Severikirche (Erfurt)

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Severikirche from Domplatz
Severikirche from the west side

The Severikirche is a church building of the Roman Catholic Church in Erfurt . It stands on the Domberg directly next to the Erfurt Cathedral . As a unique architectural ensemble , they together form the city's landmark. Due to its unusual design, which the late Gothic hall church seems to anticipate, the Severikirche is one of the most important Gothic buildings in Germany . The bones of the church patron Severus of Ravenna rest in an artistically very important sarcophagus .

Building history

Church in the early Middle Ages

An older St. Paul's Church stood on the site of today's church, but archaeological excavations in 1960/61 did not reveal any remains to the north of the church. It must therefore remain open when and by whom it was founded. Some of its establishment is still attributed to Boniface . In 708 a Benedictine monastery, perhaps even with nuns, named St. Paul is said to have been founded. In 836 Archbishop Otgar von Mainz (826-847) had the remains of St. Severus transferred from Ravenna to Erfurt in the Benedictine convent of St. Paul, an altum monastery . In the 9th century, the church probably had two patronages : St. Paul and St. Severus. According to uncertain tradition, a collegiate foundation was founded at the monastery in 935 .

Romanesque church building

After that, the Severikirche was not mentioned again until 1079/80. When the city of Erfurt was conquered by Henry IV , the churches and the people who had fled into them were set on fire. Then the church called "Hohes Münster" was torn down and rebuilt in a smaller form in the same place.

The canons' monastery at the St. Severi Church was first mentioned in 1121 . There was thus a second collegiate monastery on the Domberg next to St. Marien, which also existed for almost 200 years. At the same time the nunnery still existed on the mons Severi , which probably used the same church. As a third institution at this point, Archbishop Adalbert von Mainz (1109–1137) had an episcopal residence built before 1123, the "Krummhaus" east of the Severikirche. When space became increasingly scarce, Adalbert relocated the Benedictine nunnery of St. Paul to the Cyriaksberg in 1123 . In 1142 Severikirche and Stift, the bishop's castle and the Peterskloster on the Petersberg were destroyed by fire. The former were then supposedly rebuilt by 1148 or - far more likely - merely repaired. Despite this condition, the church was rededicated in the same year.

The Romanesque floor plan is still legible in today's building. It was a three-aisled basilica with two transepts and two choirs, the east choir was - like the Peterskirche and St. Marien - flanked by two east towers. The two choirs are obviously continuing an older tradition, which is also expressed through the double patronage.

High Gothic new building

Drawing from 1890

In 1238 a deed of indulgence mentioned a plan for a new building, which was not started until the 1270s. The sources describe that the church “is in danger of becoming a ruin” or has even collapsed. The documentary tradition for the construction is extremely favorable, as numerous indulgences were granted that report on the progress of construction. These indulgences also suggest that the new building should be particularly impressive. The new high altar was consecrated in 1308 , at least the eastern parts, the choir and the eastern transept were completed at that time. The nave is said to have been largely completed in 1327 and the entire church five years later. Some messages refer to the first repairs after a lightning strike in 1327, in which several people were killed, which suggests that the church was already in use at that time.

Severus Altar

The church was probably more or less completed in the middle of the 14th century, as a number of altars were donated in the 1360s. The large number of altars, vicarages and well-known high Gothic sculptures that have been donated indicates the economic boom in Erfurt during this period. The vault was not completed until 1370. In the 1370s and 1380s, there were several, sometimes violent, disputes between the two chapters about the single-storey, two-bay Blasius Chapel built between 1358 and 1363 on the south side and the border between the two churches, which could not be amicably settled until 1387. The chapel, which with its buttresses encroached on the grounds of the Marienkirche, was to be rebuilt and the boundary between the two churches was to be marked with boundary stones, also on the chapel, which was done before 1429.

A five-aisled, four-bay nave of almost square shape with two transepts in the east and west was created. Thus, the layout of the Romanesque building was largely retained, and the old foundations may also have been used. However, a second aisle was added to the north and south, giving the entire church the width of the transepts, which no longer protruded to the outside. The vaults from around 1370 seem at first glance to be the same height, which makes the building look very uniform. A church was built here on a Romanesque floor plan in the High Gothic period, which was very unusual for that time and which actually came into fashion much later with the late Gothic hall buildings of the 15th century. The two-bay and two-storey Marienkapelle on the north side was probably created at the same time as the church and the porch of the main portal (Mary with Child 1360/70).

Late Gothic conversions

Mary Altar (1510)

The devastating city fire of June 19, 1472, in which St. Severi was also badly affected, represents a major turning point in the history and building history of the church. The bell towers, bells, organs, the entire roof, the west choir with cloister and parts of the vaults were damaged or destroyed. The fire damage was repaired by 1500 and some new buildings such as the sacristy and chapter house were built. The huge hipped roof (1472/73) covering the entire nave and the current shape of the eastern end with a group of three towers date from this time.

The choir side towers, which are square in plan, originally date from the High Gothic period, but they were destroyed down to the lower floors and then rebuilt, and in 1495 they were given their current shape with slender spiers. The raised central tower with the bell storey was probably only added at this time; the pointed helmet is dated 1494. The west choir was removed together with the connections for the cloister, and a two-storey extension with a cross chapel was built in its place by 1495.

The late Gothic St. Mary's altar (1510) in the north aisle is attributed to the Saalfeld school . In the shrine, the cabinet-like center piece, the enthroned Mother of God Mary is flanked by the standing figures of St. Barbara (with chalice) and St. Catherine (with sword). The flat carved figures of saints on the side wings show St. Ursula (with arrow and book) and Maria Magdalena (with ointment vessel). With the side wings closed, the proclamation of the birth of Christ by the Archangel Gabriel can be seen.

Exam facilities

A cloister is mentioned twice in published documents, 1317 and 1363, but today it is mostly assumed that the Gothic Severikirche never had a fully developed enclosure . There was actually only room for this on the north side, but there are no traces to be found there, and there is also no evidence of the demolition of a cloister or an enclosure. A room in the church itself served as the chapter hall ( locus capitularis ). The chapter can be shown to have met there in 1386, and in the following year the place is even described as a room in the east yokes of the north aisles immediately west of the north arm of the transept. The canons moved in through the main portal on the north side for worship and the chapter meetings; today's main entrance in the south served as a lay portal .

After the fire of 1472, an ambitus was built on the west side of the church and in front of the south-west corner, perhaps just an older condition restored without any profound changes. In 1485 a new sacristy (demolished in 1818) and a chapter house were built on the north side of the church, ten years later a new cloister was completed.

Church and monastery in modern times

From 1582 to 1584, Valentin Leucht (1550–1619), book author, later imperial court palatinate and book commissioner , worked here as pastor.

In 1633 the Severikirche was occupied by Swedish troops and then handed over to the Protestants , who changed the interior by demolishing an altar and relocating the pulpit . However, as early as 1635 the church was returned to the Catholics and the changes were reversed. In the 1670s, the church received a new baroque high altar.

Like the Marienstift, the Severi monastery was abolished in the course of secularization in 1803. The church was temporarily used as a hospital by the French occupation in 1813/1814 , especially because of the rampant "nervous fever" (typhus and typhus). The many dead were disposed of in neighboring cellars and underground passages during the siege of Erfurt . In 1811, at the time of Napoleon's "Imperial Domain" in Erfurt, the church was advertised for sale for demolition in the Erfurt Intelligence Gazette at his instigation . There was no buyer, so the church was preserved.

In 1834 the restoration of the Marienkapelle began, in 1845 the complete restoration of the Severikirche. The paintings from this period were removed again in 1928/29.

During the Second World War , the church was considerably damaged by the air raids on Erfurt in 1944/45, mainly by the pressure waves from air mines , but also grenade fire in April 1945. The roofing of all roofs was completely destroyed, all glass windows destroyed and the tracery and ribs of the windows to Part badly damaged. The Bonifatius Chapel and the houses adjacent to the church also suffered damage.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, the roof was renovated again and the interior completely restored, followed by restoration of the south-western cloister from 1993 to 1995.

Picture gallery

organ

Klais organ in a Wender case
Detail: the "bird self-knowledge"

The organ of the Severikirche was built in 1930 by Johannes Klais (Bonn) in the baroque case of the Wender organ from 1714. The instrument has cone chests and electro-pneumatic sound and Registertrakturen .

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Night Horn-Dacked 16 ′
2. Principal 8th'
3. Reed flute 8th'
4th Salicional 8th'
5. Prefix 4 ′
6th Soft flute 4 ′
7th Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
8th. recorder 2 ′
9. Mixture IV
10. Trumpet 8th'
II Positive C-g 3
11. Wooden flute 8th'
12. Quintadena 8th'
13. Singing Principal 4 ′
14th Schwiegel 2 ′
15th third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
16. Nassat 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
17th Cymbel III-IV
18th Krummhorn 8th'
III Swell C – g 3
19th Violin principal 8th'
20th Gemshorn 8th'
21st octave 4 ′
22nd Flute 4 ′
23. Forest flute 2 ′
24. Night horn 1'
25th Progressive III – IV
26th Trompette harmonique 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
27. Principal bass (c 1 –f 1 from No. 29) 16 ′
28. Sub-bass (= No. 1) 16 ′
29 octave 8th'
30th Bass flute (= No. 3) 8th'
31. Choral bass (C – f 0 from No. 29) 4 ′
32. Flat flute (C – f 0 from no.29) 2 ′
33. Bombarde (c 1 –f 1 from No. 10) 16 ′
  • Pairing :
    • Normal coupling: II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
    • Sub-octave coupling: II / I, III / I, III / III, III / P
    • Super octave coupling: III / I, III / II, III / III
  • Playing aids : two free combinations, cuff .

Bells

In the towers there is a big chime with some historic church bells . The sonorous Osanna from 1474 is the largest in the peal and decorated with art-historically significant carved bell drawings . The Vincentia was cast by Gerhard van Wou . The old Martha was restored in 1987. The New Martha has a carved bell drawing by Horst Jahresling depicting Christopher.

Main bell

No. Surname Casting
year		 Caster Percussive
( HT - 1 / 16 )		 throughput
knife		 Dimensions tower
1 Osanna 1474 Claus von Mühlhausen ais 0 +7 1.84 m ≈4.5 t center
2 Vincentia 1497 Gerhard van Wou h 0 +9 1.63 m ≈3 t south
3 Old Martha 1475 Claus von Mühlhausen dis 1 +6 center
4th New Martha 1961 Franz Schilling, Apolda f sharp 1 +13 1.06 m North
5 Anna 1987 Karlsruhe bell and art foundry g sharp 1

"Silver ring"

The three smallest bells are called silver bells and are not part of the main ring:

No. Surname Casting
year		 Caster Chime tower
6th Christ the King 1962 Franz Schilling, Apolda d 2 North
7th Maria e 2
8th Michael f sharp 2

Severi's sarcophagus

Sarcophagus of Saint Severus

In 836 the bones of St. Severus was first transferred from Ravenna to Mainz by the Archbishop of Mainz Otger , then to Erfurt. Here they were probably buried and venerated in the western part of a previous building of the church. When the church was rebuilt, it was also necessary to redesign the tomb, which was still in a central location, probably near the west choir. The west choir was badly destroyed in the fire in 1472, then the tomb was dismantled and the side panels were put up elsewhere. The original cover plate was used after 1472 as an attachment for the Severus altar in the south arm of the transept. It was not until 1948 that the parts were put back together and placed at this point, and in 1982 a cast of the cover plate was added.

The sarcophagus is one of the most artistically significant pieces of equipment in Severikirche. The four relief panels on the surrounding walls were made between around 1360 and 1370 and are attributed to a master of the Severi sarcophagus . Scenes from the life and work of Saint Severus and the adoration of the Magi based on a model in the Nuremberg Lorenz Church from 1360 are depicted on the almost fully plastic high reliefs . It has also been assumed that the individual parts were only combined into a tumba some time after their creation and that they were previously in the church interior individually or in other context, perhaps as parts of a rood screen with ambo.

Boniface Chapel

The Catholic Bonifatius Chapel is a square, partly Romanesque tower that may originally have belonged to the archbishop's castle . It may have been converted into a chapel as early as the 14th century when the tracery window was installed on the west side . The hipped roof with ridge turret dates from the 17th century.

History of meaning

The St. Severi Stift goes to a church called St. Paul from the 8th / 9th centuries. Century back. The relics that came to Erfurt under Archbishop Otgar of Mainz in 836 were of such great importance that the monastery in “St. Severi ”was renamed. From the time after that it is known that a legally independent canon monastery should have existed before 1080. St. Severi was in the 11th / 12th Century one of the oldest churches and clerical community. However, it was not the most important, but always stood behind St. Marien (in witness lists of documents it was always listed after St. Marien). Nevertheless, not only St. Marien formed an administrative unit, but St. Severi was also designated as an archdeaconate . Particularly noteworthy for the status of St. Severis are the administrative functions that fell to him through the archbishopric property. Thus the monastery was a kind of labor court for the diocese. The St. Severi Abbey owned land in countless surrounding villages. A letter of protection from the year 1335 from Emperor Ludwig dem Baiern confirms all goods. In a privilege from the year 1348 of the emperor Carl IV. Dd Wittenberg these are also confirmed to the monastery. These properties were in the district of Erfurt, Weissensee district, Eckartsberga district, Grand Duchy of Weimar, Grand Duchy of Gotha, Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen and the Principality of Schwarzburg.

The supposed nunnery is based on a confusion with the nunnery Altmünster in Mainz. In fact, before the Krummhaus was built in 1123, there was a nunnery on the Cyriaxberg; this had to be relocated to the southwest of Erfurt. Subsequent mentions of a nunnery cannot therefore be associated with the St. Severi monastery.

Varia

literature

  • Karl Becker: The city of Erfurt, cathedral. Severikirche. Peterskloster. Citadel. Hopfer, Burg 1929.
  • Margarethe Brückner, Ernst Haetge, Lisa Schürenberg, Alfred Overmann : The Severikirche. Castle 1929.
  • Otto Buchner: The Severi sarcophagus in Erfurt and its artist including the translation of the Vita and Translatio Sancti Severi of the priest Liutolf. In: Messages of the association for the history and antiquity of Erfurt. Vol. 24, Erfurt 1903, pp. 137–157.
  • Michael Gockel: The German royal palaces. Repertory of the Palatinate, royal courts and other places of residence of kings in the German Empire in the Middle Ages. Vol. 2. Thuringia. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 3-525-36505-5 , pp. 102-148.
  • Bartel Hanftmann: On the building history of the Beatae Mariae Virginis collegiate church (cathedral) and the Severi collegiate church in Erfurt (= yearbooks of the Royal Academy of Charitable Sciences in Erfurt ). Erfurt 1913.
  • Edgar Lehmann, Ernst Schubert: Cathedral and Severikirche in Erfurt. 1st edition. Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1988, ISBN 3-7338-0041-9 .
  • Rolf-Günther Lucke, Hans-Heinrich Forberg: The Severikirche in Erfurt (= quick art guide ). No. 2067. Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 1997, ISBN 3-7954-5798-X .
  • Claus Mertens: The Severi Church in Erfurt (= The Christian monument. Vol. 27). 7th edition. Union-Verlag, Berlin 1979.
  • Walter Passarge: Cathedral and Severikirche in Erfurt. In: Ludwig Roselius (ed.): German art. Vol. II. Angelsachsen-Verlag, Bremen / Berlin 1936.
  • Franz Peter Schilling: Erfurt bells. The bells of the cathedral, the Severikirche and the Peterskloster zu Erfurt. With prefaces by Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Freusberg and Auxiliary Bishop Hugo Aufderbeck (= The Christian Monument. Issue 72/73). Union-Verlag, Berlin 1968 ( DNB 458836087 ).
  • Michael Stuhr: Severi's sarcophagus. In: Anton Legner (ed.): The Parler and the beautiful style. Vol. 2., Schnütgen-Museum, Cologne 1978, p. 564.
  • Wilhelm von Tettau: Historical representation of the area of ​​the city of Erfurt and the possessions of the foundations there. In: Messages of the association for the history and antiquity of Erfurt. Vol. 13, Erfurt 1887, pp. 154-165.
  • Helga Wäß: Form and Perception of Central German Memory Sculpture in the 14th Century. Volume 2: Catalog of selected objects from the High Middle Ages to the beginning of the 15th century. Tenea, Bristol et al. a. 2006, ISBN 3-86504-159-0 , catalog nos. 255, 256 on pp. 285-291 (on Severi's sarcophagus; Volume 1, source editions on St. Severus: pp. 485-489).
  • Matthias Werner: The founding tradition of the Erfurt Peterskloster. Jan Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1973, pp. 105-113.

swell

  • Alfred Overmann: Document book of the Erfurt founders and monasteries. Magdeburg 1926–1934, regesta: No. 258, No. 447.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information sheets in the Severikirche
  2. ↑ George Oergel: University and Academy Erfurt under foreign rule from 1806 to 1814. In: Yearbooks of the Royal Academy of Charitable Sciences in Erfurt. New series, booklet XXXI, Erfurt 1905, p. 255.
  3. ↑ Bell scratch drawings on the Osanna of St. Paulus and St. Severus in: Franz Peter Schilling: Erfurter Glocken. The bells of the cathedral, the Severikirche and the Peterskloster zu Erfurt (= The Christian monument. Issue 72/73). Union-Verlag, Berlin 1968, pp. 12-13.
  4. ^ Franz Peter Schilling: Erfurt bells. The bells of the cathedral, the Severikirche and the Peterskloster zu Erfurt (= The Christian monument. Issue 72/73). Union-Verlag, Berlin 1968, p. 51.

Web links

Commons : Severikirche  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
 Wikinews: Find on Erfurt Domberg  - message

Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 34.1 ″  N , 11 ° 1 ′ 21.2 ″  E


This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on April 3, 2006 .