St. Jakob (Aachen)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
St. Jacob Church
View of St. Jakob from the tower gallery of Aachen Cathedral

The St. Jakob Church is a town church in Aachen . It is subordinate to the patronage of the Apostle James the Elder and is located near the city center. As the Jakobskirche , it is the first stop on the Way of St. James from Aachen Cathedral to Santiago de Compostela .

history

Monument on the site of the former Kalvarienberg church by W. Pohl and C. Esser, 1893
Pulpit of St. Jakob

Coming from Aachen Cathedral, St. Jacob was the first church in which the pilgrims prayed before continuing their pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela on the so-called "Niederstraße" via Liège , Paris and Tours . Located at the highest point of medieval Aachen, Jakobsplatz was a fork in the road that pilgrims could either take a detour to see the relics of St. Servatius in Maastricht to Santiago de Compostela or straight through the medieval Jacob's Gate .

The old, very small church of St. Jacob is mentioned for the first time around 1165, documented in 1215. The medieval pilgrims believed that it was founded by Charlemagne himself: after his return from the liberation of the grave of St. James, he had a chapel for the apostle here founded. Because of this legend, St. Jakob was considered the first German Jakobskirche by pilgrims. Until 1815, St. Jakob was also responsible for the Catholic population of Vaals , where they supported the construction and operation of the local St. Paulus-Kerk as their subsidiary church with funds from the Aachen Marienstift , and until 1951 for the neighboring village of Vaalserquartier .

The original building of St. Jakob was demolished in 1885 - the stones were used for the construction of the new church tower - and replaced by the current church. Today's Jakobskirche was built with stones from the Aachen city wall . A group of crosses erected in 1893 reminds of the old church. The foundation stone was laid in 1877 and consecrated in 1886. The church was built according to plans by Heinrich Wiethase and Eduard Linse in a neo-Gothic - neo - Romanesque style. The "Romanizing" representation of the Calvary comes from the year 1893 from the sculptor workshop Wilhelm Pohl and Carl Esser on the square opposite the church building, which is reminiscent of Wilhelmine monuments. Because of the massive war damage in autumn 1944, the interior was largely redesigned from 1949 to 1953.

The blue-green painting (executed by Roland Gassert) of the church took place in 1973/74 as part of the redesign of the interior by the Aachen cathedral master builder and architect Leo Hugot . Although Hugot corrected some of the innovations made by his predecessor Peter Salm , which were supposedly necessary for static reasons, to be more faithful to the original, his commitment to a strong color in bright light blue that corresponds to the zeitgeist remains a commitment to a modernizing redesign. The choir room design by Leo Hugot and the new tabernacle "Consummati in Unum" in the choir apse by Klaus Iserlohe date from this period . The ambo was also designed by Klaus Iserlohe. The baptismal font was moved to the left transept in 1995 and the choir organ was installed in 1996. A thorough restoration of the roof, facade and the 87 meter high tower was completed in 2008.

In addition to St. James has three other church patrons:

  • the St. Hubertus , founder and first bishop of the Diocese of Liège; the canons of Aachen Cathedral, who traditionally revered Hubertus, had previously worked for St. Jakob,
  • the St. Quirinus , patron saint of the needles; There were several needle factories in Aachen's west quarter around St. Jakob
  • the holy Gerlach , hermit in Houthem , which should be regularly made the pilgrimage to Aachen and have always made station on its way to the cathedral in St. Jacob.

Furnishing

Numerous pictures, figures and windows in the church interior indicate the importance of St. Jacob as a pilgrimage church:

  • a figure of James with a pilgrim's staff and a scallop shell in the lower transept (woodwork by Gustav Angelo Venth , 1890),
  • a window with the representation of St. Jakobus in the right aisle (work from industrial glass by Heinrich Junker , 1947/48),
  • Representation of St. James with pilgrim hat and shell on the pulpit in the right central nave (stone work from 1884),
  • Scenes from the life of St. James (James' mother asks Jesus for her son; James enables his executioner to be baptized) on two oil paintings of the former high altar in the left aisle,
  • Window depicting Charlier's dream, in which he was instructed to secure the Camino de Santiago in Spain (design by Erich Charlier , 1986),
  • four windows in the western transept (design by Irene Rothweiler , 1982/83), with different themes on the pilgrimage, e.g. B. ten suggested scallops in the left window for the ten commandments of God
  • Window rosette in the tower chapel with the "Heavenly Jerusalem" as a pilgrimage destination in eternity (design by Irene Rothweiler , 1985) and "Aachener Deesis" with Christ enthroned in the middle, the Virgin Mary on the left and the Archangel Michael on the right.
  • Window in the eastern apses, left Herz-Jesu theme, right Herz Mariä theme, (design by Irene Rothweiler )
  • Window in the choir with arched and medallion windows (design by Wilhelm Buschulte ) with passion scenes

The more than 600 year old St. James bell, cast by Peter von Trier , can be heard every quarter of an hour. Under an old inscription from September 1401 there are four 9 cm high representations of St. James with staff and book. The bell has been the oldest bell in Aachen since the storm bell of St. Peter was destroyed in World War II. The inscription reads in translation:

I am James' bell: At festivals, I also ring graves plaintively and every day announce the time when I will honor Mary.

In 1502 the Bartholomäus bell was added, which was cast by Gregor von Trier and the inscription translates as follows:

St. Anna, St. My name is Bartholomäus, I ring the bell for services, I chase away the devil, Gregor von Trier poured me in the year of the Lord 1502

Finally, Franz von Trier and his son Jakob cast another bell for St. Jakob in 1644 in honor of the best and highest God and Saints Hubertus and Barbara , which, according to church accounts, was made from the casting of an old bell.

organ

The choir organ of the parish church St. Jakob was built in 1993 by the organ builder Martin Scholz (Mönchengladbach). The purely mechanical instrument has 15 stops on two manuals and a pedal .

Disposition
I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Drone 16 ′
2. Principal 8th'
3. Drone 8th'
4th flute 8th'
5. Salicional 8th'
6th Octav 4 ′
7th Principal 2 ′
II Swell C – g 3
8th. Reed flute 8th'
9. Viol 8th'
10. Viola celeste 8th'
11. flute 4 ′
12. Trumpet 8th'
13. Bassoon oboe 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
14th Drone 16 ′
15th flute 8th'

literature

Web links

Commons : St. Jakob (Aachen)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eduard Trier, Willi Weyres (Ed.): Art of the 19th century in the Rhineland. 5 volumes. Volume 4: Plastic. Schwann, Düsseldorf, 1980, ISBN 3-590-30254-2 , pp. 98f.
  2. ↑ Bartholomew Bell; Entry in the inscription catalog Aachen, DI 32, City of Aachen, No. 52 (Helga Giersiepen)
  3. ^ Entry in the inscription catalog Aachen, DI 32, City of Aachen, No. 168 (Helga Giersiepen)

Coordinates: 50 ° 46 ′ 13.5 "  N , 6 ° 4 ′ 32.9"  E