St. Christoph (Mainz)

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War memorial and symbol of the destroyed Mainz: The ruins of the Christophskirche, Johannes Gutenberg's parish church
Photo from the early 20th century
Interior view, 2018
Layout

St. Christoph is an early Gothic church that was built in Mainz between 1240 and 1330 . The church was Johannes Gutenberg's baptistery . It is located in Christofstrasse, named after it, in the old town and borders on Karmeliterplatz . The ruins of St. Christoph are today one of several war memorials in the city of Mainz - they commemorate the victims and the destruction of the city in World War II , including on February 27, 1945 .

history

The former parish church was first mentioned in a document in 893. In a document from Pope Innocent II from 1140, the patronage of the imperial abbey of St. Maximin in Trier is presented to the church.

With the exception of its Romanesque tower with double windows from around 1240, today's building dates from around 1280 to 1330. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the church was renovated and redesigned in the Baroque style.

As the eighth member of the Jesuit order, Petrus Canisius joined the order, which had been founded a few years earlier, on May 8, 1543, as the first German and made his vows in the rectory of St. Christoph. In 1762 the parish church was renewed.

During the Second World War it was destroyed to the ground: during the great air raid on Mainz on August 12 and 13, 1942, St. Christoph burned down, and when it was bombed again on February 27, 1945, the vaults collapsed.

The outer walls were erected again and secured on the north side by concrete supports, the new buttress was provided with a relief by the sculptor Heinz Hemrich , which bears symbolic representations from the history of the city . Today the church is designed as a memorial. "To commemorate the dead / to remind the living" is the text of a plaque embedded in the ground.

The most modern Gutenberg statue in the city is right next to the church. It was created by the Mainz sculptor Karlheinz Oswald on the occasion of the Gutenberg year 2000 . The iron sculpture shows Gutenberg at the book press. Gutenberg used a wooden press for book printing, the structure, mechanics and operation of which are reminiscent of a wine press. The windows in the choir and the glass wall in the choir were designed by Alois Plum .

Furnishing

In addition to the occasional changing design elements of the Roman Catholic city pastoral care in the reduced form of the east choir, there is a chapel with windows by the Mainz glass artist Alois Plum in the basement of the Romanesque tower , which is used by the international orthodox parish of St. Christoph for their predominantly German-speaking church services simple furnishings for the Byzantine rite.

Receive

  • In Gau-Bischofsheim you can find the oldest organ in the diocese of Mainz , which is still partially preserved , built in 1667 by Johann Peter Geissel for the St. Christoph Church in Mainz and sold in 1773 to Gau-Bischofsheim, where it is now in the parish church.
  • In the eastern part there is a Gothic baptismal font from Gutenberg's time, which is supported by four lion heads.
  • A Rococo sculpture of St. Valentine was saved in the chaos of war and was brought to the Carmelite Church . The Valentinuswallfahrt was translocated .
  • A miraculous image, the so-called Mainz Gnadenkreuz , from the early 14th century was venerated in the Christophskirche from 1792 to 1942 . It is now in the Francis Chapel of the seminary .

City planning Mainz

To mark the 60th anniversary of the final destruction, the lighting in the church and square was redesigned in 2005. This means that the interior and exterior zones are separated from each other in terms of lighting.

literature

  • St. Christoph - detailed view

  • Relief work by Heinz Hemrich (compilation)

  • Iron statue of Gutenberg in front of St. Christoph

  • Mainz Mercy Cross , today in the Mainz seminary (engraving from 1868)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Baumann: Data on the history of the city of Mainz in: Quarterly books for culture, politics, economics, history ; Ed .: City of Mainz; Verlag Hermann Schmidt Mainz, II / 1993.
  2. ^ Christiane Reves: Building blocks for the history of the city of Mainz: Mainz Colloquium 2000 . Franz Steiner Verlag, Volume 55 2002, ISBN 978-3-515-08176-4 , pp. 142 .
  3. ↑ Paul Georg Custodis: Messages in Glass: Alois Plum puts sacred buildings in the right light . In: Mainz . 26, No. 2, 2006, pp. 112-117. P. 11.
  4. ^ Website of the diocese of Mainz on the Franziskuskapelle with the cross of grace

Web links

Commons : St. Christoph (Mainz)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files


Coordinates: 50 ° 0 ′ 6.7 ″  N , 8 ° 16 ′ 19.8 ″  E