Peterskirche (Erfurt)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Southern transept of St. Peter's Church in Erfurt with south portal
View from the tower of St. Andrew's Church

The Peterskirche is an originally three-aisled Romanesque pillar basilica and was the abbey church of a Benedictine abbey . It is located on the Petersberg in the center of the Thuringian capital Erfurt .

At the beginning of the 12th century, the Peterskirche was built as part of the Hirsau reform as a monastery church of the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter and Paul (Peterskloster). This monastery has had the honor of hosting German emperors and kings on several occasions due to its close ties to the nearby Palatinate on the Petersberg. During the Thirty Years War , the Catholic St. Peter's Church was temporarily used as a Protestant church. Early 19th century, the church had two striking east towers, then first converted the French and then the Prussians the Church in a magazine and warehouse buildings around. It has been used in this way until the present. A revitalization as a church is planned for the Federal Garden Show 2021 .

Since 1993 it has served as an exhibition space for the Erfurt Concrete Art Forum and has been owned by the Thuringian Palaces and Gardens Foundation since 1995 .

history

Use as a monastery church

Benedictine monastery of St. Peter and Paul (Peterskloster) on the Petersberg (green = St. Peter's Church, blue = Corpus Christi chapel, red = St. Anna chapel)
Submission of Henry the Lion to Friedrich Barbarossa

In 1060, the collegiate monastery existing on the Petersberg at the time was converted by the Archbishop of Mainz, Siegfried I, into the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter and Paul (Peterskloster). A document about this event provided the first mention of a monastery on the Petersberg. But as early as 1080 a city fire, triggered by the troops of Henry IV , destroyed the wooden monastery complex. Five years later, the monastery was restructured under Abbot Giselbert in line with the Hirsau reform . His successor Abbot Burchard from the Swabian Hirsau Monastery began in 1103 with a completely new building made of stone. The Peterskirche was also built, the construction of which dragged on. When Burchard was deposed by the Archbishop of Mainz in 1116, only the west building stood as a substructure for the planned west tower front as well as the foundations of the nave and transept . Nothing changed about that under Burchard's successor, Ripertus.

It was not until Abbot Werner I, who was appointed in 1127 and who came from Hirsau Abbey, that the new church was built, and presumably had the dominant double tower front built at the eastern end. In 1143 the side altars in the choir and transept were consecrated and on June 16, 1147, Archbishop Heinrich I carried out the overall consecration of St. Peter's Church.

In the years that followed, the importance of St. Peter's Monastery increased through special privileges and numerous foundations. In addition, due to its close relationships with the nearby Palatinate on the Petersberg , the monastery had the honor and the duty of receiving German emperors and kings, such as Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa during his diet in Erfurt. One of the most important events in the history of St. Peter's Monastery happened, with Henry the Lion at its center . As Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, he was one of the most powerful imperial princes and opposed the Italian policy of Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. As a result, conflicts arose between him and the emperor, so that he was ostracized in 1179 and forced to obey. Humiliated, he submitted and pleaded on November 11th in St. Peter's Church in front of the emperor for mercy. As a punishment, he was exiled to England for three years . On December 14, 1289, King Rudolf I returned to St. Peter's Monastery to hold an almost one-year diet there. He fought robber barons and looters, who at that time caused fear and horror among the citizens and merchants in the region around Erfurt. Furthermore, a state peace court was set up on the orders of the king in Erfurt. In 1382 a plague epidemic raged in Erfurt, which killed 16 monks and the abbot of St. Peter's Monastery. From the 13th / 14th The Cronica S. Petri Erfordensis moderna has been preserved in the 19th century .

Around 1475 the church received its characteristic wooden spiers, which defined the image of the entire Petersberg until 1813. In 1450 Johannes Gutenberg invented the first letterpress printing machine , which was probably one of the first to be used in the Peterskloster in Thuringia. The choir and transept were vaulted between 1499 and 1505 and the originally flat-roofed nave in the 17th or 18th century. In 1517, Martin Luther initiated the Reformation, which was followed by the Peasants' War in 1525. Insurgent citizens and farmers from the Erfurt region then occupied, among other things, the Peterskloster, which functioned as the center of the Counter Reformation. Much monastery property was lost and the number of convent members who had already suffered from the plague epidemics fell sharply. During the Thirty Years War (1618–1648) Erfurt and the Petersberg were occupied in 1631 by Union troops from Gustav II Adolf of Sweden . The Swedes briefly dissolved the Peterskloster in 1632 and temporarily converted it into a Protestant monastery in 1633. After the occupation, three monastery brothers remained and numerous valuables and supplies were plundered. The Petersberg Citadel was built between 1665 and 1702 and has since enclosed the Peterskloster with the Peterskirche all around. During the construction, on the one hand, the main entrance, the wide ridge (formerly the staircase at the Leonhard bastion) and the vineyard of the monastery located at the main access road were lost. In 1672 and 1727 the damage to the church caused by the Thirty Years' War was repaired and in 1765 the interior was redesigned in baroque style by Italian plasterers . In July 1735, the Philipp bastion collapsed after prolonged rain, which destroyed the Corpus Christi chapel next to it, except for the Romanesque tower. A short time later, the chapel was rebuilt.

Use as a magazine, storage room and art museum

In 1802 Prussia received the city of Erfurt as compensation for the ceded areas east of the banks of the Rhine. As a result, Prussian troops occupied the Petersberg and dissolved the Peterskloster in the same year on March 23rd to make room for a much stronger garrison. The Peterskirche was converted into a parish church. On October 18, 1806, after the lost battle at Jena and Auerstedt, the Petersberg Citadel surrendered to the Napoleonic troops on the orders of Prince Wilhelm of Orange , who then took the mountain without resistance. Under the French, the monastery church inventory was auctioned to churches in the area. In 1810, for example, part of the organ with 2,333 pipes ended up in the Peterskirche in the parish of Büßleben and the tower of the Corpus Christi chapel (Corpus Christi chapel) in the church of St. Martin in the parish of Dittelstedt. After the state of siege was imposed on the Petersberg in 1813, the Peterskirche was converted into a store for supplies and the burial place of the Counts von Gleichen was moved to the Erfurt Cathedral . Since the beginning of the 12th century, the Counts of Tonna-Gleichen had bailiwick rights over Erfurt and the Peterskloster and were buried in the Peterskirche. Between October 28, 1813 and May 5, 1814, the city was surrounded by Prussian, Austrian and Russian troops. When on November 6, 1813 the French did not comply with the request to give up the fortress, fire was opened on it. Large parts of the monastery buildings were destroyed and St. Peter's Church burned down. On May 5, 1814, the French capitulated.

After the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815), Europe was reorganized. As a result, the Kingdom of Prussia received the province of Saxony and the city of Erfurt, among others . The Erfurt fortress was now one of the southernmost fortifications in Prussia. Therefore it should be developed as a fortress of the first order together with the two citadels Petersberg and Cyriaksburg . Starting in 1814, the east towers of St. Peter's Church, which were too conspicuous for the Petersberg Citadel, and its central nave were lowered to the level of the two aisles. Furthermore, gable roofs were erected and a wooden ceiling for a second floor was installed in the church.

From 1819/20 it served the Prussians as a grain and flour store. Between 1828 and 1830, the remains of the burnt-out monastery building were removed and the stones were used to build the barracks . At the beginning of the 20th century there were plans of an association for the reconstruction of St. Peter's Church for its rebuilding, but these were thwarted by the First World War. In GDR times, the Peterskirche was used, among other things, as a sports hall and as a storage room for a wholesale company. At the beginning of the 1990s, the earlier towers of St. Peter's Church were at times replicated with metal scaffolding to give an impression of their imposing size. In 1998 the building was included in the Thuringian Palaces and Gardens Foundation , which has since rented the upper floor as an event room. The ground floor has served as an exhibition space for the Concrete Art Forum of the Erfurt art museums since 1993 . With a view to the Federal Garden Show 2021, which will also include the Petersberg, there is a civic initiative to revive the Peterskirche.

architecture

Plan of the Peterskirche

There are hardly any traces of the older monastery, which burned down in the town fire in 1080. After Karl Becker's excavations in 1919, the destroyed monastery church seems to have had a three-aisled choir with angular towers between the choir and transept. The new building from 1103 envisaged a three-aisled nave with a choir closure made up of three parallel apses and a western tower complex that was never completed. The current three-aisled choir building with a straight end based on the model of the Hirsau reform and the transept with the two apses come from the change of plan in 1127. The two imposing east towers are also attributed to it, which were removed in 1814 due to their suitability as a target for artillery bombardment. The central nave was originally flat and was separated from the side aisles by nine pillar arcades . At the height of the seventh pillar stood the cross altar , which separated the navis ecclesiae (lay area) from the chorus minor (small choir). Further to the east, in the area of ​​the crossing , was the chorus major (large choir), in which priests gathered to sing choirs. The conclusion was formed by the presbytery (high choir), which consisted of a three-aisled choir building with two secondary and one main choir and in which the high altar stood. In the east and south of the church there was a cemetery on which the Corpus Christi Chapel stood until it was destroyed. A crypt was not built.

Section from the south wall of St. Peter's Church

The model of the Peterskirche was probably the monastery church of St. Peter and Paul in Hirsau, the starting point of the Hirsau reform. Its architecture is characterized by a lot of objectivity and little decoration, but shows a very demanding workmanship in the individual structural details on the south and east sides. This includes the base profile and the yoke-like wall structure of the southern outer wall above it, which consists of pilaster strips and half-columns with an Attic base and cube capital . There is an arched window between the half-columns. The conclusion is formed by a round arch and chessboard frieze running around the south and east side of the church . Furthermore, the southern church wall is adorned with two images, a crucifixion relief (1370) and an incised drawing of a Man of Sorrows (around 1360). The north and west sides, on the other hand, are unadorned, as the monastery church was connected to the Peterskloster at these points. One of the special features is also the huge, carefully cut stone blocks that fit precisely in their place and whose wall technology was new for the time. The interior is accessed via the main portal in the west and a secondary portal in the south transept. Originally a single-nave vestibule was built in the area of ​​the main portal, which was removed along with the tympanum in the 19th century. The side portal is adorned by pilaster strips with double-tiered walls and a semicircular tympanum. Inside the tympanum there are remains of a painting showing Mary with the child and angels.

In the interior, the Prussian wooden fixtures from the 19th century and the demolition of the central nave severely restrict the former spatial impression. Only detailed forms such as remains of the former arcades and pillars can still give an impression of the Hirsau architecture. They have a rectangular cross-section and are bordered on the narrow sides by a three-quarter round column with a cube capital and an Attic base. The approach of the former arcades is adorned by a chessboard frieze. In addition, St. Peter's Church has numerous altars inside; 25 altars were erected in 1685, 12 of which were left when the monastery was closed in 1803. Remains of dedicatory inscriptions on the Mathias altar (1366) and the Holy Spirit altar (1406) bear witness to this to this day. In the west, above the main entrance, there was a gallery with an organ.

Murals

In the interior of the former monastery church, wall paintings have been preserved that are dated to the second quarter of the 13th century. Essentially, the outline drawings have been preserved, but there are also isolated remains of colored painting. On the east wall of the northern choir tower is a multi-figure crucifixion scene, which is laid out as an altarpiece . In the vestibule, two larger-than-life depictions of the apostles can be seen on two opposite pillars. A seven-armed chandelier on the south wall of the south transept establishes a reference to the Old Testament. As part of a research project funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation, the paintings previously hidden under crusts and layers of paint were exposed from 2012 to 2014.

Abbots of St. Peter's Monastery

  • Rugastus (1060 – Dec 1060)
  • Rabboto (1060-1061)
  • Wecilo I. (1078-1084)
  • Ruthard (1084-1088)
  • Giselbert (1090–1100)
  • Burchard (1101-1116)
  • Ripertus (1116–1127)
  • Wernher I. (1127–1138)
  • Rudiger (1138–1142)
  • Wernher II. (1142-1147)
  • Gelfradus (1147–1172)
  • Pilgrinus (1172-1192)
  • Ditmar (1192-1196)
  • Hugo (1196-1200)
  • Wecilo II. (1200-1221)
  • Heinrich (1221-1250)
  • Volkmar I (1250-1254)
  • Andreas I (1254-1300)
  • Johann von Brunheim (1300-1321)
  • Berthold of Cologne (1321-1323)
  • Volkmar II. Vitzdum (1323-1337)
  • Hermann von Eichelborn (1337-1353)
  • Theodoric von Brunheim (1353-1358)
  • Theodoric von Zimmer (1358-1376)
  • Ludwig von Saalfeld (1376–1382)
  • Peter of Varila (1382-1391)
  • Hartung von Treffurt (1391-1424)
  • Ortwin Körbel (1424–1437)
  • Hartung Herling (1437–1446)
  • Johann von Hagen (1446-1451); 1450 Joined the Bursfeld Congregation
  • Christian Kleingarn (1451-1458)
  • Gunther von Nordhausen (1458–1501)
  • Johann Hottenbach of Siegen (1501–1525)
  • Johann Schröter (1526–1530)
  • Liborius Vogt (1530–1531)
  • Benedictus Hoffmann (1531-1540)
  • Johann Specht (1540–1558)
  • Kilian Vogel (1558–1562)
  • Johann Reuter (1562-1565)
  • Gerhard Zinnkrafft (1565–1571)
  • Johann Zenner (1571–1584)
  • Andreas II. Luderitz (1584–1598)
  • Valentin Mohr (1598–1608)
  • Andrew III Hahn (1608–1627)
  • Johann Henning (1627–1662)
  • Adam Dahlen (1662–1681)
  • Nicolaus de Gouverneur (1682–1705)
  • Placidus Casselmann (1705–1737)
  • Gunther II. Jann (1738–1773)
  • Gunther III. Basting (1773–1794)
  • Placidus Muth (1794-1803)

literature

  • Karl Becker, Margarethe Brückner, Ernst Haetge, Lisa Schürenberg: The city of Erfurt. Vol. 1: Cathedral, Severikirche, Peterskloster, Citadel . Hopfer, Burg 1929 (= The Art Monuments of the Province of Saxony , Vol. 1).
  • Rolf Berger: The Peterskirche on the Petersberg in Erfurt: a study of Hirsau architecture . 1st edition, Wehle, Witterschlick / Bonn 1994, ISBN 3-925267-86-7 .
  • Hans-Peter Brachmanski , Hans-Werner Schirmer: The Erfurt Petersberg . Publishing house Thuringia, Erfurt 1993, ISBN 3-86087-107-2 .
  • Verena Friedrich: The former Benedictine monastery church St. Peter and Paul Erfurt , Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2003 ISBN 3-7954-6473-0 .
  • Willibald Gutsche (ed.): History of the city of Erfurt . Hermann Böhlaus successor Weimar 1986, ISBN 3-7400-0095-3 .
  • Mathias Haenchen: The developmental position of the monastery church on the Petersberg near Erfurt in the architecture of the European High Middle Ages . Habilitation thesis, Dresden 2003.
  • Otto Kürsten: The Petersberg. The Acropolis of Erfurt . Engelhard-Reyher-Verlag, Gotha 1943 (= The Green Heart Library, Vol. 27).
  • Franz Peter Schilling : Erfurt bells - the bells of the cathedral , the Severikirche and the Peterskloster in Erfurt. With prefaces by Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Freusberg and Auxiliary Bishop Hugo Aufderbeck (also double issue 72/73 of the series The Christian Monument ). Berlin 1968.
  • Jürgen W. Schmidt: The failed attempt to restore the Erfurt Peterskirche 1905-1911 , in: Yearbook for Erfurter Geschichte Vol. 2 (2007) pp 113-141.
  • Thuringian Palaces and Gardens Foundation: 700 years of the Peterskloster in Erfurt: History and art on the Petersberg in Erfurt 1103–1803 . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2004, ISBN 3-7954-1675-2 .
  • Helmut-Eberhard Paulus (ed.): The monastery church St. Peter and Paul in Erfurt. New research on the murals and building history . Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2015 (= reports of the Thuringian Palaces and Gardens Foundation, vol. 13), ISBN 978-3-7319-0137-2 .

Web links

Commons : Peterskirche (Erfurt)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Helmut-Eberhard Paulus (ed.): The monastery church of St. Peter and Paul in Erfurt. New research on the murals and building history . Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2015.
  2. ^ Franz Nagel: The seven-armed chandelier in the former monastery church of St. Peter and Paul in Erfurt. In: Yearbook of the Thuringian Palaces and Gardens Foundation, Vol. 19, Regensburg 2016, pp. 131–139.

Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 43 ″  N , 11 ° 1 ′ 14 ″  E