St. Nicolai (Mölln)

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St. Nicolai (Mölln)
St. Nicholas from the water tower from

The St. Nicolai Church is a church building in Mölln and a landmark of the city.

architecture

Ground plan before 1896
South side of St. Nicolai

The church stands high above the medieval town on the Eichberg and is dedicated to St. Nicholas of Myra .

Construction is assumed to begin at the end of the 12th or the first quarter of the 13th century, since Mölln still belonged to the parish of Breitenfelde around 1194 according to the register of the Ratzeburg cathedral chapter , and is mentioned in the Ratzeburg tithe register of 1230 as a place with a church.

The oldest parts of the church are to be assigned to the brick Romanesque , the tower and south aisle to the brick Gothic . The church was initially built as a late Romanesque three-nave pillar basilica . The Altenkrempe basilica was probably the model for this church building . The choir was probably finished around 1217 when the Bishop of Ratzeburg held a first synod here.

In the second half of the 15th century the church received significant renovations: in 1470/71 the south nave was extended in a Gothic style, and in 1497 today's baptistery and the originally two-story sacristy were added to the east. A chapel dedicated to Saint Jobst was built on the north side of the nave .

In 1896 the church was completely renovated. The Jobstkapelle and the upper floor of the sacristy were demolished, partly because of dilapidation, partly to restore the overall basilica impression. The south aisle received a new roof with three hipped gable roofs, and the interior painting was partly restored and partly redesigned in the neo-Gothic style. Most of the neo-Gothic paintings were removed in 1959.

The tower, which in its current form dates back to 1391, was renovated several times and provided with a supporting pillar because of the unstable subsoil, is crowned by a roof turret from the Baroque era.

Furnishing

Seven-armed candlestick from 1436

The oldest piece of the rich furnishings is a fragment of Gotland limestone from the beginning of the 13th century. The reliefs show, among other things, the dream of the Magi ; the stone is interpreted differently as the base of a baptismal font or part of a piscina .

The long time of Lübeck's pledge rule favored the influence of workshops there. The triumphal cross is attributed to the workshop of Bernt Notke and is from 1501. The hanging chandelier in the south aisle with a depiction of the Annunciation is a little younger (1506). The bronze baptism from 1509 is the work of the Lübeck foundry Peter Wulf . In addition to the Möllner, it shows the Lübeck coat of arms as a sign of Luebsche suzerainty. The angel-like figures with ointment vessels in their hands are closely related to those of the baptism in Lübeck Cathedral . The baptistery is equipped with a contemporary wooden lid and a bronze grille.

The high altar (1739) and the pulpit (1742) are works of the Baroque and probably come from the Lübeck workshop of Hieronymus Hassenberg . At the high altar, the originally central crucifix was created in the late 19th century by a depiction of the crucifixion donated by Johanna Dorothea Elisabeth Hoeltich and painted by Mathilde Block (now on the back wall), and in 1967 by a depiction of the return of the prodigal son (originally an epitaph), donated in 1689 by Joachim Werner Höltich , replaced. The torso of the altar crucifix is ​​now hanging in the sacristy, as is a late Gothic crucifix. The mighty bronze seven-armed chandelier from 1436 probably comes from the Birgittenkloster Marienwohlde, which perished during the Reformation . According to an inscription on the foot, it was renovated in 1669 by the Stecknitz drivers' office.

In the 19th century a number of apostle figures from a Gothic winged altar , probably the former high altar, were sold. About the collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin who came Möllner apostles on loan to the St. Anne's Museum in Lübeck. In Mölln you can see casts in the sacristy. Only the figure of the apostle James the Elder remained in St. Nicolai.

The church has a number of box chairs from the post-Reformation period, e.g. B. the Stecknitz driver's chair from 1576.

Scherer-Bünting organ

Organ prospectus with Rückpositiv

A pension for the organist has been documented for the year 1436, which presupposes the existence of an organ in the church since at least this time. The date 1413 for the Möllner organ is a forgery from 1670. Behind the late baroque organ prospect from 1766 there are pipes from various builders. These include the first well-known north German master organ builder Jacob Scherer , who expanded the organ by seven voices and a pedal with six voices between 1555 and 1558 , and Friedrich Stellwagen , who built a new chest piece and a third manual from 1637–1641. Many pipes from Jacob Scherer's original inventory were removed or replaced by subsequent builders over the centuries. But among the five Scherer registers, the almost completely preserved principal 8 ′ in the main work should be emphasized. As the backbone of the organ, it still contributes to its unique and unmistakable sound. The organ is next to the instrument in Kappeln / St. Nikolai is the only existing building with such an important pipe inventory from the hand of the Hamburg master.

The wooden case of today's organ was built by Christoph Julius Bünting between 1754 and 1766 ; five registers from him have been preserved in the main work. Today a restoration of the organ by Flentrop Orgelbouw is planned. If a contract is signed by mid-2018, the organ can be expected to be completed by 2020. Based on Bünting's disposition, including historical pipes and traditional craft techniques, an instrument is to be created that Bünting presumably aimed at, but was not able to achieve. The organ currently has 40 registers , which are divided into three manuals and pedal.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Quintad 16 ′ N
2. Principal 8th' Sch
3. Dumped 8th' B.
4th Pointed flute 8th' B.
5. octave 4 ′ Sch
6th Reed flute 4 ′ Sch
7th Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ B.
8th. octave 2 ′ B.
9. third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′ B.
10. Sif flute 1' N
11. Mixture IV N
12. Zimbel III N
13. Schalmey 8th' N
Tremulant
II Rückpositiv C – g 3
14th Principal 8th' N
15th Dumped 8th' St.
16. octave 4 ′ Kö
17th recorder 4 ′ Kö
18th octave 2 ′ Kü
19th Sesquialtera II N
20th Scharff IV N
21st Dulcian 16 ′ N
22nd Krummhorn 8th' N
Tremulant
III Breastwork C – g 3
23. Dumped 8th' St.
24. flute 4 ′ St.
25th Principal 2 ′ Sch
26th Forest flute 2 ′ C.
27. Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ Kö
28. Sharp cymbals N
29 shelf 8th' N
Tremulant
Pedals C – f 1
30th Principal 16 ′ G
31. Sub-bass 16 ′ Kü
32. Revelation 8th' N
33. Dumped 8th' Sch
34. Chorale bass 4 ′ G
35. Quintad 4 ′ N
36. flute 2 ′ N
37. Rauschpfeife IV N
38. trombone 16 ′ N
39. Trumpet 8th' N
40. Cornett 2 ′ N
G = Gothic (around 1500)
Sch = Jacob Scherer (1555–1558)
Kö = Hans Köster (1568)
St = Friedrich Stellwagen (1637–1641)
C = Reinerus Caspary (1722)
B = Christoph Julius Bünting (1755–1766)
Kü = JC Kühn (1837)
N = Rudolf Neuthor (1974)

The composer and organist Johann Gottfried Müthel (1728–1788) received his first lessons on the Möllner organ. Other important organists and cantors of the Nicolaikirche were the composer Johann Christoph Schmügel (1766–1798) and from 1915 to 1922 the music teacher Hermann Fey . 1000000000

Church library

The church's equipment included a church library with incunabula and valuable prints from the Reformation period. Today your holdings comprise a total of seventy volumes. Of these, 28 are incunabula, including volumes previously donated to the Marienwohlde Monastery . The library was set up on the upper floor of the sacristy, which was then demolished, until 1896 and has been kept by the Möllner City Archives since 2005.

Detail of the Eulenspiegel memorial plaque
Plaque

Picture gallery

  • Stalls for Stecknitz drivers, St. Nicolai, Mölln

  • small number of people attending the Lord's Supper during the war, St. Nicolai, Mölln

  • lockable niche, St. Nicolai, Mölln

Grave slabs

In the church as well as outside there are several grave slabs, among others for a line of the imperial counts of Rantzau .

The Gotland limestone slab with the image of Till Eulenspiegel on the west side of the tower near the entrance, which is often referred to as a “tombstone”, is not a grave slab for the fool who allegedly died in Mölln in 1350 as a result of the plague , but a commemorative slab that was made between 1530 and May have originated in 1550.

Möllner emergency confirmation

An example of civil courage in recent church history is the Möllner emergency confirmation of 1937. The bishop of the Lübeck regional church Erwin Balzer had forbidden several Lübeck pastors of the Confessing Church in January 1937 to continue to exercise office. Their 163 confirmation were then on the evening of March 20, 1937, the eve of Palm Sunday , in the Notkonfirmation in St. Nicolai in Mölln, so beyond the control of Lübeckischen country church in the Schleswig-Holstein Duchy of Lauenburg, from Flensburg pastor Ernst Mohr confirmed . Special trains of the Lübeck-Büchener Railway were used for the approximately 1000 people arriving from Lübeck for this service .

Pastors (selection)

Adolf Moraht

literature

  • Hugo Johannes Bestmann: The Nicolai Church in Mölln: How it became, how it was and how it is. Mölln: Altwart [around 1900]
  • Johann Friedrich Burmester: Contributions to the Church History of the Duchy of Lauenburg , 1832. P. 109 ff
  • Richard Haupt: The building and art monuments of the province of Schleswig-Holstein: The building and art monuments in the district of the Duchy of Lauenburg. Homann, Ratzeburg 1890, p. 111ff.
  • Klaus May, Christian Lopau: St. Nicolai Mölln. 4th, revised edition. Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2006, ISBN 978-3-7954-5657-3 (Schnell Art Guide No. 1937).
  • Holger Roggelin , Joachim Stüben: Orate pro patre Seghebando! On the origin and meaning of the Möllner cradle prints. In: Lauenburgische Heimat , new series. Issue 144, September 1996, pp. 40-59.
  • Wolfgang Teuchert : St. Nicolai zu Mölln (= great architectural monuments . Issue 322). 6th edition, Munich / Berlin 1987.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Jürs: Source documentation on the history of the Jacob Scherer organ (Scherer – Bünting – organ) in St. Nicolai zu Mölln. Orgelbauverein St. Nicolai zu Mölln, Mölln 2010, pp. 6–10.
  2. ↑ Dirk Jonkanski, Heiko Seidel: organ landscape Schleswig-Holstein. For the history and maintenance of a sound and art monument . Ludwig, Kiel 2012, ISBN 978-3-86935-141-4 , pp. 110-111 .
  3. ↑ Orgelbauverein St. Nicolai zu Mölln: Visison , accessed on May 22, 2018.
  4. ^ Organ in Mölln , accessed on July 13, 2015.
  5. ↑ The address by Pastor Dr. Mohr can be found online at geschichte-bk-sh.de .
  6. ↑ Details from Karl Friedrich Reimers: Lübeck in the church struggle of the Third Reich: National Socialist Leader Principle and Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church from 1933 to 1945. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1964, pp. 341–344


Coordinates: 53 ° 37 ′ 50.2 ″  N , 10 ° 41 ′ 30.9 ″  E