Rochusfriedhof (Nuremberg)

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Rochusfriedhof in Nuremberg, 2011

The Rochusfriedhof is a church cemetery in the Nuremberg district of Gostenhof with historical and artistically valuable bronze epitaphs as well as culturally significant (standardized) gravestones and burial places of the Nuremberg population from more than five centuries. The burial site is still in operation and is a listed building; the city of Nuremberg and the Evangelical Lutheran cemetery administration are responsible for the burials. The Rochus Chapel in the cemetery was made by Hans Beheim the Elder .

history

After the hygienic conditions in the church yards within the city walls had become intolerable at the end of the 15th century, the city lord of the imperial city of Nuremberg, Emperor Maximilian I , issued a mandate on October 31, 1518, according to which, in times of plague, any burial had to take place outside the city walls . On this basis, the city council was able to enforce against the objection of the clergy that a new cemetery was laid out for the parish of St. Lorenz near the Spittlertor and that the Johannis cemetery was significantly expanded so that it could accommodate the deceased citizens of the Sebald side . In 1518 the cemetery was enclosed by a sandstone wall and the consecration took place on March 21, 1519. As early as 1520, the Nuremberg council ordered general burial outside the walls. In the 1540s there was a general ban on burials in churches within the city walls. Until the opening of the Central Cemetery (since 1904 West Cemetery ) in 1880 and the South Cemetery in 1913, the Johannis and Rochus Cemeteries were the main burial places of the Nuremberg population without interruption.

The Rochus Chapel in the new cemetery was donated by Konrad Imhoff in 1520/1521 and is consecrated to the plague helper Rochus von Montpellier .

In October 2014 there was significant robbery desecration . Many of the art-historically unique epitaphs, which are up to 500 years old, were torn from the graves by scrap metal thieves and partially destroyed. A few days later, scrap dealer Hans Kulzer unmasked the two metal thieves Daniel P. (23) and Daniel S. (25) after they tried to exchange the copper. They redeemed 67 euros, which is offset by damage of over 350,000 euros for restoration. Of the total of 41 stolen objects, 22 have been found to date.

At the Rochusfriedhof are the graves of Peter Vischer the Elder († 1529), the most famous executioner of the imperial city, Franz Schmidt († 1634) and the composer Johann Pachelbel († 1706).

Epitaph art

The handicraft tradition for the production of the epitaphs was included in the Bavarian State Directory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2018 . The unique form of expression of the Sepulchral Culture arose on the one hand from the need to attach permanent signs on the weather-sensitive sandstone of the tombstones and on the other hand from the outstanding craftsmanship of the Nuremberg redsmiths .

Not only socially privileged persons provided their graves with an epitaph. From the beginning there were no demarcated areas on the burial ground for the wealthy patrician upper class, rather the most diverse professions and activities can be read from the individually designed grave tablets. The craftsmen in particular put themselves in the picture with their tools or products, making the bronze epitaphs an important source of the history of crafts and material culture. Numerous vivid insights can also be gained about the history of social and mentality as well as the history of art. The bronze epitaphs in the Johannisfriedhof, the Rochusfriedhof and the Friedhof in Wöhrd (which were destroyed in the Second World War) were made in the 16th and early 17th centuries by the physician Dr. Michael Rötenbeck (1568–1623) has been examined. In 1682, Christoph Friedrich Gugel recorded them completely for the first time and printed his results. In 1736 the work of the Altdorf scholar Johann Martin Trechsel , called Großkopf, appeared, which dealt with the graves at the Johannisfriedhof, in the Johanniskirche and the Holzschuherkapelle. A systematic, digitally accessible and scientific inventory of the thousands of historical epitaphs under individual monument protection in the Johannis and Rochus cemetery is still missing today. Numerous epitaphs are endangered by the effects of war, vandalism or material damage. An association and a foundation are dedicated to the continued existence of the cultural cemeteries.

See also

literature

  • Kurt Pilz: St. Johannis and St. Rochus in Nuremberg. The church yards with the suburbs of St. Johannis and Gostenhof. Carl, Nürnberg, 1984, X, 208, ISBN 3-418-00488-1 .
  • Hans Stegmann: The Rochus Chapel in Nuremberg and its artistic jewelry. Art history study. Publishing House for Art and Science, Munich 1885.
  • Skt. Rochuskirchhof in Nuremberg, epitaphs. Citizens' Association St Johannes (ed.). 1989.
  • Erich Mulzer : The outskirts. The Rochusfriedhof. In: Erich Mulzer: Baedeker Nuremberg - City Guide , 9th edition. By Karl Baedeker. Baedeker, Ostfildern-Kemnat 2000, ISBN 3-87954-024-1 . on-line
  • Adalbert Ruschel: The craft cemetery of St. Roch in Nuremberg. What epitaphs can tell. Book on Demand, Norderstedt 2015, ISBN 978-3-7357-0786-4 .
  • "If the time passes, the dead will come" - 500 years of Johannis and Rochus cemetery 1518-2018 . Edited by Michael Diefenbacher and Antonia Landois (exhibition catalog of the Nuremberg City Archives 26), Neustadt / Aisch 2018, ISBN 978-3-925002-56-4 .

Web links

Commons : Rochusfriedhof (Nürnberg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On the history of the place, for example: "Time goes, here comes death" - 500 years of Johannis and Rochus cemetery 1518-2018 . In: Michael Diefenbacher, Antonia Landois (ed.): Exhibition catalog of the Nuremberg City Archives . tape 26 . Neustadt / Aisch 2018, ISBN 978-3-925002-56-4 , p. 11-15 .
  2. ^ Graves desecrated - memorial plaques stolen from Rochus cemetery. br.de, October 8, 2014, archived from the original on October 13, 2014 ; accessed on October 13, 2014 . (with picture gallery)
  3. ↑ Christoph Friedrich Gugel: Norischer Christen Freydhöfe Gedächtnis, that is: Correct presentation and index of all those monuments, epitaphs and grave inscriptions, which are on and in which [...] church yards of S. Johannis, Rochi and the suburb of Wehrd [...] located . Nuremberg 1682.
  4. ^ Johann Martin Trechsel: Renewed memory of the Nünbergisches Johannis-Kirch-Hofs, including a description of the church and chapel there [...] , Frankfurt 1736.
  5. ↑ Nürnberger Epitaphienkunst und -kultur eV Accessed on November 11, 2019.
  6. ^ Epitaphs Foundation. Retrieved November 11, 2019.

Coordinates: 49 ° 26 ′ 51 ″  N , 11 ° 3 ′ 37 ″  E