St. Georg (Cologne)

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St. Georg in Cologne
Main nave in all-round view Show
as spherical panorama

St. Georg is one of the twelve large Romanesque basilicas in Cologne's old town , the preservation of which is supported by the Friends of Roman Churches Cologne . Construction of the former collegiate church began in 1059.

history

St. George stands on the site of a Roman beneficiary guard located directly in front of the Roman walls , from where the traffic between Bonn and the south gate of the colony was monitored.

Probably the time of the Merovingian (5th to 8th century) was on part of the foundations of the Cäsarius - Oratory built. In the place of the altar of this oratorio there has been a cross altar since the 1930s. This was replaced in 1964 by today's crossing altar.

St. Georg and St. Jakob in the Mercator Plan (1571)

In the 11th century, under Archbishop Anno II (1056-1075), a three-aisled pillar basilica with a transverse structure and a three -part east choir over a hall crypt on pillars was built in the Oversburg district in front of the walls . The transverse arms of the new building had barrel vaults , while the central nave of the nave was closed off by a wooden ceiling. About a hundred years later, the original west choir gave way to a representative choir building with a hanging dome, the exterior of which, however, was not completed according to the original plans. At the same time the main nave was vaulted.

Further construction phases date from the Renaissance and Baroque periods . The northern vestibule was built in 1551/52 and connected the collegiate church of St. Georg with the former neighboring parish church of St. Jakob , which was laid down in 1825 when the Georgstraße was built. St. Georg has been the parish church since then. After the First World War , the church was closed due to the threat of collapse and was thoroughly renovated from 1928 to 1930. An evocation of the undocumented Romanesque colourfulness was not sought; Inside, the wall and vaulted surfaces were given a whitewash without ornament, while the architectural structure, which was particularly excellent in the west choir, remained stone-visible. The then revolutionary window cycle Jan Thorn Prikkers set colorful accents . The structural security of the structure is thanks to Wilhelm Schorn ; building research Albert Verbeek was based on the reconstruction of Querhauskonchen in the eastern part. Clemens Holzmeister created the liturgy-related refurbishment.

The southern Renaissance vestibule from 1536 fell victim to World War II bombs and was never rebuilt. The baroque roof of the west building, which was also destroyed, was followed by an unadorned hipped roof when the church was being rebuilt . The destroyed parts of the church (crossing and transept cone) were reconstructed until 1964, as were the Johan Thorn Prikker windows. Since then, however, the impression of the room has been "smoother" than before, and the liturgical refurbishment left hardly anything of the war-damaged work of Clemens Holzmeister. The new crossing altar and the floor design are from Sepp Hürten .

architecture

Entrance area in all-round view Show
as spherical panorama
Central nave with alternation of pillars and columns

St. George is a modest three-aisled basilica with a northern vestibule and a cubic western building from the Hohenstaufen era; its upper end was not completed in the Middle Ages. The three naves open into three apses behind the transverse building . The middle one, the choir , is higher than the nave . The two smaller apses are also higher and only give a narrow passage to the choir. The difference in height is the result of the five-aisled columned column under the eastern parts of the church. After the reconstruction, the massive cuboid of the west choir was given a simple hipped roof instead of the wooden bell storey with its huge baroque dome, which existed until 1942. Inside, the west building has a double-shell structure and is richly decorated with decorative elements. A high hanging dome rises above the blind arcades and niches of the basement , the shield arches of which open into three large-format round-arched windows that are accompanied by biforias. Here a walkway runs around the three sides of the space cube, while the fourth side opens like a column-step portal to the central nave of the nave. Its groin vault from the middle of the 12th century, which rests on two additional pillars between the columns, reaches the height of the original early Romanesque wooden ceiling in the middle vertex. From the Renaissance vestibule, a door leads into a small cloister that has been the final resting place of bomb victims since the last days of the war.

  • Mosaic “St. Georg und Anno II. ”(1930) by Eduard Schmitz , above the entrance to the vestibule

  • Cemetery in the courtyard

  • Lattice gate on Georgsplatz, created in 1925 by the blacksmith Carl Wyland

  • inner space

  • modern lead window by artist Johan Thorn Prikker

East choir: reconstruction of the Georgs crucifix

Furnishing

St. George's furnishings include the copy of the George crucifix hanging in the choir, the original of which from 1067 is kept as a torso in the Schnütgen Museum, as well as the altarpiece by Barthel Bruyn the Younger from the 16th century in the south transept . On the back of the right wing of the picture are the patrons of the basilica , St. Caesarius of Terracina and St. George . At the center is the lamentation of Christ . In the west building is the expressive fork cross , a plague cross from the 14th century and a Romanesque font with a row of arches on the outer wall of the basin. The colored lead glass windows designed by Jan Thorn Prikker date from 1928–31 and were reconstructed from the original cardboard boxes after the Second World War. The three large windows of saints in the west building have largely been preserved in their original state.

organ

In 1970 a Seifert organ was built. It has 12 registers on 2 manuals and pedal and has the following disposition :

I main work
1. Principal 8th'
2. Pointed 0 8th'
3. Octave 4 ′
4th Hörnlein I-III
5. Mixture IV
II substation (swellable)
6th Reed flute 4 ′
7th Super octave 2 ′
8th. Pointed fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
9. Trompetenschalmey 8th'
Tremulant
pedal
10. Sub bass 16 ′
11. Pommer 8th'
12. recorder 4 ′

Bells

Six bells once formed the bells of the church. The three-part Sunday and holiday bells hung in the bell house of the tower tower above the west choir. The large bell, cast by Johann von Andernach in 1506 and consecrated to the Mother of God, Saints Georg, Anno and Katharina , weighed around 1,100 kilograms and was around 1.25 meters in diameter. The middle bell, weighing around 800 kilograms and 1.10 meters in diameter, was cast in 1553 by Derich van Coellen in honor of the Undivided Trinity and Saints George and Anno; the latter gave the bell its name. A previous bell is indicated in the inscription. The third bell, consecrated to the All Saints Theotokos , was cast by Nikolaus von Unckel in 1627, weighing around 400 kilograms and having a diameter of 85 centimeters. On the outside of the tower onion there were two clock cymbals , each under a dormer. The hour bell from the 18th century, weighing 260 kilograms, hung to the west, the quarter-hour bell, cast in 1733, weighing 90 kilograms to the east. In a small ridge above the crossing hung the little measuring bell for the daily mass .

The two large bells were put back from the war confiscation in 1942, but perished in the firestorm in 1945 together with the church and all the other bells. The old measuring bell was replaced by a bell that was cast in Gescher in the 20th century, but was hung in the roof structure of the south transverse wing. In 1989 two larger bells were added. Tower hood and roof turrets were not rebuilt.

No.
 		 Surname
 		 Casting year
 		 Caster
 		 Diameter
(mm)		 Weight
(kg)		 Strike tone
(435 Hz)
1 Gloria 1989 Florence Hüesker 820 322 b '+ 3 / 16
2 Harmonia 1989 Florence Hüesker 620 152 it "+ 4 / 16
3 ? 20th century Hans Huesker 482 60 g "+ 5 / 16

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hiltrud Kier and Ulrich Krings: Cologne: The Romanesque churches in the picture . In: Hiltrud Kier and Ulrich Krings (eds.): Stadtspuren - Monuments in Cologne . tape 3 . JP Bachem, Cologne 1984, p. 123 .
  2. ^ A b Gerhard Hoffs (ed.): Bell music of Catholic churches in Cologne . Pp. 139-145. ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 5.3 MB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.glockenbuecherebk.de
  3. ↑ Martin Seidler: Cologne bells and peals . In: Förderverein Romanische Kirchen Köln eV (Ed.): Colonia Romanica . tape IV . Greven-Verlag, Cologne 1989, p. 19 .

literature

  • Hiltrud Kier : The Romanesque churches in Cologne: Guide to history and furnishings. Second edition. JP Bachem, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-7616-2842-3 , pp. 74-85.
  • Jürgen Kaiser (text) and Florian Monheim (photos): The large Romanesque churches in Cologne , Greven Verlag, Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-7743-0615-8 , pp. 62–73.
  • Ulrich Krings: "Johan Thorn Prikker (1868–1932) and the stained glass of the 20th century". In: "Colonia Romanica" - yearbook of the Friends of the Roman Churches Cologne eV, vol. XXVII (= 27). Cologne 2012, pp. 105–130. Greven Verlag, ISSN  0930-8555 ; ISBN 978-3-7743-0603-5 .
  • Sabine Czymmek: “Colonia Romanica. The Cologne Romanesque Churches - Treasure Art. “Greven Verlag, Cologne 2007. ISBN 978-3-7743-0421-5 .
  • Ulrich Krings and Otmar Schwab: "Cologne: The Romanesque Churches. Destruction and Restoration." Cologne 2007. Series "Traces of the City - Monuments in Cologne", Vol. 2. JP Bachem. ISBN 978-3-7616-1964-3 .
  • Barbara and Ulrich Kahle: "St. Georg and Clemens Holzmeister". In: Hiltrud Kier and Ulrich Krings (eds.): "Cologne: The Romanesque Churches in Discussion 1946/47 and 1985". Cologne 1986, pp. 229-238. Series "Stadtspuren - Denkmäler in Köln", Vol. 4. JP Bachem, ISBN 3-7616-0822-5 .
  • Albert Verbeek: "St. Georg". In: Hiltrud Kier and Ulrich Krings (eds.): "Cologne: The Romanesque Churches. From the Beginnings to the Second World War." Cologne 1984, pp. 256-277. Series "Stadtspuren - Denkmäler in Köln", Vol. 1. JP Bachem, ISBN 3-7616-0761-X .
  • Wilhelm Schorn and Albert Verbeek: "The Church of St. Georg in Cologne". Berlin 1940. German publishing house for art history.

Web links

Commons : St. Georg (Cologne)  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 55 '54.8 "  N , 6 ° 57' 24.8"  E