Rastatt Castle Church

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The Schlosskirche Rastatt, Church of the Holy Cross , was built from 1720 to 1723 in the rooms of the Rastatt Residenzschloss by order of Sibylla Augusta von Baden-Baden in the immediate vicinity of her private apartments. In the immediate vicinity of the building there is also a sacred staircase built in 1719 .

History and equipment

The church building by Johann Michael Ludwig Rohrer is completely integrated into the palace complex from the outside, so that the church cannot be recognized as such from the outside. Like the castle, it has a pit roof to resemble an Italian palace block. With such a roof, the roof surfaces are inclined halfway inwards in order to reduce the ridge height. The inner roof surfaces are drained through the roof space.

The interior of the church was created under the direction of Franz Pfleger in the Rococo style . Special features of the interior are the textile furnishings and the columns of the high altar that can be illuminated from the inside . The church was equipped with three sets of 28 pilaster curtains each, which were made of silk moiré with elaborate parament embroidery and metal applications. Of the three sets in white, gold and red, only the white holiday set, which is heavily faded in color, has survived. This sentence can be seen again today in the church, faithfully attached to the pilasters. The three-millimeter-thick alabaster columns of the high altar could be illuminated at the solemn festivals by oil lamps that were hung in a kind of pater-noster construction , which was popularly known as the “Rastatt miracle of light”. The lighting is now electric.

The patronage of the Church of the Holy Cross determines the main theme of the vault paintings, the ceiling painting by Johann Hiebel shows, among other things, the discovery of the Holy Cross by Saint Helena. Sybilla Augusta chose the church as her burial place. The access to the crypt is next to the altar of the Nepomuk Chapel under the organ gallery to the left of the entrance.

In the church's glass coffins rest the skeletons of Saints Theodora and Theodor, which the Baden Margravine Sibylla Augusta was on a trip to Rome from Pope Clement XI. received.

renovation

After the church came into the possession of the state of Baden-Württemberg in 1990, it was closed in 1993. After a long period of closure and eleven years of extensive and costly renovation, it has been open to the public again as part of guided tours since 2017. During the renovation, the water damage and structural defects caused by the pit roof as well as the best possible preservation of the textile furnishings were costly.

Web links

Commons : Schlosskirche Rastatt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 51 ′ 35.2 "  N , 8 ° 12 ′ 15.4"  E

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Johannes Wilhelm: The Castle Church of the Holy Cross in Rastatt - reopening of a "space miracle" of the Counter Reformation . In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg . No. 1/2018 .
  2. ↑ Annette Borchardt-Wenzel: Kult ums Kreuz and Heilige Leiber, in: Der Sonntag (Karlsruhe), April 5, 2020, p. 3.
  3. ↑ City of Rastatt: Baroque Rastatt Castle Church presents itself to the public in all its beauty. Accessed December 31, 2019 .