St. Nicholas Church (Bozen)

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The St. Nicholas Church, around 1940

The former St. Nicholas Church (also St. Nicholas Chapel or St. Nicholas Church ; Italian Chiesa di S. Niccolò ) was a Roman Catholic church in Bolzano , immediately south of the Dompfarrkirche Maria Himmelfahrt on the parish square and opposite the former Heiliggeistspital located. It was destroyed to the ground in 1944 by air raids during World War II.

history

The church, which is still visible today in its structural outlines on the parish square, was mentioned for the first time in 1180, on the occasion of its consecration by Bishop Salomon of Trento , as a subsidiary church of the Bolzano parish in the so-called Bozen Chronicle , an annalistic historical chronicle from the 14th century. obviously in the context of the re-establishment of the urban market settlement Bolzano by the Trento bishops. In 1237 the sacred building is again documented as Nikolauskirche, also in 1351 with the location name "capella sancti Nikolai in Bozano in loco dicto in the Spilhof" , before it was converted to Baroque style in 1681/82 by master builder Pietro Delai .

In sources from the 16th century, the church was still referred to as the “old parish”, which research interprets as an indication of its pre-urban significance in the vicinity of an older merchant settlement near the old Eisack crossing .

On May 26, 1942, Josef Mayr-Nusser and Hildegard Straub married in the church .

The church was destroyed by a direct hit in 1944, soon after the Nazi authorities established the operational zone for the foothills of the Alps , during the extensive air raids by the Allies on the Brenner railway line .

Appearance

The St. Nicholas Church was, even after the baroque redesign, a simple building with a square portal , detached choir and wooden facade roof turrets ; the nave had a flat ceiling , the choir a groin vault , and a stucco cartouche was located on the triumphal arch . The church was frescoed both inside and out (including Mary with Christ Child, Christ in the Mount of Olives, St. Nicholas as a helper for the castaways) and had several coats of arms depicting the local noble family von Niedertor . There was also a tombstone of the von Gumer family from 1683 here.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hannes Obermair : Church and city development. The parish church of Bozen in the High Middle Ages (11th – 13th centuries) . In: The Sciliar . 69th year, issue 8/9, 1995, p. 449-474, reference p. 461 .
  2. ^ Hannes Obermair: Bozen Süd - Bolzano Nord. Written form and documentary tradition of the city of Bozen up to 1500 . tape 1 . City of Bozen, Bozen 2005, ISBN 88-901870-0-X , p. 323, no.642 .
  3. ↑ Josef Weingartner : Die Kunstdenkmäler Bolzano (Die Kunstdenkmäler Südtirols 3/2). Hölzel, Augsburg 1926, p. 109.
  4. ↑ Hannes Obermair: Church and city development. The parish church of Bozen in the High Middle Ages (11th – 13th centuries) . In: The Sciliar . 69th year, issue 8/9, 1995, p. 449-474, reference p. 459 .
  5. ↑ See Josef Weingartner: The bombed Bolzano churches. Brixen: Weger 1947; ders .: The art monuments of South Tyrol. Volume 2. 7th edition. Athesia-Tyrolia: Bozen-Innsbruck-Wien 1991. ISBN 88-7014-642-1 , p. 28.
  6. ↑ Josef Weingartner: Die Kunstdenkmäler Bolzano (Die Kunstdenkmäler Südtirols 3/2). Hölzel, Augsburg 1926, pp. 109–110.

Coordinates: 46 ° 29 '50 "  N , 11 ° 21' 14.3"  E