St. Michael to the Wengen (Ulm)

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Wengen Church, monastery choir

The Church of St. Michael zu den Wengen , also called Wengen Church, is a Roman Catholic parish church in the center of Ulm , which emerged from the historic Wengen monastery . The nickname for the Wengen means "in the meadows".

The church originally belonged to the Ulm convent of the Augustinian Canons and has a long and eventful history behind it.

history

Pilgrim monastery from 1183

The first Wengen monastery with a church was on the Ulm Michelsberg from 1183. It was founded on the slight hill north of Ulm, on the first ascent of the Swabian Alb . Above all, it was a pilgrim hospital on a heavily frequented trade route between the Danube and Neckar regions that was supposed to look after pilgrims on this route. Augustinian canons from the Marbach Abbey were commissioned to look after the pilgrims , so that the church became the new seat of an Augustinian canon monastery.

Wengenmünster from 1215

The location on the Michelsberg had the serious disadvantage that there was often not enough drinking water on the hill. As early as 1215, the monastery and church moved closer to the center of Ulm. Since then they have been at the height of today's Bundesstraße 10 at Hindenburgring on an island between the branched arms of the Blau . In 1250 the Wengenmünster , a handsome three-aisled church, was consecrated. With the relocation to the river islands, the original order to build a pilgrimage church and hospice was lost. Instead, the Augustinian canons used the water power of the Blau and operated mills and hammer mills with it.

The buildings on the Michelsberg remained in parts. In 1539 the first St. Michael church was demolished, followed by the church tower on the Michelsberg in 1634.

Re-establishment in 1399

View of Ulm around 1490 ( Schedel'sche Weltchronik ): In the background at the very top the tower of the Church of St. Michael on the Michelsberg behind the Ulm Minster can still be seen very well, the tower towers above all other buildings in the city

In 1376, Ulm was besieged by the enemy by Emperor Charles IV , which led to the fact that all of the city's main buildings and churches that were outside the city wall were gradually brought into the fortified city. In the course of this, not only the Wengen monastery, but also the church of “Our Lady” was brought into the city, literally moved. Most of the church “Our Lady” was moved from 1377 onwards and still forms the basis for the Ulm Minster , whereas the Wengen Monastery was moved in 1399 and still forms the basis for the St. Michael to Wengen complex. In the course of this measure, the canons were granted citizenship in Ulm. An average of eight canons lived in the monastery complex, who also took care of the pastoral care of the townspeople.

This third church was a three-aisled, flat-roofed hall church with a retracted vaulted choir. The profession of painters, printers and sculptors was particularly closely connected to this church at the end of the Middle Ages. Martin Schaffner , Hans Schüchlin , Niklaus Weckmann , Bartholomäus Zeitblom and other visual artists had come together to form a Guild of St. Luke . The altar of this local brotherhood of Luke was in the Wengen Church.

Around 1440, Provost Ulrich Strobl von Langenau had a 22 m long dance of death with 24 dance couples painted in the fresco technique in the cloister, which is said to have been comparable with the accompanying verses of the Greater Basel dance of death, which was created around the same time. The wall paintings whitewashed in 1810 were badly damaged in 1944/45 before the remains were also lost due to the demolition in 1952/53.

Ulm Reformation 1531

The Reformation in Ulm meant that monasteries were viewed as superfluous. The Augustinian monastery was also closed. The Ulmer Götzentag , an expression of the iconoclasm , resulted in multi-winged altars being removed from the church. The church fell apart and suffered damage.

In 1546 the church was converted into a one-room church. On July 18, 1549, the monastery was returned to the canons. They were tasked with looking after the few Catholics in the imperial city, which has now become Protestant. Catholic weddings could not take place there, but had to be celebrated outside the walls, funerals were also prohibited for the canons.

Nonetheless, the monastery grew: its own school, its own theater, a large library with 10,000 volumes from all areas of knowledge and specialist fields and a rich church music life gave the institution its charisma. The number of canons grew to 15.

Baroque

Between the years 1628 and 1635 the building was then redesigned in Baroque style. Early baroque pillars were added. The rococo came between 1738 and 1766 when the stucco typical of the time was added. Franz Martin Kuen from Weißenhorn (brother of the provost Michael Kuen ) created extensive ceiling frescoes. In 1786 a stately office building was built south of the church, which today houses the Catholic parish church of St. Michael zu den Wengen in Ulm. In the second half of the 18th century, the musician and composer Father Joseph Lederer worked as music director in the Canon Monastery.

Secularization from 1802

After the lost battle of Elchingen , secularization took place in Ulm and the time of the free imperial city came to an end. In 1802 the monastery came to the Bavarian electors. With the secularization in 1803, the Wengen Church was closed again. From March 2, 1805, the Wengen Church was the first Catholic parish church and a full parish for the Catholic Christians who had increasingly resided since the Reformation.

The library and numerous works of art were either sold or transferred to state collections. The monastery buildings of St. Michael zu den Wengen were partly used as barracks .

Destruction in 1944 and reconstruction

A considerable part of the monastery and church complex fell victim to the nights of bombing of the Second World War , especially the main attack on December 17, 1944. With a few exceptions, all of the remaining art holdings in the church were burned. The reconstruction between 1953 and 1954 turned the east-facing choir into a side chapel and the church was "turned". The Gothic west gable with a painted foundation stone relief was preserved. The sober post-war building was called “God's workshop” by the people of Ulm. Wilhelm Geyer created a way of the cross .

present

Today St. Michael zu den Wengen is the only Roman Catholic parish church that is located in Ulm's old town. The church is also used as a concert space.

In 1998 the church was fundamentally redesigned. Hermann Geyer created artistic glass windows.

In terms of historical art, there is a crucifixion group by Niklaus Weckmann, but one cannot say with certainty whether it really has a historical reference to the Wengen Church, whether it belonged to the Lukas Altar, for example, or whether it came into the church interior by other means.

Organs

Main organ

The Walcker Organ (1961)

The main organ on the north gallery was built in 1961 by the organ building company EF Walcker & Cie. (Ludwigsburg) built as op. 4082. The slider chests -instrument has 25  registers on two manuals and pedal . The Spieltrakturen are mechanically, the Registertrakturen electrically. The main organ has the following disposition :

I main work C – a 3
1. Bourdon 16 ′
2. Principal 08th'
3. Salicional 08th'
4th Reed flute 08th'
5. Octave 04 ′
6th recorder 04 ′
7th Nasat 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
8th. Super octave 02 ′
9. Mixture IV-VI 0 2 ′
10. Trumpet 08th'
II Swell C – a 3
11. Wooden principal 8th'
12. Flute 8th'
13. Dulc flute 8th'
14th Prefix 4 ′
15th Reed flute 4 ′
16. Schwiegel 2 '
17th third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
18th Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
19th Scharff III-IV 1'
20th Rohrschalmey 8th'
tremolo
Pedal C – f 1
21st Principal bass 16 ′
22nd Sub bass 16 ′
23. Octavbass 08th'
24. Covered pommer 04 ′
25th Nursing trombone 16 ′

Choir organ

There is also a mobile choir organ made by Link in Giengen in the small Wengen Church, the former choir room , with the following disposition:

I main work C – a 3
1. Principal 8th'
2. Salicional 8th'
3. Octave 4 ′
4th Nasat 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
5. Super octave 2 ′
6th third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
II Swell C – a 3
7th Bourdun 8th'
8th. Reed flute 4 ′
9. Schwiegel 2 ′
10. Sif flute 1'
Pedal C – f 1
11. Sub-bass 16 ′
12. Covered bass 08th'
  • Coupling: II / I, II / I 16 ′, I / P, II / P

location

Today the Wengen Church is located on both Wengengasse and Walfischgasse. It is visible from afar in the old town area of ​​Ulm on the tower, which has been newly built with red bricks.

Due to the dilapidation of this tower, a dispute arose in the city over the question of whether the tower should be raised during renovation and given a correct spire. After an architectural draft by Gottfried Böhm was available, there was a heated dispute between the local dean and the specially founded tower building association. The tower has remained unchanged since then.

literature

  • St. Michael to the Wengen. Church in the Center of the City , ed. from the Catholic parish of St. Michael zu den Wengen, Ulm 2004, ISBN 3-88294-341-6
  • Herbert Dörfler u. a .: Ulm - lovable Donaustadt , Ulm 2002, ISBN 3-9808370-1-7 , p. 22
  • Oscar Gageur: The Church of St. Michael zu den Wengen in Ulm , Ulm 1937
  • Adolf Herrmann: Franz Martin Kuen in Ulm , in: Society for the Promotion of the Württemberg State Museum (Hrsg.): New contributions to the archeology and art history of Swabia - Dedicated to Julius Baum on his 70th birthday on April 9, 1952 , W. Kohlhammer Verlag Stuttgart 1952
  • Barbara Maier-Lörcher, article “ Wengenkirche ”, in: Masterpieces Ulmer Kunst , Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 3-7995-8004-2 , pp. 50–51
  • Hellmut Pflüger: City Guide Ulm , Gondrom Verlag, Bindlach 1991, ISBN 3-8112-0766-0
  • Hans Eugen Specker: The Augustinian Canons' Monastery of St. Michael zu den Wengen , in: Hans Eugen Specker u. a .: Churches and monasteries in Ulm. A contribution to Catholic life in Ulm and Neu-Ulm from the beginnings to the present , Ulm 1979, pp. 49-88
  • Erwin Treu, Reinhard Wortmann: Works of art from the former Augustinian canons of St. Michael zu den Wengen in Ulm , exhibition cat. Ulmer Museum, Ulm 1980
  • Max Wagner: Monastery and Church of the Wengen in Ulm , Diss. TH Stuttgart 1923

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Georg Wehrens: The dance of death in the Alemannic language area. "I have to do it - and don't know what" . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2012, p. 57ff. ISBN 978-3-7954-2563-0 .
  2. ↑ Information and sound samples on the main organ of St. Michael zu den Wengen
  3. ↑ Information and sound samples on the choir organ from St. Michael zu den Wengen
  4. ↑ http://www.swp.de/ulm/lokales/ulm_neu_ulm/Das-tiefe-Zerwuerfnis-wegen-des-Wengenturms;art4329,1368753

Web links

Commons : Wengenkirche (Ulm)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 23 ′ 57 ″  N , 9 ° 59 ′ 15 ″  E