St. Nikolaus (Wipperfürth)
The Roman Catholic parish church of St. Nikolaus ( ) in Wipperfürth is a three-aisled pillar basilica . Built in the Romanesque style, style elements of the emerging Gothic can already be clearly seen in the vaults of the central nave . St. Nikolaus zu Wipperfürth can therefore be assigned to the Rhenish transition style.
Building history
The church was probably built in 1143 . The builders were the canons of St. Aposteln Köln , who set up a branch in Wipperfürth. The Wipperfürth church is consecrated to St. Nicholas. The preference for this saint was brought to Germany by Theophanu , wife of Otto II and Byzantine princess. The reason that the parish church in Wipperfürth was consecrated to him may be due to the fact that Archbishop Bruno (from the von Berg family) died in Trani in 1137 and was buried in St. Nicholas Cathedral in Bari.
Around 1225–1230, the ribbed vaults in the central nave and the extension of the transept-like projecting side choirs, including the side apses, were built. The ribbed vaults presumably replaced an older groin vault. The fact that vaults were planned for the construction from the middle of the 12th century is proven by the rectangular pillars in the central nave and the windows in the upper aisle, which are drawn together in pairs . Architecturally, the Church of St. Apostles in Cologne is the model for the late Romanesque church building. The same master builder was commissioned to build the church in Wipperfürth. The church is located on the northern edge of the medieval city center, directly on the former city wall . This gave the relatively high west tower the function of a defensive tower .
Despite several fires in 1333, 1465, 1585 and 1795, the building still largely belongs to the 12th century, because the earlier fires only incinerated the roof. This is proven by a view of the city of Ploennies from 1715. Only the last fire in 1795 caused major damage to the church. The spire was destroyed, and the west tower had to be removed down to its lower floors, as well as the choir flank turrets. The roof was temporarily thatched until 1832. The damage was only repaired during an extensive restoration in 1868–75. The two Romanesque basement floors of the west tower were encased and the west portal renewed. Two new floors and a neo-Romanesque four-gabled crown with four octagonal corner towers were added. The choir flank turrets were also re-listed. However, the choir-flank turrets and the tower with pilaster strips and round-arched friezes were equipped much more richly than the template on the Ploennian cityscape shows. The formerly slim, round flanked turrets were replaced by octagonal ones. The aisles were given their present shape. They were renewed with larger windows and lengthened by two yokes each, i.e. the width of the west tower. In the years 1936/37 the crowning of the tower and the choir-flank towers were simplified to the present shape under the architect Karl Band .
Furnishing
The people's altar was designed by Sepp Hürten from the stone substructure of the old, wooden neo-Gothic high altar, as was the bronze tabernacle that stands in the apse of the southern side choir. In the apse of the northern side choir stands the late Romanesque lead-cast baptismal font from the middle of the 13th century. The downward tapering cauldron is decorated with twisted half columns and three arcades and finished with a bulge. The basin stands on a round pillar with a square base.
Several figures of saints from different epochs are attached to consoles on the pillars of the central nave . The baroque depictions of Saint Nicholas and Saint Agatha and a figure of Saint John Nepomuk in the south aisle date from the 18th century . In the north aisle there is a Gothic Vesper picture from the 15th century. The figures of the Apostle Prince Peter and Paul , Saint Joseph and Saint Anne as well as Saint Jude Thaddeus come from the 19th century . In the entrance hall on the ground floor of the west tower there is a statue of Our Lady enthroned around 1400. The crowned Madonna is enthroned on a box seat and holds a scepter in her right hand and the baby Jesus in her left hand. The child is shown half-dressed with a globe and gesture of blessing. The Virgin Mary has been preserved in a recently restored gold-green version from the 19th century.
The baroque epitaph of a Wipperfürth notary and judge hangs on the outer wall of the tower in the elongated north aisle . On the other side of the tower in the south aisle hangs a limestone high altar piece from the first half of the 17th century. In the main field between fluted Corinthian columns, a relief can be seen, which depicts the Last Supper in peasant coarseness. In the niches of the lateral volute cheeks there is a Virgin Mary on the left and probably an Apostle on the right. The Corinthian columns have a segmented gable with a relief of the Last Judgment. St Nicholas and St Agatha stand to one side.
The Klaiss organ, which was inaugurated in 1982 and has 28 sounding stops, is located on the wooden gallery.
In the west tower hang three bronze bells from 1973 and a small bell from the 15th century, which was kept unused in one of the choir-flank towers.
A chalice has been preserved from the 14th century. This is made of gold-plated silver, which is partly embossed and partly cast, made and donated by Jehan de Toull from Paris around 1330. It is decorated with eight plates of translucent silver enamel. The silver enamel plates show scenes from the passion and resurrection of Jesus.
Appreciation
The church is an impressive testimony to the Romanesque architectural style with Gothic stylistic elements. The Romanesque room is characterized by its successful proportions. The church "is the most important and most uniform church building in the entire Oberbergisches district" ( Clemen , 128).
The dimensions of the complex, the large central nave and the colossal tower speak for the importance of the church as a subsidiary church. The development to the capital of the Bergisches Land begins with the privileges under Engelbert von Berg in the 13th century. This led to the rich design with the vaulting of the central nave and the expansion of the side choirs.
The church belongs to the group of early vaulted churches of the bound system on the Lower Rhine , whose development begins with the Mauritius Church in Cologne from 1140. Kubach / Verbeek recognize in the architecture of the church building a “combination of clumsily shaped things with some idiosyncratic bizarre” (Kubach / Verbeek, 1256), a fact that they see as being due to the remote location in the mountains and near Westphalia .
The parish church of St. Nikolaus has been a spiritual center and place of prayer for more than 800 years. The Wipperfürth “Tower Madonna” is also known beyond the borders of Wipperfürth and has been the destination of many pilgrimages over the centuries. All generations have designed the church in their own way, so that today many different styles are represented in the simply furnished, well-proportioned room.
literature
- Paul Clemen (ed.): The art monuments of the Rhine province. On behalf of the Provincial Association. Volume 5 I. The art monuments of the districts Gummersbach ; Waldbröl, Wipperfürth, Düsseldorf 1900
- Georg Dehio: Handbook of the German art monuments. North Rhine-Westphalia. 1st volume Rhineland ; edited by Ruth Schmitz-Ehmke; German art publisher, 1967
- Hans-Erich Kubach, Albert Verbeek: Romanesque architecture on the Rhine and Maas. Catalog of Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque Monuments , Volume 2; Berlin 1976
- Gerda Panofsky-Soergel: Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis 3. Olpe - Wipperfürth ; in: The State Conservator Rhineland, on behalf of the Minister of Culture of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Regional Association of Rhineland (ed.): The monuments of the Rhineland ; Düsseldorf 1974
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Martina Junghans, The ecclesiastical equipment of the parish of St. Nikolaus Wipperfürth - parish church of St. Nikolaus zu Wipperfürth, catalog number F 5. Cologne 2013 (parish of Wipperfürth, Historical Archive of the Archdiocese of Cologne ).
Coordinates: 51 ° 7 ′ 5.3 " N , 7 ° 23 ′ 53.6" E