St. Kunigunde (Rochlitz)
St. Kunigunde (also Kunigunden Church ) is one of the two Evangelical Lutheran town churches in Rochlitz in Saxony . Patron saint is the holy Kunigunde , the wife of the holy Emperor Henry II. The church is art-historically famous for its late Gothic , richly decorated choir and the facade of the south aisle from the first half of the 15th century.
location
The Kunigunden Church is located on Kunigundenplatz at the eastern end of the large plaza in Rochlitz old town, the western end of which is the market. From the Topfmarkt the Kirchgasse leads directly to the west portal of the church. To the south of the church runs Kunigundenstrasse, which formerly led right behind the church through the lower gate that marked the city limits.
history
The initially Romanesque building of the Kunigunden Church was built with the planned layout of the council town of Rochlitz at the end of the 12th century. The consecration is presumed shortly after 1200 because of the naming, as Kunigunde was canonized in 1200. The church was initially a branch church of St. Petri and only received full parish rights in 1546, making it officially the second city church. Of the Romanesque church, the first four floors of the two outer parts of the tower front, which are made of slate, have been preserved.
An elaborate late Gothic new building was started around 1417 and - interrupted by the Hussite Wars - it was completed around 1476. The facade of the new choir and the south aisle, richly decorated with tracery and other decorative elements, is of particular art historical significance . The new building had two pointed towers on top of the Romanesque components and a common roof over the nave and choir. The side aisles carried a gable with a transverse roof over each yoke (see Merian illustration). In 1513 the winged altar came into the church, in 1515 the first organ.
The pointed towers lasted until the 17th century. In 1681, a city fire destroyed the towers and all wooden superstructures. When it was rebuilt in 1688, it was decided to have just one central tower in almost the baroque shape that is still in existence today. The two separate roofs for the nave and choir were built, and the entrance building in front of the western front was built. After another fire in 1804, the octagonal top was rebuilt again.
From 1862 to 1864 the interior of the Kunigunden Church was fundamentally redesigned in line with the preservation of monuments in the 19th century. The baroque furnishings created after 1688 disappeared. In 1920 a pneumatic organ from the Rochlitz organ building company Schmeißer was installed in the southern arch of the organ gallery. Another restoration took place from 1933 to 1935. The side galleries were removed, new stalls and a new organ gallery were installed, and a painting was carried out that was based on the partially exposed late Gothic design. The Romanesque foundations of the previous building were found during excavations.
After 1990 further maintenance measures were carried out. In 2002 the renovation of the roof and the restoration of the winged altar were completed. The organ was renovated from 2010 to 2013.
Building description
The external appearance of the Kunigunden Church is divided into two parts. To the west rises a massive, white plastered structure with a central tower, to which a church building made entirely of reddish Rochlitz porphyry adjoins to the east .
The western front with structures made of Rochlitz porphyry is divided into three parts, with the outer parts bearing flat tower domes above the fourth floor. After two additional floors, the square central section is slimmed down to form an octagonal tower with a hood and lantern , around which a cantilevered walkway is laid out. A simple entrance building stands in front of the tower ensemble.
The three-aisled nave, consisting of three bays , adjoins the west tower . At 18 by 15.6 meters, this is wider than it is long. The nave is followed by the choir in the same length and width as the central nave. After two previous yokes, this ends in a 7/12 polygon. All naves and the choir have the same height of 15 meters. The choir and nave roof are tiled, with the same inclination the nave being correspondingly higher due to the wider structure.
The yokes of the nave and the choir are separated by protruding buttresses . The main face of the church is the south front of the nave. Plastic jewelry, such as keel arches , attached tracery and consoles , covers all wall and pillar surfaces. The consoles on the buttresses are designed as sculptures depicting both human figures and animals. The buttresses are rounded off by small gables from which a pillar tower grows upwards. The high three- and four-lane windows are each decorated with different tracery. The sacristy is integrated in the corner of the choir and nave on the simpler north side .
The Gothic part of the Kunigunden Church from the southeast
Partial view of the south facade
Restored architectural sculpture on the choir
The choir room
Furnishing
The remarkable carved winged altar from 1513 is attributed to the Freiberg wood sculptor Philipp Koch. The last supper is depicted in the predella . The central shrine contains four monumental figures: in the middle Saint Kunigunde and her husband Emperor Heinrich II, on the left Anna the third and on the right the Apostle Thomas . Four scenes from the Passion of Christ are depicted in the wings of the altar . The appearance of the altar can be changed by turning the wings twice. First the paintings appear, which on the one hand depict Jesus with the twelve apostles in a Renaissance hall and on the other hand the fourteen helpers in need. The next change shows stages in the life of the church patroness Kunigunde and her husband. The panel paintings can be attributed to various Saxon painters. A splendid colored burst of tendrils and pinnacles, which contains further figures, rises above the reredos . God the Father presents his son, who was sacrificed on the cross, flanked by John and Mary. The dove of the Holy Spirit hovers above it, and at the very top the Madonna and Child appears once more in a halo.
The shrine of the winged altar
Part of the altar blast
Terracotta figure of St. Kunigunde
Gothic tabernacle
Baptismal font from 1548
In the past, large-format terracotta figures of Kunigunde and Heinrich were attached to the outside above the south portal in two now empty base-canopy niches . These are now in almost the same place within the church. With their origin in the 15th century, they are among the oldest clay figures of this kind in Saxony. The colored parts of the middle three choir windows also date from the 15th century. In the choir, at the intersection of the services with the continuous cornice of the lower, undivided wall zone, consoles with small colored reliefs with themes about the birth of Christ are designed.
The Gothic tabernacle to the left of the altar and a baptismal font donated by Duchess Elisabeth , both made of Rochlitz porphyry, date from the 16th century . A large crucifix on the north side of the choir dates from the 17th century and the neo-Gothic pulpit with the figures of Christ and the evangelists from the 19th century.
organ
The large organ was built in 1920 by the organ builder Alfred Schmeisser (Rochlitz). The membrane drawer instrument has 49 stops on three manual works and a pedal . The actions are pneumatic.
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- Coupling : II / I (also as sub and super octave coupling), III / I, III / II (also as sub and super octave coupling), I / P, II / P, III / P;
literature
- Matthias Donath : Rochlitz - Kunigunden Church and Petrikirche . Large Architectural Monuments Issue 526, Deutscher Kunstverlag Munich Berlin, 1998
- Brunhild Werner-Gonschor: The Kunigunden Church and the Petrikirche in Rochlitz . Edition 102 of The Christian Monument , Union Verlag, 1976
- Robert Hofmann: Stonemason's mark on building history: Our dear women in Mittweida and St. Kunigunden in Rochlitz. In: Sächsische Heimatblätter 2005, issue 2, pp. 144–155
- Richard Steche : St. Kunigunden Church. In: Descriptive representation of the older architectural and art monuments of the Kingdom of Saxony. 14th booklet: Amtshauptmannschaft Rochlitz . CC Meinhold, Dresden 1890, p. 61.
Individual evidence
- ↑ More information about the organ ( Memento from December 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
Web links
- Churches in Rochlitz at: Rochlitzer Muldenland
- Series of pictures of the Kunigunden Church and its carved altar
Coordinates: 51 ° 2 ′ 45.8 ″ N , 12 ° 48 ′ 12.9 ″ E