St. Godehard's Basilica (Hildesheim)

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St. Godehard's Basilica
Interior

The St. Godehard Basilica is a Roman Catholic parish church on the southern edge of the old town of Hildesheim (Godehardsplatz 3). The former abbey church of the Benedictine abbey of the same name , built between 1133 and 1172, not affected by any subsequent alterations and almost intact during the Second World War , with its classic proportions is one of the most important examples of Romanesque architecture in Germany. Your parish of the same name belongs to the Hildesheim deanery of the Hildesheim diocese .

It has had the papal honorary title of Basilica minor since 1963 .

architecture

St. Godehard is a three-aisled basilica with transept and ambulatory , a large octagonal central tower and a west wing with two smaller towers and West apse (now baptistery ). The outer walls are structured with blind arcade friezes and pilaster strips . Of the portals, the north-west is the most impressive, in whose tympanum Christ , flanked by the holy bishops Godehard and Epiphanius , greets those entering.

  • Westwork

  • View from the north

  • Northwest portal

  • View from the west

  • East Side

  • Looking west

  • Look at the choir

Furnishing

Inside, the flat central nave roof is supported by six pillars and twelve columns ( Lower Saxony column change ). The high Romanesque capitals , rich in figures and ornaments, are among the masterpieces of their kind. Light falls through the arched windows of the side aisles, the upper aisles and the high choir . In the crossing above the main altar hangs a chandelier that Queen Marie of Hanover donated to the church in 1864. Michael Welter created the rich decoration of the choir in 1861–63. The high altar dates from the same time. The choir stalls , the crucifixion group on the south wall of the transept and the Godehard statue at the north-east entrance are late Gothic . In the southern arm of the transept stands the late Baroque Benedict altar with a Gothic central panel.

  • Crossing, chandelier

  • Benedict Altar

  • Apse, paintings by Michael Welter 1861–63

organ

View of the organ

The organ was built in 1912 by the organ building company Furtwängler und Hammer. In 1946 and 1971 the instrument was changed by the Hillebrand organ building company. The instrument has 44 registers and two transmissions on three manuals and pedal.

I main work C – f 3
01. Principal 16 '
02. Major Principal 08th'
03. Double flute 08th'
04th Gemshorn 08th'
05. Drone 08th'
06th Octav 04 '
07th Reed flute 04 '
08th. Rauschpfeife 02 2 ⁄ 3  '
09. Cornet III-V 02 2 ⁄ 3  '
10. Mixture VI 01 1 ⁄ 3  '
11. bassoon 16 '
12. Trumpet 08th'
13. Clarine 04 '
II Positive C – f 3
14th Principal 08th'
15th Reed flute 08th'
16. Octav 04 '
17th Night horn 04 '
18th recorder 02 '
19th Sifflet 01 1 ⁄ 3  '
20th Sesquialter II-III 0
21st Scharff IV 02 ⁄ 3 '
22nd Rankett 16 '
23. Krummhorn 08th'
Tremulant
III Swell C – f 3
24. Dumped 16 '
25th Violin principal 08th'
26th Open flute 08th'
27. Quintatön 08th'
28. Octav 04 '
29 Gemshorn 04 '
30th Forest flute 02 '
31. third 01 3 ⁄ 5  '
32. Mixture III 01'
33. Cymbel III 01 ⁄ 4 '
34. Trumpet 08th'
35. Vox humana 08th'
Tremulant
Pedals C – d 1
36. Major bass 16 '
37. Principal 16 '
38. Sub bass 16 '
39. Gedackt (= No. 24) 16 '
40. Fifth 10 2 ⁄ 3  '
41. Octav 08th'
42. Soft bass 08th'
43. Octav 04 '
44. Mixture IV 02 '
45. trombone 16 '
46. Trumpet (= No. 12) 08th'
  • Coupling and playing aids: normal coupling, tutti, tongue holder, 1 free pedal combination, 6 free combinations

Peal

In the towers hang a bronze bell (f 1 ) from the Humpert bell foundry and six chilled iron bells from the Ulrich & Weule foundry (Bockenem), the two smallest of which are used to strike the clock . The two larger bells hang in the north and south west tower, the other bells in the crossing tower. The strike tone sequence is b 0 –des 1 –es 1 –f 1 –as 1 . In the nave there is a historic bronze bell with the strike note F sharp 1 , which cannot be rung due to significant casting errors.

history

Grave of Bishop Bernhard , the founder of the church and monastery († 1154), in the high choir (sandstone slab with bronze relief, 1745)
Grave slab of Hermann Held (1768–1828), Benedictine in Godehardikloster; after the secularization of 1803 first pastor of St. Godehard, “savior” of the Godehard basilica; 1825 when the diocese was reorganized as general secretary; 1827 First canon in the newly built cathedral chapter

St. Godehard (Gotthard), himself a Benedictine and from 1022-1038 one of the most important bishops of Hildesheim , was canonized in 1133 . In the same year, at the instigation of Bishop Bernhard, the construction of a church and monastery in his honor began. In 1172 the work was completed and Bishop Adelog consecrated the church.

Since St. Gotthard was one of the particularly venerated saints of the High Middle Ages, his relics led a constant stream of pilgrims to Hildesheim.

The Godehardikloster remained untouched by the Reformation , while the parish churches of the city became Lutheran and existed until the secularization of 1803.

It was only through the great personal commitment of Hermann Gottfried Held (1768–1828), a conventual up to secularization, then the first pastor of St. Godehard, that the basilica was saved from demolition. In 1818 it came into the possession of the General Hanover Monastery Fund and remained a Catholic parish church.

When Alt-Hildesheim was destroyed on March 22, 1945, the southern edge of the old town was spared, including the Godehards basilica. It was damaged in air raids on February 13, 1945, February 22, 1945 and March 22, 1945, especially in the area of ​​the north aisle, but the damage could already be repaired in 1945, so that the church again for the same year Church services were available. It was the only church in the center of Hildesheim that was spared major damage. Until the rededication of the cathedral in 1960, it also served as a bishop's church.

In 1963 Pope Paul VI awarded her . the title of a minor basilica .

From 2003 to 2013 Benedictines lived and worked again at St. Godehard, three monks each, who were sent by the Jerusalem Dormition Abbey .

During the renovation- related closure of the cathedral (2010-2014), the cathedra of the Bishop of Hildesheim was again in St. Godehard, and the basilica was the place of the pontifical liturgy . During this time, the Hezilo chandelier hung in the middle of the nave .

From August 1st, 2004 the church belonged to the parish of the Holy Cross . Today's parish of St. Godehard was founded on November 1, 2014 , as well as the St. Godehard basilica and the other churches of the previous parish of the Holy Cross ( St. Bernward , Holy Cross, St. Magdalene and St. Mary's Assumption Cathedral ) the St. Elisabeth Church belongs.

Since 1971 the judicial officers for the federal states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg have been trained at what is now the North German University of Justice in the rooms of the former Godehardi monastery .

See also

literature

  • Michael Brandt (ed.): The treasure of St Godehard. Permanent exhibition of the Diocesan Museum Hildesheim. 2nd Edition. Bernward, Hildesheim 1988, ISBN 3-87065-467-8 .
  • Kurd Fleige: Church art, capital symbols and profane buildings. Selected essays on the history of architecture and art in Hildesheim and its surroundings (= series of publications by the city archive and the city library of Hildesheim. Vol. 24). Bernward, Hildesheim 1993, ISBN 3-87065-793-6 .
  • Gerhard Lutz, Angela Weyer: St. Godehard in Hildesheim - The building and its painting in the course of time. In: Matthias Exner , Ursula Schädler-Saub (ed.): The restoration of the restoration? For dealing with wall paintings and architectural versions of the Middle Ages in the 19th and 20th centuries (= ICOMOS. Booklets of the German National Committee. 37 = Writings of the Hornemann Institute. Vol. 5). Lipp, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-87490-681-7 , pp. 197-202.
  • Ursula Schädler-Saub: Medieval churches in Lower Saxony. Ways of conservation and restoration (= Regional Cultural Heritage Routes. Vol. 1 = Writings of the Hornemann Institute. Vol. 4). Michael Imhof, Petersbeg 2000, ISBN 3-932526-85-6 , pp. 42-66.
  • Christian Stallmann (Ed.): Sankt Godehardi zu Hildesheim. From past and present. On the occasion of the founding of the North German University of Applied Sciences for the Administration of Justice. Diocese archive, Hildesheim 2008, ISBN 978-3-89366-572-3 .

Web links

Commons : Basilica of St. Godehard  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information on the organ
  2. ↑ orden-online.de

Coordinates: 52 ° 8 '43 "  N , 9 ° 57' 0.6"  E