St. Marien (Freyburg)

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Freyburg, St. Marien, view from the south

St. Marien is the Protestant town church in Freyburg (Unstrut) . The late Romanesque basilica , built in the 13th century based on the new building of the Naumburg Cathedral, which was built at the same time, was partially rebuilt in the 15th century and thus received its present appearance, which is characterized by a combination of Romanesque and Gothic elements.

history

The city of Freyburg emerged as planned from the outer bailey of Neuchâtel Castle towards the end of the 12th century . The Marienkirche is located southwest of the rectangular market square on the western city limits. It was built in the second quarter of the 13th century in late Romanesque and partly early Gothic forms.

At the beginning of the 15th century, the Romanesque apse was replaced by today's Gothic choir . The sacristy built in place of the southern side apse is dated to the second quarter of the 15th century .

At the end of the 15th century, the church was given its present form with the late Gothic new building of the nave in the form of a hall . In the course of these renovations, the western vestibule, which is open on three sides on the ground floor, was supplemented by an upper floor, which is accessible via a spiral staircase in the northwest. The Romanesque west portal was replaced by a late Gothic entrance with a keel arch . At the same time, new entrances to the nave were built in the western aisle bays on the north and south sides, to which small vestibules stretched between the west towers and the buttresses of the ship lead. The southern porch bears the year 1493 on an inscription.

In the 1930s, restoration work took place, during which, among other things, the west portal was restored to its Romanesque state and the present-day simple appearance of the interior was created.

architecture

Layout

Built out of limestone blocks in the 13th century church was a cruciform nave basilica with two towers and easily along rectangular open porch to the west and a transept with apses and one to the Vierungsquadrat subsequent square choir bay with main apse in the east. The floor plan of the flat - roofed three - bay nave of the church followed the bound system , with the nave bays corresponding in size to the crossing square each corresponding to six square aisle bays.

The Gothic choir was added to the existing Romanesque choir square. A transverse rectangular yoke is followed by a polygon formed by five sides of the octagon. Inside, the Romanesque and Gothic structures are connected by a uniform net vault . The square sacristy, which was also added later, fills the space between the east wall of the south transept and the south wall of the choir square.

The late Gothic hall longhouse, built shortly before 1500, has four transverse rectangular bays in the main nave and eight longitudinally rectangular aisle bays. Six octagonal pillars on simple plinths support the net vaulting of the main nave, which is different in each yoke, and the simple ribbed vaults of the aisles.

Exterior construction

Towers

The exterior of the church is primarily determined by the three towers. The design of the western pair of towers follows the east towers of Naumburg Cathedral, but in contrast to them still has the late Romanesque appearance of the spiers . The two octagonal open-plan tower floors rise on a sub-structure with a square floor plan, which is divided on the free sides by corner pilasters and a central pilaster strip with a round arch frieze running at the level of the central nave and each with two round arched windows. They are structured by round-arched windows with central columns and a diamond-shaped opening in the arched gusset. On the lower level there are only blind windows with closed walls behind them, whereby the windows of the south tower are provided with pointed arches and early Gothic tracery , unlike the rest of the architecture . The walls have corner pilasters with a three-quarter circular profile, the capital-shaped top of which bears a round arch frieze. This surrounds the towers with wide arches that sit on small consoles in the middle of the wall panels.

Above that, a cornice supports the last storey of the towers, each made up of eight gables. The gables with spherical knobs on the top are adorned by coupled blind windows with a central column and triangular end. The octagonal copper-clad spiers rise behind it.

The eastern parts of the church are dominated by the square crossing tower. The building, which is characterized by its compact proportions, is structured by corner pilaster strips and a final round arch frieze. The two-part window openings with a central column correspond to the windows of the west towers. The simple gables each have simple edge profiles with masks at the approach and are opened through diamond-shaped windows in the upper half. In the southern window there is a simple figure carved out of stone, which should possibly serve to ward off demons . The crossing tower is covered with a diamond roof made of copper.

  • West towers

  • South tower with gothic windows

  • View from the southeast

  • Crossing tower

West facade

The groin- vaulted vestibule in front of the front of the two west towers is open on three sides on the ground floor with large pointed arches resting on columns. Its eastern end is formed by the arched column portal with the Romanesque tympanum that was rebuilt in 1940 . This is provided with a representation of the enthroned Mother of God with the baby Jesus, flanked by angels with censer.

The upper floor of the vestibule, accessible via an octagonal stair tower in the northwest corner, opens to the north and south with a simple pointed arch window each, while in the west a larger pointed arched window with tracery infills extends into the gable, which ends with a cross.

  • West facade

  • lobby

  • West portal

  • Romanesque tympanum

Longhouse

The late Gothic hall longhouse is covered with a high gable roof with a half -hipped roof in the west , which hides large parts of the west facade of the crossing tower. Like the transept, it is covered with red beaver tail tiles . The walls of the nave are divided by three buttresses each with two steps. Between the buttresses, unadorned wall surfaces rise above a plinth, above which a coffin cornice runs around the walls and pillars, which at the same time forms the eaves of the simple vestibules with pointed arched doors arranged between the western buttresses and the Romanesque western towers.

Above the horizontal cornice are the single grooved two-lane pointed arch windows of the ship with late Gothic tracery panels. Above that, a round arch frieze under the eaves cornice forms the end of the walls, the design language of which suggests an adaptation of the nave, which was built around 1500, to the neighboring Romanesque components.

Transept and choir

Like the towers, the Romanesque transept is structured with pilaster strips and arched friezes. On the gable ends, a central pilaster strip divides the walls into two halves, analogous to the tower basements. To the left and right of the central bar in the upper half of the wall are two large arched windows. The west walls of the transept arms each have a similar window. After the construction of the late Gothic nave in the interior of the church at the east end of the aisles, the round windows that were recognizable were originally located above the pent roofs of the Romanesque aisles on the outer walls of the transept due to the earlier basilica cross-section of the nave.

On the ground floor there is a door opening in the north and south of the transept. While there is only a single-framed rectangular door on the north side, the round-arched portal on the south side has a frame integrated into the surrounding plinth, two flanking columns with a round archivolt and a tympanum decorated with two quarter-circle fields. The gables of the transept are framed by recessed fields with a bulging frieze that is stepped along the gable slopes. In each of the gables there is a diamond-shaped window with tracery infills.

Two side apses formed the eastern end of the transept arms, of which only the northern one has been preserved due to the late Gothic sacristy extension in the south. It is structured above the base by four pilaster strips with round or pointed arch friezes and is illuminated through a small central round arched window. The conical stone roof of the apse ends with a round-arched frieze in the upper area of ​​the curved surface, from which three pilaster-like straps run to the eaves. The building, built on the model of the side apses of Naumburg Cathedral, is crowned by a ball on the east wall of the north transept.

The sacristy, which was built in the late Gothic period on the south side, is illuminated on the south and east side by an ogival group of three windows. The south-east corner of the simple building with a beaver-tailed hipped roof is occupied by two buttresses.

  • Southern nave portal

  • Longhouse, crossing tower and south transept

  • Portal of the south transept

  • Sacristy at the south transept

The architecture of the Romanesque choir square corresponds to the transept. On the north side there is a later added round arched window analogous to the windows of the transept, while in the south two windows illuminate the choir.

The Gothic choir, built in the 15th century instead of the Romanesque main apse, adjoins the Romanesque choir bay with the same width. Its seven wall fields, separated by buttresses, have identical dividing elements: almost square, unadorned wall fields rise above a low plinth, ending with a coffin cornice. In the case of four wall panels, freely worked arched friezes are attached below the cornice, some of which are badly damaged or only remnants are left.

Above the cornice, the walls are opened by large, two-lane pointed arch windows with grooved walls and tracery. The tracery shapes vary between triple and quadrupeds as well as fish bubble ornaments . A Gothic tracery frieze is attached below the final eaves cornice.

The lavishly designed buttresses have a rectangular floor plan underneath the coffin cornice and are decorated with fields filled with tracery. Above each, two indicated canopies with crowning pinnacles lead over to a pentagonal cross-section, in order to merge back to the rectangular profile above a pillar in front of the entire pillar at the level of the window arches. The conclusion on the eaves form detached crab occupied with finials crowned pinnacles, at the base points of two figurative gargoyles sit. The high choir roof, in contrast to the other roof areas, has an old German slate covering, also extends over the Romanesque choir yoke and, due to the proportions that have changed compared to the older construction, overlaps the eastern arched window of the four-tower.

  • North transept

  • Apse on the north transept

  • Gothic choir and Romanesque choir square

  • Gothic choir and sacristy

inner space

The vaulted ground floor rooms of the square west towers with east passages to the side aisles flank the space between the nave and the west portal, which is also provided with a vaulted ceiling and opens to the nave with a nave-wide arch and above which the organ gallery is located. In the southeast corner of the south tower, a spiral staircase opens up the gallery and the upper floors of the tower.

The hall longhouse has four simple, pointed arches made of octagonal pillars standing on plinths without capitals . The western pair of pillars directly adjoining the tower substructure was placed directly on the Romanesque pillars that were preserved there, formed as bundle pillars, while in the east the pillars adjoining the transept stand on rectangular wall templates. At the east end of the aisles, the round windows located on the outside of the transept before the hall was built are visible. The eastern end of the central nave is formed by the pointed triumphal arch from the Romanesque construction phase, which rests on the high consoles decorated with palmette decorations.

  • View into the nave from the southwest

  • View through the nave to the east

  • View through the nave to the west

  • Console of the triumphal arch

The ceiling of the nave forms a reticulated vault with ribs that vary in yoke, while the side aisles have simple cross rib vaults. The ribs have simply fluted profiles and protrude directly from the walls without brackets. The crossing points of the ribs are decorated in the central nave as keystones with coats of arms, guild signs, house brands or small rosettes that stand out in color. In the second vaulted yoke from the west, an almost fully sculptural crucifixion group is integrated. The third yoke has a ring-shaped keystone with a round opening, while the eastern yoke of the central nave is decorated with a mask in a wreath of leaves.

The transept from the Romanesque construction phase following the nave in the east is open to the crossing with low pointed arches resting on simple consoles. The crossing, bounded in the west by the triumphal arch and in the east by the equally large choir arch, has a groin vault with round bulges surrounding the shield arches above the transom profile surrounding the pillars. In contrast, the transept arms are flat covered. In the north transept, the original side apse has been preserved, while in the south counterpart due to the sacristy behind it, only the apse arch in the east wall can be seen.

  • Reticulated vault of the nave

  • Crucifixion group in the nave vault

  • View into the south transept with the walled-in apse arch

  • View from the crossing into the choir room

The Romanesque choir square east of the crossing is divided on the north and south sides in the lower half of the wall by a wide blind arch and is illuminated by the original arched windows in the south, but is made possible by the reticulated vaulting into this room in the course of the new choir in the 15th century connected to the component created later. In the south is the entrance to the star-vaulted sacristy.

In the Gothic choir, similar to its exterior design, almost square, unadorned wall fields are arranged between the buttresses drawn inwards above a base designed as a bench, which are bordered at the top by a corridor-like protruding cornice, which at the same time forms the sill of the large, colorfully glazed pointed arched windows. Slender services are placed on the buttresses and support the simply profiled vaulted ribs above the capitals decorated with leaves, which rest on consoles in the Romanesque choir square. The round capstones in the middle of the yoke are adorned with a sun, a moon and stars.

  • Gothic choir room

  • Reticulated vault of the choir

Furnishing

altar

The carved altar retable on the stone altar in the choir was made around 1500 for the St. Mary's Church, which was rebuilt at the time. The well-preserved work of art is counted among the best works of this time in the Thuringian region. The focus is on the Coronation of Mary with flanking angels and a choir of angels in the background. The scene is delimited to the left and right by very thin twisted columns that support a canopy made of crossed and twisted branches , on which the figures of Saints Catherine and Barbara on consoles are attached.

The open side wings show two roughly square reliefs arranged one above the other under branch friezes also supported by thin columns. The Annunciation and the Visitation are depicted on the left wing, the Nativity and the Death of Mary on the right wing . The back of the wings and the predella were probably not provided with painted representations of the four evangelists and the Lord's Supper until around 1600 .

The delicate, tall pinnacle tower , consisting of three tall pinnacles crowned with finials , also has figurative decorations: In the middle tower there are statues of the third of Anna and the Man of Sorrows , flanked by smaller angels with instruments of torture. The left turret bears the representations of Saint Lawrence and Peter , while figures of Saint Stephen and the Evangelist John can be seen on the right. The six main characters stand under canopies made of branches. Since the altar was consecrated in 1499, the creation of the altarpiece is dated to this time.

  • General view of the altar

  • Opened altar shrine

  • The altar was blown

  • Figure of Saint Lawrence

Baptismal font

The chalice-shaped baptism in the middle of the Romanesque choir bay was made of sandstone around 1600. Naked putti sitting and dancing over a round base as well as two baptized persons between fruit hangings are depicted at the foot . Above it appears a wreath of leaves that supports the flat baptismal font with a hexagonal rim. The vaulted walls of the basin are adorned with three-dimensional, naturalistically painted angel faces on the background decorated with fittings .

  • Baptismal font, general view

  • Baptismal font, angel head

Funerary monuments

Significant grave slabs with figurative representations of the deceased on the walls of the church were created in the 16th and 17th centuries for Chr. Von Taubenheim († 1536), Anna von Wolstrop († 1557) and for three members of the von Fürstenauer family.

More works of art

In addition to a series of paintings with superintendent and pastor portraits, the church has an unmounted carved figure of Anna Selbdritt from the 1510s, a late Romanesque stone fragment of a cupboard decorated with a palmette frieze and an altar wing hung in the sacristy and painted on both sides, dating from around 1530 . While the Annunciation is shown on one side, the other side shows the Holy Kinship with a mountain landscape in the background, with the city of Freyburg with the Marienkirche below Neuchâtel Castle.

Varia

  • In Freyburg's Church of St. Marien, since June 22nd, 2017, the anniversary exhibition "150 Years of Photogrammetry in Germany" has been honoring Albrecht Meydenbauer's pioneering act of 1867, when he took the first photos according to the new type of photo measurement method as a trial in the city - so too from the church. They are the oldest photographs of the church that exist. At the same time, it is the very first architectural monument in Germany that has been documented in this surveying way.

literature

  • Ludwig Puttrich : The city church and the castle chapel in Freiburg on the Unstrut . With the special participation of GW Geyser d. J., painter. With historical and artistic explanations by Carl Peter Lepsius . FA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1839
  • Ernst Schubert : City Church St. Marien Freyburg / Unstrut. Schnell-Kunstführer 1958, Regensburg 2000, ISBN 3-7954-5677-0

Web links

Commons : St. Marien (Freyburg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.der-freyburger.de/news_17_0035.html
  2. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/events/1819426844739504/permalink/1820019928013529/
  3. ↑ The exhibition ends on October 31, 2017.

Coordinates: 51 ° 12 ′ 42.4 "  N , 11 ° 46 ′ 15.9"  E