Pala d'oro (Aachen)

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The Pala d'oro in Aachen Cathedral

The Pala d'oro ( Italian for “golden altarpiece” or “gold altar”), dated to the first quarter of the eleventh century, serves as an antemensale and thus as the front or decorative side of the main altar in Aachen Cathedral . It is a masterpiece of Ottonian goldsmithing and consists of seventeen richly detailed relief plates made of embossed gold sheet, which probably go back to a foundation of the Saxon imperial family . In addition to the Basel antependium - both works probably come from the same workshop - the Milanese Pala d'oro from the first half of the ninth century and the first components of the Venetian Pala d'oro in St. Mark's Basilica are the only preserved metal altar cladding from the early Middle Ages .

description

Christ in the mandorla, Mary on the left and Archangel Michael opposite, surrounded by the four evangelist symbols

The golden altar panel shows in the ten reliefs around the central motif of Christ enthroned in the mandorla scenes from the Passion and Resurrection stories , further to the pages of the Savior on the left the Mother of God Mary and on the right the Archangel Michael - instead of the usual discipline John - surrounded by four medallions with the symbols of the evangelists . The panels were made from thin sheet of fine gold made from an alloy of 999.98 ‰ gold and are now connected to the thin wooden carrier plates with a filling compound that was applied in later times. Over time, the arrangement of the individual parts of the board has been changed several times and adapted to the respective function. It is possible that the reliefs that are preserved today only represent the remains of a complete altar panel.

Image program

Majestas Domini and Deësis

In the center of the altar panel, framed by a mandorla, Christ sits upright on a throne , his feet supported on a separate pedestal. Christ is represented in the type of the benevolent Majestas Domini , holding the open book of life in the left, veiled hand . The right hand is raised in a gesture of blessing and is supported on a cross staff. The youthful figure of Christ, surrounded by a halo , is accompanied on his right by Mary, shown in three-quarter profile. The slightly bent figure, wrapped in a fold of cloth, is turned to Christ with open hands pleadingly. To the left of the figure of Christ there is a depiction of the Archangel Michael in half profile, who thrusts a lance into the throat of a fire-breathing dragon, which he wields in his right hand. In his left hand he holds a shield that protects the body from the flames. The figure is covered with a pleated robe. Both figures are also surrounded by a halo and symbolize the intercessors of mankind, the Deësis .

This motif of Christian iconography, which was often used in the Middle Ages, usually shows a group of three figures with Christ and the Virgin Mary and usually John the Baptist on his sides. In the Aachen altar panel, contrary to the usual arrangement, the Archangel Michael takes the position of Saint John.

Passion reliefs

The Deësis is framed by ten gold reliefs showing scenes from the Passion of Christ. The gold-embossed panels are 25.5 to 26 cm long and 22.5 to 23 cm high and each have a recess at one corner to accommodate the evangelist medallions. In the reliefs, the story of Jesus' passion is shown:

Entry into Jerusalem

The 26.7 cm long and 23.8 cm high relief plate shows Christ with a halo, riding a donkey in front of the gates of Jerusalem . In his left hand he holds the closed book of life. He is accompanied by his barefoot disciples , only two of whom are depicted figuratively in half profile, while the others are concealed behind them. On the right edge of the picture, Christ residents of Jerusalem come towards him and give him a gracious reception. The relief is now in the upper left corner of the altar panel. The lower right corner was reworked afterwards to fit the angel medallion. For this purpose, the foot of a resident of Jerusalem and the design of the earth clods in this area had to be driven.

The last supper

The relief panel, 27 cm long and 23.7 cm high, shows Christ in the circle of his disciples during the Last Supper. Jesus is enthroned at the end of the table, his bare feet on a pedestal. Opposite him sits Peter on a lower throne . Behind the table, which is covered with loaves of bread and drinking vessels, the breasts of the disciples are arranged in a semicircle . Judas is lifted out of the group and shown in front of the table, receiving bread from Christ in his right hand. Turning slightly away from him, Judas scratches the back of his head with his left hand.

The Last Supper relief is inserted today in the upper row of the altar panel, with the lower left corner being reworked to insert the angel medallion. During the restoration at the beginning of the 21st century, it was found that both the upper body of the apostles and the figures of Jesus and Judas had been driven and reworked during earlier restorations.

Evangelist medallions

The four round medallions that delimit the middle group at the corners have a diameter of 11 cm. Four winged figures are shown: man, lion, bull and eagle, which have been symbolically attributed to the four evangelists since the 4th century AD . At the same time, the four evangelist medallions as symbols of the Incarnation of God, the sacrificial death , the resurrection and ascension create the connection to the scenes of the Passion of Christ depicted in the surrounding reliefs.

frame

The reliefs are set in a wooden frame. There are no written records about the design of the original frame of the Pala d'oro. In analogy to the Basel antependium, it is assumed that it was originally decorated with sheet metal or enamel strips decorated with tendrils. In the 19th century, Canon Franz Bock initiated the re-framing of the gold reliefs. He was able to convince Kaiser Wilhelm I to donate a new frame on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the existence of the Karlsverein in 1872, which was made by the Aachen goldsmith August Witte . The arrangement of the reliefs in the frame was made according to its intended function as a retable .

Today's wooden frame is made of oak and dates from 1950/51. As part of the reconstruction of the Gothic choir hall after the Second World War , it was decided to use the Pala d'oro as an antependium of the newly designed altar in the future. This made it necessary to frame the gold reliefs, as the dimensions of the Wilhelmine frame did not match the new altar. On the occasion of the conservation that began in 1999, considerations were made to replace the frame, which was originally regarded as a temporary measure, with a new construction.

For stylistic reasons, when restoring the Pala d'oro in 2002 , the cathedral chapter decided to keep the framing from the 1950s. Only the wooden surface was refurbished and the adjustment was reset.

The antependium, including the frame, measures 0.83 m in height and 1.215 m in width. The outer frame strips and the gold relief with the Majestas Domini image are fixed on a wooden base plate; all other frame strips and internal webs are connected to one another by a plug-in system. All frame parts are adjusted by screwing the four evangelist medallions. The individual gold reliefs as such also rest on a very thinly worked oak support. For the mandorla this consists of two boards joined together, for the evangelist symbols it consists of four turned round plates and for the other twelve reliefs in the form of rectangular boards with a square recess in the center for filling in the wax for the filling compounds. They are 24.9 to 28.4 cm long, between 18.2 (Mary and Michael relief) and 28.5 cm wide and 3 to 5 mm thick.

Emergence

The place of origin of the panels can no longer be clearly localized today. Ernst Günther Grimme attributed the panels to a workshop that may have been in Fulda , while Hermann Fillitz sees clear parallels to the goldsmith work of the Trier Gregor master from the Trier-Lorraine region.

The antependium is not worked consistently throughout, but rather shows a clear tendency towards monumentalization after the first five relief plates, probably created by a trained master resident in the Rhenish region. The wooden base plates were originally assumed to also come from the Ottonian period; However, contrary to such an assumption, a dendrochronological investigation revealed that the wooden panels were not likely to have originated until 1582.

Sites

Today's position of the main altar with Pala d'oro in Aachen Cathedral

Evidence of the original installation site and the original use of the panels in Aachen Cathedral has not survived. Based on the image program, it is assumed that the golden panels probably adorned the Salvator Altar on the gallery of the Aachen Minster. After the completion of the Gothic choir hall, the Pala d'oro was moved as a retable in the newly built choir. Around 1481 it was supplemented by ten silver-gilt and two gold panels with depictions of the cycle of apostles . Around 1485, two altar wings with scenes of the life of Mary on the inside and a representation of Charlemagne , who presented Mary with a model of St. Mary's Church, and Saints Blasius and Leopardus added on the outside. The open altar was 4.25 m wide and at least 1.06 m high and was set in a painted wooden frame.

Around 1580 the gold tablets were individually nailed to thin oak wood panels in order to be able to transport them more easily during the Aachen Wars of Faith . In 1627 the golden altar panels with the evacuated minster treasure were returned to their original place in the Aachen Cathedral. In 1803 the Gothic choir was dismantled and the gold reliefs, together with the cathedral treasure and the Charlemagne and Mary shrine , were housed in the sacristy , which was located in the Matthias Chapel, until 1873 . From 1873 to 1881 the panels were stored in treasure cupboards on the gallery of the Karlskapelle and, after detection of moisture damage, in the Hungarian chapel .

Even after the gold reliefs were framed in a frame donated by Kaiser Wilhelm I in 1872, they were initially set up as a reredos above the altar in the Hungarian chapel. On the occasion of Kaiser Wilhelm II's visit on June 19, 1902 - the mosaic in the tambour of the octagon was completed in June 1902 - the chancel in the Gothic choir was also redesigned. The Pala d'oro was set up above the altar as a retable, while the apostolic tablets from 1481 formed the antependium of the neo-Gothic high altar .

At the beginning of the Second World War, the altar panels were dismantled along with the cathedral treasure and relocated to Bückeburg , but came back to Aachen in 1941 after they were not classified as an important treasure together with the apostle panels . Until the end of the war they were stored in the southern Carolingian stair tower of Aachen Cathedral.

In the course of the reconstruction of the partially destroyed Gothic choir hall, the Pala d'oro was re-framed and set up as an antependium of the three-tiered middle altar. According to the specifications of the Second Vatican Council , the main altar was moved to the eastern yoke in the sixteenth corner in 1972 , where it is still located today with the Pala d'oro as an antependium.

literature

  • Hermann Schnitzler : The gold altar of Aachen. Cooling, Mönchengladbach 1965.
  • Ernst Günther Grimme : The Aachen cathedral treasure (= Aachen art sheets . Vol. 42). Schwann, Düsseldorf 1973, pp. 29-30 No. 23.
  • Max Imdahl : The crucifixion in the Aachen Pala d'oro. In: Städel-Jahrbuch Vol. 12, 1989, pp. 41–46.
  • Ernst Günther Grimme (text), Ann Münchow (pictures): The Aachen Cathedral. Architecture and equipment. Einhard, Aachen 1994, pp. 101-106, 134-135.
  • Herta Lepie , Georg Minkenberg : The treasury of the Aachen cathedral. Brimberg, Aachen 1995, ISBN 3-923773-16-1 , pp. 36-37.
  • Herta Lepie (text), Ann Münchow (photos): Pala d'Oro. The gold altar in Aachen Cathedral. Wienand, Cologne 1996, ISBN 978-3-87909-520-9 .
  • Ernst Günther Grimme: The Aachen Cathedral. Einhard, Aachen 2000, ISBN 978-3-930701-75-9 , pp. 53-56.
  • Ernst Günther Grimme: The golden cathedral of the Ottonians. Einhard, Aachen 2001, ISBN 978-3-930701-90-2 , pp. 60-71.
  • Herta Lepie, Lothar Schmitt, Ria Röthinger, Georg Minkenberg: Pala d'Oro - the gold altar in Aachen Cathedral. Ottonian wall paintings in Aachen Cathedral (= Karlsverein-Dombauverein series of publications , vol. 5). Publications of the Karlsverein-Dombauverein, Thouet, Aachen 2002, therein:
    • Herta Lepie: Pala d'Oro - the gold altar. Pp. 4-26.
    • Lothar Schmitt: restoration report. Pp. 27-36.
    • Ria Röthinger: The wooden panels and the frame of the Pala d'Oro. Pp. 37-40.
  • Wolfgang Cortjaens: Rhenish altar buildings of historicism. Sacred goldsmithing 1870–1918. CMZ-Verlag, Rheinbach 2002, pp. 209-226.
  • Hans Jürgen Roth: An image of the sky. Aachen Cathedral - liturgy, bible, art. Thouet, Aachen 2011, pp. 53–62 (with a theological focus).
  • Walter Maas, Pit Siebigs: The Aachen Cathedral. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-7954-2445-9 , pp. 52–53, 56–59.
  • Herta Lepie: The Aachen Cathedral Treasure. In: Clemens MM Bayer, Dominik M. Meiering , Martin Seidler, Martin Struck (eds.): Treasure art in Rhenish churches and museums. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-7954-2827-3 , pp. 121-137, here pp. 130-131.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Herta Lepie: Pala d'Oro - the gold altar. P. 12.
  2. ↑ Herta Lepie: Outlook . In: Shimmering in pure gold ... and shining with precious stones. Projects in the goldsmith's workshop of Aachen Cathedral (= Karlsverein-Dombauverein series of publications , volume 4). Publications of the Karlsverein-Dombauverein, Thouet, Aachen 2001, p. 56.
  3. ^ Ernst Günther Grimme: The Aachen Cathedral Treasure . Düsseldorf 1973, p. 30.
  4. ↑ Herta Lepie: Pala d'Oro - the gold altar. P. 6.
  5. ^ Lothar Schmitt: Restoration report . P. 30.
  6. ↑ Herta Lepie: Pala d'Oro - the gold altar. P. 6.
  7. ^ Lothar Schmitt: Restoration report . Pp. 30-31.
  8. ↑ Herta Lepie: Pala d'Oro - the gold altar. P. 9 ff.
  9. ↑ Herta Lepie: Pala d'Oro - the gold altar. P. 14.
  10. ↑ On Witte's restoration and the new enamel frame in detail by Wolfgang Cortjaens: Rheinische Altarbauten des Historismus. Sacred goldsmithing 1870-1918. Rheinbach 2002, pp. 209-226.
  11. ↑ a b c d Ria Röthinger: The wooden panels and the frame of the Pala d'Oro. P. 39.
  12. ↑ Herta Lepie: Pala d'Oro - the gold altar. P. 6.
  13. ↑ a b Ria Röthinger: The wooden panels and the frame of the Pala d'Oro. P. 37.
  14. ^ Ernst Günther Grimme: The Aachen Cathedral Treasure. Düsseldorf 1973, p. 10.
  15. ^ Hermann Fillitz: Ottonian goldsmith's art . In: Bernward von Hildesheim and the age of the Ottonians . Catalog, Hildesheim 1993, p. 186.
  16. ↑ Herta Lepie: Pala d'Oro - the gold altar. P. 16.
  17. ↑ Wolfgang Cortjaens: Rhenish altar buildings of historicism . Rheinbach 2002, ISBN 978-3-87062-044-8 , pp. 210-211.
  18. ^ Leo Hugot: Building history for the grave of Charlemagne . In: Aachener Kunstblätter , Volume 52, Aachen 1984, p. 24 ff.
  19. ^ Gisbert Knopp: The glass house of Aachen. Coronation site - Charles Mausoleum - pilgrimage center . In: Udo Mainzer (Ed.): The Gothic choir hall of Aachen Cathedral and its equipment - building history - building research - renovation (= workbook of the Rhenish preservation of monuments , volume 58). Michael Imhof Verlag, Regensburg 2002, ISBN 3-935590-38-5 , p. 20.
  20. ↑ Herta Lepie: Pala d'Oro - the gold altar. P. 16.
  21. ↑ Herta Lepie: Pala d'Oro - the gold altar. P. 20.
  22. ↑ Karl Schein, Roland Wentzler: "Hope and Certainty". Aachen's cathedral and cathedral treasure in the war and post-war period (= Karlsverein-Dombauverein series of publications , volume 8). Thouet, Aachen 2006, p. 77.
  23. ↑ Karl Schein, Roland Wentzler: "Hope and Certainty". Aachen's cathedral and cathedral treasure in the war and post-war period (= Karlsverein-Dombauverein series of publications , volume 8). Thouet Aachen 2006, p. 79.
  24. ↑ Kathrin Steinhaus: A reorganization is needed - the interior of the cathedral after the Second Vatican Council . In: Karlsverein-Dombauverein (ed.): "It shone like a precious gem, like a crystal-clear jasper". 600 years of Aachen choir hall (= Karlsverein-Dombauverein series of publications , volume 16). Thouet, Aachen 2014, p. 91 ff.

Web links

Commons : Pala d'oro (Aachen)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 46 ′ 29 ″  N , 6 ° 5 ′ 2.9 ″  E