St. Mary the Germans (Jerusalem)

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View of the main apse of the church ruins

St. Maria der Deutschen ( Latin St. Maria Alemannorum , English Church of St. Mary of the Germans ) is the ruin of a church building of the Crusaders in the old city of Jerusalem in today's Jewish Quarter .

history

After the first crusade, around 1127, a pious German and his wife founded a hospital for German pilgrims in Jerusalem. The foundation competed with the Johanniter Hospital in the city. The dispute over donations was settled in 1143 by Pope Celestine II by taking the Marienhospital under his protection, but at the same time placing it under the supervision of the Prior of the Johanniter. In April 1229, shortly after Jerusalem was repossessed, the hospital was awarded to the Teutonic Order by Frederick II . A contradiction of the Johanniter was thereupon by Pope Gregory IX. rejected. As a result of the abandonment of Jerusalem in 1244, the hospital with the Church of St. Mary fell into ruins.

The central part of the hospital complex built on a slope was the church of St. Maria. To the north of it was the Upper Hall, a three-aisled structure with eight bays . To the south was the lower hall, the upper floor of which was on the floor level of the church. The lower hall had two aisles and comprised five bays. The Marienkirche itself was a modest three-aisled basilica of four bays with a three-apse closure. The apses closed straight on the outside. There was a crypt built into the slope under the church . The preserved lower wall remains of the church and the basement of the lower hall are accessible today as ruins.

literature

  • Denys Pringle: The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Volume 3: The City of Jerusalem. Cambridge 2007.

Web links

Commons : St. Maria der Deutschen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Max Küchler: Jerusalem. A handbook and study guide to the Holy City . 2nd Edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2014, ISBN 978-3-647-50173-4 , p. 414 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. Max Küchler: Jerusalem. A handbook and study guide to the Holy City . 2nd Edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2014, ISBN 978-3-647-50173-4 , p. 415 ( limited preview in Google Book search).

Coordinates: 31 ° 46 '32.2 "  N , 35 ° 13' 58.9"  E