St. Nicholas (Aachen)
The church of St. Nikolaus in Aachen is a former monastery church of the Franciscan order . It stands at the intersection of Großkölnstraße - Minoritenstraße in the immediate vicinity of the Barbarossamauer, the inner city wall of Aachen . A first church there is mentioned in 1005; it was an early church where Nicholas of Myra was worshiped. The present church was built in the first half of the 14th century. The building is a listed building .
Monastery church
On Saturday, July 6, 1005 donated Henry II. Of the imperial city of Aachen, a chapel, about 200 meters before the Kölntor on the edge of the square town towards Cologne was built leading commercial street. On this day, Emperor Heinrich II certified that he was the owner of the collegiate monastery for St. Nicholas and St. Adalbert, the later Church of St. Adalbert (Aachen) . A chapel building and the canons' apartments were part of the construction of the Canon Monastery in Großkölnstraße.
In 1234, possibly a little earlier, brothers of the Franciscan order founded in 1210 ( Ordo Fratrum minorum , Friars Minor or Minorites), which spread in Germany from 1222, took over the chapel and built a new monastery around it over the next few decades Belonged to the Cologne Franciscan Province of Colonia . The Franciscans were first reliably mentioned in Aachen in 1246. Since the chapel had become too small for the needs of the order, a first church in the Gothic style was built in its place . It was an approximately east-facing hall church with a polygonal choir in the style of a mendicant order church , which had a roof turret instead of a church tower . On December 6, 1324, Hermann from Cologne, Auxiliary Bishop of Liège and Bishop zu Heynensis, consecrated the choir and the main altar to the patron saint of the day, Nikolaus von Myra, and the next day the consecration of the four other altars
Only six years later, in 1333, the church was severely damaged by a first fire, but it was quickly restored. Since the religious order was popular and grew steadily, further expansion of both the monastery complex and the monastery church became necessary in the following decades and their choir was enlarged in 1390 with a third vaulted yoke to the east. The consecration of the “new” choir and three other altars then took place on May 9, 1390 by Arnold, Auxiliary Bishop of Liège and Bishop of Capitoliane. During this period the church was furnished with the Pietà and the figure of St. Nicholas, ascribed to the 14th century .
In 1628 the dilapidated monastery buildings were demolished and on Monday, April 22, 1630 the foundation stone was laid for a new building. On this occasion, a certain Freiherr von Pallandt donated a three-story high altar to the church , in which three altar paintings were integrated , which are attributed to Abraham van Diepenbeeck , a student of Peter Paul Rubens . The three tapering altarpieces showed the representations of the crucifixion of Christ , the descent from the cross and the Pietà in the upper tondo .
In the devastating fire of Aachen in 1656, the roof and the small roof tower were destroyed. The roof structure was renewed in November of the same year. A barn roof was used in place of the three-roof system. The earthquake on September 18, 1692 split the west gable and damaged the vault, it was shattered. Laurenz Mefferdatis directed the restoration of the vault in 1706.
In the period from April 8, 1687 to September 8, 1687, a baroque outbuilding was built in the corner of the wall between the choir and the east side of the south aisle , which Mefferdatis had converted into a Loreto chapel in 1703 . This took up the Couven altar in 1755 and was preserved until 1894.
In 1732 Johann Joseph Couven added two wings and in 1739 an organ gallery, which was replaced by a neo-Gothic west gallery in 1885. In 1786 the tombs were removed from the church and a funeral cellar was set up for the monastery brothers and benefactors of the church.
High altar
Reconstructed high altar before it was destroyed by fire
Upper nave with restored high altar 2020
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“This magnificent timber structure takes up the entire height of the choir and is built on three floors. The middle section is accompanied by two pairs of Ionic columns with high cornices, entwined with grapes and foliage, above a high pedestal . The two upper floors are similarly flanked by Corinthian columns with twisted fluting . Their sharp cornices are given a richer shape by the placement of figures. Two evangelists and the two Franciscans Antonius of Padua and Francis of Assisi stand below . As a final crowning item, the symbol of the Trinity of God appears in the segment gable.
Three oil paintings are inserted into the lush framework. (...) The picture below was taken around d. J. cleaned in 1780 by the Aachen painter Stengeler . To restore the two paintings above, the convention called the Düsseldorf painter Aloys Cornelius , father of Peter von Cornelius , to Aachen. Soon after, these two paintings were brought to Paris in 1794 . They only came from there i. J. back in 1815. Recently cleaned and refreshed by the Aachen painters H. Kratz and F. Wirth.
The three altarpieces represent the crucified Savior in different moments. The lower painting, closed in a semicircle, shows the crucified. Christ laid his head on his right arm. Maria on the left, and from the right Johannes extends his hand behind the cross. Mary Magdalene kneels in front. Under the central image of the Descent from the Cross the saying: Christo crucifixo sacrum. The circular upper image (, the tondo of a Pietà,) of Christ's body in his mother's lap is well preserved (1922).
The back wall of this altar contains a 3.80: 2.30 m painting on canvas, depicting the crucified with Mary and John. Without any higher artistic value, faded and damaged. "
This high altar from 1630 was reconstructed after the Second World War until 1964. It was again significantly destroyed by the fire on New Year's Eve 2010/11, later restored in Cologne and returned to the City Church in April 2018. Only the pictures that can fill the still empty frames are to be created in peace and to be decided by an art commission of the diocese of Aachen
Couven altar
In 1755, the monastery church received a “Loreto Altar” made according to a design by Johann Joseph Couven, which was installed in the chapel of the same name, and an organ gallery. The altar was first removed in 1894 due to the demolition of the Loreto Chapel and stored safely. Around 1920 this work of art was rebuilt as a sacristy altar. The monogram of winning Ave Maria Regina adorns both sides of the style of the Rococo -made tabernacle in the sacristy altar.
Rededication of the monastery building
With the beginning of the French occupation from 1794, the Aachen monasteries were gradually dissolved by decree of Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte in the course of secularization , as was the Franciscan monastery in 1802. The French put their wounded soldiers in the refectory and about 130 horses in the cloister . In the meantime, the remaining monastery buildings had been rededicated as the new city prison, as the previous prison in the grass house was hopelessly overcrowded. After the French had left, the newly established Aachen Regional Court was also quartered in the former monastery from 1820 . Until the court and prison were relocated to Adalbertsteinweg in 1874, they remained in the former monastery buildings. The complex then served the city of Aachen as an administration building and registry office before it was converted into a school building in 1902. Initially the Kaiser-Karls-Gymnasium was temporarily located there from 1902 to 1906 , before the teacher training institute and, after the First World War, the commercial schools, the commercial school, the higher commercial school and the commercial vocational school were housed there. During the Second World War, the former monastery buildings were destroyed in July 1943 and not rebuilt. Today there is a municipal parking lot on this site.
In 1860 the Franciscans of the Saxon Franciscan Province of Saxonia established a new branch in the area of Monheimsallee, which existed until 1967.
Parish church
South side with Loreto chapel and crucifixion niche, before 1894
Calvary relief by Lambert Piedboeuf
It is only thanks to the fact that St. Nicholas was declared a parish church as part of the secularization in 1802 that it was not demolished or otherwise used like the monastery. Nevertheless, the French initially took the precious altarpieces to the Louvre in Paris and returned them after the end of the French occupation in 1815. On Sunday, March 12th 1876, the roof of the Nikolauskirche was destroyed by a hurricane. After it had been replaced, the south and west sides were renewed in 1877 according to plans by Eduard Linse . The construction work was carried out by the cathedral master craftsman Johannes Baecker. The desolate sacristy building and the southern cloister wing were rebuilt between 1894 and 1896. In addition, the building received the roof turret as a distinguishing mark of a Franciscan church.
The painter Hermann Krahforst was responsible for painting the interior of the church.
In place of the Loreto Chapel, which was demolished in 1894, the exterior decoration facing Großkölnstrasse with the Calvary relief by Lambert Piedboeuf took place in the existing corner of the building . For the physiognomies, Piedboeuf used the faces of relatives, the Ahlertz family. The south door entrance is adorned with the neo-Gothic tympanum relief by Gottfried Götting with a representation from the Vita of St. Nicholas. Ten new windows with figurative representations were made by the Cologne-Lindenthal glass painting company Schneider and Schmolz .
In the Second World War, St. Nicholas was again badly destroyed, although the valuable altar paintings had previously been outsourced as a precaution. The church was destroyed except for the surrounding walls. The window tracery was damaged, but the baroque interior was largely undamaged, as were the eastern aisle bays. The subsequent reconstruction took place according to the original specifications and the church could be inaugurated again on July 1, 1951. Karl Schlüter directed the restoration measures: the wall crown was secured, the vaults in tuff and alluvial stone were renewed, the window tracery was also added in tuff stone, the transverse hip roofs of the side roofs were towed flat. The repair of the damage was completed in 1964.
The church building is now divided into an elongated choir , a wide nave , which serves as a forum, and a meditation chapel. In contrast, the remaining monastery buildings were not rebuilt except for a side wing, in which a municipal gymnasium had been set up, and the site was instead converted into a large inner city car park.
As part of the reconstruction before 1951, several monumental wall paintings were created in the nave. Finally in 1963 the church received from the Kornelimünster Abbey the local Klais organ , which was built in 1913 under the opus number 502 and now become the second oldest organ Aachen listed building and the parish church of St. Foillan (Aachen) is.
organ
Until 2010, music was played on a Klais organ in the church . The instrument from 1913, opus 502, was originally built for the Provost Church of Kornelimünster . In 1963 it was built in a new case by the Stahlhuth organ builder in the Nikolauskirche. On New Year's Eve 2010/11, the organ was badly soiled and damaged by fire, dismantled and moved to the St. Foillan Church in Aachen in 2012 , where it was consecrated again on March 18, 2012.
The arrangement of the organ was as follows:
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- Coupling : II / I 16 ′, II / I 4 ′, II / P 4 ′
- Playing aids : Register crescendo , 1 free combination , 4 fixed combinations: piano, mezzoforte, forte, tutti
City Church
Four years later, the first restructuring of the parish of Aachen in 1967 led to the abolition of St. Nikolaus as a parish and the parish in question being merged with St. Foillan, whereby the church itself could be handed over to the Franciscans as a place of activity. Due to the declining number of members of the order and the desire to create an ecumenical meeting place in Aachen, another significant change took place in 2002 and St. Nicholas was finally converted into a so-called “City Church”.
Since then, the Protestant and Catholic Churches have been involved in the "ecumenical CitySeelsorge Aachen eV" association, which was founded on July 4, 2001, to provide a wide range of offers for passers-by, social and diaconal activities in the city center, spiritual celebrations and ecumenical events. In addition, the church is made available for various cultural events; For example, the Aachen Symphony Orchestra under Marcus Bosch recorded all Bruckner symphonies on CD in this church and the internationally successful Aachen choirs Carmina Mundi and Cappella Aquensis performed their new recordings here.
New Year's Eve 2010/2011 brought another catastrophe for the church. Several fireworks rockets struck the nave through a window in the choir and set fire to the precious high altar as well as a large part of the vault and the east side of the church, causing total damage of several million euros. The main nave and the organ were also badly affected, largely due to the fire water that had to be used. The main nave and the choir have now been restored. After its restoration, the organ was given to the parish of St. Foillan.
monument
The entry in the list of monuments reads:
- “Franciscan Church St. Nikolaus Großkölnstr.
- Consecrated in 1327, lengthened choir in 1390, restoration 1876–1896 ( Peter Salm );
- Reconstruction by 1951 (Schlüter);
- Gothic hall church with elongated polygonal choir in ashlar; inside remains of the baroque furnishings. "
literature
- Christian Quix : Franciscan monastery and church , in: Contributions to the history of the city of Aachen and its surroundings , Mayer Aachen 1838 pp. 136–144 ( digitalized )
- Gisela Fleckenstein: The Franciscan monastery in the city of Aachen (1860-1967) . In History Association for the Diocese of Aachen: History in the Diocese of Aachen, Volume 1, einhard / butzon & bercker, Aachen 1992, ISBN 3-920284-66-6
Web links
- Website of the City Church St. Nikolaus Aachen
- Church history of St. Nicholas
- Citykirche has considerable structural defects. In: Aachener Nachrichten . 17th December 2013
- Church fire in St. Nikolaus: Reconstruction secured. In Klenkes. January 26, 2011
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl Faymonville et al. a .: The art monuments of the city of Aachen. II. The churches of the city of Aachen. Schwann, Düsseldorf, 1922, (KD II) pp. 157/429.
- ↑ Dieter Berg : Traces of Franciscan History . Werl 1999, p. 33.45.
- ↑ Entry in the inscription catalog, DI 32 City of Aachen No. 161+ (Helga Giersiepen)
- ↑ His Architectura shows on page 108 the drawing of the arched scaffolding. KD II, pp. 162/434.
- ↑ Joseph Buchkremer : Exposing the choir of the Nikolauskirche in Aachen . In: From Aachen's prehistory . 8th year, no. 5/6 . Aachen 1895, p. 92-94 ( Text Archive - Internet Archive [accessed August 13, 2015]).
- ↑ KD II, pp. 160/432 f.
- ↑ KD II, pp. 166/438 f.
- ↑ Hartwig Beseler, u. a .: War fates of German architecture. Losses damage reconstruction. Volume I: North. Wacholtz Neumünster 1988, p. 337.
- ^ Rauke Xenia Bornefeld: City-Kirche St. Nikolaus: For the time being, the new frames remain empty , in Aachener Zeitung from April 18, 2018
- ↑ Herm.Krahforst lived in 1936 at Hasselholzerweg 7 in Aachen. Address book Aachen.
- ↑ Kunst-Glasmalerei Schneiders & Schmolz GmbH Koeln-Lindenthal: List of a number of already executed glass paintings together with a few illustrations . Cologne 1902, p. 5; 15 .
- ↑ Hartwig Beseler, u. a .: War fates of German architecture. Losses damage reconstruction. Volume I: North. Wacholtz Neumünster 1988, p. 336 f.
- ↑ Klais-Orgel St. Nikolaus ( Memento of the original dated February 7, 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. , Accessed February 7, 2016.
- ↑ " State Conservator Rhineland . List of monuments. 1.1 Aachen city center with Frankenberger Viertel. ”With the assistance of Hans Königs , arr. v. Volker Osteneck. Rheinland Verlag Cologne, 1977, p. 16.
Coordinates: 50 ° 46 ′ 39 ″ N , 6 ° 5 ′ 10 ″ E