Puricelli pen
The Puricelli Abbey in Rheinböllen in the Rhein-Hunsrück district in Rhineland-Palatinate is an integration aid facility for adults aged 40 and over with a mental or psychological illness and a nursing home.
The monastery is located in a building complex built from 1862 in neo-Gothic style according to plans by Heinrich Wiethase , which was donated by the Puricelli industrial family and is still the property of the Puricelli Foundation to this day. There was a hospital there and an orphanage until the 1970s .
history
The construction of the plant was initiated and financed by the entrepreneurial couple Eugénie (1807–1873) and Heinrich Puricelli (1797–1876) and their children Franziska (1830–1896) and Eduard (1826–1893). They thus posthumously followed a request from their daughter or sister Eugénie Puricelli (1840–1862), who had died at the age of 21. With their shares in Rheinböller Eisenhütte, today a subsidiary of Continental AG , the family had considerable assets and also founded numerous other social foundations .
The planning of the entire system was entrusted to the Cologne architect Heinrich Wiethase. As the first building of the Puricelli monastery, an orphanage was built in 1862. On April 29, 1864, sisters of the Order of the Poor Maidservants of Jesus Christ from Dernbach and 15 orphans moved into it. As the second section of the complex, a hospital was built in 1887 and 1888 and a chapel directly adjacent to it . In addition, an administration building was built and a large garden was laid out. The Dernbach sisters left the home on April 1, 1953. Another order took over the work in the facility.
The building complex at Bacharacher Strasse 11 in Rheinböllen survived the past 150 years largely unscathed and is now a protected monument zone . Today, adults aged 40 and over with a mental or psychological illness are cared for in the Puricelli Monastery ; the organization of the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Cross is responsible for this . At the beginning of 2011, various construction work began on the site and in the vicinity. Among other things, a new building with residential and communal facilities for mentally handicapped people is being built southeast of the previous facility.
architecture
The Puricelli pen was designed by the architect Heinrich Wiethase in a picturesque neo-Gothic style. He designed the entire facility based on the model of medieval hospitals . The buildings were deliberately grouped so that they do not offer a main view. This arrangement and a ring wall surrounding the facility mean that the building complex looks self-contained.
You enter the complex from the west through an archway crowned with a slate roof . Directly to the left of the gate is the former orphanage, straight ahead you can see the chapel, which in turn is adjacent to the former hospital on the right. At the southwest corner of the orphanage above the archway there is a portrait of the Virgin and child. The orphanage and the hospital are (like the chapel) built as rubble stone masonry made of sandstone and have slate roofs. To the north of these buildings there is still a half-timbered house for the administration.
The chapel
The richly furnished, neo-Gothic chapel for the immaculate conception forms the center of the entire complex . It was built in 1887 and 1888 as a three-aisled quarry stone building, with the central portico having two very narrow aisles. The chapel has two towers - a narrow bell tower above the entrance side and a larger tower with a hexagonal floor plan at the rear above the choir .
Outside, above the main portal of the chapel, there is a tympanum depicting Our Lady enthroned with the baby Jesus. Eugenie and Franziska Puricelli are shown on their sides. A rose window is located above the tympanum , and above it are half-timbered decorations that form the transition to the bell tower and the slate roof.
The interior is decorated with rich ceiling paintings and floor mosaics . The central aisle is adorned with a large rose ornament, on the floor of the choir a large circle with the sun, moon and stars as well as the twelve constellations can be seen. The two windows in the choir show the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ . The couple Franziska and Carl Puricelli (1824–1911) are depicted at the bottom of the window. The crypt of Franziska Puricelli is also located under the choir .
The high altar was designed as a winged altar by Heinrich Wiethase and richly decorated by the Cologne painter Alexius Kleinertz (1831–1903) in the style of the late 15th century. The wooden gallery is set between the central pillar and the outer walls and has been supported by a three-part organ by the master organ builder Johann Stockhausen senior since 1890 . (1843–1917) crowned from Linz am Rhein .
The Foundation
The Puricelli Foundation was legally recognized as a foundation by the Prussian King Wilhelm I on March 18, 1865 , and this foundation still exists today. The board of the foundation, the foundation council, consists of the incumbent mayor and the Catholic priest of Rheinböllen as well as a representative of the Puricelli family and currently four other members.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 0 ′ 28.9 ″ N , 7 ° 40 ′ 30.9 ″ E