St. Bernhard (Baden-Baden)

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Coordinates: 48 ° 46 ′ 26.4 ″  N , 8 ° 13 ′ 30 ″  E

St. Bernhard Church in Baden-Baden
Interior to the altar
Rear nave with gallery and organ

St. Bernhard , also Bernharduskirche , is a Catholic church in the Weststadt district of Baden-Baden . It was built between 1911 and 1914 by Johannes Schroth in Art Nouveau style. It is consecrated to the blessed Margrave Bernhard II of Baden and is the parish church of the parish of the same name of the Baden-Baden-Mitte pastoral care unit .

history

History and naming

Around 1622, when the Counter-Reformation was carried out under Margrave Wilhelm von Baden , there is evidence of a place of worship on the boundary between the city of Baden and the village of Oos : There was a portrait of Mary in an oak tree directly on Landstrasse. When the oak died, Margravine Maria Magdalena von Oettingen-Baldern donated a pilgrimage church instead of the tree . In 1653 the church was consecrated in honor of Our Lady . In 1892 the pilgrimage church was demolished and replaced by a larger new building. Since the population in the west of the city had risen sharply as a result of industrialization , the new building was not enough for the numerous worshipers. Therefore, after a census in 1905, which named 2976 Catholics in the Weststadt, the area of ​​an abandoned quarry was acquired as a building site for the new church to be built.

The church was named St. Bernhard because the blessed Bernhard von Baden renounced his claim to power and instead tried to alleviate the poverty and misery of the population by leaving behind a large part of his fortune and also attracting attention with his pronounced piety . With this patronage for the newly built church, the Catholic Church set an example at the beginning of the 20th century by presenting St. Bernhard as a model for the wealthy and indirectly also pointing out the need of the workers .

Development and construction history

In 1907, the building authority of the Archdiocese of Freiburg commissioned building officer Johannes Schroth to design the church, including the forecourt and rectory . The church was originally to be built in the neo-Romanesque style. The architect's designs met with criticism from the episcopal ordinariate, as the plans contained Art Nouveau elements, which the architect defended with the statement that he wanted to show that the Catholic Church was moving with the times. After tough struggles with the church building authorities and the wishes of the Baden-Baden Foundation Council, Schroth was able to achieve that his proposal for a church with Byzantine - early Christian architecture was implemented. The foundation stone was laid on June 29, 1911, the church's patronage festival. The shell was completed in December 1912. On May 10, 1914, the Archbishop of Freiburg, Thomas Nörber, consecrated the completed church. The high altar was consecrated in honor of the Heart of Jesus and Blessed Bernhard von Baden.

Because of the First World War , the interior work of the church came to a standstill. In addition, in the last year of the war, the copper roofs had to be removed from the dome and the church tower and replaced with slate , as the copper was needed by the war industry . When the interior work was continued after the end of the war, the design of the interior of the church was adapted to the new, expressionist taste of the time. On September 14, 1921, St. Bernhard was raised to an independent parish. Four of the five bells cast in 1913 had to be returned to the armaments industry during World War II . In 1953 the bell was added. 1978–1980 the church was extensively renovated. The newly created popular altar was consecrated when the church was reopened on July 9, 1983 by former abbot Albert Ohlmeyer of the Neuburg Abbey .

Building description

Steeple and exterior

The Bernharduskirche combines various building traditions from earlier times and combines them with modern elements of Art Nouveau. Early Christian elements of the Eastern and Western Churches as well as the early Middle Ages can be seen in the architecture. As models are Roman basilicas and the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople Opel to name or the medieval palace chapel at Aachen . The church is designed as a monumental domed building with a free-standing bell tower and is made of light-colored sandstone from the Murg Valley . Only a short nave with a representative portal facade in the southwest and a two-bay choir with a low semicircular apse in the northeast are attached to the central rotunda .

The west facade impresses with a picture of Christ made of glass mosaic , on the right and left side of which six apostles are depicted. This glass mosaic, which was only completed in 1950, was created by Gertrud Leonhard. The inscription I am the beginning and the end also refers to the Last Judgment , in which people are held accountable for their deeds. The decision in favor of this design after the Second World War reflects the experiences and impressions of the time.

Peal

The church tower hides a powerful peal that sounds in the ideal quintet on b °. Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling from Heidelberg cast the four deeper bells in a heavy rib in 1953 . Its massive character seems to echo the parish church's Art Nouveau architecture. In memory of its namesake, the patron saint of Baden, the Bernhardus bell partly bears a Middle High German inscription. 1913 is Ave Maria bell obtained from the foundry Benjamin Grüninger , Villingen comes. As ornamental carries a picture of Mary holding baby Jesus along with filigree tendrils to shoulder and Wolm . All bells hang on wooden yokes in a wooden bell chair .

No. Surname material Mass [kg] Diameter [mm] Nominal Casting year Foundry
1 St. Bernhard bronze 3815 1761 b ° + 2 1953 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling , Heidelberg
2 St. Michael bronze 2235 1467 des' + 4 1953 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling, Heidelberg
3 Holy Apostles bronze 1589 1305 it '+ 4 1953 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling, Heidelberg
4th St. Joseph bronze 1049 1151 f '+ 3 1953 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling, Heidelberg
5 Ave Maria bronze 586 970 as' + 6 1913 Grüninger bell foundry , Villingen (Black Forest)

Interior and artistic equipment

Three portals lead from the staircase into the interior of the church. In the first yoke of the central nave , the organ gallery was built, which is supported by pillars with figure capitals . Two apsidal chapels were added to the aisle bays. In the north is the baptistery , in the south the war memorial chapel . The central space polygon, which is formed from an incomplete dodecagon, follows the barrel vault of the central nave . Above it rises the dome, in the middle of which is the cylindrical lantern . The side aisles are continued around the central area as gangway bays. The three-aisled choir area is higher than the central room . Steps lead up to the chancel . A tower chapel is built in the north and the sacristy is added to the south .

The artists Otto Rünzi and Karl Leon were responsible for the painting of the church, Adolf Schnell and Otto Vittali for the glass windows. The artistic design was based on the Beuron school . The paintings in the central dome show the apocalyptic Lamb of God who is worshiped by angels . The 24 elders of Revelation pay homage to the Lamb. Angels are shown below. The strict, hierarchical structure of the painting reinforces the monumentality of the room.

The high altar is decorated with mosaics on the antependium . In the middle is a scene from the Old Testament : Abraham receives bread and wine from the Priest- King Melchizedek . This relief comes from the Moroder brothers and refers to the New Testament last supper . The altarpiece contains a tabernacle in the style of the Beuron school. The folk altar, the ambo and the candlesticks are works by Frido Lehr , Karlsruhe, and have complemented the church's furnishings since the 1980s.

Organ as it was in 2016

organ

In 1913 an interim organ was set up by the Durlach organ building company H. Voit & Sons for 350 marks , which was financed by the church building association at the time. Due to the turmoil of the First World War and the subsequent economic decline of the organ builder, the Voit organ was finally delivered in 1921, but only incomplete with a manual, main mechanism and pedal. The organ building workshop Wilhelm Schwarz & Sohn from Überlingen on Lake Constance completed the organ in 1925. The free pipe prospectus designed in the Art Deco style also dates from this year. In 1958 the organ was rebuilt. In 2009 the originally highly romantic organ was returned to its original condition. (Catholic parish of St. Bernhard (ed.): Baden-Baden 100 years of St. Bernhard. Church of St. Bernhard and chapels, p. 30.)

The organ has 46 registers , 3 manuals and a pedal .


I Manual Hauptwerk C – g 3
Principal 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Flauto amabile 8th'
Viola da gamba 8th'
Salizional 8th'
Bourdon 8th'
octave 4 ′
Gemshorn 4 ′
octave 2 ′
Mixture IV
Scharff III
Cornett III-V
tuba 8th'
II Manual swell mechanism C – g 3
Bourdon 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Concert flute 8th'
Quintatön 8th'
Viola d'amore 8th'
Aeoline 8th'
Vox coelestis 8th'
Dumped 8th'
Principal 4 ′
Transverse flute 4 ′
Reed flute 4 ′
Flautino 2 '
Mixture III-V
Trumpet 8th'
Clairon 4 '
Tremulant
III Manual Echowerk C – g 3
Lovely Gedackt 8th'
Dulciana 8th'
violin 4 ′
Hollow flute 4 ′
Nasard 2 2 / 3 '
Piccolo 2 ′
third 1 3 / 5 '
oboe 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
Principal bass 16 ′
Violon 16 ′
Sub bass 16 ′
Subtle bass 16 ′
Octave bass 8th'
cello 8th'
Dumped 8th'
Bombard 16 ′
Trumpet 8th'
Clairon 4 ′
  • Coupling, numerous game aids

literature

  • Hermann Brommer: Catholic parish church St. Bernhard Baden-Baden. Munich-Zurich 1989.
  • Catholic parish office of St. Bernhard (Ed.): Baden-Baden 100 years of St. Bernhard. St. Bernard Church and chapels. Passau 2014.
  • Michael Teipel: Saint Bernhard in Baden-Baden, 1914 . In: Martin Stingl (ed.): Ritter - Landespatron - Jugendidol. Margrave Bernhard II of Baden , Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2019, ISBN 978-3-17-036528-5 , pp. 138-139.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Pastoral care unit Baden-Baden-Mitte
  2. ↑ Data sheet 5314 . In: Kirchbau.de
  3. ↑ Catholic parish office of St. Bernhard (ed.): Baden-Baden 100 years of St. Bernhard. St. Bernard Church and Chapels , pp. 6–7.
  4. ↑ Catholic parish office of St. Bernhard (ed.): Baden-Baden 100 years of St. Bernhard. St. Bernard Church and Chapels , p. 8.
  5. ↑ Catholic parish office of St. Bernhard (ed.): Baden-Baden 100 years of St. Bernhard. St. Bernhard Church and chapels , p. 7.
  6. ^ Website of the Archdiocese of Freiburg, bell search, section Catholic parish church St. Bernhard in Baden-Baden. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  7. ↑ Catholic parish office of St. Bernhard (ed.): Baden-Baden 100 years of St. Bernhard. St. Bernard Church and Chapels , p. 8.
  8. ↑ Catholic parish office of St. Bernhard (ed.): Baden-Baden 100 years of St. Bernhard. St. Bernard Church and Chapels , pp. 8–9.
  9. ↑ Catholic parish office of St. Bernhard (ed.): Baden-Baden 100 years of St. Bernhard. St. Bernard Church and Chapels , p. 9.
  10. ^ Website Baden-Baden, the ultimate city guide. Section Church of St. Bernhard. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  11. ↑ Catholic parish office of St. Bernhard (ed.): Baden-Baden 100 years of St. Bernhard. St. Bernard Church and Chapels , p. 10.
  12. ↑ YouTube about the bells. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  13. ↑ Catholic parish church St. Bernhard in Baden-Baden Archdiocese Freiburg - bell search
  14. ↑ Catholic parish office of St. Bernhard (ed.): Baden-Baden 100 years of St. Bernhard. St. Bernard Church and Chapels , pp. 10–14.
  15. ↑ Catholic parish office of St. Bernhard (ed.): Baden-Baden 100 years of St. Bernhard. St. Bernard Church and Chapels , p. 15.
  16. ↑ Catholic parish office of St. Bernhard (ed.): Baden-Baden 100 years of St. Bernhard. St. Bernard Church and Chapels , pp. 20–22.

Web links

Commons : Bernharduskirche Baden-Baden  - Collection of images, videos and audio files