St. Marien (Osnabrück)

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St. Marien in Osnabrück, viewed from the market square
The church tower clock at St. Marien in Osnabrück

St. Marien is an Evangelical Lutheran parish and market church in Osnabrück . It is one of the most important historical monuments in the northern German city. A Romanesque predecessor church was mentioned in a document as early as 1177. However, the building history of the Marienkirche reaches far before the date of its first written mention. Archaeological traces suggest a previous building from the 10th century. The construction of today's Gothic hall church began in the 13th century and was completed in 1430/40.

St. Marien can look back on a complex building history. Extensive restorations over time made archaeological excavations possible, which contributed significantly to the reconstruction of the building history. The existence of at least three previous buildings was proven.

As Osnabrück's oldest civic church, its location is central. The Marienkirche is located directly on the market square, next to the city scales and the town hall. St. Marien, along with the Osnabrück Cathedral , St. Katharinen and St. Johann, is one of the four medieval churches that surround the city center of Osnabrück.

Building history

Archaeological digs

After considerable destruction by incendiary bombs in the Second World War , a series of excavations to research the older building history took place before the reconstruction of the Marienkirche from 1950. With the modernization of the heating system in 1958 and the interior and exterior renovation of the building from 1987 to 1989 and 1989 to 1992, there were further opportunities to conduct research into the architectural history of St. Marien.

The archaeological investigations were carried out by the Lower Saxony State Conservator under the scientific direction of the then conservators Dr. Roswitha Poppe and Dr.-Ing. Hans Roggenkamp. The research work presented received support from the municipal monument preservation department , the Office for Building and Art Preservation of the Evangelical Church in Osnabrück and finally from the master stone sculptor Werner Paetzke.

The extensive excavations made it possible to prove the existence of at least three previous buildings.

From the previous buildings to today's Marienkirche

The oldest previous church is a hall building that was built on an island-like sand dome in the 10th century. This makes this building the oldest predecessor of St. Marien and should be viewed as a starting point. Since the building project is related to the establishment of a market, the original purpose as the market church of the city of Osnabrück can be assumed. The single-nave longitudinal building without a transept with an almost semicircular apse was preceded by an open, two-storey vestibule in the west. The robust masonry of the hall building with a width of 2.30 m, which suggests the function of a fortified church , is striking . The late Carolingian or early Saxon period as an architectural context can be assumed due to the shape of the floor plan and the heavily indented interior of the choir .

The second previous building of the Marienkirche in Osnabrück was built in the 11th century on the foundations of the first church. Again it is a single-nave hall building with a semicircular apse. However, a 14 m high tower with a vaulted upper floor and a vaulted basement was added to the west of the church. The transverse rectangular west tower was built from the demolition material from the previous church.

The youngest of the three predecessor churches was built in the 12th century. The single-nave hall building was extended by two narrow aisles with east apses. The result was a three-aisled basilica without a transept with three semicircular east ends. The core masonry of the west tower and the tower floor are the only parts of this building that have been preserved to this day.

During the 13th and 14th centuries, the three-aisled basilica was transformed into a Gothic hall church . The west tower was raised by four floors and the choir was transformed into a rectangular choir. With the renewed conversion of the rectangular choir to a basilical choir around 1430/40, the work on the Marienkirche came to a preliminary conclusion.

The damage in the Second World War was gradually removed parallel to the archaeological investigations and completed by 1950. The reconstruction work was under the direction of the local architect Max H. Berling and also led to changes in the furnishings and the color scheme, which were mainly created during a renovation in 1901.

Building description

Floor plan of the Marienkirche

Layout

St. Marien is a three-aisled hall church without a transept. The main nave is three bays in length . These central nave bays are slightly transversely rectangular. Both aisles are four bays deep, which are slightly longitudinally rectangular. The central nave is separated from the side aisles by arcades consisting of colossal bundle pillars. By extending the side aisles by one yoke, the west tower is integrated into the interior of the architecture. In the east, the almost square hall is joined by the basilica, polygonal choir with ambulatory . Attached to the choir in the north is the square, four-bay sacristy . This has four vaults that are supported on a central bundle pillar. The Gothic hall is covered by ribbed vaults . The height of the nave is 20.56 m and thus deviates only slightly from the length and width dimensions (approx. 25.5 m long and 24.5 m wide). This creates an almost cube-shaped long house. The central nave is only slightly wider than the side aisles. This only results in a weak emphasis on the longitudinal axis of the church. The aisle bays counteract this - albeit only slight longitudinal alignment - by opening their broad sides to the central nave and thus underlining the transverse alignment. This creates the impression of an undirected space. St. Marien is therefore determined by a uniform overall appearance of the hall longhouse.

East side of St. Marien in Osnabrück

Exterior construction

The 80 meter high west tower, which can be climbed on Sundays, rises impressively over the roof of St. Marien and represents the old market church. The design of the north and south sides of the Marienkirche is symmetrical. There are a total of four portals that allow the entrance to the interior of St. Marien, two each on the north and south side. The front side with four tracery decorated gables and the narrow, raised pointed arch windows characterize the market place. There are sandstone figures on the gables. With the help of buttresses , typical Gothic elements, the front side of the church is divided into four vertical zones. The buttresses run out in pinnacles with gargoyles between the four gables. There are two portals on this page. A side portal and the bride portal, the main entrance of the Marienkirche. Buttresses and buttresses as well as balustrades define the image of the choir. The exterior of the choir is divided into two parts, consisting of the ambulatory and the arcade of light .

The buttress of the Marienkirche in Osnabrück is very lively designed by the pinnacles and the neo-Gothic balustrades. This dynamic picture contrasts with both the calm shapes of the nearby St. Peter's Cathedral and the strict neighboring market houses.

Bridal portal

Bridal portal of St. Marien in Osnabrück

The bridal portal is on the south side of St. Marien. The rich decoration and the higher eyelash characterize the bridal portal as the main entrance of the Marienkirche. The garment figures represent the wise and the foolish virgins . On the left are the figures of the five wise virgins, led by the "Ecclesia", and on the right those of the five foolish ones, led by the "Synagogue" (→ Ecclesia and Synagogue ). The leaders of the pillars represent the new and old covenants. The biblical parable of the wise and the foolish virgins can be found repeatedly in German sacred buildings . In the arch of the bridal portal, the tympanum , the coronation of Mary is shown. Tracery ornamentation in the Wimperg and an openwork tracery parapet frame this work. The Coronation of Mary and the parable of the wise and foolish virgins are replicas from the second half of the 19th century. The originals from the early 14th century are in the Osnabrück Cultural History Museum.

inner space

Justus Möser grave slab, St. Marien, Osnabrück, 2009

The interior of St. Marien can be reached through the four portals. The Gothic hall appears compact and undirected. This uniform spatial impression leads to diagonal views. The lack of a transept intensifies the unity and the unity of the room. The ribbed vault of the three naves of equal height is supported by sturdy bundle pillars. In the tops of the vaults a height of 21 m is reached. The tall bundle pillars are based on the cathedral in Minden and the cathedral in Paderborn . The naturalistic capital ornamentation on the bundle pillars of the Marienkirche can be seen in connection with the leaf capitals of the Marburg Elisabeth Church and the Minden Cathedral.

Inside, the choir is divided into three. After the low ambulatory, the area adjoins a graceful triforium gallery . The end of the building is the Lichtgaden with three-part tracery windows . The contrast between the high upper aisle and the low ambulatory dynamizes the sequence of rooms and directs the view. At the same time, the low openings to the ambulatory underline the shortness of the hall. The choir vault is decorated with the coat of arms of Bishop Erich von Hoya and other coats of arms. The continuation of the width of the central nave into the choir as well as the arcades above the arcades, interrupted only by the slim triforium, make the impression of a spacious and light-filled hall clear. The glass artist Johannes Schreiter created a three-part lancet window with tracery for the middle nave window on the south side in 1992 (theme after John 3:17). The north opposite window was inaugurated in 2016 (theme based on Ezekiel 37).

Furnishing

St. Mary's is home to several significant pieces of equipment of various workshops from different periods: the colored Madonna on the south side of the ambulatory from the early 16th century, epitaphs with testimonies of local Renaissance - and Baroque sculpture from the 16th and 17th centuries, the Antwerp altarpiece from the early 16th century, the triumphal cross from the late 13th century or the font from the 16th century. The grave slab of the Möser family is on the south side under Johannes Schreiter's window .

Triumphal cross

The triumphal cross from the late 13th century is one of the oldest pieces of equipment in the church. It hangs down from the choir vault. The thorn-crowned body of Christ is shown as a three-nail type (enhancement of the depiction of suffering). His knees are slightly drawn up and his arms are stretched out almost horizontally. Only the stone consoles on the pillars bear witness to Maria and Johannes, the minor figures who are usually attached to the left and right of the crucifix .

Winged altar

The main altar was made in Antwerp around 1520 and consists of a shrine with painted wings. A total of 12 painted panels on the front and back of the altarpiece show the viewer the story of Christ up to his resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The carved middle part of the main altar shows in six small niches the Annunciation, the Visitation, the birth, the adoration, the circumcision and the presentation in the temple. The actual story of the Passion is presented in three treatises: Carrying the Cross, Crucifixion and Descent from the Cross. This type of Antwerp altar became very popular in northern Germany during the 16th century. The predella of the main altar retable, which was destroyed during the war in 1945, was created around 1390 as an independent, two-zone retable by the master of the Berswordt retable, who is close to a painter of French art of the 1380s and whose workshop was probably in Cologne.

  • Antwerp winged altar from 1520
    general view

  • Detail: panels front left

  • Detail: panels front right

  • Madonna on the crescent moon

organ

The organ of St. Marien was built in 1967 by the Dutch organ builder Flentrop and extensively restored in 1998. The slider chest instrument has 47  stops on four manuals and a pedal . The playing and stop actions are mechanical. The breastwork is equipped with a door swell mechanism.

I Rückpositiv C – g 3
1. Principal 8th'
2. Hollow flute 8th'
3. Octave 4 ′
4th Reed flute 4 ′
5. Super octave 2 ′
6th Flat flute 2 ′
7th Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
8th. Sesquialter II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
9. Scharff III – IV
10. Dulcian 16 ′
11. Krummhorn 8th'
Tremulant
II Hauptwerk C – g 3
12. Prefix 16 ′
13. Principal 8th'
14th Octave 4 ′
15th Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
16. Super octave 2 ′
17th Mixture IV-V
18th Trumpet 16 ′
19th Trumpet 8th'
III Oberwerk C – g 3
27. Reed flute 8th'
28. Quintatön 8th'
29 Principal 4 ′
30th Pointed flute 4 ′
31. Nasat 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
32. Forest flute 2 ′
33. third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
34. Mixture IV
35. Trumpet 8th'
Tremulant
IV breastwork C – g 3
20th Dumped 8th'
21st Flute 4 ′
22nd Principal 2 ′
23. Sif flute 1'
24. Zimbel II
25th shelf 16 ′
26th Vox Humana 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
36. Principal 16 ′
37. Sub bass 16 ′
38. Octave 8th'
39. Dumped 8th'
40. Super octave 4 ′
41. Reed flute 4 ′
42. Night horn 2 ′
43. Mixture VI – VIII
44. trombone 16 ′
45. Dulcian 16 ′
46. trombone 8th'
47. Trumpet 4 ′
  • Pair : I / II, III / II, II / P, III / P
  • Playing aids : Abstell Hauptwerk at the paddocks

Peal

A five-part bell hangs in the tower (g sharp ° (Hosanna) –h ° (Gloria) –dis' (Amen) –f sharp '(Kyrieleis) –gis' (Hallelujah)), which was re-cast in 1959 by the Rincker Bell and Art Foundry .

literature

  • Georg Dehio, Gerd white: Handbook of German art monuments. Bremen, Lower Saxony, 2nd, newly processed, heavily exp. Edition, Munich 1992
  • Karl Kaster (ed.): The Marienkirche in Osnabrück. Results of archaeological, architectural and art historical investigations, Bramsche 2001.
  • Roswitha Poppe: The Marien Church , Osnabrück 1969.
  • Horst Schlüter: Festschrift for the rededication of St. Mary's Church in Osnabrück, Osnabrück 1990.
  • Edgar F. Warnecke: Old churches and monasteries in the country between Weser and Ems , Osnabrück 1990.

Web links

Commons : St. Marien  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Detailed information about the Marienkirche in Osnabrück on baufachinformation.de ( Memento of the original from February 10, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / baufachinformation.de
  2. ↑ 60 years ago St. Marien Osnabrück received the spire back on noz.de.
  3. ↑ Marienkirche / tower visit on the website of the Verkehrsverein Stadt und Land Osnabrück eV
  4. ↑ knerger.de: Justus Möser's grave
  5. ↑ Götz J. Pfeiffer, Painting on the Lower Rhine and in Westphalia around 1400. The Master of the Berswordt Retable and the Style Change of Time (= Studies on International Architecture and Art History, 73), Petersberg (Imhof-Verlag), 2009; ISBN 978-3-86568-194-2 .
  6. ↑ Information about the organ on the website of the parish
  7. ↑ Partial bells g sharp ° –dis' – fis'-g sharp ', Saturday, December 22, 2007, 6:00 p.m. (ringing in for the 4th Advent)
  8. ↑ Full bells on December 25, 2008, 9:45 a.m. (Christmas) .

Coordinates: 52 ° 16 ′ 40 "  N , 8 ° 2 ′ 30.5"  E