Marienkirche (Marienhafe)
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Mary in Marienhafe was the largest and most important sacred building in East Frisia until it was partially demolished in 1829. It was built in the 13th century in the Marienhafe area, which at that time had around 500 inhabitants, in the early Gothic style and at that time reached the dimensions of the Osnabrück Cathedral and was the largest church between Groningen and Bremen. For a long time the church was an important sea mark . The Leybucht , which owes its name to the old name of today's Norder Tief, reached right up to the building. The church was later connected to the North Sea via the Störtebeker Tief . At the end of the 14th century the pirate Klaus Störtebeker is said to have lived in the church, but this has not yet been proven. After the Reformation, a last attempt was made in Marienhafe in 1593 to establish a common church order for the county of East Frisia, which was religiously divided into a Lutheran East and a Reformed West. This was decided, but never implemented. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the church deteriorated more and more, so that it was largely demolished in 1829. During the subsequent renovation, it was given its current shape.
history
prehistory
The Brookmerland was not settled until the 12th century, when heavy storm surges and the collapse of the Leybucht pushed many people from the coast into the interior of East Frisia . At that time, the Leybucht extended to the present day Marienhafe. The church is first mentioned in a document on February 16, 1250 as curia sancte Marie (= court of St. Mary ). In this document, the separation of the Brookmerland from the Provost Office Hinte and the formation of a separate Provost Office "Brokmannia" directly subordinate to the episcopal official in Münster was agreed.
Marienhafe was probably designed as a market place, but initially it was probably not an independent place. The oldest preserved church seal contains the inscription sigillum ecclesie S. Marie de Uppagent . This suggests that the church area belonged to the Upgant congregation .
The first wooden church
The church throws is probably older than today's church. According to the results of excavations, a wooden church with a recently drawn-in choir was built at the highest point of the terp, probably before the year 800. At this point in time, East Frisia had been conquered by the Franks and, after several unsuccessful attempts, should now finally be Christianized . The new ruler Charlemagne therefore called on the large estates to found churches. For Marienhafe it is assumed that the Idzinga family is responsible for building the church here. It is very likely that the church was built in place of a pagan sanctuary.
The tuff church
Between the years 1000 and 1050 the wooden church was replaced by a church made of tuff stone , which was built on the slope of the Marienhafer Kirchwarft, where the current church stands. Presumably this building was a one-room church, which had exactly the dimensions of the current nave. When the church was partially demolished, 1,000 tons of tuff from this church building were sold.
Building the church
Documentary evidence of the beginning of the church construction is missing. The founders of the church are also unknown. These could have been the state community of Brookmerland, which was largely politically autonomous in the 13th century , the Bishop of Munster as sovereign or the Premonstratensian order. For a place like Marienhafe, which at that time had around 500 inhabitants, the church, like many others in Brookmerland (such as the Victorbur church or the Osteel church ), is disproportionately large.
For the foundation by the state community speaks the prohibition of the brokmer letter , which forbade the residents of the Brookmerland to build permanent houses (towers such as the stone house Bunderhee ). Only churches and other religious buildings made of stone were allowed. Brookmerland flourished in the course of the 13th century. During this time, the construction of the large churches, of which the (formerly three-aisled) Marienhafe Church is the largest, took into account the need for recognition of the regional community. Apart from the churches, Brookmerland is poor in older buildings.
Another theory sees the bishops of Münster as possible donors. It is assumed that a claim to a Frisian diocese , which has never become public, was to be built in stone, as was successfully implemented much later with the construction of the Fulda Cathedral from 1704, since the prince abbey was elevated to a diocese in 1752.
The thesis that the origin of the church could have been a place of pilgrimage for an East Frisian cult of Mary has not yet been proven. Pilgrimages to the Marienhafer Church are only documented from 1462. According to legend, the pilgrimages go back even further.
The Premonstratensians are considered as builders, since the church was looked after by canons of this order until the 14th century . In the immediate vicinity of the church was the Aland monastery , also under the patronage of Mary . It was a nunnery that at times also housed canons.
Due to the architectural style, it is assumed that the eastern parts were built in the years 1240–50, the western parts 1250–1260.
Another story
In 1387 the church was partially destroyed in a fire caused by lightning. During the reconstruction, material and equipment from the church of Westeels , which had recently sunk in the Leybucht, were used. It is not known what changes the church experienced. From 1396 to 1400 the pirate Klaus Störtebeker found shelter in Marienhafe. He is said to have lived in the church tower during this time. However, this is neither proven by entries in the church registers nor by other records. To commemorate this, a sculpture was erected on the market square south of the church on June 27, 1992, designed by the Leer-based sculptor Karl-Ludwig Böke based on an etching by Daniel Hopfer , which allegedly depicts Störtebeker's portrait, but in reality Kunz von der Rosen , the advisor and court jester of the German king and later emperor Maximilian I , who lived 100 years after Störtebeker.
Since 1427 at the latest, the church formed its own parish and in 1437 an organ is mentioned for the first time, making it one of the first in East Friesland. Around the year 1460 the tower was increased to six floors. At that time the church was an important sea mark. Its tower and all three naves were covered on the north side with copper ("Kuiper" = Frisian-Dutch for copper) and on the south side with slate ("Ley" = old German for slate), so that the church from the sea through the changing view on the copper and slate page for initiates an indication of the even at low tide passable permanent creeks were and other areas of water. Without this special knowledge, the place and its tide-dependent port were impregnable from the sea.
In 1462 Pope Pius II donated an indulgence for visiting the church, for donations to furnishings and for monetary donations to maintain the curia beate Marie church . Pilgrimages to the church are attested from 1467 and in 1500 the church had four priests.
In 1527, the Reformation found its way into Marienhafe. As a result, East Frisia was religiously divided into a Lutheran East and a Reformed West. The sovereigns from the house of Cirksena tried to overcome this split. In 1593, the Lutheran Count Edzard II had his court preacher Petrus Hesse set up a church ordinance that was to apply to the entire denominationally multi-layered county. This church ordinance was signed in the church of Marienhafe in the same year, but was not implemented as a result of political disputes in East Frisia.
Decay
The importance of the church as a navigation mark declined after the end of the Middle Ages due to the shifting of the coastline. As a result, Marienhafe's importance as an economic center also waned, and the population could no longer afford to maintain the large church. The church was renovated only irregularly and damages were only poorly renovated, which is why it slowly began to deteriorate. Further factors for the decline of the church were the poor foundation on the terp and the weather. Rainwater ran through leaky roof valleys into the rafter feet of the roof structure and into the vaults, which were affected as a result. The congregation lacked the funds for repairs, and the regional church of Hanover and the Kingdom of Hanover , which was ruled in personal union with Great Britain , did not participate. In 1819 part of the choir collapsed. The altar, which was built around 1593 or shortly thereafter, was also destroyed with a written retable that resembled the North Altar. To restore the choir, the community needed 9,000 Hannoversche Taler . For the next ten years, the congregation deliberated on how to proceed. The church continued to decline. In 1820 the top floor of the church tower was damaged by fire after a lightning strike. In August 1829 the walls of the east apse separated from the gable . Stones fell from the vault and broke through the tiles.
Partial demolition of the church in 1829
In 1829, a majority of the parishioners decided to partially abandon the church. In order to finance this project, an entrepreneur offered to carry out the work in exchange for the demolition material, which then happened. The demolition work was supervised by the Emden city master builder Martin Heinrich Martens, who had previously made detailed plans and individual sketches of the structure.
The choir, the transept and crossing , the narrow aisles and the stair turrets that led up to the first floor of the tower were demolished from the building. In the main nave, the stone vault was removed and the side walls shortened to the height of the aisle roofs. The now open side walls were bricked up, whereby the fields under the pointed arches were used to attach the windows. In this way, a hall was created inside, which was closed at the top by a cove ceiling .
The tower was rebuilt in its present form by 1834. In order to achieve a more harmonious balance between the nave and the height of the tower, it was shortened by two stories.
description
The outer
Church building
In the 13th century, a new religious development developed from northern France ( Île-de-France ), which also reached its climax in church building with the emergence of the Gothic . The northern French Gothic cathedrals of Amiens , Chartres and Notre Dame in Paris formed the basis of a new architectural era. It is possible that this architectural style came to Marienhafe directly from there or through the intermediary of the Rhineland .
After completion, the church was a three-aisled vaulted basilica with a west tower, transept , side cones , choir square and main apse . In its structure it resembled large Gothic cathedrals. The abundant ornamentation of the church with statues and figurative friezes also suggests the model of French cathedrals and has no parallel in northern Germany.
The former domical vaults and the construction of only one church tower, on the other hand, go back to Westphalian models, as can be seen in the first cathedral in Münster , the Paderborn cathedral and in the St. Patrokli cathedral in Soest .
The outer walls were structured by high, arched windows, blind niches , pilaster strips , round and three-pass arches. In 48 niches in the transept and choir, it was decorated with architectural plastic . In the north gable there were knights in the two outer niches, in the middle the enthroned Maria with child, to the left of her (pictorially, seen from the observer) two, to the right the third of the three Magi , the first of whom was kneeling on the left. To the right of the third king was the Bethlehemite child murder.
Sandstone relief friezes with a total of 200 stones stretched around the entire church building directly below the eaves line of the roofs. Representations of human virtues and vices, hunting and knight scenes, demonic frightening figures, mythical creatures and animal representations in human activities were shown here. In the 13th century, only the Reims Cathedral and the Collegiate Church of St. Servatius in Quedlinburg can be regarded as models for this decoration .
Overall, the structure was 72.5 m long (now a good 47 m). The tower took up 12 m, the main nave 34 m, the transept 12.5 m and the choir 14 m. The tower was 14 m wide, the main nave 23 m, of which the side aisles each accounted for 4.7 m, the transept 32.5 m and the choir 12 m. After the partial demolition, the church is 48 m long and 13 m wide. The figurative decorations have been largely destroyed and the church was converted into a single-nave hall church.
Steeple
The church tower was originally lower. Around the year 1460 the tower was raised to six stories, presumably to take into account its growing importance as a navigation mark. Access to the upper floors of the building was secured by side turrets, the entrance of which was in the church. On the first floor of the tower there was a box open to the church, which was probably walled up before the Reformation. The former height of the tower was 67 m. After it was partially demolished and shortened to four floors, it now reaches a height of 37 meters. A church clock is said to have existed since 1619; it has been proven since 1747. In 1913 the tower received a new clockwork. This was replaced by a small clockwork in the 1980s. Since then it has stood as an example of a large mechanical work in the church museum.
The ground floor is used as a morgue and is therefore not open to the public. A vestibule is built into the three-meter-thick tower wall. The main room is closed at the top by vaulted ribs made of sandstone, which are decorated with almost weathered representations of evangelists, prophets and angels. The vault ribs and belt arches are rectangular or round. One double and one single tombstone from the 17th century and four sarcophagus lids from the middle of the 11th to the beginning of the 12th century are kept in the tower hall.
It is a reddish one with no recognizable pattern and a yellowish sarcophagus lid with a Paradiesstromberg, club cross and spiral rods. The double tombstone is over 2 m high and commemorates the married couple Victor Hane and Clara von Zarenhusen who died in 1617.
The single grave stone of 1671 deceased erbgesessenen Hausmanns Abbo Poppinga shows his family crest and the inscription: "Anno 1671. The second Februariis the honor Veste Vorachtbare And Wohlfurnehmer Abbo Poppinga Erbgeseten to Upgant And Kirchvorwalter to Marienhove professor Et Extraordinarius deputy And Sylrichter blessed in The Men Dormition Vorwachtende In addition to all believers, a devout resurrecter to the EWEGN life of his age 44 years ”.
Interior
inner space
It is largely unclear what the interior of the church looked like before 1829. Originally the interior of the church was about twice as high as it is today. According to the Emden city architect Martens, the apex of the vaults was 21 meters above the floor, in the cross and in the choir about 1.75 m lower. This made the church the first arched area in East Frisia. Only the crypt of the church in Leer has older vaults. However, due to their lower height and span, they can only be compared to a limited extent with the church in Marienhafe. The vaults in the transept and choir were probably lower. The side aisles were probably decorated with groined vaults .
After the partial demolition, the floor was filled by approx. 1.50 m. As a result, the base of the pillars and columns is now covered.
In the area of the choir, possibly already in the crossing, the floor may have been raised. The main apse had three windows.
altar
The original altar of the church was destroyed when the choir vault collapsed in 1819. It was probably created in 1593 or shortly thereafter and was provided with a written retable , similar to what can still be seen today on the altar of the Ludgerikirche in the north . After the church was downsized, it was given a simple altar, which was initially placed under the organ gallery in the west. During the renovation of the church, the altar was moved back to the east. Above the altar was a depiction of Christ crucified under the stylized throne of God. It was bought by the parish in 1829 and was created by the sculptor D. Brüggemann. Since 1981 only the scene of the cross has survived and hangs in the wall niche behind the altar. On the south side of the chancel there are two figures - Mary and the blessing Christ - that originally had their place in the transept. They are dated to the 13th century.
pulpit
The baroque pulpit was made in 1669 in the workshop of the master of wood cutting Jacob Cröpelin in Esens. Its structure resembles many pulpits in East Frisia from this time. On the sound cover, Christ is enthroned on the globe with the victory flag. The sides of the pulpit are divided by winding corner columns and round arches in between, under which the four evangelists, who are shown here with their attributes, can be seen. On the friezes, read continuously, there are two volumes of scriptures from the Bible, and two rows provide information about pastors, church administrators and donors. Carved tendrils and winding columns decorate the pulpit further.
Baptismal font
The font is dated to the beginning of the 13th century due to its stylized tendril frieze between the dewsticks . So it must come from a previous building of the church. Like many baptismal fonts in East Frisia in the 13th century, it was made from Bentheim sandstone . The outside of the basin is decorated with ornamental depictions of foliage, grapes, palmettes and cords. The inside of the pool is lined with lead and could hold around 125 liters of water. As a symbol of the evil forces conquered by baptism, four lions carry the stone. A cast glass bowl has served as the baptismal font since 2003.
chandelier
The oldest chandelier dates from 1637. It was donated by the Agena family in memory of their daughter Tjadlef, who died that year at the age of 15. The large, sixteen-armed chandelier is richly decorated with figures, heads and wind instruments.
The twelve-armed chandelier without an inscription has been hanging in the church since at least 1725. The two chandeliers fitted with incandescent lamps date from 1953, according to the engraving.
Bells
The bell of the church consists of three bells, which are located on the third floor of the tower. The southern bell (c ') dates from 1633. It weighs around 2500 kg. Its inscription says that it was jointly donated by the Upganter-Marienhafer-Tjücher community. On the bell there is also an image relief of Mary on the crescent moon within a cross made of decorative strips. Material from a large bell weighing approx. 8 t was used to cast the bell. This was already unusable around 1600 and was cast into four smaller bells from 1619. They have since been housed in a separate bell tower on the east side of the churchyard, which was demolished in 1834.
The other two bells are much more recent. The northern bell (es') was cast in 1960 and funded by donations from church members. It weighs about 1315 kg. The church received the chime and chime (c '') in the east in 1955 after a donation from a former Marienhafer citizen.
The organ
A first organ was built in 1437 by the master Thidricus de Dominis, an organ on the north side in the choir. It is one of the oldest verifiable organs in East Friesland. Remnants of this choir organ were preserved until the 18th century.
Another organ was built over the former west gallery in the 16th century. This was destroyed in 1603. It is unclear whether it is identical to the old main organ that was repaired in 1703/1710 and sold in 1778.
The organ that is preserved today was built between 1710 and 1713 by Gerhard von Holy (1677–1736) in Esens. The Hauptwerk has twelve registers, the Rückpositiv eight registers , the pedal is linked to the Hauptwerk. All but two rows of pipes are original. In 1952 the organ was placed under monument protection. From 1966 onwards it was restored by the Ahrend & Brunzema organ building workshop . In 1987/88 it got back its historical mean-tone to well-tempered tuning.
Other items of equipment
The sacrament device consists of a silver-gold-plated chalice . This dates from 1611 and is a gift from the sisters of Count Enno III. to the Marienkirche. A paten without a sign belongs to the chalice . The rococo-style jug is richly decorated with rocailles . The northern goldsmith Ehlers (1787–1860) created the twelve-flute silver box . A hexagonal tin wine bottle, however, is no longer used. It dates from 1781 and has an inscription from the 11th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew .
museum
Since 1878 the Society for Fine Arts and Patriotic Antiquities in Emden , and from 1890 also the parish of Marienhafe, began to collect the sculptures that were lost when the church was partially demolished. In order to be able to present them appropriately, the first floor of the church tower, the so-called Störtebekerkammer , was restored. In 1932 it was opened to the public and opened as a museum. You can see a copy of the portrait of Kunz von der Rosen, which was used for a long time as a Störtebeker portrait, a few original pieces and a model of the old church. The entire, largely lost figurative jewelry is presented on a drawing. From the museum, it is possible to climb to the viewing platform on the tower.
See also
literature
- Hemmo Suur, The Old Church at Marienhafe in East Friesland , 1845. Online in the Google book search. Online at archive.org.
- Johann Gerhard Schomerus : The Marienhafer sketchbook of the master builder Martens from the year 1829, a documentation and investigation of the former stone sculptures at the church to Marienhafe in East Friesland . (Sources on the history of East Frisia, 7). Publishing house Ostfriesische Landschaft, Aurich 1968.
- Hans-Bernd Rödiger, Heinz Ramm: Frisian churches in Auricherland, Norderland, Brokmerland and in Krummhörn , volume 2. Verlag CL Mettcker & Söhne, Jever (2nd edition) 1983, p. 54 ff.
- Rudolf Folkerts, Jakob Raveling: The land around the Störtebeker tower . SKN, Norden 1983, ISBN 3-922365-33-7 .
- Ernst Andreas Friedrich : The Marienkirche in Marienhafe , pp. 162-164, in: If stones could talk , Volume I, Landbuch-Verlag, Hanover 1989, ISBN 3-7842-0397-3 .
- Edgar F. Warnecke: Old churches and monasteries in the country between Weser and Ems. Verlag H. Th. Wenner, Osnabrück 1990, ISBN 3-87898-319-0 , p. 120 ff.
- Johann Gerhard Schomerus: The Marienkirche of Marienhafe . 2nd Edition. SKN, Norden 1993, ISBN 3-922365-38-8 .
- Georg-Friedrich Schaaf: Pilgrimages to Marienhafe. A letter of indulgence from Pope Pius II from 1462 for the benefit of the Marienhafe parish church in East Frisia . In: Emder yearbook for historical regional studies of East Frisia . Vol. 82, 2002, pp. 15-33.
- Cornelia Kruse: When Marienhafe's “Dom” lost its size. In: Ostfriesischer Kurier of October 28, 2006, p. 12.
- Hermann Haiduck: The architecture of the medieval churches in the East Frisian coastal area . 2nd Edition. Ostfriesische Landschaftliche Verlags- und Vertriebs-GmbH, Aurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-940601-05-6 , p. 34, 74, 95 f., 98 ff., 110 f., 118, 140 .
- Gottfried Kiesow: Architecture Guide East Friesland . Verlag Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz, Bonn 2010, ISBN 978-3-86795-021-3 .
Web links
- Homepage of the parish Marienhafe
- Harm Bents, Peter Seidel (working group of the local chronicles of the East Frisian landscape ): Marienhafe, Samtgemeinde Brookmerland, district Aurich (PDF file; 141 kB)
- Genealogy forum: Marienhafe
- Monika van Lengen: Marienhafe - Marienkirche and organ (PDF file; 16 kB)
- 360 degree view of the Marienkirche
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Gottfried Kiesow: Architectural Guide Ostfriesland . Verlag Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz, Bonn 2010, ISBN 978-3-86795-021-3 , p. 223ff.
- ^ Ortschronisten der Ostfriesischen Landschaft: Leybuchtpolder , accessed on January 26, 2016.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Harm Bents, Peter Seidel, working group of the local chronicles of the East Frisian landscape: Marienhafe, Samtgemeinde Brookmerland, district Aurich (PDF file; 141 kB), viewed on January 28, 2010.
- ↑ a b Rudolf Folkerts, Jakob Raveling: The land around the Störtebekerturm . ISBN 3-922365-33-7 , quoted here from brookmerlandarchiv.de: Historical information on the Marienhafe community , viewed on January 28, 2010.
- ↑ a b Ostfriesland-Magazin (edition 09/1991): The treasure in the tower , here quoted from: brookmerlandarchiv.de , viewed on January 28, 2010
- ^ A b Gottfried Kiesow: Ostfriesische Kunst: From the Romanesque to the neo-Gothic . Schuster, Leer 2000, ISBN 3-7963-0343-9 (reprint of the 1969 edition), p. 29ff.
- ↑ Rudolf Folkerts, Jakob Raveling: The land around the Störtebeker tower . ISBN 3-922365-33-7 , quoted here from brookmerlandarchiv.de: Historical information on the community of Werdenum , viewed on January 28, 2010.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Peter Seidel: On the building history of the church ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , 2008, accessed January 28, 2010.
- ^ Johann Gerhard Schomerus: The churches in Marienhafe and Osteel after two previously unknown watercolors from the beginning of the 19th century . In: Ostfriesland - Zeitschrift für Kultur, Wirtschaft und Verkehr , edition 1976/1, here quoted from: brookmerlandarchiv.de , accessed on January 28, 2010.
- ^ Bernhard Koerner: German gender book (Genealogical manual of civil families) . Volume 103, Görlitz 1938
- ↑ Johann Gerd Schomerus: A look into the former basilica of Marienhafe . In: Ostfriesland - Zeitschrift für Kultur, Wirtschaft und Verkehr , issue 1963/1, here quoted from: brookmerlandarchiv.de , accessed on January 28, 2010.
- ^ Walter Kaufmann : The organs of East Frisia . Ostfriesische Landschaft, Aurich 1968, pp. 167–168.
- ^ Harald Vogel , Günter Lade, Nicola Borger-Keweloh: Organs in Lower Saxony . Bremen 1997, ISBN 3-931785-50-5 . P. 198.
Coordinates: 53 ° 31 ′ 21.6 ″ N , 7 ° 16 ′ 20.6 ″ E