Sigward Church (Idensen)

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Sigwardskirche, exterior view

The Sigwardskirche in Idensen , today part of Wunstorf , is a Romanesque church, which is one of the most important sacral small buildings of the Romanesque due to its architecture and the original Romanesque painting .

history

Romanesque ceiling painting
Romanesque ceiling painting: Jesus Christ as judge of the world, the saved on his right, the damned on his left

Between 1129 and 1134, Bishop Sigward von Minden had the church built. It was consecrated to St. Ursula of Cologne and her eleven thousand virgins, as the diocese of Minden belonged to the church province of Cologne . The central position of the Apostle Peter in the picture program is explained by his role as the main patron of both Cologne and Minden Cathedral . Bishop Sigward, who also used the church and suspected additions as a summer residence, was buried there in 1140. However, a grave complex cannot be found. The Romanesque painting was probably whitewashed with white lime since the 17th century. The frescoes on the south wall had meanwhile been almost completely destroyed by storm damage to the roof, so that some motifs can only be seen in fragments today.

The Hanoverian building councilor Conrad Wilhelm Hase recognized the existence of frescoes in 1858. He prevented the partial demolition and reconstruction of the Sigward Church. According to his plans, a new neo-Gothic building opposite the old church was built from 1887 to 1888 for 25,000 marks. With a lottery , which was drawn on December 30, 1884 in Hanover, he brought together the last remaining funds (8,200 marks). In the years 1930 to 1934 the painting was completely exposed. Since then, renovation and maintenance measures have been carried out continuously.

The church is open to the public and can be visited daily. It is still used for worship services on special occasions.

architecture

The Sigwardskirche consists of a single-nave , three-bay nave and an outside polygonal , inside semicircular apse with half a choir bay . Chapels are attached to both sides of the eastern nave yoke, creating the impression of a short transept with a rectangular crossing . The yokes are divided on the inside with double, half-column and wall pillar-supported belt arches and spanned with vaults, the ridges of which taper towards the top in a barrel shape . The apse with its window and column structure shows a particular creative drive.

The massive, almost square tower adjoins the nave to the west. It contains a vaulted portal hall, above it a chapel formerly used as a ruler's oratorio in the sense of a westwork with lateral quadruple window and double arched openings to the nave, above it a bell storey.

In 1129, immediately before construction began in Idensen, Bishop Sigward consecrated the Collegiate Church of Elten in the presence of King Lothar von Supplinburg , the first fully vaulted church on the Lower Rhine, from where he will also have brought the builders with him. Both buildings not only show the same vault system, but also each have the oldest Romanesque church tower in their region.

The tympanum of the south portal of the church had the inscription Sum quod eram, nec eram quod sum, which is only remnant today and relates to Sigward's self-image .

Murals

Subjects of the murals

The Romanesque wall paintings show biblical scenes and depictions of saints.

The typological pictorial program of the painting, based on the writings of Rupert von Deutz , depicts the flood and baptism (the destructive and blessing power of water), the Tower of Babel and the Whitsun miracle (confusion of language and miracle of language) in the ship in pairs of pictures from the Old and New Testaments from east to west as well as Sodom and Gomorrah and Last Judgment (judgment on humanity). In addition, there is a personal reference level referring to Bishop Sigward, in that the baptism localized by the architectural framework in the Minden cathedral is its acceptance into the church, the Pentecost scene its episcopal mission and the judgment ( he himself is depicted among the judged) address his ultimate responsibility. The large picture on the west wall - in the Middle Ages mostly the imperial gallery was located here (see westwork ) - shows the order of King Etzel, seen as a persecutor of the church, to the martyrdom of St. Ursula and her companions and thus provides a connection to the events of the just (1122) overcome investiture dispute between the emperor and the church.

The side arms dedicated to Peter and Paul show scenes from the work of these apostles. Christ is enthroned as the ruler in the apse .

Bells

The Sigwardskirche has three bells, one of which comes from the time the church was built; it is the oldest surviving bell in Lower Saxony and still strikes every quarter of an hour. The other two bells are from 1724 and 1823.

Organs, historically

  • The first organ (1585) was a positive and probably stood in front of the west wall on a gallery.
  • The second organ (1657) was also a positive, bought second-hand, with five voices.
  • The third organ (1737) was built by the well-known north German organ builder Johann Dietrich Busch , from Mesmerode , based in Itzehoe, student and successor of Arp Schnitger . The organ soon fell into a desolate condition that could no longer be remedied by repairs. Eventually the organ fell into disrepair and was expanded in 1934. Some remnants that had been preserved were given to the regional church organ store in Wittenberg in 1989.

Sigwardsweg

The Sigwardskirche with the Minden Cathedral is the starting point and destination of the signposted pilgrimage route Sigwardsweg .

Application as a world heritage site

In 2012, the city of Wunstorf and the Sigward Church applied for inclusion in the German tentative list for future applications as a UNESCO World Heritage Site . An expert commission under the leadership of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture rejected the candidacy because of the low chances of success, as church buildings are already overrepresented among the world heritage sites.

literature

Web links

Commons : Sigwardskirche Idensen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ chronico.de , September 12, 2003
  2. ↑ Monitoring report of the NLD
  3. ^ Building description , Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , March 31, 1883, p. 111, accessed on December 17, 2012
  4. ^ On the 200th birthday of Conrad Wilhelm Hase
  5. ↑ Opening times
  6. ^ Hans Josef Böker: Idensen. Architecture and painting program for a Romanesque court chapel, Berlin 1995, pp. 19–50.
  7. ^ Hans Josef Böker: Idensen. Architecture and painting program for a Romanesque court chapel, Berlin 1995, pp. 51–68.
  8. ^ Hans-Jürgen Günther: Sigward Church in Idensen. A Romanesque church in the valley of the Westaue, Wunstorf 2010, pp. 389–393.
  9. ↑ Who will be World Heritage? in: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung from June 18, 2012


Coordinates: 52 ° 24 '8.1 "  N , 9 ° 21' 20.3"  E