St. Nikolai (Brandenburg an der Havel)
Sankt Nikolai is a church in the historic old town of Brandenburg in Brandenburg an der Havel .
Origin and function
The church was first mentioned in 1173. Friedrich Grasow suspects that construction began around 1170, making the Nikolaikirche one of the oldest brick buildings in the city. The city historian Otto Tschirch even considers it to be the oldest church building in the Mark Brandenburg , with echoes of "the Lombard brick art, which modern art history researchers have induced to bring our north German Romanesque brick building in causal connection with northern Italy ."
It is generally assumed that the Nikolaikirche was built as the village church of the nearby, probably on the bank of the Havel , but so far not archaeologically proven village of Luckenberg. Luckenberg fell desolate very early and was struck with its boundaries in the old town of Brandenburg. The size of the church, which is unusual for such a purpose, speaks against its use as a simple village church. In addition to its high nave, it has two lower aisles separated by two rows of columns. It is therefore assumed that the village of Luckenberg was an unfortified merchant settlement, the core of which was possibly intended for the foundation of a town. Following this theory, those plans could not have prevailed due to the competitive situation with the planned urbanized old town of Brandenburg, which is only three hundred meters away . Luckenberg was abandoned as a settlement a short time later; the church was the only relic that remained. The name of the church, which is consecrated to St. Nicholas , the patron saint of merchants, corresponds to the theory of the Luckenberg merchant settlement .
In the “ robber barons' time ” of the 14th and 15th centuries, the little church , which has since decayed into ruins, was often misused for shelter purposes. On the evening of March 8, 1403, Johann von Quitzow used it as a hiding place for his teams in the course of an attack on the old town of Brandenburg. After a privately financed restoration by the builder Boxthude in 1467, the church served as a cemetery chapel in the following centuries until it also lost this function in the twentieth century.
Today the church belongs to the Catholic parish Heilige Dreifaltigkeit , which it received in the 1990s from the St. Gotthardt parish through a donation agreement and then renovated. The church is used for church services, but also fulfills the character of an ecumenical meeting place, which is shown in the monthly peace prayer there. It also commemorates the victims of National Socialism in the city.
Building
Except for a two-layer field stone base, the three-aisled, Romanesque basilica is completely made of Brandenburg brick . The main nave is accompanied by two half-height aisles, from which it is separated by square pillar arcades with round and pointed arches . The main nave ends in a semicircular apse in the east . There are further apses on the side aisles, with the apse of the northern one being followed by a sacristy .
The western end is designed with a tower that has had two spiers since 1850. The sound openings of the tower are rounded. The hipped roof of the tower is like the other roofs of the church with red beaver tails covered. The top of the church tower marks a metallic cross.
The main portal , like a secondary portal on the north side, is designed as a round arched step portal . Most of the windows are also arched windows . A window on the north side is square on top . A decorative element is a round-arched cornice , which can be found on the north and south sides and on the east gable of the main nave. Bat dormers are built into the roof of the main nave . The roofs of the side apses are covered with metal plates.
Interior
The interior of the church is kept simple. A triumphal cross dates from the 16th century and was restored in 1903 and 1993. In addition to Jesus Christ , the symbols of the four evangelists are shown at the ends of the cross beams . A place of prayer and memorial was created on the south wall of the south aisle. The artist Werner Nickel created a Pietà from a rootstock . There are also several memorial plaques attached. The memorial commemorates crimes in the old prison in Brandenburg , in the prison in Brandenburg-Görden and around the world. In the church cemetery on the south-western outer wall of the main apse there were three relief stones on which, among other things, a sailing ship and a crane as well as barrels are depicted. The stones were also placed on the south wall of the south aisle to protect them from the weather .
The oldest work of art in the interior design is a font made from Namur bluestone . This is dated to the 12th century or earlier. It stands in the apse of the north aisle. This font originally stood in the Maternus Chapel in Haus Bürgel, which was demolished in the early 20th century . The owner of the baptismal font, Count Adolf von Nesselrode, gave it to St. Nikolai as a permanent loan . The font shows two animal symbols, a lion and a griffin . The baptismal bowl in the stone shows a Jona motif and was also designed by the artist Werner Nickel. The altar , the tabernacle , the ambo , the Easter candlestick and the church stalls as well as a figure of Nikolaus von Myra are also from Werner Nickel .
literature
- Friedrich Grasow: Brandenburg the thousand year old city. A walk through the culture and architecture of past centuries. Self-published by the city of Brandenburg, Brandenburg 1928
- Otto Tschirch: The history of the Chur and capital Brandenburg on the Havel. Festschrift for the millennium of the city 1928/29 in two volumes, Brandenburg (Havel) 1928
Web links
- Entry in the monument database of the State of Brandenburg
- Romanesque routes in Berlin and Brandenburg - Brandenburg: St. Gotthard, Dom, St. Nikolai
Individual evidence
- ^ Friedrich Grasow: Brandenburg the thousand year old city. A walk through the culture and architecture of past centuries. Self-published by the city of Brandenburg, Brandenburg 1928, p. 126f.
- ↑ a b Otto Tschirch: History of the Chur and capital Brandenburg on the Havel. Festschrift for the city's millennium 1928/29, Volume I, Brandenburg (Havel), 1928, p. 65
- ^ O. Stiehl: The brick building Romanesque time. P. 72ff.
- ↑ Triumphal Cross from the 16th century . Accessed January 8, 2017.
- ↑ Place of prayer and memorial . Accessed January 8, 2017.
- ↑ Baptismal font from the 12th century (or earlier) . Accessed January 8, 2017.
- ↑ St. Nikolai statue . Accessed January 8, 2017.
Coordinates: 52 ° 24 ′ 36.2 " N , 12 ° 32 ′ 56.1" E