Nikolaus Chapel (Cologne)

Nicholas chapel and former cemetery

Information board of the Porz culture trail

The Nikolaus Chapel in Cologne-Westhoven , located near the Rhine, was built around 1100 and is dedicated to the patron saint of boatmen, Nikolaus von Myra . It is the smallest of the surviving former Romanesque village churches in Cologne, is surrounded by an old cemetery and is looked after by the Association of Roman Churches in Cologne .

history

Originally, this chapel, built around 1100, belonged to St. Heribert Abbey in Deutz . The purpose of the construction was to spare the faithful from Westhoven the trip to Deutz to the abbey. It was consecrated to St. Nicholas, the patron saint of boatmen and seamen. In 1128 the chapel was granted burial rights. The services in the chapel were also attended by merchants and boaters on the Rhine who were traveling through, reinforced when the stacking rights introduced by the city of Cologne in 1259 were circumvented by many traders by unloading their goods in Zündorf on the right bank of the Rhine, transporting them overland to Mülheim and on the way in the Nikolaus Chapel blessed. From 1794 to 1814, French occupation troops tore down Westhoven except for the chapel in order to have a clear view of the Rhine. In 1802, against the background of secularization, membership of the Deutz Abbey ended when all monasteries and monasteries in Cologne were abolished.

The chapel, which was restored from 1959 to 1964 and in the 1990s, is located in the middle of a cemetery that was used until 1929 and also restored in 1987. The Alexians offer Catholic and Protestant services in the Nikolauskapelle .

Building

The Romanesque hall church has a base area of ​​8 × 13 m, consists of tuff , greywacke and Rhine gravel masonry and has a recessed rectangular choir . During several renovations in the 1960s and 1990s, the Nikolauskapelle was plastered white. The hall building ends in the east with a recessed choir square. The whitewashed masonry is compact and undivided and has a few arched window openings. Triangular half-timbered gables form the ends in the east and west. On the slate roofs gabled roof , a sitting ridge turret with a pointed helmet. The hall and choir have a flat wooden ceiling. A round arch, which rests on two striker plates , forms the passage to the chancel, the altar table of which is decorated with a vine. Baroque sculptures of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas are attached to the left and right of this round arch .

See also

• List of architectural monuments in the Westhoven district of Cologne
• Part of the Porz culture trail

literature

• History and local history association Rechtsrheinisches Köln (Hrsg.): Rechtsrheinisches Köln - yearbook for history and regional studies . tape 20 . Self-published, 1994, ISSN  0179-2938 , p. 1-37 .
• Richard W. Gassen: Nikolauskapelle in Porz-Westhoven . In: Medieval churches in Cologne . Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-86568-539-1 , p. 220-221 .

Web links

• Romanesque churches in Cologne: St. Nikolaus in Westhoven. In: Web presence Förderverein Romanische Kirchen Köln . Retrieved July 5, 2019 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Richard W. Gassen: Nikolauskapelle in Porz-Westhoven . In: Medieval churches in Cologne . Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-86568-539-1 , p. 220 .
2. ↑ Bernd Imgrund: 111 Cologne locations. Nikolaus-Kapelle (excerpt) July 29, 2009 on koeln.de - The city portal for Cologne. Read March 20, 2011.
3. ↑ Information according to the Porz Culture Trail information board
4. ^ Pastoral offers on the Alexianer Cologne website .
5. ^ Richard W. Gassen: Nikolauskapelle in Porz-Westhoven . In: Medieval churches in Cologne . Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-86568-539-1 , p. 220-221 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 53 '48.8 "  N , 7 ° 0' 58"  E