St. Gregorius in misery
St. Gregorius im Elend is a neo-baroque style church in the south of Cologne's old town . The church is a reconstruction of the building from the 18th century that was destroyed in World War II. It is located between the Sionstal, Arnold-von-Siegen-Strasse and Severinstrasse on the An St. Katharinen street.
history
The church is named after the location, its location, Katharinengässchen, formerly "im Elend" (am, om Elend and 1812/13 in French times: Cul de sac Ste. Cathérine - cul de sac St. Katharina).
The Elendskirchhof
The former, behind the former St. Catherine's Hospital located cemetery was in 1335 mentioned as "elle ended kirchooyv", but was not passed at that time with a chapel. It was the burial place of the strangers who died homeless in Cologne, but also of the local non-Catholic citizens, who were not allowed to be buried in a parish cemetery at that time. In addition to another burial site of this type in the city east of the Poor Clare Monastery, it was the cemetery of the dishonorable , the suicides and the executed , or the later, from the 16th century onwards, so-called “uncatholic dead”.
Gravestone in the courtyard
Grave cross in the courtyard
Memorial plaque for Joost van den Vondel
The Protestants , called in Cologne "Beggars" were only on from 1576, Geusenfriedhof buried, yet in 1714 the City Council introduced a mandatory reporting of Protestants. The Elendskirchhof, which was formerly also responsible for the Reformed Christians , had to give way to the development. Some tombs in the small church yard are reminiscent of this ancient time. The historian Paul Clemen mentioned the tombstone of Kaspar von Kleingedank , called "Mommersloch", when he died † 1590. A large memorial stone commemorates the Mennonite family of Joost van den Vondel who fled Antwerp because of the Counter-Reformation to Cologne , and another tombstone commemorates the nun Cornelia von Kaas with the dates 1762-1837. In the 19th century, the names “Am (Em) Elend” and “Elendskirchhof” used by the Cologne residents for Katharinengässchen were still in use.
St. Michael cemetery and chapel
An altar is said to have been erected on the site in 1473 , from which it was concluded that a first, small oratory in the churchyard existed. After that, the provisional staff of the St. Katharinen Hospital there are supposed to up deme miserable kirchove hinder s. Kathrynen started construction by master Johann Marburg, which had to be stopped by order of the Cologne council. At the latest at the beginning of the 16th century, construction work must have been resumed, as a chapel was mentioned in 1528.
As a result, the Protestants used the churchyard as a burial place until their own site, the Geusenfriedhof in front of the “Weyerthore”, was set up in 1574. Then the Elendskirchhof took up the bones of overcrowded Cologne churchyards.
Between 1675 and 1678, Jakob de Groote established a family foundation, the preliminary purpose of which was to enable public services to be held in the chapel, which was expanded with funds from the foundation. In the same year, the de Groote Foundation received an enclosure wall for the cemetery. Also from the funds of the foundation, de Groote had the chapel expanded by 26 shoes in width and 60 shoes in length and equipped the roof of the renovation with a bell tower . The renovations were carried out in two steps: that of 1675 was headed by master stonemason Kaspar Mostorf, and further work in 1677 by master builder Arnold Gülich, who also carried out a renovation on Alt St. Alban . After completion, a simple, plastered building made of brick masonry was created. It had a square footprint of 63 feet (about 20 meters) side length, the height of the side walls was 11½ feet (about 3.60 m), the roof was 14 feet high (about 4.40 m), and the with A curved hood provided roof turrets reached a height of 12 feet (about 3.80 m). The sexton 's apartment was on the south corner of the east , and the sacristy on the north corner with a room of the brotherhood "St. Mariae de suffraggio ”. Between these was the choir of the church. This was separated inside by two flat arches , a larger one in the middle of the nave separated the area that was assigned to the lay people . Previously only the holy Michael chapel dedicated now became the main patron of the St. Gregory . The chapel expanded to a small church was subsequently called "Sankt Gregorius im Elend" (Elendskirche S. Gregorii Magni), popularly simply "Elendskirche".
Demolition and new construction
Before the demolition work began, the Cologne artillery lieutenant Josef Otto documented the external condition of the old church in several views and cracks. The views show a north-south section and the east view of a single-storey building. It was in the middle and on both sides as far as the first of the gable roof high out gable between which the with dormers stocked roof of a small ridge turret was crowned. Over the entire width of the facade , “J. Otto ”six windows were drawn in, of which the two middle ones were provided with flat round arches under the gable. Above this central window, which provided additional light to the choir, a round arch niche was let in, in which a figure of St. Michael was placed. To the east is a plain door entrance was, and the south side graced one of Hausten -made portal , which (n. Otto) in the later construction again was used. On this side the gable had a niche with a statue of the Madonna in it, and above the cornice of the windows the old and the subsequent, modified coat of arms (after 1780) of the von Groote family were placed. These were crowned by a skull , bones, and a snake , a symbolism that is still present in the church in a similar form to this day.
Builders and builders
The builders of the baroque church were the descendants of a Catholic family who emigrated from the Netherlands in the 16th century, the now established family of de Groote in Cologne , who used the funds of a family foundation they established . The de Groote brothers were responsible for managing the foundation. These were Ev (b) erhard Anton, canon to St. Gereon and at the same time to St. Maria in the Capitol , as well as the then mayor Franz Jakob Gabriel de Groote. The building he commissioned was the “last church in the time of the imperial city ”. At this time (1766), Franz Jakob Gabriel also bought the Kendenich Castle in Kendenich, which is adjacent to the city of Cologne . The alliance coat of arms of the mayor families "von Groote / zum Pütz" incorporated in the gable field can be found in a similar form on the high altar of the Elendskirche.
The basis of the new church building from 1765–1768 were plans, drawings and calculations by the architect and sculptor Balthasar Spaeth, whose vita is unknown except for a few clues. The construction, which was canceled by Spaeth for unknown reasons, was taken over by the builder Nikolaus Krakamp after revising the conception of his predecessor .
Preparations and construction
At the beginning of 1765 the old church of misery was desecrated and the holy of holies of the church was temporarily moved to the St. Catherine's Church of the Teutonic Order . The demolition and follow-up work described as well organized began with clearing the bones from the crypts . The organ builder Ludwig König dismantled the organ and the master carpenter Johann Georg Dau secured usable parts of the interior of the church (the sale of demolition material resulted in a total of 2000 Reichstaler ). The excavation work began at the beginning of March and in the same month of 1765 the foundation stone for the new church was laid. By November, the wall was of brick completed (the city donated 25,000 bricks) and the work of carpenters with the construction of the roof truss began. The topping-out ceremony was celebrated at the beginning of December .
In addition to the named masters, over fifty craftsmen and workers were employed during the construction of the shell. There were up to four stone masons , ten bricklayers, and fifteen henchmen . Eight carpenters were responsible for the woodwork, assisted by two wood cutters. The roof work was carried out by ten roofers.
After further work by the carpenters, the roof of the church was covered in slate between April and June 1766 by the master Leyendeckermeister Johann Schmitz , and in September he provided the roof turret with a copper cover . The vaulting of the single-nave church, begun in August, was also completed in September. The plastering of the church interior by the pliest master Johann Weber completed the rough work.
Planning and realization of the interior
The planning of the building is said to have been based on a general idea of the church in its entirety, whereby the harmony of the style of the individual pieces of equipment designed by different artists also resulted from the fact that they were created almost simultaneously during the narrow period of church construction itself. During this five-year construction period, Peter Joseph Manskirch planned the decorative space. The high altar was created according to a design by Balthasar Spaeth, the pulpit , the stalls (choir, brotherhood and lay stalls) as well as the holy water - lavabo basins and doors, Johann Josef Imhoff created the sculptures of the high altar according to designs by Friedrich Geiger . Some of the individual pieces, which could be supplemented by donors, were apparently only commissioned shortly before their execution.
Concerning the internal construction, prefabricated stones were delivered by Stephan Miles from Niedermendig according to drawings . Johann Stahl, Schultheiss zu Balduinstein an der Lahn , supplied the marble for the reveals of the doors in the choir as well as the floor laid there in May 1768. This was followed by the installation of the heavy items of furniture made of marble, these were the high altar, the stipes and the canteens of the two side altars and the communion bench . After the pulpit had been erected and the church stalls had been erected , the building could be used in autumn, so that it was consecrated for the first time by Canon Everhard Anton de Groote at the end of October 1768 .
The new building was completed under master builder Krakamp and consecrated in 1771 by Auxiliary Bishop Karl Aloys von Königsegg-Aulendorf . The Gazette de Cologne, which has been published in Cologne since 1734 and founded by Jean Ignace Roderique , described the new church of misery as:
“ Monument de la piété, de la religion et de la munificence de illustrious Famille de Mrs de Groote .
German: a monument of piety, religion and generosity of the illustrious family of the de Grootes "
The result was a single-nave, three-axle brick building that ended with a retracted square and flat choir. The main portal was on the west side of the church, which was supplemented by a smaller one on the south side. The decoration of the otherwise simple exterior was, as it is today, the west facade with a slightly protruding, gabled risalit . This protrusion of the middle masonry enabled the creation of a well-coordinated recess niche that accommodated the entrance portal and the relief above it. In the field of the flat gable the new and old form of the family coat of arms were shown. The edges of the building were rounded, and the sides of the church varied in their design with arched windows and flat panels . The roof was on its western side hipped , and received at the base of the Walms a wooden, six-sided roof skylights. This consisted of a flat hood, a lantern with arched openings and a bell-shaped curved hood attachment.
On the north side, the church had a two-storey extension at the height of the choir. This housed the sacristy on the ground floor and the apartment of a sexton . The south side of the church, on which the flat-framed portal of the previous building had been taken over, also received an extension on the choir side. It was the Everhardus Chapel with an elongated, rectangular floor plan.
Everhardus Chapel
The “Elendskirche” was joined on the south side as a choir extension by the Everhardus Chapel. The building, an annex of the church to the south of the choir, was in the corner of the nave and had an irregular floor plan. On the inner south-eastern wall stood the altar, taken from the previous church in the 17th century, which was dedicated to St. Everhardus, the Three Kings and St. Ursula . The altar was made of wood and dates from the end of the 17th century. His essay consisted of a field filled with baroque tendrils, in the open center of which a small crucifix was placed.
The flat-roofed chapel had two windows one on top of the other in the outer walls, and there was another one in the southwest wall above the door leading to the street. A portrait of the Canon Everhard Anton von Groote in the chapel showed an elongated head covered with a short wig . From Groote image of a wearing Geneva bands , and his chest was by religious decorated.
The interior
The three bays of the nave, of which the middle one was slightly higher than the other two, began with a barrel-vaulted ceiling supported by belt arches and ended behind the triumphal arch of the choir with a cross vault merging into the east wall. Pilasters (double at the choir entrance) marked the yoke sections and thus resulted in an optimal wall design and structure of the interior, which was rounded in the solid angles. The side walls, as in the external design, had visible, high wall niches in which single-glazed arched windows were inserted. The interior was painted over as early as 1783 and lost its original color.
A simple mansion box was installed on the north side of the choir . The box was furnished with armchairs lacquered in white and gold and covered with embroidered velvet cushions.
The equipped with a baroque organ organ loft took about half of the length of the western yoke and resting alongside their wall anchors on two-edged, below the gallery with a capital decorated supports. The gallery was accessible through a spiral staircase built into the wall next to the last north-western pilaster , the upper door of which was on the right behind the parapet. In 1749 Christian Ludwig König created a small parapet organ with nine registers .
Bells
In the lantern of the roof ridge hung a ring of three bells. The larger bell, consecrated to Saint Gregory, was cast by Jacob Hilden in Cologne in 1755 with a diameter of 64 centimeters. The middle bell, cast by Sifart Duisterwalt in 1453, was dedicated to St. Clement . It once belonged to St. Kunibert as a smaller church bell , was sold to the von Groote family in 1840 and replaced a bell that was cast in 1695 by Johann Wickrath, in 1752 by Jacob Hilden and, most recently, in 1822 by Stephan Hilgers, but "did not harmonize" . The smallest bell was dedicated to St. Michael , also cast by Jacob Hilden in 1766 with a diameter of 45 centimeters. The bell was part of the bell ensemble of the neighboring parish church of St. Johann Baptist. The bells were destroyed in World War II and have not been restored since then.
19th and 20th centuries
Little is known about the inventory at the beginning of the 19th century. The same applies to any interference by the French rulers. Around 1806, Everhard von Groote is said to have bought altarpieces for the side altars from the inventory of the Cologne Charterhouse . The church gallery underwent a change that was probably made after 1815. It now received a slight correction to the parapet and was subsequently supported by round, slender Romanesque columns as supports. According to Clemen, they may have come from the Katharinenkirche, which was laid down in 1807/08, and corresponded to the transition style from around 1230 to 1250.
In 1934 , Father Kentenich, who came from Gymnich , consecrated an image of the Virgin that was formerly in the Everhardus Chapel. A memorial plaque attached to the Elendskirche reminds of this ceremony, which also reminds of the Everhardus Chapel, which was destroyed during the World War. However, this was not rebuilt with its church in the post-war period - probably due to changes in traffic planning. A color-contrasting marking in the pavement outlines the location of the former chapel.
St. Gregorius im Elend was restored between 1937 and 1939, whereby among other things the original room version was uncovered and newer versions were removed from some pieces of equipment.The church building with its sophisticated furnishings was due to its harmonious conception as one of the important late Baroque works of art in Cologne in the 18th century. Century.
post war period
Nave and altars
Today's confessional stalls
Today's organ
Schoenstatt Chapel
Not much of the church has survived after severe destruction in World War II , especially when it was bombed on June 29, 1943. Only the outer walls of the building remained and were included in the post-war reconstruction under the direction of the architect Karl Band . After the reconstruction, the church was consecrated again on February 12, 1967.
Received
Parts of the relief, parts of the high altar, whose sculptures had been brought to safety, as well as various individual pieces were preserved.
- The high altar from 1767/1771, made of greenish-black and reddish Lahn marble, has a height of 10.90 m and a width of 5.70 m. Its steps and the sepulcrum plate are made of black marble. The bases of the columns and pilasters are made of formerly gilded sandstone and the capitals are made of oak. The altar, which was badly damaged between 1943 and 1945, was restored between 1959 and 1972 by the Cologne sculptor Eduard Schmitz .
- A number of important sculptures have also been restored.
In the period that followed, the financial resources for maintenance and further restorations were and will be provided by the NRW Foundation and the Family Foundation . The Archdiocese of Cologne has also got involved here and supports the conservation measures that have been resumed since 1993. The Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary , who reside in the former home of the de Groote family, the “Schoenstatt House”, have taken over the maintenance of the site.
Debris from the pre-war relief?
St. Gregorius, west portal and restored relief
View "To St. Katharinen"
Roof turrets and the rounded corners
Current time
According to the external impression, St. Gregorius in misery remained essentially a church that had been rebuilt in its old form, but it changed inside. The stately box that formerly protruded into the choir area is now missing. An organ gallery above the west portal was only rebuilt in 2014/15 in combination with a vestibule , and the 1971 organ restored by Weimbs Orgelbau from the workshop of the Dutch company Verschueren Orgelbouw from Heythuysen was rebuilt there. The immediate environment of the church has changed considerably. The rebuilt west portal with its impressive relief - emblems of the “Triumphant Death” is joined today on the north side by the Schoenstatt Chapel, which was built in 1963, and other buildings belonging to the Schoenstatt Movement . A memorial plaque on the south side reminds of the Everhardus Chapel, which was not rebuilt. The western entrance in the wall of a small church courtyard adorns and closes the former entrance gate (1829) of the “Spanish building” of the Cologne city hall.
In 2013/15 the church was extensively renovated. The NRW Foundation , the Archdiocese of Cologne and the Friends' Association, founded in 2013 and chaired by family member Alexandra von Wengersky, née von Grote, contributed to the costs of around € 600,000 . The association wants to make the church better known and open it to a wider audience through concerts and events.
According to the foundation's idea, the church has been used for Catholic services for national minorities since the last world war. The Church of St. Gregorius has retained its status as an independent church to this day. Once a year, on All Saints' Day and family celebrations, it is the meeting place for the members of the von Groote family. On February 1, 2010 the Cologne city youth chaplain Dominik Meiering was appointed Rector ecclesiae at the Elendskirche. After his election as vicar general , his successor Tobias Schwaderlapp was appointed rector.
monument
The Rhenish Association for Monument Preservation and Landscape Protection declared the church Monument of the Month in January 2008 to draw attention to its importance and to point out the need for the interior of the church to deserve restoration.
literature
- Hermann Keussen : Topography of the City of Cologne in the Middle Ages , in 2 volumes. Cologne 1910. ISBN 978-3-7700-7560-7 and ISBN 978-3-7700-7561-4 .
- Wilhelm Ewald, Hugo Rahtgens, Johannes Krudewig, in: Paul Clemen (Hrsg.): Die Kirchlichen Denkmäler der Stadt Köln , Verlag L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1916.
- Rupert Schreiber: St. Gregory. Church on the Elendsfriedhof, von Groote'sche family church ; in: Colonia Romanica - Yearbook of the Förderverein Romanische Kirchen Köln eV, Cologne churches and their furnishings in Renaissance and Baroque , Volume 2, Verlag Greven, Cologne 2003/2004.
- Dominik Meiering , Joachim Oepen: Departure instead of demolition , The Church of St. Johann Baptist in Cologne. Pressure: Quickly, Bramsche. ISBN 978-3-00-028096-2 .
- Adam Wrede : Neuer kölnischer Sprachschatz , first volume, p. 180, p. 181 Greven Verlag, Cologne, 9th edition 1984, ISBN 3-7743-0155-7 .
- Manfred Becker-Huberti , Günter A. Menne: Cologne churches, the churches of the Catholic and Protestant communities in Cologne . JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-7616-1731-3 .
Web links
- Website of the association
- Church at vongroote.info
- Estate of the von Groote family (holdings 1042) in the historical archive of the city of Cologne .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hermann Keussen, Volume I, page 147
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Die Elendskirche, Wilhelm Ewaldd, Hugo Rahtgens, Johannes Krudewig . In: Paul Clemen (Ed.): The church monuments of the city of Cologne . Publishing house L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1916.
- ↑ Hermann Keussen, Ratprotot. 3, fol. 17, volume II, page 184
- ^ Rupert Schreiber: St. Gregor. Church on the Elendsfriedhof, von Groote'sche family church , in: Colonia Romanica XVIII / XIX , Cologne churches and their furnishings in Renaissance and Baroque. Volume II, pp. 105-131, Cologne 2003/2004; with reference to: Esser, Geschichte p. 129; Trippen, Alte Elendskirche p. 34, 38, Fig. The wall by Josef Otto 1765
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Cologne churches and their furnishings in the Renaissance and Baroque , Volume 2, page 105 ff, Verlag Greven, Cologne
- ^ Arnold Stelzmann, Robert Frohn: Illustrated history of the city of Cologne, Cologne 11th edition 1990, page 223
- ↑ Spaeth was mentioned in Düsseldorf (Berger Tor) in 1751 and in Cologne in 1764/65
- ↑ Colonia Romanica, reference to: HASTK , inventory 1042, box 6 (2, 1 bis)
- ↑ a b Martin Seidler: Cologne bells and peals . In: Förderverein Romanische Kirchen Köln eV (Ed.): Colonia Romanica . tape IV . Greven-Verlag, Cologne 1989, p. 21 .
- ↑ a b Dominik Meiering and Joachim Oepen: Departure instead of demolition, The Church of St. Johann Baptist in Cologne , p. 103
- ↑ s. Church website, support association
- ↑ fb-page Weimbs from November 2, 2015 (accessed November 2015) and communication on request
- ^ Willehad Paul Eckert: Kunstführer Köln, DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne, 1976, page 238
- ↑ Friends of the Church and website
- ↑ Cologne Churches, page 52
- ↑ Kölner Stadtanzeiger, January 23, 2008, p. 27
Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 43.1 ″ N , 6 ° 57 ′ 32.8 ″ E