St. Michael (Würzburg)
The Church of St. Michael is a Roman Catholic church in Würzburg and the parish church and parish of the episcopal seminary.
history
At the place of St. Michael there was a small chapel at the beginning of the 13th century. It was dedicated to St. Agnes and was used by the Franciscan monastery. After Clarissen moved into the monastery in 1220, the monastery complex was rebuilt or rebuilt around 1257 and a new church was also built. After the monastery was dissolved in the 16th century, the building complex was used by the Jesuits as a training facility from 1561 . Between 1606 and 1610 the Jesuits built their first church with the patronage “St. Michael and St. Agnes ”.
Today's Michaelskirche was built between 1765 and 1798 by Johann Philipp Geigel and Johann Michael Fischer . During the construction period, the Jesuit order was repealed in 1773. The previous college was used as a seminary and the newly built church after its consecration as a seminary church, later also as the central confirmation church for the Würzburg city area. The local Marian citizen modality was relocated in 1796 from the Michaelskirche to the Marienkapelle .
As a result of a bomb attack on March 16, 1945 , the church burned down completely. After the Second World War it was repaired, initially limited to the necessary measures and largely postponing artistic design. In 1955 the church was consecrated by Julius Döpfner . Only with a view to the 400th anniversary of the Würzburg seminary in 1989 did the diocese commission the artistic redesign of the church. The basic theme for the redesign of the interior was the Revelation of John ; it was carried out by Heinrich Gerhard Bücker (Beckum). The work lasted from 1988 to 1991 when the altar was consecrated. The design of the dome was finished in 1995.
architecture
The west-facing church is a gallery basilica with a four-bay nave , indicated transept arms and an apsidal choir . Above it stands the choir tower with the bells. The crossing is vaulted inside by a flat dome and has a roof turret on the outside . The portal side in the east is designed as a representative façade based on the example of the Roman Baroque.
Image program
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The pictorial program of the figurative decoration created by Heinrich Gerhard Bücker from 1988 follows the visions of the Revelation of John, the last book of the Bible.
In the center of the gaze is a 6 m high figure of Christ according to the description of Rev 1,12–20 EU . In the vault of the apse above the lamb of God is depicted with the book with the seven seals ( Rev 5 : 6–12 EU ), surrounded by the twelve gates of the heavenly Jerusalem , from which twelve men step out with gestures of veneration. The names of the twelve tribes of Israel are written in Hebrew on the arches and the names of the twelve apostles in Greek on the thresholds ( Rev 21 : 10–14 EU ).
In the center of the dome is the Hebrew name of God, the tetragram , in the triangle of the Trinity and in the circle of perfection . He is surrounded by twelve men who sit on thrones and carry harps. In the four pendentives below are the four evangelist symbols . The representation combines Rev 4.1–11 EU with Rev 15.2–3 EU . The number of the 24 elders is the sum of the twelve in the dome with the twelve in the apse.
The vaulted ceiling of the nave bears three oval picture medallions measuring 4.2 x 5.2 m. They point from the back to the front
- the calamitous apocalyptic horsemen ( Rev 6 : 1-8 EU );
- the seven angels with the seven trumpets ( Rev 8 EU );
- the apocalyptic woman and Michael’s victory over the dragon ( Rev 12 EU ).
literature
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Weiss : The Catholic Church in the 19th Century. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I – III / 2, Theiss, Stuttgart 2001–2007; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 , pp. 430-449 and 1303, here: p. 434.
- ↑ Information on the history of Michael’s Church
- ↑ Christ figure
- ↑ apse
- ↑ Dome
- ↑ blanket
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 47 ′ 26 " N , 9 ° 56 ′ 5" E