Sacrament House St. Lorenz (Nuremberg)
The Sacrament House of St. Lorenz in the St. Lorenz Church in Nuremberg , built between 1493 and 1496, is a tabernacle around 20 meters high and around 3.40 meters wide . Various scenes of the Passion of Christ are depicted above the actual sacrament cupboard .
history
The sacrament house, which was built on a foundation of the family of Hans Imhoff the Elder. Ä. (also Hans IV. Imhoff), was inaugurated in 1496. It is made of sandstone from quarries in Vach near Fürth, which the sculptor Adam Kraft put on top of each other on several floors. The donor paid 700 guilders to Adam Kraft's studio , plus an "honorary fee" of 70 guilders. The production of the cupboard doors cost 20 guilders.
Despite the Reformation , the existing altars and the sacrament house in the church remained untouched.
During the Second World War , bombings in August 1943 also hit the Lorenz Church over the city center. The sacrament house was protected by a wall in the lower area, but the upper third of the work of art was destroyed. After the war, artisans re-manufactured these parts according to old templates.
description
overview
The work of art is finely perforated in various ways and has the shape of an oversized pinnacle , the tip of which slopes down into the church interior. One side of it leans against a pillar of the nave.
Handling
At the bottom there is a square gallery, which wraps around a base with a central column and four feet. The pedestal, which is reached via a staircase, has a railing carved out in filigree ornamentation . Below there are three kneeling figures who seem to be carrying the entire work of art with their backs. These are people in three different ages who symbolically carry life together.
The middle-aged man is interpreted as the artist's self-portrait . He holds a stone carving tool in his hands, a goatee and thick, medium-length hair adorn his head.
Host cabinet
Visitors to the church look into the host cupboard from the walk through narrow-meshed gilded lattice doors . The narrow meshes only allow a vague view of the bread container. The cabinet can be opened from three sides. The doors were made in the workshop of the art blacksmith "Meister Friedrich" and are made of iron that has been gilded on the surface.
At the four outer corners of the first floor, the figures of Moses , the Archangel Gabriel , the Virgin Mary and Aaron can be seen.
Last supper
The third level is in three reliefs the Supper of Jesus is. For this, the (left) relief shows the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane , the middle the last supper with the disciples, the right relief to Jesu of women. God the Father can be seen between two bench seats . A metal band under the images shows the year 1496, in which the sacrament house was completed.
passion
The largest representation - both in height and in the richness of the partially fully plastic figures - are scenes from the ordeal. Reliefs are worked over a crown of thorns made of stone with a suffering angel carrying the instruments of suffering: the torture by flagellation (left), exhibition by Pilate (center) and the pronouncement of the judgment.
crucifixion
No longer accessible to the viewer, but still clearly visible, the crucified Christ is depicted on the pillars of the house (on the wall), including the disciple Johannes, the disciple Maria Magdalena and Jesus' mother Maria kneeling in front of the cross . This mourning scene is only subtly underlined by small crosses on the supports.
resurrection
In the center of this level there is only one single figure - which was intentionally formed by the artist from organic, i.e. living material, in contrast to all the metal and stone materials. The one meter high wooden figure of the Cross by decrease in Easter resurrected Jesus was not formed after application of the donor, but independently conceived by Adam Kraft and carved. (Incidentally, the three figures under the first contact should not have been part of the contract between Imhoff and the artist.)
top
The final part of the tabernacle is the tip that is turned down. It consists of individual stone parts that are threaded onto a wire like pearls. The inclination stands for God's connection to the earth, that God inclines towards people and always leads them back to the ground. Some experts see the crook of the good shepherd in the shape , while others believe that they recognize a seedling .
literature
- Hans Lenski: 500 years of the Sacrament House of St. Lorenz, 1496–1996 . (Flyer; main source)
- Johann-Christian Klamt: Artist and patron: the self- portrait of Adam Kraft in the sacrament- house of St. Lorenz in Nuremberg . In: Visual Resources, Vol. 13, 1998, pp. 393-421.
- Hans Konrad Röthel : Adam Kraft: The Sacrament House . Berlin, 1946.
- Corine Schleif: 500 years of the Sacrament House: explanation - transfiguration, interpretation - reinterpretation. In: Gerhard Althaus and Georg Stolz (eds.): 500 years of the Sacraments House. Seizing salvation, seizing salvation. Publications of the Association for the Preservation of St. Lorenz Church in Nuremberg, NF, No. 41 (July 1996), pp. 3–47.
- Wolfgang Schmid : Strategies of artistic self-representation in Nuremberg around 1500. On the self-portrait of Adam Kraft at the Sacrament House in St. Lorenz. In: Frank Matthias Kammel (Ed.): Adam Kraft. The contributions to the colloquium in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum. 2002, pp. 231-270.
- Georg Stolz: “God the Almighty two praise and His holiest Corpus Christi two”: In: Gerhard Althaus and Georg Stolz (ed.): Ecce panis angelorum . The sacrament house of Adam Kraft. Publications of the Association for the Preservation of St. Lorenz Church in Nuremberg, NF, No. 39 (July 1994), pp. 5-42.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Contract between Hans IV. Imhoff and Adam Kraft, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Imhoff-Archiv, Fasc. 31, No. 3a; printed as Appendix 1, in: Gerhard Althaus and Georg Stolz (eds.): Ecce panis angelorum. The Sacrament House of Adam Kraft, publications of the Association for the Preservation of St. Lorenz Church in Nuremberg, NF, No. 39 (July 1994)
- ↑ Billing by Adam Kraft, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Imhoff-Archiv, Fasc. 31, no. 3d; printed as Appendix 2, in: Gerhard Althaus and Georg Stolz (eds.): Ecce panis angelorum. The Sacrament House of Adam Kraft, publications of the Association for the Preservation of St. Lorenz Church in Nuremberg, NF, No. 39 (July 1994) and as Appendix IV in: Corine Schleif: Donatio et memoria. Munich 1990