Parish Church of St. Peter and Paul (Görlitz)

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Parish Church of St. Peter and Paul
(Peterskirche)
St. Peter's Church from the south

St. Peter's Church from the south
Construction time: 1425-1497
Builder : Conrad Pflüger , Urban Laubanisch, Blasius Börer
Dimensions: 72 × 39 × 24 m
Space: 2500 people
Towers:

2 × 84 m

Location: 51 ° 9 '30.2 "  N , 14 ° 59' 32.5"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 9 '30.2 "  N , 14 ° 59' 32.5"  E
Address: At the Peterskirche 9
Goerlitz
Saxony , Germany
Purpose: evangelical church
Local community: Evangelical inner city community of Görlitz
Regional Church : Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia

The parish church of St. Peter and Paul in Görlitz , or Peterskirche for short , towers over the Neißetal and dominates the historic old town with its copper-covered high roof and the pair of towers that can be seen from afar .

history

A basilica stood on this site as early as 1230, the western part of which is the only part that has been preserved to this day. It had a short three-aisled nave and a transept that was only slightly protruding. In the 14th century this building was drastically changed. The Georgen chapel was first mentioned in 1378.

The current hall church was started in the first decade of the 15th century. The oldest parts of the hall are the west bays of the outer south aisle, including the outer vestibule that was changed after 1691.

The foundation stone for the choir was laid in 1423 under the supervision of Hans Knobloch and Hans Baumgarten. The expansion of the building site to the east required extensive substructures and the construction of the Georgen chapel, consecrated in 1457, as a crypt , which today forms the basement of the choir.

In 1465 the two-storey sacristy with the singing gallery above was completed. After the surrounding walls were largely in place in 1490, the church was vaulted in 1490–1497 under the direction of Conrad Pflüger with the parlors Blasius Börer and Urban Laubanisch and the main parts were completed. A first renovation took place in 1590–1596.

In 1590 Gregor Richter became a preacher to St. Peter and Paul, from 1606 until his death in 1624 he was senior pastor. He fought against the theological views of his parishioner Jakob Böhme .

In a city fire in 1691, the upper free-level projectiles of the west building and the inventory, including 36 altars and a 20-meter-high sacrament house , were destroyed. The roof could be renewed by 1712. At the same time, the church was refurbished in the Baroque style.

In 1702 the composer and musician Christian Ludwig Boxberg (1670–1729) began his service as organist at the church. Boxberg was best known for his cantatas and the opera Sardanapalus (1698). In 1704 he also published a description of the solar organ in the church, built by Eugenio Casparini .

In 1835 the interior of the church was repainted. The two towers were raised to a height of 84 meters with the upper floors and spire helmets made of concrete between 1889 and 1891 .

When the old town bridge was blown up on May 7, 1945 by the German Wehrmacht (which was no longer of any importance in terms of war strategy), all but one of the glass paintings were destroyed by the pressure wave , as well as the tracery and the roof in some cases severely damaged.

In the years 1948–61 the window tracery and the lower church were restored. A further restoration of the exterior was carried out 1978–1981 and the interior 1981–1992, with the version from 1500 and the interior fittings being restored.

architecture

With a length of 72 meters, a width of 39 meters and a central nave height of 24 meters, St. Peter and Paul is one of the largest and most important hall churches in eastern Germany.

The church is a five-nave hall church with seven bays in the main nave, three staggered apses and side aisles of different heights and a common copper-covered roof over the middle three aisles and tile roofs over the outer aisles. In the south aisle, differently designed chapels are set between the buttresses. The outer aisles continue to the west side of the late Romanesque west building.

In the west side there is a large gable portal, which was renewed in the years 1595/96 based on the late Romanesque layout by Jonas Rosskopf and Melchior Kunze.

Inside, slender, profiled pillars without capitals bear net vaults over the aisles and vaults with star shapes in the central nave. The north aisle shows some richer windows with fish bubble tracery similar to those in the south aisle of Bautzen Cathedral . The other narrow windows are equipped with simpler tracery forms made of cross-arch motifs. In the western part of the outer aisles, the vaults are supported by console heads.

The interior of the south-western vestibule is a late Gothic architectural masterpiece in the successor of Peter Parler , which was created from a connection of a rectangular room with a three-sided canopy. To the side of the portal there are figure niches with wide standing areas and a hanging frieze with console heads.

  • View in front of the neo-Gothic heightening of the towers

  • View from the town hall tower to St. Peter's Church

  • View over the old town bridge to the Peterskirche

  • West portal with the bridal gate

  • Vault in the central nave

  • Baptismal font

altar

Furnishing

View inside the church
as a spherical panorama

altar

The altar structure was made in 1695 from sandstone and polished stucco marble by George Heermann from Dresden. The architectural structure is divided into a basement level with side passageways, a curved three-part main level with columns, pillars and gable, as well as a high tower with explosive gable and richly decorated with figures. On the main floor the instruments of Christ's passion are depicted, in the side volutes of the lower floor angel figures; The evangelists are depicted above the main cornice and the Christian virtues as a conclusion above the top .

The main picture shows the ascension of Christ based on Raphael's Transfiguration , in the predella the burial of Christ is depicted. The iron grating of the altar dates from 1698.

pulpit
preserved glass painting with Jesus in the temple

Pulpit and stalls

The sandstone pulpit, dated 1693, with rich plant ornaments in white and gold is carried by an angel and depicts the evangelists on the basket. Apostles and prophets are depicted on the wooden sound cover.

The council stalls from 1695 under the gallery show the council coat of arms flanked by allegorical figures of wealth and justice. At the east end of the aisles are three ornate wooden confessionals. The confessional in the outer north aisle was made by Caspar Gottlob von Rodewitz in 1717 , the two in the north and south side apse at the same time around 1694.

Epitaphs and other equipment

Numerous epitaphs complete the furnishings of the church. The most magnificent epitaph was probably also made to a design by Caspar Gottlob von Rodewitz for the town clerk Christian Moller von Mollerstein († 1714) from alabaster, marble and sandstone by Johann Matthäus Oberschall and installed in the north aisle. Further epitaphs for the town clerk Gottfried Gerlach († 1737) from 1741 and for Baron Rudolph Ferdinand Silwer von Silwerstein with an extremely rich frame can also be found in the north aisle.

On the altar pillars there is a memorial to the clergyman Christoph Seifert († 1702) with angels and foliage, who was the main pastor at the time of the reconstruction after the fire in 1691. The memorial to Christiane Luisa von Gersdorf († 1779) from 1783 can also be found there. Several portraits of pastors from the 16th to 19th centuries are attached to the sacristy wall.

The baptistery in the west yoke of the outer north aisle is delimited by a rich ironwork grate created by Hans Mantler in 1617. A glass painting from 1893, which shows the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple , survived the blowing up of the Neisse bridge in World War II.

Solar organ

Solar organ

Particularly worth seeing is the prospectus of the sun organ from 1703 by Johann Conrad Buchau , on the former organ by Eugenio Casparini . Today's organ is from the Swiss company Mathis Orgelbau from 1997/2004 and has 87 registers on four manuals and pedal .

A total of 17 suns are distributed over the entire prospect , around which organ pipes of the same length are arranged, so to speak as the "sun rays". Four of these suns are mute, 12 of which sound as secondary or effect registers . They make up the 12-fold pedal mixture.

Bells

The Peterskirche has four bells, two of which are historical bells that form the remainder of the old bells. The current bells 2-4 are located between the two towers in the central building. The big bell is housed on the same floor in the north tower. The bell chamber in the south tower is empty.

The smaller bells hang in a steel chair. The bell 1 is housed in a wooden bell cage. All hang on cranked yokes.

The big Silesian bell in the north tower

Due to deficiencies in the suspension and cracks, the three large bells are silent and only bell 4 is available to ring.

The former "Marie" bell was cast by Hannibal Brors in 1696 and until 1917 was one of the most important historical bells in Germany. With the strike note "d °" it was the lowest sounding bell in Germany in its time. It was only with the casting of the Cologne Imperial Bell in 1874 that the strike tone of "Marie" was exceeded by a semitone. With a weight of about 11,800 kg and a diameter of 246 cm, its weight, but not its striking sound, was exceeded by the Erfurt "Gloriosa". The valuable bell was removed from the tower in 1917 and melted down for armament purposes. A 1: 1 scale plaster model set up in St. Peter's Church gives an optical impression of the once legendary "Marie". Another large bell with the strike tone "fis °" has been preserved in St. Peter's Church from the hand of the foundryman Hannibal Brors, but it cannot be rung due to a crack in the bell body.

No. Surname diameter Weight volume material Caster Casting year
1 Silesian bell (currently not ringable) 218.0 cm 7100 kg f sharp0 bronze Hannibal Brors 1696
2 Death bell (currently not ringable) 184.5 cm 2500 kg cis´ Chilled iron Schilling & Lattermann 1956
3 Our Father's Bell (currently not ringable) 152.5 cm 1600 kg e´ Chilled iron Schilling & Lattermann 1956
4th Baptismal bell 107.0 cm 790 kg G bronze Michael Weinhold 1716

literature

  • Georg Dehio: Handbook of the German art monuments. Saxony I. District of Dresden. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-422-03043-3 , pp. 371-375.
  • Stefan Bürger, Marius Winzeler: The city church St. Peter and Paul in Görlitz. Architecture and art. Dössel 2006, ISBN 978-3-89923-137-3 .
  • Leopold Haupt: History of the Protestant main and parish church of St. Peter and Paul in Görlitz. Goerlitz 1857
  • Leopold Haupt: History of the famous organ in the main and parish church of St. Peter and Paul in Görlitz. Görlitz 1859 (digitized version)
  • Ernst-Heinz Lemper : Evangelical parish church of St. Peter and Paul in Görlitz. (Schnell & Steiner Art Guide No. 2005), Regensburg 1995
  • Ernst-Heinz Lemper: The Peterskirche zu Görlitz. (The Christian Monument 19), Berlin 1954
  • Christian Nitsche: Description of the famous and magnificent church of SS. Petri and Pauli in Görlitz. Goerlitz, 1725
  • Maximilian Schönwälder: History of the Protestant main and parish church of St. Peter and Paul in Görlitz. Görlitz 1896 ( digitized version )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ferdinand Werner : The long way to new building . Volume 1: Concrete: 43 men invent the future . Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 2016. ISBN 978-3-88462-372-5 , pp. 281f.
  2. ↑ Götz Eckardt (ed.): Fates of German architectural monuments in the Second World War. Volume 2, Henschel Verlag Berlin, ISBN 3-926642-24-6 , p. 443.
  3. ↑ Restoration of the Sonnenmixtur 2004 on Mathis Orgelbau AG with disposition (PDF file), accessed on January 2, 2015.
  4. ↑ More information about the sun organ on the website of the community ( Memento of October 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Felix Leo: EKBO bells .

Web links

Commons : Parish Church of St. Peter and Paul  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files