St. Nikola (Landshut)
The Roman Catholic parish church of St. Nikola in the district of the same name is the oldest church in the city of Landshut north of the Isar. In terms of design, it is a three-aisled hall church . In 1967 a new central building was built, which has been the center of the parish ever since and Landshut's youngest church to this day. The patron saint of both church buildings is St. Nicholas of Myra (patronage December 6th).
Alt-St. Nikola
history
The settlement in today's Nikola district seems to be much older than the city of Landshut itself, as St. Nikola became a branch church of Ergolding in 1157 (and thus 47 years before the city was founded) . A church could have existed much earlier, however, as an important trade route with Isar crossing had been in the vicinity since late Roman times and Saint Nicholas is venerated as the patron saint of travelers. After Landshut was founded, St. Nikola soon became part of the city and in 1232 was incorporated into the Seligenthal Cistercian abbey founded by Ludmilla , the widow of Ludwig des Kelheimer . In 1252 the St. Barthlmä Leprosenhaus near St. Nikola with the associated St. Bartholomäus Church is mentioned for the first time; neither has existed since around 1800. The oldest surviving matriculation book dates from 1616, in 1666 the parish of St. Nikola was split off from the parish of Ergolding.
In place of a previous Romanesque building, of which the wall remains are integrated into the present choir, a Gothic church was built in the 14th century, of which the foundation walls of the choir and the choir flank tower are still preserved. These were dated to 1389/90 using a dendrochronological method. After 1475 the church was given its present shape by raising the choir and building the nave. The master builder was probably Stefan Purghauser, son of Hans von Burghausen and involved in the construction of the St. Martin monastery basilica . In 1481, according to the inscription, the roof structure was put on by the Landshut city carpenter Conrad Günzkofer. The church construction should have been completed with this.
Alt-St. Nikola is a three-aisled, vaulted hall church with a single-nave choir, which is the same height as the nave. The net vault and the round pillars can be found in a similar form in the Landshut Heilig-Geist-Kirche . The keystones in the choir vault show Mary with the child and Saint Nicholas as well as the coats of arms of the city of Landshut, the Seligenthal monastery, Duke Georg of Bavaria-Landshut and his wife Jadwiga of Poland - so the church building must have been built after their wedding in 1475.
Most of the late Gothic furnishings and the later Baroque and Neo-Gothic furnishings of the church have been lost. Today a large cross by the sculptor Christian Jorhan d. Ä. from 1779 the high altar. The most important work of art in the church, however, is the life-size wooden sculpture Christ in Rest from around 1523, made by the Landshut carver Hans Leinberger .
The church suffered considerable damage during the air raid on the nearby Landshut main train station on March 19, 1945. In 1993 it was determined that the church was in danger of collapsing due to foundation damage. The wooden foundation piles had rotten as a result of the regulatory measures taken by the Isar in the 20th century - a "fate" shared by the parish church with other Landshut churches. The wooden piles were replaced by a concrete foundation in extensive work. During these renovations, the church was not accessible from 1993 to 2001. During the renovation, old wall remains of the Romanesque predecessor building were discovered, which are now visible through an "archaeological window" in the floor. In addition, the interior was slightly redesigned.
description
The exterior of the church is a late Gothic brick building typical of Landshut, which is located within the walling of the cemetery, which was closed in 1913. It is a three naves with einschiffigem Chor, the outside by a roof-consuming fries is divided. The gothic choir flank tower with a square floor plan is structured by pointed arches and has a pointed helmet that was only put on in the 19th century. The latter includes a yoke and closes in five sides of the octagon. The nave , on the other hand, has five bays, with this subdivision being reflected in the buttresses on the outside. The ships are separated by four round columns; The organ gallery is located in the rearmost yoke of the central nave. The church interior appears bright and flooded with light through the large pointed arched windows , which is supported by the white wall color. Only the reticulated vault covering the choir and nave is painted a strong ocher tone.
The dominant element of the sanctuary is a crucifixion group with a crucifix, which was made by Christian Jorhan the Elder in 1779 . Ä. was created. This is located on a modern designed altar and is flanked by the figures of Maria and Johannes , who come from Jorhan's surroundings but did not originally belong to the crucifix. The modern folk altar by the Nuremberg metal sculptor Klaus-Peter Scherer has a rather subtle design and is slightly moved into the central nave. In addition to the coats of arms, the keystones in the choir vault show secular supporters of the church building - Duke George the Rich, his wife Hedwig, the city of Landshut and the Seligenthal monastery - also the patron saints of the church. The head of Christ, the Madonna with the child and Saint Nicholas as the church patron can also be found there . On the walls of the chancel there are paintings from 1608, when the church was redesigned with Renaissance styles . The Annunciation to Mary and - much smaller - God the Father are depicted above the entrance to the sacristy on the south wall ; On the north wall there is still a fragment on which a canopy and putti can be seen.
The large, pointed choir arch is flanked by figures of the church patron Nikolaus (left) and the Regensburg diocese patron Wolfgang (right). Instead of side altars, there are late Baroque figures of the Madonna and Child (left) and the risen Christ (right) on the front walls of the side aisles. The Christ on the scourge column , which is placed in the north aisle, is also assigned to this style period. On the other hand, the figures of Saints Joseph and Anthony under the gallery come from more recent times . The most valuable piece of equipment in the church is the late Gothic Christ resting by Hans Leinberger from the time before 1520, which is in a glass case in the south aisle. On the half-column to the right of the choir arch there is also a painting donated in 1608 that depicts the birth of Christ. The large fresco of the death of St. Nicholas above the north portal was made by the Munich painter Waldemar Kolmsperger in the last quarter of the 19th century. Between the first and second column on the left there is an open area in the floor, the so-called “Archaeological Window”, which reveals the remains of the Romanesque predecessor church. As can be seen here, it was about half a meter lower.
Archaeological window
During the most recent renovation of the old St. Nikola Church, a so-called " Archaeological Window " was installed; An information board provides information about the various construction phases of the Romanesque predecessor church, which could be determined on the basis of the findings. The first phase of construction is likely to have originated in the 12th or even the 11th century. It was a simple, almost rectangular hall building with a length of 12.20 meters and a width of 9.20 meters in the west and 9.00 meters in the east. The 1.00 to 1.10 meter thick masonry was constructed using a two-shell technique, with the outer shell made of solid masonry and the inner layer of tamped clay and rubble . As can be seen in the archaeological window, the floor of this early church, made of rectangular brick plates, has largely been preserved. You can also see a fragment of the north wall, the oldest known stone masonry in the Landshut urban area. In a second construction phase, probably only shortly after the first was completed, an east choir with internal dimensions of 4.40 by 3.70 meters was added to the existing building. A square brick foundation with an edge length of 1.80 meters was specially built for the altar. Its double-shell masonry is only around 70 centimeters thick.
The third phase of construction, on the other hand, is dated to the 13th century, i.e. at least about 100 years later. The nave of the Romanesque church building was extended by 4.80 meters to the west. Because of the uncertain ground here, the new brick-built western wall was placed on a very deep foundation. In addition, the extension building received a north and a south portal. The entire interior was fitted with a new brick floor around 20 centimeters higher. In the fourth and final construction phase, which in turn can only be started shortly after the third, extensions were built in front of the two portals. As can be proven on the north portal, these were provided with a brick floor. Possibly they served as a transition to the nearby St. Barthlmä Leprosenhaus . It was also found that the east wall of the southern extension was subsequently reinforced with a second layer of brick.
New St. Nikola
While the parish of St. Nikola only had around 500 souls in 1860, the parish grew rapidly in the 20th century and the Alt-St. Nikola soon became too small to accommodate all the churchgoers. For this reason, the parishes of St. Wolfgang (1942), St. Konrad (1952) and St. Pius (1963) were split off from the parish. Nevertheless, the old parish church soon became too small again, so that between 1966 and 1967 the modern Neu-St. Parish church to the west of the old church on the site of the cemetery that was abandoned in 1913. Nikola was born. The central building in the shape of a cross, connected to the existing church by a single-storey connecting wing, was built according to the plans of the architect Hans Döllgast . A tower with a pent roof, which rests on concrete supports, is attached to the west facade. This is like Neu-St. Nikola as a whole as an exposed brick building, which is supposed to establish a connection to the old church.
The modern building was cautiously furnished by the sculptor Curt Porzky from Altötting . The central design element is a crucifixion group - the dying Christ flanked by his mother Mary and his favorite disciple Johannes - which has been accentuated by a gold-plated back wall since the renovation in 2013 and 2014. The tabernacle is placed in front of this. The ambo and the people's altar, on the other hand, are clearly moved forward from the western arm of the cross and are almost in the middle of the church. In the three remaining arms are the pews for the congregation. The eastern arm of the cross is covered by the organ gallery, including the transition to the old church. There is also a modern baptismal font here .
Parish life
In 1975 a parish hall was built as an important center of parish life . Today it is used, among other things, by the Nikola Theater , a well-known amateur drama group , as a performance venue.
Web links
- Website of the parish of Landshut-St. Nikola
- Internet presence of the amateur theater group Theater Nikola
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Parish of Landshut-St. Nikola: Parish history . Online at www.st-nikola-landshut.de. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
- ↑ a b Parish Landshut-St. Pius: Chronicle of the Parish ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Online at www.sanktpius.de. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
- ↑ a b c Volker Liedke: Monuments in Bavaria - City of Landshut, p. 210ff. Schnell & Steiner, Munich 1988. ISBN 3-7954-1002-9 .
- ↑ a b c d e Xaver Luderböck: St. Nikola Landshut . 2nd Edition. Schell & Steiner, Regensburg 2003. ISBN 3-7954-5092-6 .
- ↑ a b Information board next to the "Archaeological Window"
Coordinates: 48 ° 32 '39.7 " N , 12 ° 8' 24.4" E