Parish Church of St. Michael (Brixen)
The parish church of St. Michael is the Roman Catholic church of the parish and the deanery of Brixen in South Tyrol . It is in a prominent location north of Brixen Cathedral at Domplatz 12. The church is consecrated to Archangel Michael . It was traditionally the church of the Brixen citizenship.
The church is located on Pfarrplatz between Domplatz, Weißenturmgasse and Albuingasse and can be entered from three sides. On the south side, the old cemetery separates Michael’s Church from Brixen Cathedral. The so-called White Tower , the steeple at the northeast corner of the church, is striking. Seen from Domplatz and Albuingasse, the parish church and the buildings of the Brixen Cathedral form an ecclesiastical ensemble.
Building description
The church was built as a late Gothic hall church around 1500 and consecrated in 1503. It stands on the site of a previous Ottonian building , a Romanesque church from the 11th century, which was consecrated by Bishop Hartwig in 1038 . The polygonal end of the choir is to the east. The lower part of the adjoining tower dates from around 1300, while the characteristic upper part with small oriels, pointed-arch sound windows and pointed helmet was built in 1459.
The interior of the church was redesigned in Baroque style around 1750 . The ceiling frescoes are by Josef Hauzinger , a student of Paul Troger from Vienna, from the year 1757. The high altar painting, which depicts Michael’s battle with Lucifer, was created by Andrea Pozzo , the flanking angel sculptures by Johann Perger . The rest of the furnishings, with the high altar and side altars, are baroque, classicist and romantic. The expressive wooden figure of Christ and Simon of Cyrene carrying the cross dates from the 15th century. The church has been a listed building since 1984 .
Old graveyard
The old cemetery to the south was used as the city cemetery until December 30, 1793; a memorial plaque from 2001 commemorates this. The former burial ground is now covered by a lawn. Historically valuable grave slabs of canons and noble families were placed in the arcades from the 18th century; underneath is a memorial stone of Oswald von Wolkenstein , which he himself had created in 1408 during his lifetime before starting a pilgrimage to Palestine and had it erected in a chapel of the cathedral.
“In 1408 Oswald had a memorial stone made and placed in Brixen Cathedral - the life-size self-portrayal of a dashing crusader with a twisted mustache, a wavy goatee, undulating hair, with armor, battle coat, knight's belt and long sword, in his right hand a crusader pennant, in the left a helmet with twisted horns, from which peacock horses protrude, customarily. It stands on the coats of arms of the Villanders family and the Wolkenstein family, with lamellar shoes and wheel spurs. Oswald not as a pilgrim but as a crusader: there is considerable stylization here! A self-presentation of this kind in his stand was combined with a pilgrimage to the Holy Land: the stone as a visible vow. And at the same time as a tombstone in case you don't return; there was space left on the right margin to enter the data. "
In the middle of the cemetery there is a Gothic funeral lamp from 1483. In the western arcade of the cemetery there is a war memorial from 1960, dedicated to the fallen of the First and Second World Wars ; the figurative representation of a falling soldier was created by the sculptor Othmar Winkler (1907–1999).
literature
- Karl Gruber : Parish Church of St. Michael Brixen , Lana 1987
- In new splendor. Textile finds, coins and insights into the building history of the parish church of St. Michael Brixen . The Schlern , 10/2016.
Web links
- Entry in the monument browser on the website of the South Tyrolean Monuments Office
- Website of the parish of Brixen
Individual evidence
- ↑ Quoted from: Oswald von Wolkenstein & Brixen , SDF website from March 20, 2014
Coordinates: 46 ° 42 ′ 58.8 ″ N , 11 ° 39 ′ 27.6 ″ E