St. Kiliani (Höxter)

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The towers and westwork of the Kilianikirche define the townscape of Höxter
Badge "Open Churches"

The Protestant Church of St. Kiliani in Höxter is originally a Romanesque basilica . Its two- tower westwork from the 11th century towers over the old town. It was also the model for the two-tower extension of the Carolingian westwork of the nearby Corvey Abbey . The listed church, which like the Gothic Marienkirche belongs to the Evangelical Parish of Höxter, bears the plaque of the “Open Churches” initiative of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia.

Building history

Room architecture with Romanesque columns and arches
Floor plan of the Kilianikirche with the predecessor building drawn

The church is dedicated to St. Kilian , a 7th century Irish traveling bishop. The patronage of the Kilianikirche shows the former relationship between Höxter and Würzburg : Before the Corvey Monastery was founded, Würzburg was the place where the Christianization of the Sachsenland was carried out.

Construction of a previous building around 800

During renovation work in 1961, the foundations of an older, much smaller predecessor building were exposed. This hall building had a subdivision to the west and a choir room with a square floor plan. The age of this hall building can be dated to the time between 780 and 800 through the discovery of broken fragments and numerous burials inside and outside - it was built before the diocese of Paderborn was founded in 806 .

Construction of a basilica around 1100

A new church was built from Weser sandstone in the 11th century and consecrated on July 8, 1075. Originally it was a pillar basilica, a flat-roofed hall church, with two side aisles , and with a straight choir closure in the east and west. Today the north aisle with the Romanesque north portal, which is lower than the main nave , shows the pure basilica form.

Vault around 1200

Another construction phase about 100 years later completely changed the image of the church: It was given a vault . For this purpose, pillar templates were inserted under the vault approach. These were decorated in the aisles with half columns and richly decorated capitals. A completely new spatial effect resulted from the fact that the directional architecture of the original basilica gave way to a division of the entire room into several almost square vaults in both the main and the side aisles.

Construction of the spiers

The question of when in the course of the long history of Kilianikirche the originally flat Romanesque tower roofs were replaced by today's slim spiers has apparently not yet been clarified. The different heights of the two towers, which characterize the cityscape, are characteristic: the north tower, the “community tower”, is 48 m high. As a weather vane it has a rooster, which is supposed to embody the power of God. The south tower, also known as the "city tower", is only 45.65 m high. The imperial eagle is the symbol for the lower ranked worldly power. In the early modern times it is also passed down as a Hausmannsturm, which was occupied by an employed tower keeper. The council archives were located in the basement.

Expansion into a two-aisled hall church around 1400

In the years 1391 to 1412, i.e. in the late Gothic period, the south aisle was demolished. Two of the three southern arcade pillars were taken out and two higher arcade arches with a double radius were stretched between the remaining pillars. During this transformation into a hall church , the Gothic south portal that still exists today was built. The capitals attached to the columns in the nave today come from the former south aisle.

The choir received - probably at the same time - a Gothic ribbed vault that was higher than the original Romanesque.

Extension of the Annenkapelle around 1500

Between 1500 and 1515, the St. Anne's Chapel was built on the north side of the church, parallel to the side aisle, an elongated room with a ribbed vault, originally crowned with a gable.

Establishment of a second south portal in 1562

Only in the post-Reformation period was another portal broken out in the south transept, apparently because of the increase in church attendance since the Reformation. The stone carvings (outside on the transept) are among the best stone work in the church.

Addition of the sacristy around 1600

View from the south aisle towards the Annenkapelle

The sacristy in the corner between the north choir wall and the transept dates from the Renaissance period . The ribbed vault and a window are preserved from that time.

Restoration in 1881/1882

During a two-year restoration phase, during which the Gothic St. Mary's Church , which was then used as a storage room, served as a makeshift alternative church, the stone rood screen , which until then had supported the baroque organ and the baroque balustrade , was replaced by a large wooden gallery . The church was furnished with neo-Gothic style benches , a large part of which has survived. Fortunately, other previously proposed measures were not implemented: the “removal of the poor Renaissance cladding of the gallery, the pulpit, the very poor altar and the organ façade and a new Romanesque construction” and the removal of the baptismal font.

Destruction of the north tower in 1901

In 1901 the north tower burned down due to a lightning strike. The tower helmet was completely destroyed. The tower could only be restored after more than a year.

Construction of the west portal and closure of the east window in 1937

The west portal between the two church towers was only broken out of the wall in 1937 and at the same time the front part of the organ gallery was lowered. The east window in the choir was bricked up and only opened again when the church was last renovated.

Casting of the existing bells 1921/1949

The parish had to part with its bells several times : in 1810/11 when the bells were taken over from the former Petrikirche and during the two world wars to be melted down for armament purposes. The bells of the Kilianikirche are in the south tower.

The oldest surviving bell dates from 1921 and bears the inscription Be true to death, so I want to give you the crown of life . This bronze bell weighs 350 kg. With a diameter of 920 mm, it produces the strike note as 1 . The commemorative bell from 1949 bears the inscription This is how we recognized the love that He gave his life for the brothers . It is made of cast steel ( Bochumer Verein ), weighs 1,300 kg and, with a diameter of 1,430 mm, produces the striking note f 1 . The large praying bell was created together with the memorial bell in 1949. It bears the inscription O Land, Land, Land hear the Lord's word . Its weight is 1,800 kg and with a diameter of 1,605 mm it produces the strike note es 1 . A fourth bell is visible on the outside of the tower spire under a small roof porch. It is much smaller and beats the time every quarter of an hour.

Renovation phases in recent times

In 1961/62, 1966/67, 1984/85 and 2005–2007 extensive renovation work was carried out on the church building. While the former were primarily necessary for the static security of the building, which its builders had not designed for the load from a vault, the last renovation was necessary due to the devastating explosion of a residential building in the immediate vicinity of the church in September 2005, which also took place at the Caused great damage to the church.

Furnishing

Renaissance pulpit and baroque organ in dialogue

The medieval furnishings of the church were lost in the turmoil of the Reformation , with the exception of a Gothic gallery chest, which can be seen today in the memorial chapel in the basement of the south tower.

In 1533 St. Kiliani became Protestant. In the following decades the church received valuable new furnishings, of which the late Gothic crucifixion group, the Renaissance pulpit rich in figures and ornaments, the baroque monument organ, the epitaph of the Kanne couple and the baptismal font are the most notable. These pieces also survived the horrors of the Thirty Years' War , from which Höxter suffered heavily.

pulpit

The pulpit of the Kilianikirche is one of the most valuable Renaissance pulpits in the Weser area. It dates from 1597. Between fluted alabaster corner columns , the five panels are decorated with small aedicules , the reliefs of which depict the four evangelists and a crucifixion scene in finely executed alabaster work. The allegorical representations in the lower area symbolize justice, love, truth and strength. The base fillings show motifs from the life of Jesus, also as alabaster work.

Crucifixion group

The crucifixion group with Christ on the cross, his mother Mary and the disciple John is a masterpiece of the late 16th century. It stood on a beam that was hung or built into one of the two triumphal arches . In 1937, when the east window was bricked up, the crucifixion group was set up in the way it is today. The design of the new east window (2010) takes into account the very unusual constellation of a crucifixion group standing in front of a window.

Baptismal font

View from the pulpit to the chancel with the crucifixion group and baptismal font

The baptismal font from 1631, in its hexagonal goblet shape with acanthus leaf decorations, bears three-dimensional winged angel heads as well as the coat of arms and the name of the founder.

Epitaphs

Several epitaphs belong to the furnishings of the Kilianikirche: On the west side of the south aisle there is a large wooden epitaph of the married couple Franz and Margarete von Kanne (1593), including the epitaph of Johann Georg Ziegenhirt (1734). The epitaph of Heinrich Julius von der Lippe (1622) was erected after 1900 in front of the walling up of the portal in the south transept, and in the apse of the south transept there is another epitaph by Anna Maria Ziegenhirt (1687).

organ

The monument organ of the Kilianikirche is a work of the baroque . It was built in 1710 by Hinrich Klausing from Herford. Klausing used some stops from a predecessor organ about 100 years older in the Brustwerk . In spite of some changes and extensions, noteworthy parts of the original stops, including those from the previous organ, are still preserved in the Oberwerk and Brustwerk.

In the course of the new gallery building in 1882, the organ was moved entirely to the back wall of the church. After several minor modifications, it was expanded to include a few pedal stops in 1963 and a Rückpositiv in 1971 .

The organ, threatened by severe lead corrosion mainly because of its unfavorably air-conditioned location, was extensively restored between 1998 and 2004. The historical works were moved back to their original location, and the 20th century pipes were placed in a new case behind them. The back positive case from the 1960s, which has become superfluous, is now installed in the north aisle of the church.

After the explosion in 2005, the historic pipework had to be relocated again. After the renovation work on the church was completed in October 2007, the organ was cleaned, repaired and put back in the church, so that it could be officially put into service again in April 2008.

Musical center

Also because of its valuable baroque organ, the Kilianikirche is a center of church music for the region and at the same time the seat of the district cantorate for the eastern part of the Evangelical church district of Paderborn . Fixed facilities include a. the music at market time (Saturdays) and open singing at market time (Wednesdays) in the time between Easter and autumn holidays and night music by candlelight on Pentecost and New Year's Eve.

Due to its small vault structure, the Kilianikirche has an unusually complex acoustics . Caused by an initiative of the Worship Service of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia (with specialist musical advice from church music director Matthias Nagel ), today, depending on the acoustic requirements, music is played in the Kilianikirche Höxter with different musical ensembles from very different locations in the church. The seating (including the benches) is aligned accordingly, so that very diverse spatial experiences can be made on these occasions, similar to what must have been in the first centuries of the history of this church, when chairs or benches were not even common in churches .

literature

  • Fritz Sagebiel: The medieval churches of the city of Höxter. Höxter Yearbook Volume 5, Höxter 1963.
  • Evangelical Church Community Höxter (Ed.): 900 years St. Kiliani Church Höxter. Höxter 1975.
  • Fritz Sagebiel / Martin D. Sagebiel: St. Kiliani and St. Marien Höxter ( large architectural monuments , booklet 218). 2nd edition, Munich / Berlin 1997.
  • Jost Schmithals and Sabine Schmithals: The organ in the Kilianikirche Höxter - Festschrift for the re-inauguration on June 13, 2004. Höxter 2004.
  • Wilfried Henze: The St. Kilianikirche in Höxter. A building and art history tour. Höxter 2009.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Open Churches" initiative of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia , as of March 29, 2011.
  2. Photo from 1901 (church without west portal) seen on the website of the baroque organ 22 March 2011.
  3. Detailed information on the history of the organ seen on March 22, 2011.
  4. Musikalisches Zentrum Höxter seen March 22, 2011.
  5. Music seen at market time March 22, 2011.
  6. Open singing at market time as seen March 22, 2011.
  7. Night music by candlelight seen March 22, 2011.

Coordinates: 51 ° 46 ′ 27.3 "  N , 9 ° 22 ′ 59.7"  E