draperies , some of which have been preserved in fragments. The existence of painted portraits of the deceased is also documented several times. In addition to the religious edification, these buildings served the representation and the memorial cult of the urban upper class of Görlitz.
Personalities
- Johannes Maximilian Avenarius (* 1887 in Greiffenberg , † 1954 in Berlin-Müggelheim ); expressionist painter , graphic artist and illustrator
- Jakob Böhme (* 1575 in Alt Seidenberg near Görlitz, † 1624 in Görlitz); well-known German mystic , philosopher and Christian theosophist
- Christian August Struve (1767-1807); Doctor, pharmacy owner and poet
gallery
View from the north to the western area
Eastern cemetery area
Northern row of crypts
Grave slab from the late 17th century
Gravestones from the early 18th century
Tomb around 1815
Cast iron tomb
Detail of an early 19th century tomb
literature
- Thomas R. Elßner: What does the Christognosia on the Görlitz Nikolaifriedhof stand for? An offer of interpretation , in: Görlitzer Magazin No. 21 (2008), 43–53.
- Günther Grundmann: The peripheral cemetery chapels of the eighteenth century in Silesia. Strasbourg 1916.
- Dietmar Ridder: The plague plan on the Görlitz Nikolaifriedhof, in: Preservation of monuments in Görlitz. A series of publications, Issue 16, Görlitz, Zittau 2007, 29–35.
- Dietmar Ridder: an endeavor should be a fine, quiet place. The Nikolaifriedhof - Monument Görlitz Sepulchral Culture from the Renaissance Period to the 19th Century. In: Preservation of monuments in Görlitz. A series of publications, issue 14, Görlitz, Zittau 2005, 22–42.
- Ulrich Rosner: Upper Lusatian crypt houses of the baroque. A contribution to the sepulchral art of the 18th century. In: Preservation of monuments in Saxony. Notices from the State Office for Monument Preservation Saxony. Yearbook 2006, Dresden 2007, 24–55.
- Artur Walter: Stones talk. Inscriptions of the old gravestones and epitaphs on the Nikolaifriedhof, in the Nikolaikirche, at the Frauenkirche, in the Dreifaltigkeitskirche and in the church of SS Peter u. Paul in Görlitz. Manuscript, 1959, OLB IX 310, Vols. 1-7.
- Horst Wenzel, Siegfried Hirche, Siegfried Kaden: St. Nikolai zu Görlitz. Church and churchyard. Görlitz 1999/2000.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Homepage garden culture path on both sides of the Neisse, members and cooperation partners , accessed on June 4, 2018
- ↑ Werner Gottwald: On the life performance and personality of the Görlitz doctor Christian August Struve (1767–1807). In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 18, 1999, pp. 305-334; here in particular p. 308 f.
Coordinates: 51 ° 9 ′ 36.5 ″ N , 14 ° 59 ′ 16.7 ″ E