St. Katharinen (Braunschweig)

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Katharinenkirche with Hagenmarkt and Heinrichsbrunnen (front left) from the southwest
St. Catherine's from the southeast

The Katharinenkirche in Braunschweig was built at the beginning of the 13th century as the parish church of the Weichbildes Hagen . The Evangelical Lutheran Church, which has been in existence since 1528, dominates the east side of the Hagenmarkt . The main patroness is St. Catherine of Alexandria , of whose attributes - sword, wheel and crown - the wheel can be found in the coat of arms of Hagen.

History of construction and use

The Romanesque foundation building, which presumably dates back to a foundation by Duke Heinrich the Lion († 1195), was started as a pillar basilica between 1200 and 1205, closely following the Braunschweig Cathedral and the Martini Church in the old town . With the city charter, the Jura et libertates Indaginis from 1227, the citizens of Hagen received the right to elect a pastor to St. Katharinen. The conversion to a Gothic hall church began in the second half of the 13th century, as indicated by an indulgence from 1252. The side aisles were doubled and vaulted at the height of the central nave. The west building and the south tower were completed in 1379, the north tower remained unfinished due to the abolition of indulgences as a result of the Reformation. The south tower has a height of 82.18 m, the north tower 74.08 m, of which 2.58 m for the weather rod from the center of the knob. This makes St. Katharinen the second tallest church in Braunschweig after St. Andreas .

Reformation and early modern times

In 1528 the Reformation was introduced in Braunschweig, with which the Katharinenkirche received a Protestant pastor. The elaborate and expensive interior (Fritzsche organ 1623, Schulenburg epitaph 1621) at the time of the Thirty Years' War is remarkable .

In 1698, Nikol List and his gang robbed the church. He was also known for robberies on the Hamburg Cathedral and the Lüneburg Golden Plate in the Michaeliskirche there . For example, he worked with duplicate keys instead of the racing tree that was used earlier . His loot included numerous items made of silver and other valuable jewelry, including sabers and bracelets.

In the 18th century, the well-known composer and Bach's son Wilhelm Friedemann Bach applied to Duke Karl I for the position of organist , but was turned down in 1771 in favor of a local.

Tower front
View of the west building and the towers from the north-west in the evening light.

19th and 20th centuries

One of the towers went up in flames on February 20, 1815 after being struck by lightning. The southern nave portal was created in 1843. In the years 1887 to 1890, Ludwig Winter restored the interior of the church. After destruction during the Second World War , restoration work began in 1946. The tower helmets and the interior were renewed from 1957 to 1958.

In the years 1974 to 1978, the eastward sloping west building was stabilized by the Braunschweig civil engineer Klaus Pieper († 1995) after the groundwater level had been lowered in the course of the construction of the underground car park under the palace park and the hundreds of tree trunks on which the church building was due to formerly swampy subsoil has shrunk. To do this, the engineer used an oil hydraulic system that was new at the time and with the help of which entire walls could be lifted.

An exterior restoration took place between 1987 and 1999. The natural stone facade was plastered and painted in the colors that are based on the Elm limestone and the Braunschweig Rogenstein from the Nussberg . The plastering has received a lot of criticism. However, after the remains of paint found under the stone cornices, it can be said that St. Catherine's Church was also plastered and painted in the Middle Ages. The quarry stone masonry, in which quarry stone and even partially brick was randomly processed, was in any case not built as exposed brickwork. The Gothic structure of the masonry also emerges better after the measures taken. These measures were taken after individual stones in the masonry had lost up to ten centimeters in thickness over the past hundred years.

Building description

St. Katharinen with surrounding buildings
Katharinenkirche from the north-west

Exterior construction

The west building, which, like the Braunschweiger Dom , was designed as a Saxon west bar , is characteristic. The initially purely Romanesque substructure is followed by an early Gothic, further storey, on the next level the high Gothic bell house with the late Gothic towers follows. Due to the Reformation and the abolition of indulgences, the construction was not completed, the north tower, as with the St. Andrew's Church , remained unfinished.

Interior

Interior of the Katharinenkirche

Numerous old furnishings, such as the limestone relief of Christ as Judge of the World , dated 1488 , are now in the City Museum . Several epitaphs and grave monuments have been preserved from the 16th to 18th centuries .

The stained glass windows with biblical themes, including the Resurrection and The Tree of Life , were created by the well-known glass painter Hans Gottfried von Stockhausen between 1960 and 1982.

Schulenburg epitaph

After the death of the military Georg von der Schulenburg († 1619), his widow, Lucia von Veltheim († 1620), had an elaborate epitaph built. For an agreed sum of 2000 thalers, the Braunschweig sculptor Jürgen Röttger († 1623) and Lulef Bartels from Magdeburg created a four-story epitaphlettner with a staggered front made of slate and limestone. The alabaster reliefs and figures based on contemporary paintings come from Bartels. The two kneeling donor figures were designed to be almost life-size and painted in color. In 1789 the show wall was moved to the western end wall of the southern aisle. The Schulenburg epitaph is one of the most important grave monuments in northern Germany.

organ

View through the nave to the organ

Between 1621 and 1623 originated organ by Gottfried Fritzsche . Major changes took place during the 19th and 20th centuries.

In 1980 the Hamburg firm Rudolf von Beckerath Orgelbau built a new organ using six original registers from the old Fritzsche organ. The six old registers that have been reused are Octave 4 'in the Pedal, Subbass 16' and Nasat 2 2 ⁄ 3  'in the main work, Gedackt 8', Quintadene 8 'and fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ' in the new one Swell. The instrument has 54 registers and slider drawers . In 2015 the pedal was expanded to include a 32 'register. The key actions are mechanical, the stop actions are electrical. In 2018, the organ was equipped with an electronic player with a coin slot to choose from between eleven music titles; the recordings were made by church music director Carl-Eduard Hecker. The individual organ pipes are controlled via pipe valves.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Sub bass 16 ′
2. Principal 8th'
3. Reed flute 8th'
4th Gemshorn 8th'
5. octave 4 ′
6th Night horn 4 ′
7th Nasat 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
8th. octave 2 ′
9. Flat flute 2 ′
10. Mixture VI – VIII
11. Sharp IV
12. Trumpet 16 ′
13. Trumpet 8th'
II Swell C – g 3
14th Dumped 8th'
15th Quintadena 8th'
16. Black viola 8th'
17th octave 4 ′
18th Reed flute 4 ′
19th octave 2 ′
20th Forest flute 2 ′
21st Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
22nd Sesquialtera II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
23. Overtones II
24. Sharp V – VII
25th Dulcian 16 ′
26th oboe 8th'
27. Krummhorn 8th'
Tremulant
28. Spanish trumpet 8th'
29 Principal 8th'
30th Wooden flute 8th'
III Breastwork C – g 3
31. Wooden dacked 8th'
32. recorder 4 ′
33. Principal 2 ′
34. Gemshorn 2 ′
35. Sif flute 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
36. octave 1'
37. Terzian II
38. Sharp IV
39. Vox humana 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – d 1
40. Principal 16 ′
41. Sub bass 16 ′
42. Quintbass 10 2 ⁄ 3  ′
43. octave 8th'
44. Dumped 8th'
45. octave 4 ′
46. Coupling flute 4 ′
47. Night horn 2 ′
48. Rauschpfeife III
49. Mixture VI – VIII
50. trombone 16 ′
51. Trumpet 8th'
52. Trumpet 4 ′
53. Cornet 2 ′
54. Pedestal 32 ′

Peal

Three bells from 1498, 1533 and 1656 have been preserved, and two newer ones were added in 1987.

The bell I with the name "Servator" (keeper) from St. Katharinen zu Braunschweig was cast in 1553 by Johannes Moor from Hertogenbosch (Netherlands). Their nominal value is h ° +11, their weight is approx. 2,800 kg. The hood of the bell was drilled through to hang it on the steel yoke.

The bell II with the name "Salvator" (savior) was cast in 1656 by Ludolf Siegfriedt . Their nominal value is d 1 +10 and their weight is approx. 1,750 kg. The hood of this bell was also drilled through to hang it on the steel yoke.

The bell III with the name "Sankt Katharina" was cast in 1987 by Petit & Edelbrock in Gescher . Their nominal value is e 1 +8, their weight is 1,100 kg.

Bell IV with the name "Johannes Baptista" was cast in 1987 by Petit & Edelbrock in Gescher. Their nominal value is g 1 +8, their weight is 680 kg.

The smallest bell is the "Our Father Bell". It was founded in Braunschweig in 1498 by Hinrik Menten the Elder. Ä. poured. Their nominal value is e 2 and their weight is 136 kg.

Pastors

Since the Reformation, two preaching posts have been filled at the Katharinenkirche. Well-known pastors were:

literature

  • Elmar Arnhold: St. Katharinen - parish church in Hagen. In: Medieval metropolis Braunschweig. Architecture and urban architecture from the 11th to 15th centuries. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2018, ISBN 978-3-944939-36-0 , pp. 116–125.
  • Klaus Jürgens: St. Katharinen. In: Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon. Published on behalf of the city of Braunschweig by Luitgard Camerer, Manfred RW Garzmann and Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf with the special assistance of Norman-Mathias Pingel. Meyer, Braunschweig 1992, pp. 124-25, ISBN 3-926701-14-5 .
  • Georg Dehio , Gottfried Kiesow: Handbook of the German art monuments: Bremen, Lower Saxony. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-422-00348-7 .
  • Richard Moderhack : Brunswick town history. Wagner, Braunschweig 1997, ISBN 3-87884-050-0 .
  • Parish office of St. Katharinen (ed.): Eight centuries of St. Katharinen Church in Braunschweig. Contributions to their history. Orphanage printing house, Braunschweig 1980.

Web links

Commons : St. Katharinen (Braunschweig)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Structural history of St. Katharinen , accessed on January 25, 2016.
  2. ^ Walter Born: The high German church towers . Lax, 1979, Hildesheim ISBN 3-7848-7010-4 . The height information is based on official measurements.
  3. ^ Joachim Lehrmann : Gangs of robbers between Harz and Weser - Braunschweig, Hanover, Hildesheim and southern Lower Saxony. Lehrte 2004, ISBN 978-3-9803642-4-9 , pp. 104-108.
  4. ↑ More information about the great organ of St. Katharinen ( Memento from August 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  5. ↑ Where the church organ becomes a jukebox (video, 2:56 min)
  6. ↑ Charlotte Morgenthal: The jukebox organ. In: Evangelische Perspektiven No. 2/2019, pp. 18–19; published by the press office of the Landeskirche Braunschweig
  7. ↑ The bells of St. Catherine's . (PDF; 332 kB)

Coordinates: 52 ° 16 ′ 3.1 ″  N , 10 ° 31 ′ 31.1 ″  E