Stephanskapelle (Strasbourg)
The St. Stephen's Chapel ( Chapelle Saint-Étienne ), often referred to as the "St. Stephen's Church" ( Église Saint-Étienne ), is a sacred building in Strasbourg . The preserved parts of the building, which was destroyed several times, are among the oldest in the city.
history
The former church stands in the courtyard of the Catholic Stephansgymnasium on the edge of the old town and serves as a chapel. The building visible today was built in the 8th century on the foundations of a differently oriented apsidal building (see below). At the beginning of the 13th century it was built in the Rhenish Romanesque style and provided with an imposing westwork, which was crowned by an approx. 60 meter high tower. In 1714 the church was equipped with an organ by Andreas Silbermann , which is now in Bischheim . After the French Revolution , the building was used as a warehouse, then as a ballroom. In 1802 the facade and nave were demolished and in 1805 they were replaced by neoclassical architecture. In 1823 the former Catholic church became the chapel of the Protestant "Small Seminary". In 1826 it received a new organ, which was followed by more until 1974.
In 1944 the building was hit by Anglo-American bombs and the new nave was completely destroyed. Excavations under the ruin and the preserved components in 1948 and above all in 1956 brought to light the remains of the Roman camp Argentoratum as well as the foundations of the apse of a building from the late 4th or early 5th century. If it were to have been a church, it would have been the oldest surviving Christian church on Alsatian soil. It was rather the camp's principia , the structure of which was later converted into a church.
From 1959 to 1965, today's very simple nave was built in a style inspired by Gothic vaults. The transept with its low crossing dome as well as the choir and apse are authentically preserved from the 13th century. Of the works of art originally kept in the church, tapestries are kept in the women's shelter museum as well as reliquary busts in the Stephansgymnasium itself.
At the end of 2016 an organ was installed in the nave. The instrument from Curt Schwenkedel’s workshop was originally built in 1963 as a teaching and concert organ for the conservatory on the upper floor of the Théâtre national de Strasbourg . Since the conservatory moved into its own building with a new organ in 1995, the Schwenkedel organ has been orphaned. The instrument was restored and installed in the Stephanskapelle by the organ manufacturer Quentin Blumenroeder from Hagenau .
Individual evidence
- ^ Fouilles romaines sous l'église Saint-Étienne à Strasbourg (French)
- ↑ Renaissance d'un Grand Orgue à Strasbourg , alsace.catholique.fr, November 22, 2016 (French)
Web links
- Stephanskapelle (Strasbourg). In: Structurae
- Exterior and interior views, especially of the modern nave
- History of the organs and the structure
Coordinates: 48 ° 35 ′ 0 ″ N , 7 ° 45 ′ 21 ″ E