Checkerboard piece

Chessboard stones at the village church of Grunow

Checkerboard in Mallnow

Checkerboard in Kleinbeeren, Großbeeren municipality

Checkerboard at the Herzberg village church , Rietz-Neuendorf community

Chessboard stones with their mostly black and white fields are a rare architectural decoration on the outer walls of medieval late Romanesque and early Gothic stone churches . They were preferably attached in the entrance area or on the wall corners of the apse , choir , nave and tower so that they can be seen. The Danish and German churches with chessboard stones date from the same period and in both areas it must be assumed that the stones were associated with church building. It is difficult to imagine that there is no correlation between the occurrence of the same phenomenon in either area.

Occurrence

While stones with a checkerboard pattern are unknown in the rest of Europe, they can be found in relatively large numbers in a certain region of Denmark and on both sides of the Oder . One specimen each occurs in Norway, Sweden and Bornholm.

Germany and Poland

The stones can mainly be found at 50 churches, for example in the Uckermark : Dobberzin , Gerswalde near Templin, Schmargendorf near Angermünde, Schönermark , Serwest near Angermünde, Weselitz near Prenzlau (today the municipality of Uckerfelde ), but also Retzin (municipality of Ramin ) in the Western Pomeranian part of the Uckermark . In Lower Lusatia : Frankena near Doberlug-Kirchhain, Werenzhain near Doberlug-Kirchhain, Pritzen (today Altdöbern municipality ), between Spree and Havel area: Herzberg ( Rietz-Neuendorf ), in Neuendorf im Sande, today Steinhöfel near Fürstenwalde, Stradow (Spremberg) ) and west of Berlin in the village church of Groß Glienicke (City of Potsdam).

In Märkisch-Oderland checkerboard stones can be found at Feldsteinkirchen in Hönow (the village church in Grunow has the unusual number of seven chessboard stones ), Mallnow , Ihlow and Friedersdorf . In the Oder-Spree district, there are such stones in Tempelberg and at St. Mary's Cathedral in Fürstenwalde .

East of the Oder

Such stones can also be found east of the Oder in today's Poland : Radów , Gosław , Dolsko , Godków , Lubiechów Górny , Kowalów and the like. a.

Denmark

In North Jutland there are 48 churches with a total of 67 chessboard pieces ( Danish Skakbrætsten ) z. B. in Bislev, Farsø , Grønning, Mejlby, Nørbæk, Nørretranders and Skallerup (each with 3 stones), Skarp Salling, Sønderhå (with 4 stones), Spørring, Svenstrup, Tilst, Vivild (with 3 stones), church ruins of Randrup and Ørum Kirke. One can be found on Bornholm in St. Poul's Church. 11 churches have several chessboard pieces. There are no examples from South Jutland, Funen and Zealand . A satisfactory explanation for this distribution has not yet been given.

Attempts at interpretation

There are various conjectures and speculations about these stones: One explanation would be that they are to be understood as a kind of coat of arms of the Ascanians or the Cistercians , since the churches were created in their sphere of influence and were probably marked accordingly for this reason. Most of the churches date from the time of eastward expansion in the first half of the 13th century, when the area was taken over and Christianized by the Ascanians coming from the west.

Another thesis comes to the conclusion that it could be the guild marks of the bricklayers, carpenters and stonemasons who were active in the buildings. But the production of such samples is far too complex for that.

The stones are apparently not decorative elements either, because the place where they are attached (nooks and crannies) is unsuitable.

Checkerboard patterns belong in the broadest sense to the net or grid forms, which in their entirety can be understood as disastrous ( apotropaic ). This interpretation is underpinned by the fact that the stones are only attached to the exterior walls. Geometric scratches have been used as drawing stones since prehistoric times.

Legend

Another interpretation refers to a legend: The devil played chess with the Lord for the building of the churches and the poor souls. When he lost, the chess board got its place in memory when the church was built in the form of these stones. Black and white would thus stand for good and bad, life and death, beginning and end.

Others

There are also stones with a diamond pattern , which correspond to the checkerboard of the Middle Ages, but also jagged, line and cross patterns, such as the Jerusalem cross of the Templars .

literature

Bönisch, Eberhard (2010): Ornament or Symbol? Checkerboard pattern on Feldsteinkirchen , in: Förderkreis Alte Kirchen Berlin-Brandenburg eV: Open Churches 2010. Brandenburg churches invite you , pp. 8–11 ISBN 3-928918-47-8 (online at www.altekirchen.de )
Bönisch, Rudolf (1994): Chessboard stones and other architectural decorations on the oldest field stone churches in Niederlausitz , in: Judith Oexle (Ed.): Early Churches in Saxony. Publications of the State Office for Archeology with the State Museum for Prehistory; 23, Theiss-Verlag, Stuttgart, pp. 249-265 ISBN 3-8062-1094-2

Wilhelm Jung, Willy Spatz and Theodor Goecke (arrangement) (1913): The art monuments of the Weststernberg district , in: The art monuments of the province of Brandenburg Volume IV, Part 3, Berlin, Vossische Buchhandlung

Web links

Commons : Chessboard stones - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

[1] Skakbrætsten

[2] Church Gross Glienecke