St. Michaelis (Braunschweig)

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Michaeliskirche from the southeast

St. Michaelis , also called Michaeliskirche , is located in the Weichbild Altstadt in Braunschweig . At Michaelmas 1157 , that is on 29 September, it was by Bishop Bruno of Hildesheim the Archangel Michael ordained and was the smallest of the urban parishes . Michaeliskirche has been a Lutheran parish church since 1528 .

History of origin

The soft picture "Old Town" around 1400 (shown in red). Michaeliskirche is at the bottom left.
The west tower built in Romanesque style
Christ head

The church was built in the southwest of today's inner city, near the old city wall, which is still preserved today in remnants. The red Braunschweiger Rogenstein for the building comes from the nearby Nussberg and the light Elm limestone from the Elm . At that time the church was located near the long-distance trade route from Frankfurt - Hamburg . Today it is between Echternstrasse and Güldenstrasse .

The u. a. Construction of the church on the property of a citizen named Bendarz, financed by private donations. The building was consecrated in 1157. A cemetery for strangers, exiles and the poor was laid out around the church .

How the structure originally looked is unknown and is still a matter of speculation today, as it has been structurally altered several times over the centuries. However, it was probably a single-nave building, possibly laid out as a hall church in the village church scheme, and was extended around 1200 with a square west tower designed in the Romanesque style. The conversion to a three-aisled Gothic hall church took place between the 13th and 15th centuries, possibly as a result of the city fire on May 12, 1278, in which the Michaeliskirche was damaged.

The gables of the north side, of which the north-eastern one bears the year "1454", show late Gothic sculptures from the middle of the 15th century and depict, among other things, St. Lorenz , the second patron saint of the church, with a grate and the Archangel Michael , who is with fights the spear against the dragon.

On the east side of the nave there is an image of the head of Christ. Travelers who came into the city through the Michaelis Gate first reached the Michaeliskirche and stroked their heads as they passed, as legend has it that this would promise good luck. Over the centuries the contours of the sculpture became increasingly indistinct as a result of this "wear and tear".

The Protestant theologian Thomas Müntzer was pastor of the Michaeliskirche from 1514 to 1521.

Dedication inscription from 1379 and portrait of the founder

Dedication from 1379
Christ with the founders
The "bride door" on the north side

A still legible inscription on a stone tablet from 1379 on the so-called “bride door” in the north aisle of the church tells of a new consecration of the church, which suggests that u. U. major renovations were completed in 1379.

The inscription reads:

"Na goddes bort M CCC LXX IX iar is desse parkerke before nyget unde in sunte mychelis ere ghewyget we sine almesen hyr to gheve dat he in goddes hulden leve a [men]"

To the left of this inscription is a depiction of Christ crucified, at whose feet the donor couple kneel.

A banner reads:

"Lewe here who ghnedich all sunderen amen unde ghif rowe allen kerstenen selen amen"

Recent conversions

In 1789 the church was given a new pulpit , a new altar and stalls and a white interior painting by the Brunswick court architect Christian Gottlob Langwagen . Langwagen chose the furnishings in the Louis Seize style. In front of the east wall there was a triumphal arch-like structure, in the center of which there was not the pulpit, but a cross. The pulpit was hung separately from one of the southern pillars. Most of Langwagen's work was removed in 1868, and a stone altar that still exists today may have been erected.

In 1879/1881 Ludwig Winter and Max Osterloh carried out a complete restoration in the neo-Gothic style with the construction of a gallery for the organ. St. Michaelis has a total of ten windows, eight of which were inserted with historicizing, figurative representations between 1900 and 1904 and the last one in 1926. The modern windows were all donated by parishioners. The last window added in 1926 is dedicated to the memory of the parishioners who died in World War I. In 1957 the building was renovated. There are only sparse remnants of the medieval furnishings with what used to be nine altars. a. present in the municipal museum . The last restoration work, including the painting, was carried out in 1985.

World War II and post-war period

The bombing raids of the Second World War , which were devastating for Braunschweig , left the Michaeliskirche almost undamaged - in contrast to the half-timbered districts immediately surrounding it. Only one bell from 1489, which had to be delivered to the bell cemetery in Hamburg to be melted down in 1942 , never returned.

Ringing three bells

Three bells hang in the tower of Michaeliskirche. They sound in the so-called Gloria motif with the notes f ', g' and b ' . The b 'is the oldest bell (1408). The big bell f 'has a very deep and beautiful sound.

organ

Today's organ in Michaeliskirche was built in 1976 by Schmidt & Thiemann, Hanover.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
Reed flute 8th'
Principal 4 ′
Forest flute 2 '
Mixture IV-V
Spanish trumpet 8th'
II Rückpositiv C – g 3
Wooden dacked 8th'
Pointed flute 4 '
Principal 2 ′
Sesquialtera II
Spanish oboe 8th'
Pedal C – f 1
Sub bass 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Rauschpfeife III
trombone 16 ′

Traditional island and historical surroundings

After the large and widespread destruction caused by bombing attacks (degree of destruction in the Braunschweig city center approx. 90%), measures were taken shortly after the end of the war. a. on the part of the state curator and chief monument protector of the state of Braunschweig , Kurt Seeleke , as well as the architecture professor Friedrich Wilhelm Kraemer undertook to save what could still be saved.

City wall on Prinzenweg

This included the establishment of the five so-called “ traditional islands ”, the concept of which goes back to Seeleke. One of these traditional islands was created in the Michaelisviertel between Prinzenweg , Echternstraße and Güldenstraße around the Michaeliskirche, which stood in a former “poor people's quarter” that had been largely destroyed due to the half-timbered buildings. As on the other "islands", the aim here was to maintain or restore areas of original buildings that had grown over centuries in the midst of almost total destruction. So are in the immediate vicinity of the church u. a. the last remains of the city wall from the 15th century, the Stobwasserhaus and a battlements from the Middle Ages with a fortified tower .

Michaelis Gate

In the vicinity of the church there was a bridge over an arm of the Oker river flowing around the city of Braunschweig . This crossing was protected by the Michaelistor. The gate system was completely removed in 1794.

literature

  • Elmar Arnhold: St. Michaelis - parish church in the old town. In: Medieval metropolis Braunschweig. Architecture and urban architecture from the 11th to 15th centuries. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2018, ISBN 978-3-944939-36-0 , pp. 143-145.
  • Camerer, Garzmann, Schuegraf, Pingel: Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon , Braunschweig 1992
  • Reinhard Dorn : Medieval churches in Braunschweig , Hameln, 1978
  • Hermann Dürre : History of the City of Braunschweig in the Middle Ages , Braunschweig 1861
  • Hans-Georg von Wernsdorff: Who stands for the children of your people! 800 years of history of St. Michaelis Church in Braunschweig 1157-1957 , Braunschweig 1957

Web links

Commons : St. Michaelis in Braunschweig  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Reinhard Dorn: Medieval churches in Braunschweig. Hameln 1978, p. 237
  2. ^ A b Hermann Dürre: History of the City of Braunschweig in the Middle Ages. Braunschweig 1861, p. 495
  3. ^ A b Hermann Dürre: History of the City of Braunschweig in the Middle Ages , Braunschweig 1861, p. 496
  4. ↑ a b c Camerer, Garzmann, Schuegraf, Pingel: Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon , Braunschweig 1992, p. 158
  5. ↑ Wolfgang A. Jünke: Destroyed art from Braunschweig's houses of worship - inner city churches and chapels before and after 1944, Groß Oesingen 1994, p. 240
  6. ↑ Jürgen Hodemacher : Braunschweigs Straßen - their names and their stories, Volume 1: Innenstadt , Cremlingen 1995, p. 53
  7. ↑ Wolfgang A. Jünke: Destroyed art from Braunschweig's houses of worship - inner city churches and chapels before and after 1944 , Groß Oesingen 1994, p. 241
  8. ↑ Audio file of the full bells of Michaeliskirche ( plenary ; MP3; 905 kB)
  9. ↑ Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Gerhard Schildt (Ed.): Braunschweigische Landesgeschichte. Millennial review of a region , Braunschweig 2000, p. 1141

Coordinates: 52 ° 15 ′ 38 "  N , 10 ° 30 ′ 54"  E