Rantzau Chapel

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Today's Rantzau Chapel dates from 1770

The Rantzau Chapel in Bad Segeberg in Schleswig-Holstein is a successor to the Rantzau pyramid that Heinrich Rantzau had built in 1588. The chapel is located on Hamburger Straße in the immediate vicinity of the so-called Rantzau Obelisk , another monument from the time of Heinrich Rantzau.

The previous building: the Rantzau pyramid

The Segeberg pyramid based on a depiction by Peter Lindenberg
Model of the Segeberg pyramid made of zinc sheet on the roof of today's Rantzau Chapel

The Rantzau pyramid was erected in 1588 as a memorial by the royal governor in Segeberg, Heinrich Rantzau, in just 220 days on a burial mound supposedly from prehistoric times as a Mannerist monument about 800 meters in front of the former Segeberg city gate. Both in its shape and in its meaning, the monument occupied a prominent position in the duchies: The substructure consisted of an almost cube-shaped base that stood on a foundation made of Gotland stones and rocks from Höxter. It was opened on all four sides by triumphal arches ; the roof was formed by a high pyramid-like structure and is said to have risen up to 15 meters together with the substructure. The open interior was spanned by a cross vault under which a memorial altar stood. A hedge of thorns and a ditch restricted access to the monument. The pyramid served both to remember the Danish King Friedrich II, who died in the same year, and to its builder from the Rantzau family himself. Inside, 18 copper plates were attached, which heralded the heroic deeds of King Friedrich II: on several panels the military highlights of the king as well as the achievements of the Rantzau family members - especially in the victory over the Dithmarsch farmers in 1559 - were presented. This was followed by scenes of the coronation celebrations in the same year as well as the supposed great deeds of Frederick II in the Seven Years' War against Sweden. Another plaque was dedicated to the homage of the king by the nobility in 1580 and the last to the funeral procession for Frederick II in 1588. The monument, presumably about fifteen meters high, was built from Segeberg plaster from the nearby Kalkberg . The building material was not found to be permanently weatherproof and so the pyramid fell into disrepair over the next two centuries. The erection of the pyramid was accompanied by the establishment of a charitable foundation, which continued to exist even after Heinrich Rantzau's death: every year, one hundred needy people were to receive a shilling and a meal on the Tuesday after Pentecost and on the three following days after a service. From the interest of the foundation the endowment of a pastor, a teacher and a sexton for the ringing of the bells as well as a financing for the building maintenance was provided.

The plaque inside the chapel

The Rantzau Chapel

The pyramid was already considered badly dilapidated in 1622 and ten years later it appeared completely ruined, but it was only demolished at the end of the 18th century and replaced by a chapel completed in 1770. The cube-shaped substructure of the new chapel was built almost entirely from brick and kept in simple, late Baroque shapes. On a number of granite blocks in the base and on the door step, remnants of the former pyramid can be recognized by the inscriptions that are still faintly recognizable. The small building, barely four square meters in area, is covered with a tiled roof that is surmounted by a small ridge turret, the shape of which is based on the shape of the earlier pyramid. On the western outer wall, two wall anchors in the letters "FGR" testify to the builder of the chapel, Count Friedrich zu Rantzau auf Breitenburg (1729–1806). The interior under a cross vault with plaster ribs is adorned by a large plaque modeled on an epitaph in late Rococo ornamentation in honor of Friedrich II, Heinrich Rantzau and Friedrich Rantzau, which was crowned with a portrait of Heinrich Rantzau (oil on copper). After being damaged by stones being thrown, the painting ended up in the Heinrich Rantzau School in the 1950s, while a replica was placed in the chapel. Above the door there is another (fragmentarily preserved) inscription, while Heinrich Rantzau and Christine von Halles' coats of arms are emblazoned with sandstone coats of arms on the side walls . The octagonal stone table comes from the pyramid from 1588. The building is a mere cenotaph, although it is called a chapel, it was not used for church purposes. On the square hill, the chapel is surrounded by trees and demarcated from the street with a granite embankment wall. A "Rantzau stone No. VI" with an inscription is walled up under the access staircase on the northwest corner; this should come from the foundation wall of the former manor house of the monastery fore - today the district councilor. A second "Rantzau stone" with inscriptions is in the northeast corner of the embankment wall.

The octagonal altar in the chapel is from the pyramid from 1588

After protests, the neglected chapel was renovated in autumn 2015 and received new door and window shutters.

Curiosities

The pyramid, which was built in 1588, was already shown exactly on the right side of the picture on the engraving “Arx Segeberga” by Johann Greve from 1585. From this it can be seen that not only the intention to build, but also the exact construction plan must have been available.

Web links

Commons : Rantzau-Kapelle  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Literature and Sources

  • Dehio: Handbook of the German Art Monuments Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1994, ISBN 978-3-422-03033-6 .
  • Hans-Herbert Möller: Reclam's Art Guide Germany, Vol. 5, Lower Saxony, Hanseatic Cities, Schleswig-Holstein . Reclam, Ditzingen 1984, ISBN 978-3-15-008473-1 .
  • Wiebke Steinmetz: "Pyramids and obelisks as signs of the pride of rule and noble self-expression", in: Heinrich Rantzau (1526–1598) governor in Schleswig and Holstein. A humanist describes his country, Husum 1999, pp. 69-75, ISBN 3-931292-57-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ indication "OPUS ABSOLUTUM Diebus ccxx" on the wooden section of the pyramid, in: Peter Lindenberg: Commentarii Rerum memorabilium in Europe gestarum, Hamburg 1593, p 71st
  2. ^ Richard Haupt: Heinrich Rantzau und die Künste, in: Zeitschrift für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte, Vol. 56 (1927), pp. 1–66, here p. 42.
  3. ↑ Edgar Winter: Der Stadthalter Heinrich von Rantzau, in: Heimatkundliches Jahrbuch für den Segeberg, Volume 45 (1999), pp. 53–58, here p. 58.
  4. ^ Richard Haupt: Heinrich Rantzau und die Künste, in: Zeitschrift für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte, Vol. 56 (1927), pp. 1–66, here p. 15.
  5. ↑ "Rantzau Chapel: City representative speaks of a 'scandalous situation'", in: Lübecker Nachrichten, Segeberg regional section, September 30, 2015, p. 11.

Coordinates: 53 ° 56 ′ 12.8 "  N , 10 ° 18 ′ 3.3"  E