St. Mary of Peace (Cologne)
Maria vom Frieden is a baroque church in the southern old town of Cologne . The monastery church of a convent of the Discalced Carmelites was consecrated in 1692 after several years of construction . The patronage refers to a miraculous image of Our Lady , which was bequeathed to the convent in 1642. In April 1942 the church and monastery were largely destroyed, but could be gradually rebuilt in the old style between 1947 and 1957.
location
The monastery church stands on the corner property between Schnurgasse and the street Vor den Siebenburgen, here is the entrance to the church and the monastery gate. The church and monastery can be reached in a few minutes on foot from the Ulrepforte stop on the KVB lines 15 and 16.
History of the monastery church
The first brothers of the Discalced Carmelites came to Cologne around 1614. Between 1620 and 1628 they built a monastery and one dedicated to hll on the Zum Dau courtyard. Church dedicated to Joseph and Teresa of Ávila . The effects of the Thirty Years' War caused many Catholics to seek refuge in the Catholic imperial city of Cologne. The first Discalced Carmelites from Antwerp , among them the later Prioress Isabella a Spiritu Sancto, moved to Cologne in 1637 on the advice of the Cologne Fathers. Here they initially found accommodation in the Rottkirchschen house on Steinstrasse.
Foundation of the Convention
The founding of the convent in the southern part of Cologne was initiated by the brothers of the nearby Carmelite monastery. As early as 1639 , the nuns were able to purchase the necessary parcels of land as building land from Steinstrasse on the neighboring so-called "Martinsfeld" (then still vineyards ) in the area of Vor den Siebenburgen. Together with an architect who was a lay brother of the order, Sr. Isabella a Spiritu Sancto developed the design for the first church building on Schnurgasse. The church building, based on the model of the Baroque church Il Gesù in Rome, was largely thanks to the commitment of the French Queen Maria de 'Medici , who had lived in exile in Cologne since 1641. After her death in 1642, she bequeathed a large part of her remaining fortune to the order.
Isabella a Spiritu Sancto was elected prioress of the first convent. This was a daughter of the Grand Chancellor Mateo de Urquíne, who was his master, King Philip III. , served in what was then the Spanish Netherlands . Sr. Isabella was born in Brussels in 1606 and was already involved in architecture, painting and ornamentation before she joined the Antwerp Carmel in 1629.
Monastery and church building from 1643
In 1643, in the presence of clerical and secular dignitaries, the foundation stone was laid by the Archbishop of Cologne , Ferdinand of Bavaria , who had traveled from Bonn . That same year, the nuns received from the estate of the Cologne Rubens House in Sterngasse late Marie de Medici , the miraculous image of Mary of Scherpenheuvel (Brabant). In 1649 the new convent could be occupied. Due to a lack of funds, however, the church was not continued until 1677. After the church roof was erected in 1681, the vault and the superstructure of the crossing with a dome were completed one year later . After the consecration of the church in 1692, the portrait, already venerated in Scherpenheuvel because of the miraculous work it was said to have done, became another pilgrimage destination in Cologne. The completion of the building with the subsequent construction of the west facade took place in 1716.
Origin of the image of grace
The tradition comes from the 16th century about an old oak decorated with a portrait of Mary , which is said to have stood in the Scherpenheuvels corridor at that time . Here believers prayed in front of the image of the Virgin Mary. Since many answers to prayer became known, the place developed into a place of pilgrimage. Some visitors began to take branches of the tree with them, as they also worked miraculously. So the oak withered over time and was felled. A chapel adorned with the image of Mary was built in its place. The trunk of the oak came into the possession of the governor of the Netherlands, Archduke Albert , in whose treasury it was stored for several decades. When it was later given to the French queen as a present, she had a large statue of Our Lady carved out of the wood, which was placed in the queen's court chapel.
The Church in French and Prussian times
After the French revolutionary troops took over the administration in 1794, they forbade Carmel to accept any further novices . In 1802 the convent of St. Mary of Peace was dissolved and the sisters were housed in the house at 3 Columbakirchhof at St. Kolumba Church in the city center. In the course of these events, many valuable archives and the old library of the convent were lost. The church was consecrated to the patronage of the Immaculate Conception during the " French times " , but the church was named in the St. Maria district in Schnurgasse. In 1803 the monastery church was elevated to a parish church for the Pantaleon parish and received its original patronage of St. Mary of Peace again.
The Church of St. Pantaleon was used by the French as a stable for horses. The Prussians made it a Protestant garrison church around 1815 . It did not regain its old status as a Catholic parish church until 1922. The parish of St. Pantaleon had two side aisles added to its current parish church by 1820 and in 1882 expanded the left transept to Schnurgasse to add an additional portal. The monastery buildings were largely demolished in 1906 and a rectory and a school were built on the vacant space .
Destruction and reconstruction plans
When fire bombs hit the church during air raids in April 1942 during the last world war, the church burned down. The interior and the miraculous image of the “Regina Pacis”, the Queen of Peace, were destroyed. Only the walls of the west facade, the south transept and the church tower were partially preserved. After the end of the war in 1945, Cardinal Joseph Frings and Cologne's Lord Mayor Konrad Adenauer urged the return of the sisters, who were supposed to rebuild the original Carmel on Schnurgasse. In mid-1945 the first Cologne Carmelites returned to Cologne from their refuge, the Welden Monastery (near Augsburg), and organized the reconstruction.
Reconstruction after 1945
The foundation stone for a new monastery was laid as early as July 1946. In 1948, a donated statue of the Virgin Mary was consecrated in the partially renovated monastery church in place of the miraculous image that was burned in 1942. In 1949 the sisters were able to return to a first wing of the rebuilt convent after 150 years since it was closed. In 1957, after its consecration on Easter, the bells of the church rang again for the first time. By 1964, the exterior of the church was restored according to the structure of 1716. The original interior was also restored to the shape that the founder had intended by correcting the structural changes made in the 19th century, for example by adding the side aisles.
The reconstruction of the post-war period was also able to use the two side wings of the monastery complex, which still frame the church front today. Of the two narrow buildings with an upper floor, the one on the left serves as a guest house and the one on the right as a monastery gate. The planning and management of the reconstruction of the church took place under the Cologne cathedral builder Willy Weyres .
Building description
The west facade
The small forecourt is separated from the street by a baroque wrought iron grille. The three-storey west-facing baroque church facade rises up, framed by two low outbuildings. Above the small portal in the middle of the three round arches on the ground floor, a frieze in golden letters that runs across the entire width of the building bears the inscription Anno Domini 1716 .
The facade of the church is loosened up by windows and friezes; numerous pilasters ensure a vertical structure. In addition, there are a number of niches with statues of saints, half carved into the wall, which refer to the history of the church. In the center above the entrance is the image of Mary as the Queen of Peace, to the right and left the statues of her parents, Joachim and Anna . A gable roof over the Madonna contains a cartouche with a promise for the visitor, in German, "The believer's heartfelt prayer finds an answer here". The second floor shows next to the central window the statues of St. Teresa and St. Joseph. The facade ends only slightly above the roof ridge of the church building in a semicircle of the tapering third floor with a small cross above the last round window.
Tower and bell
The square tower rises on the south side of the church. The bell chamber opens on four sides in twin windows. The top of the tower with a half-story octagonal structure with a dome (a French dome ) and lantern follows on a ledge with a surrounding balustrade . The top bears a decorated so-called Spanish or patriarchal cross . The lower unadorned part of the tower is divided by two narrow horizontal cornices and only has a large pointed arch window on the south side, facing the garden and the cloister of the monastery. In March 1957 , Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ferche consecrated three bronze bells.
- The big bell: strike tone: es', weight: 1477 kg. It is consecrated to St. Peter and bears the inscription: “St. My name is Peter. I proclaim the peace of Christ, glory to God in the highest and peace to men on earth ”. 1956.
- The middle bell: Strike: ges', weight: 824 kg, is dedicated to two cartridges: St. Joseph: "In every need in which you call to me, I want to hear you - I want to be your patron forever" and St. Teresia: "God alone is enough". 1956.
- The little bell: strike as', weight: 568 kg, is consecrated to the Blessed Mother under the invocation of Mary of Peace and has the inscription from the Angelus : “The word became flesh and dwelt among us”. 1956.
The bronze bells are a work of the bell foundry Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock from Gescher in Westphalia.
Nave and transept
The builder chose the shape of a Latin cross as the floor plan of the church building. It has a single aisle and the clear dimensions are 30 meters long and 22.75 meters wide. The dome of the central nave, which dominates the ribbed vault due to its short shape, with eight arched windows above the crossing , reaches a height of 18.50 meters at its apex . The entire interior is enclosed by a wide baroque cornice below the windows in the long walls in the upper third. The nave begins with an organ gallery above the vestibule of the entrance and ends in a rectangular choir, decorated with star vaults , facing east .
The slightly raised choir area offers little space, on the left there is the access to the sacristy and on the right side of the high altar, which almost completely fills the front wall, there is a barred arched access to the nun's choir .
The north and south arms of the transept branching off from the crossing are only short rectangular rooms. The north arm used to have another church entrance on its front side, on its left side is the entrance to the little chapel consecrated to Therese von Lisieux .
In the front right south transept a winding staircase leads to the crypt .
crypt
The crypt that was created when the church was built is under the high altar . A staircase with a wrought iron railing leads from the approach of the right transept down to a cross-vaulted room about 6 by 7 meters . The east wall, with a simple altar and wall cross as well as many miniature crosses, is also the dividing wall to other vaulted rooms with the burial niches of deceased Carmel sisters. The north wall is almost entirely provided with cross-shaped epitaphs of the Carmelites, in the middle of which the epitaph of the first prioress is placed. The transfer is
“Here rests our admirable mother Isabella Isabella a Spiritu Sancto, the founder of our convent, who, with the greatest care and other virtues, praised the office of prioress six times. As pure as she lived, she died in the Lord on March 13th in the year of the Lord, 1675, at the age of about 69 and in the 45th year of her profession . Rest in peace."
To the left of the north wall, in a niche on a wall plinth, there is a group of figures. The south wall next to a round archway that leads to the crypt (also accessible from the outside) is dedicated to the memory of Edith Stein . The crypt was opened to visitors in 1956.
Equipment details
Little remains of the pre-war furnishings of the church that were described as “over-rich”. The worst loss is the destruction of the image of grace. The entrance room, spanned by a ribbed vault, is separated from the interior by a forged grid (17th century). The organ prospect installed on a gallery above this room comes from the parish church of Süng near Lindlar in the Bergisches Land. The case is from the 18th century. A large number of windows were created in 1956/57 based on designs by the Cologne artist Otto Schwalge . Schwalge referred to the subject of the foundress's literature from the 17th century in the monastery. The artist tried to implement these richly illustrated writings, called “Recreations and Spiritual Conversations” by the author. The two windows next to the entrance showing the prophet Elijah were created by Sr. Maria a Deo, a member of the convent.
In the southern transept under an oil painting hanging there depicting St. Teresia Benedicta of the Cross in religious costume, there is a wooden group of figures from the 16th century that represents Jesus in front of Pilate.
The "Christ Dolorosus" in the form of a plague cross hanging in the north transept is one of the few surviving sculptures of this type from the 15th century. The Vesper picture in the form of a Pietà from the 15th century is assigned to the " soft style ". Both originally belonged to the inventory of the chapel of the Allerheiligen Hospital in Maximinenstrasse, which was demolished in 1888 and replaced by a new building.
The picture hanging on the front, the handing over of the rule of the order by St. Albert of Jerusalem dates from the 18th century. On the left side of this transverse room you get to the small Theresienkapelle. Georg Maria Lünenborg created their windows and the triptych above the altar there, which shows holy and blessed Carmelites.
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The wrought iron lattice of the round arch to the nuns choir with the tabernacle worked into its center was created by the Cologne factory schools in the 1950s. The choir stalls from the 16th century come from the old church of St. Kolumba, which was destroyed in the war .
Today's altar is a three-storey late baroque high altar from 1725 that was acquired through an art dealer in 1962 and comes from the Georgiberg Church in Kindberg . The "new" image of grace given by a Cologne family in 1948 was integrated into it, which resembles the destroyed one. The year of origin and the creator of the miraculous image are not known. The portrait is said to have come from the Steinfeld Monastery and from there to the Wildenburg parish church of St. Johann Baptist near Schleiden, where it remained until 1920.
Handover of the order rule
Limestone Pieta (15th century)
Jesus before Pilate
Edith Stein Archive
Church and monastery keep alive the memory of her sister, the philosopher Edith Stein, who was murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp . The monastery and church of the convent on Dürener Strasse, which Edith Stein entered as a postulant in 1933 , were completely destroyed on October 30, 1944. The Carmel Mary of Peace has set up the Edith Stein Archive to commemorate her and for study purposes.
Web links
Literature / sources
- Lives of several praiseworthy mothers and sisters of the Barfüsser Carmelite order, who adorned the Discalceatessen monastery, which was flourishing in the Freyen imperial city of Cöllen, with their highly glorious virtue change . no date [Cologne] no year [approx. 1760] ( digitized version of the Austrian State Library Vienna)
- Adam Wrede : New Cologne vocabulary . 3 volumes A - Z, Greven Verlag, Cologne, 9th edition 1984, ISBN 3-7743-0155-7
- The Chronicle of Cologne , Chronik Verlag, Dortmund 1991, ISBN 3-611-00193-7
- H. Schnell: St. Mary of Peace, Cologne. Art guide no. 2601. Verlag Schnell & Steiner GmbH, Regensburg 2005 ISBN 3-7954-6567-2 / And volume 29 of the series Art Guide, large edition in 1958 published by the same publisher.
- Manfred Becker-Huberti , Günter A. Menne: Cologne churches, the churches of the Catholic and Protestant communities in Cologne . JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-7616-1731-3
Remarks
- ↑ Adam Wrede, page 125, volume I., Hof zum Dau, the "her Melchior von Mulhem, rentmeister"
- ↑ Kunstführer No. 2601, page 7, as well as Volume 29 of the series Kunstführer, large edition , page 4
- ↑ Maria de 'Medici, Eine Fremde, ... Cologne, Chapter: Cologne - Last Refuge, pp. 175–235, here pp. 208–210 on Carmelites
- ↑ Art Guide No. 2601, page 7
- ↑ Maria de 'Medici, Eine Fremde , ... Cologne, Chapter: Cologne - Last Refuge, pp. 175–235.
- ^ Chronicle of Cologne, page 188
- ↑ Art Guide Series , Large Edition , page 6
- ↑ Art Guide Series , Large Edition , page 3
- ↑ Art Guide Series , Large Edition , page 6
- ↑ Cologne Churches, pp. 109, 110
- ↑ Art Guide Series , Large Edition , page 6
- ↑ Art Guide Series , Large Edition , page 7
- ^ Regina Urbanek: The Crucifixus dolorosus in St. Mary of Peace in Cologne. To technology and restoration ; in Colonia Romanica, yearbook of the Förderverein Romanische Kirchen Köln e. V. Vol. XV, 2000, p. 89
- ↑ St. Mary of Peace in Cologne: Abbey Church of the Discalced , Rheinische Kunststätten, vol. 439, p. 14
- ^ Christian Müllner: 20 years Georgibergverein. (No longer available online.) Kindberger Georgibergverein, p. 13 , archived from the original on July 31, 2017 ; accessed on July 30, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Art Guide No. 2601, page 20
Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 37 ″ N , 6 ° 57 ′ 10 ″ E