St. Peter am Perlach (Augsburg)
Coordinates: 48 ° 22 ′ 9 ″ N , 10 ° 53 ′ 54.7 ″ E
St. Peter am Perlach or the Perlach Church is a Romanesque- style hall church on the Perlachberg next to the Augsburg City Hall ( patrons : St. Peter and St. Felicitas ).
construction
The exact construction date of the pilgrimage church in downtown Augsburg is not known (built around 1060 by the Augsburg bishop Embrico ). According to written records, it can be proven that a collegiate monastery ( monastery ) was built in an already existing church in 1067 .
The church stands directly on the edge of the Lech Valley; today, Augsburg's old town is located there. The St. Peter church community grew rapidly thanks to foundations by Schwigger von Balzhausen . The heads of the community were often appointed by the Pope himself, which suggests that the church may have played an important role in Augsburg at that time. Numerous donations from wealthy Augsburg patrician families increased the wealth of the church community.
Since the building was not yet inside the city wall at that time, it was destroyed several times.
After the church collapsed during a service in 1182, the present church was built. The church was built in brick style and is one of the first places of worship in southern Germany to be built in this style. A terracotta figure from this period still exists today. In 1248 a chapel was added to the church, but it was destroyed by air raids in 1944 during the Second World War and only rebuilt in a simple form. From 1260 a fish market was built in front of the church. The place belonged to the church and was used by it as a place of execution. In 1385 and 1622 it was stipulated that a service in St. Peter had to take place before the mayoral election. It is still a tradition today that the city council and the mayor celebrate an ecumenical service in the “Council Church” of St. Peter every year after the summer break . Compared to other churches, the Catholic Church was not so hard hit during the Reformation. Until 1576 even the sisters of the Maria Stern monastery took part in the masses in the church. Up until the 18th century there were repeated stylistic modifications. After the Free Imperial City of Augsburg was incorporated into Bavaria, St. Peter Stift was dissolved by the Bavarian state.
The state of Bavaria actually wanted to demolish the church, but the citizens were able to force the Perlach Church to open for services in 1811. It was not until 1913 that the church could be safely preserved by signing a contract with the State of Bavaria. During the Second World War, the church was badly damaged by British air raids on February 25, 1944.
Only in 1954 could the church be re-entered. In 2006 a complete renovation was completed. The Perlach Church is now a branch church of St. Moritz and was looked after by the Jesuits between 1954 and 2010 .
Ownership structure: The outer walls of St. Peter belong to the Free State of Bavaria , the inside of the church belongs to the “Bürgererverein St. Peter am Perlach e. V. “, the Perlach tower belongs to the city of Augsburg and the large sacristy (formerly the chapel of St. Catherine and St. Felicitas) is private property.
inner space
The interior is 27.50 m long, almost 15 m wide and about 10.60 m high in the central nave. It is one of the few Romanesque hall churches that have survived in southern Germany. The ships are almost all the same height. The transept is missing. Cross vaults cover the four bays that make up the central and side aisles. Each nave ends differently: the central nave in the rectangular main choir , the south aisle in a semicircular apse , the north, shorter aisle in a chancel . The fighters of the pillars come from the Baroque and rest on simple plinths . The west yoke is formed by the substructure of the organ gallery , which is supported by pillars with half-columns on Attic bases.
Longhouse
The nave also has art treasures. Here are four reliquaries that were acquired from the cathedral parish in 1864, as well as relief images of St. Peter and St. Paul from the second half of the 17th century. In a niche above the entrance to the Felicitas Chapel, St. Felicitas with her sons (from 1520). Of Georg Johann Knappich (1637 to 1704) the painting of St. originates. Josephs, patron of the dying and poor souls. It was probably originally donated by Ignaz von Schellenberg in 1696 for the Joseph Altar. The side aisle stalls date from around 1700 and the choir stalls, which are located in front of the apses of the aisles, from the end of the 16th century. The wrought iron chandelier and the holy water font are from the Baroque period.
Choir
The choir, which was most heavily redesigned during the Baroque period, houses the marbled high altar , which was built from 1760 to 1770. Two putti sit on the blasted beams. In between is an altar piece donated by Anton Fugger in 1625. Johann Matthias Kager, the Augsburg city painter, created the Good Shepherd motif. The church patron Saint Peter is also shown (a work by Johann Georg Bergmüller ).
Choir room
Wall pillars flanked by sculptures stand in front of the choir room. On the one hand, there is a mother of God from Augsburg who originally held a baby Jesus, but who was lost. The terracotta figure is said to have been made around 1420/30, was revised in 1620 and 1670 and restored to its original state in 1934. The other is the sculpture of St. Peter, which Octavianus Secundus Fugger gave to the church (1581). In addition to this figure of St. Peter there is a second one in the church: it is made of wood, now serves as an ambo and dates from the 15th century.
tabernacle
The tabernacle is from 1707 and initially stood on the Sacred Heart Altar in the cathedral before it was acquired by the citizens' association in 1864 and transferred to the church of Sankt Peter am Perlach. It is lavishly adorned with a decoration of fruits, flowers and acanthus .
Sanctuary
The grave slab of the church's founder is in the south wall of the chancel; it was probably created in the second half of the 14th century. Before the church was baroque, the grave slab was part of a high grave that stood in the middle of the church. A sacrament house is set into the north wall of the chancel. It bears the Fugger coat of arms and the date 1522. The early Renaissance work is framed with Solnhof limestone. It was donated by Marcus Fugger the Younger, who also headed Sankt Peter am Perlach as provost .
North apse
The north apse has housed a relic of St. Crescentia von Kaufbeuren in the medieval altar. Above the altar is a crucifix with the assistance figures Maria and Johannes. It dates from the end of the 17th century. A medallion with a portrait of the saint can be seen under the altar. It was modeled on old copper engravings by Gernot Hausner in 1997 .
South apse
Finally, in the southern apse, you can see the unique pilgrimage picture of the “Maria Untouching”. On one side of the image of the Virgin Mary stands the sculpture of St. Ulrich from 1520, on the other side the sculpture of St. Afra from the early 18th century. To the left of this is a sacrament house for Good Friday by Martin Ziegelmayr (created in 1995).
Medieval frescoes have come to light during restoration work in both the northern and southern apses . To the north: the Adoration of the Magi from around 1420 and the remains of a miracle and bishop legend in the arched reveal . South: two women from the end of the 13th century, probably St. Mary Magdalene with an ointment vessel and St. Helena or St. Elisabeth with crown.
Chapels
The pantocrator , which dates back to the time the church was built, is kept in the southern chapel of the west yoke . The terracotta sculpture of Christ enthroned and blessing was originally attached to the apex of the east pediment.
In the middle chapel you can see the so-called "Fugger Christ". The cross is said to come from the Georg Fugger Foundation , which he made in 1522. By whom the cross was created is not certain.
East choir
When the then Pope visited Augsburg in 1782, the grilles to the east choir were removed from the cathedral. A year later, Sankt Peter am Perlach bought it and in 1785 the canons attached it to the second yoke of the church to cordon off the church space. The grilles date from 1656, were renewed around 1700 and renovated again in 1785.
Organ loft
The organ gallery is divided into three parts: A middle part, in which the organ is located today, may have served as a chapel in the past, to the right and left of it there are rooms that open up to the main room via arcades . The arcades are by Romanesque columns with leaf and palmettos - ornaments to the capitals decorated. Baroque angels with banners by Christian Erhardt can be seen above the organ gallery. The organ dates from 1688, making it the oldest organ that has been preserved in Augsburg.
Crucifix under the west gallery
Madonna on the choir arch
Figure at the lectern
Maria Knot Looser
St. Peter am Perlach is the pilgrimage church dedicated to Maria Untying the Knot . The pilgrimage picture was donated in 1700 by the patrician Hieronymus Ambrosius Langenmantel , who was a canon of Saint Peter am Perlach from 1666 to 1709 . The foundation is said to be related to an event in the von Langenmantel family. His grandfather Wolfgang Langenmantel († 1637) was about to separate from his wife and therefore visited the Jesuit father Jakob Rem in Ingolstadt . Father Rem prayed in front of a picture of Mary and said: "In this religious act I lift the bond of marriage, untie all knots and straighten it." After that peace returned between the spouses, the separation did not take place and Hieronymus Ambrosius Langenmantel, as grandson , later commissioned the picture of the “knot loosener” as a reminder.
In the picture, Maria is untying a tangled knot and crushing the head of a snake with her foot (cf. Perlachtum- Turamichele ). Based on the Apocalypse , Mary is clothed with the sun, has the moon at her feet and a wreath of stars around her head. Bruno Bushart , an art historian from Augsburg, assigned the painting to Johann Georg Melchior Schmidtner , who was born in 1625 and died after 1707. He also created the high altar picture for the parish church in Lamerdingen , which belonged to the Augsburg monastery. The image of the Virgin Mary of the Knot found u a. also the way to South America, where it is now very common. The initiator was today's Pope Francis , who got to know the image of grace during a stay in Germany, brought a copy to his home country Argentina and justified the veneration there. In Buenos Aires , a copy was made by the painter Marta Beti, who has been in the San José del Talar church in Buenos Aires since December 8th, 1996 and to which thousands of people make a pilgrimage every 8th month. In 2017, the statue therefore appeared on a 50 euro gold coin from the Vatican .
The picture of Maria Untying the Knot is reminiscent of the apocalypse. It says that God will create a time when all tears will be dried. The Bishop Irenaeus of Lyon († 202 AD) called Mary in his work Against the Heresies as a knot looser. He wanted to say: Mary has a share in our redemption. She brought the “Savior” into the world. Everyone is allowed to come to her with his life knots and burden her with his knots in life. It will patiently help to get through the confusion, and the knots that have been loosened can be re-linked.
Church tower and Turamichele
The 70 m high church tower of St. Peter, the Perlach Tower , was originally built in 989 as a watchtower , it was only later that it became the bell tower of St. Peter. He dominated today together as an ensemble to the town hall to town hall square of Augsburg. The southern and middle chapels of the west yoke of the Perlach Church are located on the ground floor of the Perlach Tower. From the outside, with an entrance on the north side of the tower, a staircase with 258 steps leads to the viewing platform at a height of about 60 m. The annual " Perlach Tower Run " is one of the most famous tower races in Germany.
In the lowest window of the tower, facing west towards the town hall square, the Turamichele (Tower Michael; Archangel Michael ) appears every full hour on Michaelmas Day ( 29 September ) and stabs the devil at his feet with his lance at the beat of the hour a. The facade around the window is richly decorated with flowers for the occasion.
literature
- Carmen Roll: St. Peter am Perlach in Augsburg. Pilgrimage church to the Mother of God "Maria Looser" . Citizens' Association St. Peter am Perlach eV, Augsburg 2006, (church leader).
- Günther Grünsteudel u. a. (Ed.): Augsburger Stadtlexikon . 2nd completely revised and considerably expanded edition. Perlach Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-922769-28-4 .
See also
Web links
- Website of the St. Peter am Perlach eV citizens' association
- St. Peter am Perlach (AugsburgWiki)
- St. Peter am Perlach (Augsburger Stadtlexikon)
- St. Peter am Perlach (Schwabenmedia)
- St. Peter am Perlach (Augsburg) , basic data and history: canons under the Perlach tower in the database of monasteries in Bavaria in the House of Bavarian History
Individual evidence
- ^ Genealogical page on the parents and grandparents of Hieronymus Ambrosius Langenmantel
- ↑ On the donation of the miraculous image of “Maria Unto the Knot” ( Memento of the original from September 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Parish website of the parish of San José del Talar in Buenos Aires, with a photo of the copy of the miraculous image there (Spanish)
- ↑ http://www.vaticanstate.va/content/vaticanstate/de/servizi/ufficio-filatelico-e-numismatico/emissioni-numismatiche/archivio/2010---2017/emissioni-numismatiche---2017/ppf-2017 -monete-fondo-specchio.html
