St. Magdalena in Prazöll
St. Magdalena in Prazöll is a Roman Catholic church in St. Magdalena , a village belonging to the South Tyrolean capital Bolzano in the formerly independent cadastral community of Zwölfmalgrei . The village church, picturesquely situated between vineyards, belongs to the Rentsch parish and has valuable frescoes from the 14th century inside . It has been a listed building since 1977 .
history
The area on the eastern edge of the Bozen basin, which was already settled in prehistoric times, is first mentioned in a document as a " Placedell " when Otacher von Berg donated it to the Brixen cathedral chapter between 1170 and 1174 . The St. Magdalenenkirche (" ecclesia sancte Marie Magdalene de Placedelle" ) was first documented in 1295 in the context of a Seelgerät foundation , and again in 1318 as part of an oil foundation . During this time the frescoes in the apse of the church were created. Around 1370 a renovation was carried out by drawing in the barrel vault of the nave and painting the walls with new frescoes. Architectural details on the tower attest to further construction work around 1500. In 1627, doors and windows were broken into the facade, including the Renaissance portal on the west side, and a sacristy was added on the north side. In 1667 a new baroque high altar was acquired, and in 1706 a side altar. Pope Pius VI gave the Church a perfect indulgence for White Sunday in 1794. The frescoes, whitewashed over time, were forgotten until Sebastiano Bassani uncovered a first part of them on behalf of the monument office in 1958/59. The painted plaster layer of the apse, which had already loosened from the ground, was removed by the restorer Carlo Andreani from Trento and transferred to canvas (today in the Bolzano City Museum ). Lack of money delayed further work. 1966–1970 the frescoes in the nave were partially exposed until the restoration could be completed in 1985 by the now newly established Bolzano Regional Monuments Office.
Building description
The church consists of a rectangular nave 6 × 9.5 m in length. A small rectangular apse adjoins it in the east , which originally had a barrel vault . Above it rises the bell tower, which was raised by 1500 and received a bricked pointed helmet and pointed arched sound windows. An original arched window on the east wall of the apse was exposed again in the course of the restoration. The nave, initially provided with a flat wooden ceiling, was given today's barrel vault around 1370. On the north side is the original portal of the church, next to it and opposite it on the south side, two windows were broken out around 1370. Today's stone-framed and rosette-decorated main portal on the west side in Renaissance forms was built in 1627, as well as the stone-framed rectangular windows on both sides and the round opening above. In the east of the north side there is an attached sacristy , which is accessible from the nave through a rectangular door with a skylight. The church floor made of sandstone slabs is believed to date from the 17th century.
Frescoes
The entire interior of the church is covered with frescoes from two different periods. The older paint layer is located in the apse and was built around 1300. It is the early Gothic linear style assigned and probably comes from a South German masters from the Lake Constance area or from the Upper Rhine, which probably also the Votive picture of Konrad and Ermengarde Krille in Bolzano Parish Church has created . The frescoes are of high artistic quality and form a major work of early Gothic painting in South Tyrol.
In the blue painted vault of the apse, the Majestas Domini is shown, Christ in the mandorla surrounded by the evangelist symbols . In the arched area of the east wall below, Christ on the cross, flanked by John and Mary, can be seen in a simple ribbon frame. The scene is accompanied by two little trees. In the median stretches across all three sides a painted pseudo-architecture with arcades, between whose columns the twelve apostles and the church patroness, St. Mary Magdalene , are depicted. Some figures are no longer preserved. Below that, a painted base zone with a red diamond pattern and geometric leaf decoration closes the frescoes downwards.
The Romanesque pictorial program of the apse, which is still basically traditional , is changed by the crucifixion scene moved into the center instead of the Majestas Domini and the church patroness depicted together with the apostles. The new early Gothic spirit of the frescoes is particularly noticeable in the moving depiction of the faces, which indicates a stronger emotionality and expresses the inner sympathy, especially in the passion scene.
Remains of this older layer of paint were also uncovered on the triumphal arch wall during the restoration. Otherwise, like the frescoes in the rest of the nave, this belongs to the younger layer of paint that was created around 1370. They belong to a changed spirit of the times, since in the meantime northern Italian influences had spread in Bozen, which had been carried north by traveling painters in the succession of Guariento and Giotto . This style is characterized by the plasticity and spatial depth of its representations. It was painted al fresco on fresh plaster using a new technique , which gave the pictures greater color and durability. The spatial impression also changed due to the greater brightness of the nave, as the windows were also broken out at that time. The unknown artist probably also created the younger layer of paint in the church of St. Johann in the village , as well as the cycle of Mary in St. Vigil am Virgl .
The crucifixion scene in the apse was replaced by a coronation of Mary . This could be removed and is now in the Bolzano City Museum. The Annunciation of the Lord is depicted in the arched area of the triumphal arch wall, below it on both sides the sacrifices of Cain and Abel . In the lowest zone on the south side with the Mount of Olives scene, a passion cycle begins, which continues over the entire nave and ends on the north side of the triumphal arch wall with the depiction of the resurrection of Christ. This cycle of passion has been largely destroyed by rising damp in the lower part. The upper halves of the capture of Christ, his flagellation, the crowning of thorns and the judgment of Pilate on the south wall, the crucifixion, the descent from the cross and the entombment on the north wall can still be recognized. In the window reveal on the north side, during the most recent restoration, a colorful and well-preserved St. Oswald comes to light.
Above the Passion cycle, the upper sequence of images shows the rare and iconographically interesting cycle of the Magdalene legend . It begins in the east of the south wall and runs clockwise to the end of the north wall. The life of the church patroness is depicted in ten pictures, as described in the Legenda aurea . The first scene shows Magdalena, worldly adorned with a lover, as she is converted by her sister Martha . The second scene - the only one that can be based on a biblical tradition - shows Magdalena anointing Christ's feet at the meal in the house of Simon the Pharisee. In the third scene Magdalena is put into a ship without a rudder with other unbelievers, characterized by Jewish hats and heretic hats, and pushed out to sea so that they should perish there. In the fourth scene Magdalena and her companions have safely arrived in Marseille , where she is now preaching to the prince of the country and his wife because they want to sacrifice to their gods. In the fifth and last picture on the south wall, Magdalena appears to the sleeping princely couple and threatens them badly if they do not want to feed the starving castaways. The sixth scene shows how the prince traveling to Rome exposes the body of his dead wife on a rocky island. He had previously taken in the castaways, his wife became pregnant through the intercession of Magdalena and both are traveling by ship to Rome to find out whether Magdalena had told the truth about Christ; the princess gave birth to her child and died. In the seventh picture you can see St. Peter . The prince returns home by ship and finds his wife and child alive on the island, who were protected by Magdalena. In the eighth picture, the returned prince in Marseille hands Magdalena, Maximinus and Lazarus a scroll (this scene is not entirely clear). The last two pictures show Magdalena as a penitent who had withdrawn into the desert for thirty years. In the ninth scene she is lifted up by angels and hears the song of heaven with bodily ears. In the last and tenth picture, Magdalena is carried by angels and receives communion from Bishop Maximinus. Each scene is framed by wide strips that give the impression of an architectural framework.
A traditional depiction of the Last Judgment can be seen on the west wall . However, it was largely destroyed by the window and door openings in the 17th century. Only the trombone-blowing angels in the upper part of the picture and a piece of Christ enthroned are still preserved.
The barrel vault repeats the program of images in the apse and depicts a monumental Majestas Domini in the center. In the apse, the relevant depiction was covered by more recent frescoes. Christ in the mandorla is framed by decorative ribbons. The four evangelist symbols appear at the corners. As a Gothic extension of this pictorial theme, four Latin church fathers are also depicted, enthroned under canopies. The blue background gives the impression of a star vault.
On the outside of the church, on the north wall, to the left of the entrance, is St. Magdalena, who receives the churchgoers with an ointment vessel. In the background you can see a landscape with trees. Also on the north wall, but covered by the addition of the sacristy, there is a larger than life Christophorus and an enthroned Madonna and Child on the tower wall . These two pictures were never whitewashed and are therefore in very good condition, which gives an idea of the original luminosity of the colors.
Furnishing
The high altar by Oswald Krad from 1667 is now on the west wall. The figure of the kneeling penitent Magdalena with crucifix and skull can be seen in the shrine-like, recessed central niche. Next to it there are twisted baroque columns, which are decorated with vine leaves and putti in relief carving. A Pietà is depicted in a round arch niche of the predella , with God the Father in a crowning essay. To the left and right of the pillars are the statues of St. Barbara and Katharina . Originally there were numerous angel heads in the entablature area that were stolen. The altar by the Bolzano sculptor Oswald Krad, which was painted in color by Franz Teutenhofen, is one of the most important altars of the 17th century in South Tyrol.
The two beautiful and finely carved processional poles from 1646 were created by the sculptor Hans Schwarzpeckh; they were taken by Hans Hofmann. The pews date from the 2nd half of the 19th century. A glass window in the round opening of the west wall with motifs of viticulture is a modern work by Otto Kastowsky from Bozen. The originally existing baroque side altar is no longer installed in the church due to lack of space.
archive
From the years 1582 to 1806, 99 account books of St. Georgen are preserved in the Bolzano city archives (Hss. 1462–1563), which were kept by the respective church provosts .
literature
- Joanne W. Anderson: Mary Magdalene and her dear sister: innovation in the late medieval mural cycle of Santa Maddalena in Rencio (Bolzano). In: Mary Magdalene. Iconographic studies from the Middle Ages to the Baroque . Leiden: Brill 2012, pp. 45-73.
- Joanne W. Anderson: St. Magdalena in Rentsch near Bozen: a new proposal for clients in the 14th century. In: Der Schlern 88. 2014, no. 2, pp. 40–44.
- Sebastian Marseiler: Paths to Art . The most important art monuments in South Tyrol. Athesia, Bozen 2011, ISBN 978-88-8266-734-4 , pp. 40-43.
- Helmut Stampfer : St. Magdalena in Prazöll, Bozen . Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-7954-7023-4 .
Web links
- Entry in the monument browser on the website of the South Tyrolean Monuments Office
- City of Bolzano
Individual evidence
- ↑ Oswald Redlich : The traditional books of the Brixen monastery from the 10th to the 14th century (Acta Tirolensia 1). Innsbruck: Wagner 1886, No. 502b.
- ^ Hannes Obermair : Bozen Süd - Bolzano Nord. Written form and documentary tradition of the city of Bozen up to 1500 . Volume 1. Bozen: Stadtgemeinde Bozen 2005. ISBN 88-901870-0-X , p. 125, no. 117.
- ^ Hannes Obermair: Multiple Pasts - Collecting for the City? The Bolzano City Archives 3.0 . In: Philipp Tolloi (Ed.): Archives in South Tyrol: History and Perspectives / Archivi in Provincia di Bolzano: storia e prospettive (= publications of the South Tyrolean Provincial Archives 45 ). Universitätsverlag Wagner, Innsbruck 2018, ISBN 978-3-7030-0992-1 , p. 211–224, reference: p. 214 .
Coordinates: 46 ° 30 ′ 6.5 ″ N , 11 ° 22 ′ 20.1 ″ E