St. Leonhard (Regensburg)
The Roman Catholic branch church St. Leonhard , located in the western old town of Regensburg , was assigned to the former Johanniterkommende St. Leonhard and is now a branch church of the parish Herz Jesu . The three-aisled building, which is essentially Romanesque , is the oldest hall church in Bavaria and is dedicated to Saint Leonhard of Limoges (Memorial Day: November 6th).
history
From the origins to the Baroque transformation in the 18th century
The church was built in the first half of the 12th century, probably around 1120/30. Of this Romanesque building, which is likely to be the earliest hall church in Bavaria, only the nave remains. The choir was rebuilt in the 14th century . Around the same time, pointed arched openings were made on the front sides of the aisles and provided with Gothic tracery windows. The massive, square substructure of the tower was built in the second half of the 14th century . It was dendrochronologically dated to the years after 1357, but despite this late construction period, it unmistakably includes Romanesque forms. In 1748 the tower was crowned as it is today in the form of a dome with a lantern . As early as 1717 the church was carefully redesigned in Baroque style . The windows were enlarged and converted to arched windows, the choir was newly vaulted and the sacristy tract was created between the church and the tower.
Neo-Romanesque reconstruction in the 19th century
In 1883 a renovation of the church building, which had fallen into disrepair after the secularization of the Coming, began, which lasted until 1895. The measures were carried out at the expense of the Pustet family from Regensburg . The plans came from cathedral vicar Georg Dengler, who was involved in numerous church restorations at this time. First a neo-Romanesque porch was added on the west side . In the years 1885 to 1895, a “stylish” restoration of the interior and furnishings was carried out in line with historicism . Among other things, remnants of the original wall and ceiling painting were exposed. This was the decisive factor in a reconstruction of the entire wall and ceiling painting as true to the original as possible. In addition, today's high altar was purchased and the terrazzo floor , which is still present today, with several mosaics was created , which is unparalleled in all of southern Germany.
Renovation work in the 20th and 21st centuries
During the Second World War, St Leonhard was badly damaged by bombs. In 1969 the old commandery building was replaced by a new building for the St. Leonhard children's home. The sacristy wing with the tower was preserved. A year later, the interior was renovated, during which the entire wall and ceiling painting was removed as part of a purification - including remains of Romanesque paintings.
In 1979, on the occasion of its 25th anniversary, the Rotary Club of Regensburg financed the restoration of the two Gothic side altars, which was accompanied and documented by Achim Hubel . In the summer of 2002, damage to the Gothic Passion Altar made the decision to consider restoring the historic altars. After detailed consultation by the diocesan building department, however, it turned out that a thorough renovation of the church was necessary. However, since the reserves of the Herz Jesu Church Foundation were insufficient for this, grants and donations had to be collected before the five-year work could begin in 2006. These included the structural securing of the roof structure , the renovation of the facades and the tower and the renovation of the interior. In the latter measure, particular attention was paid to creating a suitable room climate in order to protect the existence of the passion altar painted on wood. In addition, a new people's altar , an ambo and three sedilies could be purchased from the artist Robert M. Weber from Grafing near Munich . In addition, the neo-Romanesque chandelier that had been stored in the meantime was reinstalled.
description
architecture
As far as we know, the east-facing, Romanesque building was the first hall church in Bavaria. Its three naves, which are provided with a groin vault , are of the same height and are only separated from each other by slim round columns with pressed capitals . The nave, which is only about 15 meters long and 10 meters wide, looks narrow and high despite the raised floor level. It comprises four yokes and has a white lime paint . A continuous, arched gallery is drawn into the rear nave yoke , which rests on two massive rectangular pillars.
The one-bay, slightly drawn-in choir in the width of the central nave closes to the east with a semicircular apse . It is separated from the nave by the round choir arch and contains a baroque barrel vault . The sacristy wing, which creates the only structural connection to the tower, is built on its south side. Like the choir, its substructure shows more Romanesque than Gothic style features, although it was not built until the 14th century. The massive, square tower is largely undivided from the outside. In addition to the coupled acoustic arcades , which are arranged on all four sides of the bell storey , it only has slit-like light slits. A curved baroque hood with a lantern forms the top.
A neo-Romanesque porch of the same width is attached to the west of the nave, which opens up to the nave via three arched arcades. With the erection of the porch, a neo-Romanesque west facade was also created, which is framed by irregular, pilaster-like ribbons made of stone . In the center is a neo-Romanesque portal with a Maltese cross in the tympanum . This is flanked by two biforic windows with original central columns from the 12th century. These originally come from the Schottenkloster St. Jakob . The upper end of the facade is a simple triangular gable crowned by a stylized Maltese cross.
Furnishing
The neo-Romanesque high altar made of brass is adapted to the so-called Arnulf ciborium, an altar superstructure commissioned by Arnulf von Kärnten around 890 , and decorated with colored stones. Like the chandelier in the central nave, it comes from the Regensburg sculpture workshop Joseph Götz.
The north (left) side altar, a winged altar painted on wood from around 1430/40, is a passion altar . It was probably created by a Regensburg painter. On the inside of the wings, the Passion story of Jesus is shown in the four steps of capture, flagellation , crowning of thorns and carrying the cross . In the middle part there is a large painting of the crucifixion on Golgotha . On the outside of the wing you can see scenes from the childhood of Jesus.
The southern (right) side altar, a Marian altar from around 1505, used to serve as a high altar. In the central shrine a wooden figure of the Madonna and Child can be seen in front of a halo, flanked by four relief images of John the Baptist , the Man of Sorrows , the Mater Dolorosa and the church patron Leonhard. In the predella there are bust relifs of the Old Testament figures David and Daniel .
In the anteroom is an almost life-size statue of the church patron Leonhard with his attribute , the chain, which identifies him as the patron saint of prisoners. There is also a life-size figure of Mater Dolorosa here.
literature
- Anke Borgmeyer, Achim Hubel, Andreas Tillmann, Angelika Wellnhofer: Monuments in Bavaria - City of Regensburg. Volume III / 37, Mittelbayerische Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Regensburg 1997. pp. 512-516.
- Martin Angerer, Heinrich Wanderwitz (Hrsg.): Regensburg in the Middle Ages - Contributions to the city history from the early Middle Ages to the beginning of the modern age. Universitätsverlag, Regensburg 1998, 2nd edition. Pp. 432-435.
- Kath. Pfarramt Herz Jesu (Ed.): St. Leonhard in Regensburg - Former Johanniterordenskirche. Written by Gerhard Degen based on the documentation by Achim Hubel and documents in the archive of the parish Herz Jesu. Brochure.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Kath. Pfarramt Herz Jesu (Ed.): St. Leonhard in Regensburg - Former Johanniterordenskirche.
- ↑ https://www.bavariathek.bayern/ Wiederaufbau/orte/detail/regensburg/ 38
- ↑ a b c Borgmeyer, Hubel, Tillmann, Wellnhofer; Pp. 512-516.
- ↑ Eugen Trapp: St. – Leonhards – Gasse 1, complete renovation of the former Johanniterkirche St. Leonhard . In: City of Regensburg, Office for Archives and Preservation of Monuments (ed.): Preservation of monuments in Regensburg . tape 12 . Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-7917-2371-6 , pp. 183-189 .
- ↑ a b Angerer, Wanderwitz; Pp. 432-435.
Coordinates: 49 ° 1 ′ 18 ″ N , 12 ° 5 ′ 10 ″ E