St. Irminen

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St. Irminen Monastery Church

The St. Irminen monastery is a former monastery in Trier , which is named after St. Irmina . It was located at today's Irminenfreihof .

history

The beginnings of the foundation walls go back to the time of the Roman Empire . After the fall of Rome, the old port halls came into the hands of the Franconian kings. King Dagobert I donated the area to the Archbishop of Trier Modoald , who initially founded a Benedictine monastery here, but which was soon converted into a Marian monastery.

The abbey was founded in 645 as a royal Marian monastery in the ruins of the Roman port warehouses by Modesta, the first abbess. The name “Oeren” for the monastery is derived from its location (from Latin: horrea for the harbor warehouse). From 659 to 704, according to some information, the later namesake Irmina was the second abbess. The name of the monastery was also derived from her. It is not clear whether Irmina already introduced the Benedictine rule; however, it is documented that it applied from 953. It is also unclear whether Irmina was actually abbess in the monastery and was significantly involved in its founding (see below).

It was a Benedictine monastery since the Carolingian era. From the year 1000 - according to other sources as early as 966 - it was finally subordinated to the Archbishop of Trier. From 1148 to 1152 it was by Pope Eugene III. fundamentally reformed according to the Augustinian rule. The Archbishop of Trier Albero von Montreuil then handed the monastery over to the new abbot Richard von Springiersbach . However, it was dissolved in 1495 and the Benedictine rule reintroduced. In this context there was a close connection to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Matthias .

In the 12th and 18th centuries, the monastery was structurally modified on a large scale. This included the hall-like church built according to plans by Joan Antoin in 1768/69, which was named after St. Irmina. In the 16th and 17th centuries, like many other monasteries in the city, the monastery was hit several times during the chaos of war and epidemics, most recently during the French invasion in 1794.

On June 9, 1802, the monastery was dissolved in the course of secularization . In 1804, after two years of vacancy, the decision was made to convert the former monastery into a hospital. From April 1, 1811, the walls were included in the "United Hospitals" after the first Borromean convent had opened here in Trier. Under Napoleon's leadership, the buildings were given a new purpose, some of them hospitals and old people's homes , which still exist today. At that time the orphanage of the St. Afra Monastery was also moved here.

On September 8, 1868, the first own chapel was built in the complex (St. Katharina).

The monastery was almost completely destroyed in a bombing raid in December 1944, but it was rebuilt from 1945 onwards. In its function as a hospital and as part of the “United Hospices”, it is still in use today. Since 1960 the building has been primarily a retirement and nursing home.

Buildings and Architecture

Present stock

Rococo Church of St. Irminen
Building complex, today a retirement home

The remains of the historic Roman port halls can still be seen in parts in the building complex. The buildings are structured by blind arcades. In the eastern part of the monastery was the intersection of two Roman roads. Here, the foundation walls of small-scale nested residential and commercial buildings from the first to fourth centuries AD were exposed and partially preserved.

The main church of the monastery is the rococo church of St. Irminen from 1771 - according to other sources 1768/69 or 1768–1771 - by Joan Antonin, a single-nave hall building with a four-bay nave. After its destruction in the Second World War in 1944, it was rebuilt in 1964. The church tower goes back to the Romanesque monastery church St. Marien from the 11th century. That was once as big as St. Maximin and St. Matthias. It was single-nave with a semicircular apse and flanking side apses , which also ended with a semicircular apse. The south-eastern tower of the church has been preserved.

A large part of the cloister has been rebuilt and still serves as a nursing home and hospital. Therefore, all paths on the site are now designed to be barrier-free.

The site also includes the Willibrordstift, which is named after the missionary Willibrord . Willibrord was the founder of Echternach Abbey , with which the Irminenkloster was in close contact. In front of the pen named after him there is also a memorial dedicated to him.

Disused buildings

The church of St. Irminen is no longer preserved in its original state. It was destroyed in World War II and then partially demolished. The baroque south wing with a central risalit was not rebuilt either.

In the area of ​​Windmühlenstraße there used to be a vineyard, the Irminenwingert, which belonged to the monastery. The origins of the vineyard go back to Roman times. Since then, the site has been expanded and expanded again and again. However, the garden has completely disappeared today.

Other buildings of the abbey

The abbey also owned some buildings outside the Irminenfreihof.

Stiftshof in Aach

Stiftshof in Aach

This also includes the monastery courtyard of St. Irminen in Aach from 1752. It is a parallel courtyard consisting of a street-side, baroque residential building that was formerly provided with a gate passage and, among other things, served as an agricultural building. The complex is an outstanding example of a baroque monastery courtyard.

Hofgut in Kasel

Former courtyard house in Kasel (Ruwertal)

The former Hofgut von St. Irminen is located in Kasel an der Ruwer . The Streckhofanlage is located on the northern edge of the village below the vineyard that once belonged there . The building dates from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, but is based on an older core from 1227. After the secularization , the building was auctioned in 1805 and in 1854 came into the possession of the Counts of Kesselstatt . The complex has been divided into three parts since the 1980s and has been completely renovated and converted to purely residential use. The residential building, which is formed by the basement, dominates as a striking hipped roof building with baroque arched windows on the upper floor. It connects to the gable side of the wine press house, which is an elongated, single-storey building under a high gable roof that is hipped on one side. The farm building of the Hofgut presents itself as a wide, gable-independent building with a crooked hip roof. Many parts of the area were also left in their historical condition, e.g. B. the kitchen with the Takenkamin, the wine press hall and the old wooden stairs.

Controversy and ambiguity

In the 13th century, cults and legends were formed around the figure Irmina in many ways, so that there are various controversies about the age of the monastery and its founding by Irmina von Oeren. It is sometimes assumed that the founding documents from the 7th century were forged in the later Middle Ages. The existence of those founding documents has only been proven since the 12th century. It is also controversial whether Irmina was even the daughter of Dagobert I, as is often claimed. If the claim is correct, this would give the monastery a prominent position. But even in this case, no documents have survived that were written before the 12th century. According to current research, the oldest manuscripts on Irmina date back to the 10th century at the most. Also unanswered is the question of why Irmina's relics were not kept in the Trier monastery, but were moved to the Alsatian Benedictine monastery in Weißenburg , where they were buried in a high grave. Although this can be traced back to the Weißenburg Dagobert tradition, it is not a decisive indication why the relics are not related to the Trier monastery.

Web links

Commons : St. Irminen (Trier)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Entry on the Abbey of Sankt Irminen (Ören) in the database of cultural assets in the Trier region ; Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f P. Petrus Becker OSB in: Monasteries in Trier from late antiquity to the present. Catalog for the exhibition of Catholic adult education on the occasion of the 2000th anniversary of the city of Trier from 25.3. until 1.11.1984 in the cathedral cloister. Concept: Prof. Dr. Franz J. Ronig
  3. ↑ a b c University of Trier: Studies - Churches. In: uni-trier.de. October 22, 2013, accessed November 4, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Irmina von Trier. In: rheinische-geschichte.lvr.de. November 4, 2016. Retrieved November 4, 2016 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Christian König: Trier-Oeren - St. Irminen Monastery - regionalgeschichte.net. In: klosterlexikon-rlp.de. Retrieved November 2, 2016 .
  6. ↑ a b Klaus Graf: Irminen pictures. In: archivalia.hypotheses.org. December 24, 2015, accessed November 4, 2016 (French).
  7. ↑ a b c Entry by Christoph Jürgens on Benedictine Abbey Oeren (St. Irminen Abbey, Oeren Monastery ) in the " KuLaDig " database of the Rhineland Regional Association , accessed on September 28, 2017.
  8. ^ A b c d Daniel Paul: United hospices - Trier. In: Vereinigtehospitien.de. Retrieved November 2, 2016 .
  9. ↑ Christian Joericke, Marcus Stoelb: 16 VOR - News from Trier - Do you know ... the St. Afra Monastery? »16 BEFORE. In: 16vor.de. December 1, 2014, accessed November 4, 2016 .
  10. ^ Archeology between the Hunsrück and the Eifel - Guide to the excavation sites of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier. 1999. ISBN 3-923319-43-6 (series of publications by the RLM Trier No. 15). Online shop: www.landesmuseum-trier-shop.de
  11. ↑ a b Churches in Trier - cultural trips, educational trips, study trips. In: Kulturreise-ideen.de. Retrieved November 4, 2016 .
  12. ↑ All about Liebfrauen - the sacral architecture of Triers in the 13th / 14th centuries Century with special consideration of the beggar order churches , dissertation by Elisabeth Kugel (PDF file)
  13. ^ Daniel Paul: United Hospices - Trier. In: Vereinigtehospitien.de. Retrieved November 2, 2016 .
  14. ↑ volksfreund.de: Guard Willibrord - volksfreund.de. (No longer available online.) In: volksfreund.de. January 29, 2007, formerly in the original ; accessed on November 1, 2016 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.volksfreund.de  
  15. ↑ Helmut Lutz: Directory of the listed buildings since 1930. Preservation of monuments in Trier (1975) Ed .: Urban preservation of monuments
  16. ↑ Rudolf Steffens: The field name Wingert and the Simmerner Wingertsberg. Http://www.germanistik.uni-mainz.de/RED/hist_ling/Der-Flurname-Wingert.pdf  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.germanistik.uni-mainz.de  
  17. ^ Ewald Wegner (arrangement): District of Trier-Saarburg. Verbandsgemeinden Ruwer, Schweich, Trier-Land (=  monument topography Federal Republic of Germany , cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate . Volume 12.2 ). Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1994, ISBN 3-88462-110-6 .
  18. ^ Entry on the former Hofgut of the Abbey of Sankt Irminen in the database of cultural assets in the Trier region ; Retrieved November 4, 2016.