City parish church Maria Himmelfahrt (Baden)

City parish church Maria Himmelfahrt

The parish church Maria Himmelfahrt is the Roman Catholic parish church in Baden in Switzerland . It is located in the center of the old town on the edge of a terrace that slopes down to the Limmat . In its current form, it is based on the Gothic church built in the 15th century, but the history of the parish goes back to the early Middle Ages. On the southern slope of the terrace is the Sebastian Chapel, which used to be an ossuary . Part of the surrounding area was used as a cemetery until 1820.

history

The church seen from the front

The first previous building of today's church was built in the second half of the 9th century. It comes from the Carolingian era and was examined during excavations in 1967/68. The church was laid out in a rectangle with dimensions of 26.4 by 11.2 meters. In the 12th century, a Romanesque church was built on the same site , the south wall of which was offset by about one meter and which was closed on the east side by a semicircular apse . As early as the 14th century, Mary can be proven as the patroness of the church. Since 1650, when Pope Innocent X donated the bones of the catacomb saint Damian to the church , he has been the second church patron.

The existence of a parish in Baden is documented for the first time in 1241, more than 50 years before the city was officially founded. Duke Friedrich von Habsburg transferred the church to Wettingen Monastery in 1406 as compensation for the losses suffered in the Gugler War of 1375 and the Sempach War of 1386. The result was frequent disputes between the city and the new collator ; The city tried to expand its influence, especially with priest vacancies.

From May 19 to June 8, 1526, the Baden disputation between Johannes Eck and Johannes Oekolampad took place in the parish church . It was the first disputation of the Zwinglian Reformation outside of Zurich . Four of the Thirteen Old Places decided for the new faith, which meant the end of the confessional unity of the Confederation . The city remained Catholic, mainly because it did not want to jeopardize its status as a diary and health resort .

In 1624 the city founded a canon monastery attached to the church . After the abbey Wettingen was abolished in 1841 (see Aargauer Klosterstreit ), the church assets first fell to the canton of Aargau , and four years later to the city. During the Kulturkampf , the Canons' Monastery was abolished in 1875.

Architecture and furnishings

The church building

Grave slab on the southern outer wall

Today's parish church was built as a three-nave Gothic church in the years 1457–1460, under the direction of foremen Hans Murer and Cunrat Zobrist. The former Mauritius chapel lost its independent function as a sacred space and was converted into a sacristy . The construction of the church tower was delayed for several decades and could not be carried out until 1489–1493 by Martin Grülich.

The central nave retained the breadth of the previous church and was expanded to include the two side aisles. The west side was lengthened by four and a half meters. The choir and the bottom three floors of the tower are older and go back to the 14th century. A total renovation took place in 1884, and a comprehensive interior renovation in 1967/68.

A mosaic designed by the Zurich artist Paul Bodmer was attached to the outer wall of the west facade in 1937 , showing the Assumption of Mary. A relief of St. Christopher by the Baden artist Walter Squarise adorns the head of the choir and in 1951, the same artist, the teaching Jesus on the north aisle followed. Since the 1930s there have been grave slabs from the former ossuary on the outer wall of the south aisle.

The tower and the bells

The tower of the city church is 52 meters high, making it the second tallest building in the old town after the city tower, which is around four meters higher . It is completed by a pointed spire , which is covered with colored bricks. It was designed in the last phase of construction of the church (1490). Six bells hang in the tower, which were cast in 1926 by the H. Rüetschi company in Aarau . The tone sequence is As °, B °, des ', f', as ', b'.

The inside of the church

Interior view of the parish church

The interior of the church has been modified several times over the years. Between 1612 and 1617 Baroque high altar leaves and passion pictures and between 1696 and 1698 stucco and prophet pictures were added. At the beginning of the 19th century, the stucco ceiling, altars and pulpit were redesigned in a classical style . Today the interior of the church is light due to the clear glazed windows of the side aisles and the white walls. The ceiling of the side aisles is low compared to the central nave. The latter is supported by octagonal pillars. On the west side of the central nave there is a gallery with the organ.

Church treasure museum of the Roman Catholic parish of Baden

The Church Treasury Museum houses one of the most important church treasures in the canton of Aargau. In it, liturgical devices vestments (full vestments and liturgical textiles) as well as testimonies of the gold- and silversmith craft from the late Middle Ages to modern times kept and shown. It is located in two rooms above the sacristy of the Catholic city church in the center of the city of Baden and can only be visited by appointment.

Sebastian Chapel

View from the Schartenfels

In 1481 the city had a partially underground ossuary built on the terrace slope immediately south of the church . A chapel was built above it in the first decade of the 16th century. Town clerk Ulrich Dösch financed the building, which was completed in 1509, and Hans Murer was the foreman. The chapel consecration was carried out by Balthasar Brennwald, auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Constance . The building is a simple Gothic chapel with a gable roof and turret . The massive wall of the ossuary has a battlement on the valley side , which was part of the earlier city fortifications.

literature

Peter Hoegger: The art monuments of the canton of Aargau . Ed .: Society for Swiss Art History . Volume VI, District of Baden I. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1976, ISBN 3-7643-0782-X , p. 92-122 .

Carmela Kuonen Ackermann: The parish church Maria Himmelfahrt and the Sebastian chapel in Baden. (Swiss Art Guide, No. 703, Series 71). Ed. Society for Swiss Art History GSK. Bern 2002, ISBN 3-85782-703-3 .