St. Peter and Alexander (Aschaffenburg)

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View from the Stiftsplatz.
St. Peter and Alexander.

The collegiate church of St. Peter and Alexander is the oldest church in Aschaffenburg . Otto von Schwaben had the church built in the 10th century on the site of a Carolingian rectangular building. The core building was built as a Romanesque basilica , further construction phases were built in the early Gothic . The church has rich art treasures, some of which are exhibited in the Abbey Museum of the city of Aschaffenburg , and has had the status of a minor basilica since 1958 .

history

St. Peter and St. Alexander was initiated around 950 by Duke Liudolf von Schwaben (son of Emperor Otto I ) and his wife Ida von Schwaben (daughter of Duke Hermann I of Swabia ), probably between 947 and 957. The time before 954 is likely, as Liudolf was denied the duchy that year as a result of a dispute with his father. Later, the couple's son, Otto, Duke of Swabia , founded the collegiate monastery of St. Peter and St. Alexander with a collegiate school (mentioned in 974). Construction of the collegiate church began in 975.

When Aschaffenburg was handed over to Kurmainz by the legacy of Duke Otto (982), the monastery also came under the care of Archbishop Willigis of Mainz . Also in 982, Emperor Otto II gave St. Peter property in Walldorf and Meiningen . The rise of Aschaffenburg (town charter from 1161) to the second seat of the Archbishops of Mainz and the later administrative capital is closely related to the increasing importance of the collegiate church as the main church of the place and the increased connection of the collegiate to the Mainz cathedral chapter . This took place in several phases: first through the election of two pen printheads to the archbishop's chair in Mainz ( Markolf 1141 and Arnold von Selenhofen 1153), later the other way round through the occupation of the provost's office exclusively from the cathedral chapter (from 1262), and finally the Archbishop of Mainz from 1588 automatically also provost of the collegiate monastery Aschaffenburg.

The collegiate monastery quickly gained economic importance, as evidenced by a certificate of confirmation of the monastery possessions, issued in 1184 by Pope Lucius III. , can be found. As a spiritual power, it advanced to become the largest landowner in the city, who owned 17 parishes as well as various estates, vineyards and mills. During his wedding, up to 28 canons lived in the complex and the associated collegiate courts . In 1304 there was a riot among the citizens of Aschaffenburg, which was directed against the freedom of the monastery; a related action by the city was later dismissed in court. The monastery was able to further expand its privileges, among other things with the support of Emperor Charles IV (1349).

During the reformation unrest, Archbishop Albrecht von Brandenburg moved his residence from Halle (Saale) to Aschaffenburg, and the monastery temporarily became part of the bishopric. With the dissolution of Kurmainz (1801) and the pin through the last archbishop and later became Grand Duke of Frankfurt , Karl Theodor von Dalberg , 1802 resolved . The collegiate church became the city parish church, and the income from the foundation's assets went to the State University of Mainz . Later, after the Congress of Vienna (1814), the assets went to Bavaria as the General School and Study Fund Aschaffenburg . The Stiftsmuseum has been located in the Kapitelhaus since 1861. In 1952, the fund donated the facility to the Catholic Parish Church Foundation. On January 17, 1958, the church was opened by Pope Pius XII. raised to a minor basilica with the apostolic letter quasi civitas .

architecture

Cloister
West portal with Jesus as ruler of the world
Long nave with high altar in the background

Located on the top of a hill, the church towers over the city center of Aschaffenburg not only symbolically. You have to look up to the house of God from all perspectives. The architecture of the monastery complex reflects different stylistic epochs, which range from the Ottonian , pre-Romanesque beginnings to the 17th century. Much of the current system dates from the 12th and 13th centuries. The abbey buildings adjoining the church in the north, which enclose a Romanesque cloister in a U-shape and today mainly house the abbey museum , have been part of the overall complex since the 13th century . The cloister with 64 capitals was built between 1240 and 1245; it was the spiritual center of the collegiate monastery, which in its heyday had up to 40 canons. The cloister was restored by Georg Eberlein in the 19th century .

You can get to the church either from the west through Stiftsgasse , the buildings of which mainly consist of former collegiate courts , or from the north via Stiftsplatz. Here, on the site of the former churchyard, access is via a monumental, double-barreled baroque outside staircase from the 17th century. In the middle of the stairs are the sandstone figures of the patrons of the church, Peter and Alexander, from 1723. On the platform of the stairs there is a crucifixion group by the Aschaffenburg sculptor Antonius Wermerskirch from 1699. The west and north sides of the church are through one Enclosed an open vestibule, the arcades of which in the north are a continuation of the cloister behind the monastery building . There are a large number of stone reliefs and epitaphs on the walls . Above the arcades, the facade of the Maria-Schnee-Chapel dominates the view from the Stiftsplatz, which from here suggests a (not given) main axis of the church. It was consecrated in 1516 by Albrecht von Brandenburg . On the buttresses of the facade there is a group of three kings on the upper floor, in the neo-Gothic gable (1870) above a relief of St. Martin . The respective originals are in the monastery museum . The second dominating element from the outside is the Gothic tower on the south-west corner of the nave, which was built between around 1340 and 1420. An octagonal superstructure with a bell house is attached to a two-storey square base supported by buttresses . At its foot there is a platform with a surrounding tracery parapet. The tower's Gothic gables are crowned with finials. The angel on the top of the tower was placed in 1539 and was last renewed in 1971. The date 1714 is found on the clock face of the tower clock. A second tower in the northwest was unfinished. It is conceivable that the church had a twin tower system in the same place in Romanesque times.

The oldest part of today's church is the west-east facing nave with its Romanesque pillar arcades from the 12th century that support the high wall and the high windows above. The main entrance to the church at the tower from the west is a round arch portal (approx. 1220), above which there is a semicircular tympanum , which shows Jesus on a throne as ruler of the world. At his side are again Peter and Alexander. When entering the nave, one comes to a hall with 16 late Romanesque columns, which presumably come from the former predecessor castle of Johannisburg Castle and have richly decorated capitals . This columned hall carries the organ gallery. The transept, the east choir and the west and north-west portal date from the first half of the 13th century and are Gothic in design.

The gable above the main facade was built in 1870 according to plans by Georg Eberlein in the neo-Gothic style. The pilgrim fountain on Stiftsplatz is a replica of the original, which was built in 1882 and lost in World War II, and which was also made to a design by Eberlein. Franz Josef Denzinger is also named as the director of the collegiate church's production facilities .

The collegiate church suffered considerable damage in air raids and artillery fire during World War II . Reconstruction began as early as 1946, and in 1947 the nave could again be included in the service . The work on the building and the art monuments, as far as they were not completely lost (side altars, choir stalls), were continued step by step in the following years. In 1955 a new bell could be put into operation. Only one of the original bells could be used. At the millennium in 1957, a state of affairs was achieved that no longer showed any evidence of war damage. The new altar in the crossing, designed by the sculptor Max Weber , was consecrated in 1981.

Interior

The Ottonian Cross.

Due to its rich furnishings, the collegiate church is one of the most important regional sacred buildings. In particular, the following should be mentioned:

  • the larger than life Aschaffenburg triumphal cross from the 10th century, which was probably donated by the Essen abbess Mathilde and the archbishop Willigis of Mainz in memory of Mathilde's brother Otto von Swabia. It hangs in the middle on the north side of the main nave. The framing in the form of precious gemstones, which corresponds to the (older) Mathilden Cross in the Essen Minster, points to the Essen origin . The closed eyes and the large wound on the side indicate the death of Christ. At the same time, the posture of the body and the facial expression radiate a great serenity, through which the overcoming of death is expressed.
pulpit
  • the early Baroque pulpit from 1602 , designed by Hans Juncker , just a little further away on the opposite side . Christ Salvator and the four evangelists, who represent the message of the New Testament, stand on the pilasters of the pulpit . The four stone reliefs in between show scenes from the Old Testament that allegorically refer to the New Testament. For example, Samson with the city gates of Gaza corresponds to Christ who blew up the gates of limbo. Jonas, who was spat out by the whale after three days, is an analogy to the resurrection of Christ from the grave. Above the reliefs, half-figures of the four great church fathers of the western church (Gregory the Great, Hieronymus, Ambrosius and Augustine) refer to the church tradition. The shaft of the pulpit is made up of figures of Petrus, Alexander and Andreas, the namesake of the collegiate cantor Andreas Weber, in whose memory the pulpit was donated.
  • the late baroque high altar, roofed with a canopy, which was recreated between 1771 and 1774 and consecrated in 1775. With its four marble columns, it is reminiscent of the four-column altar by Bernini in St. Peter's Basilica or the papal altar in Santa Maria Maggiore and thus shows the close ties between the masters of the collegiate church and the Vatican. With the curved filigree wooden beams and the volutes as a crown, it is a church emblem. In the middle is the altar table with the figure of the crucified, moved to the back the tabernacle with adoring angels and the crowning Lamb of God. The sarcophagi of Queen Luitgard and her daughter (left) and Duke Otto (right) are embedded in the side walls of the choir , so that only the long side can be seen. A coat of arms relief from 1722 can be seen above left. The corresponding relief on the right by Meister Wendel from 1524 is colored and shows Otto with a sword and shield between two putti holding the coats of arms of Swabia and Bavaria. Also on the right wall of the choir is the epitaph of Archbishop Theoderich von Erbach and opposite a grave monument for Anselm Franz von Ingelheim , designed by Johann Wolfgang Frölicher . In the choir there is also a red and gold, conical silk umbrella ( padiglione ) as a sign of the minor basilica .
  • three bronze works of art from the workshop of the Nuremberg family Vischer in the north transept, which were made for Albrecht von Brandenburg. From Peter Vischer d. J. the epitaph of Albrecht comes from the year 1525, on which he is depicted in full archbishop's regalia with crook and lecture cross. The brother Hans Vischer created a counterpart to this in 1530, a relief of Mary after a copper engraving by Albrecht Dürer . In the middle there is a canopy, also by Hans Vischer from 1536, which originally stood over a grave slab in Halle. The underside of the canopy is adorned with engravings depicting the five wounds of Christ and four putti with the tools of the Passion . On the canopy is the Margaret Shrine , a gilded wooden coffin with shop windows that contains the relics of several saints. On the east wall of the transept, above an altar, there is a wooden panel painting of the crucifixion with spiritual donors, around 1520.

  • North transept

  • Relief of Mary with the child

  • Epitaph of Albrecht of Brandenburg

  • Margaret Shrine

  • Crucifixion painting

  • the baptismal font by Konrad von Mosbach in the central south transept from 1487 with colored reliefs of angels as half-figures, three of which carry musical instruments, one a book (the Bible?), one the year and one the coat of arms of Archbishop Berthold von Hennenberg . On the south wall a group of pictures with the “Adoration of the Magi” (1577) by Isaac Kieninng from Speyer in the center and two altar wings around 1520 from the school of Lucas Cranach the Elder . On the left St. Catherine with the sword and Margaratha with the dragon and cross staff, on the right Barbara with the chalice and Agnes with the lamb. A copy of the central panel of the Magdalen Altar hangs on the east side, which was built around 1520 by the school of Lucas Cranach the Elder. Ä. was created. It shows the resurrection of Christ. Another copy from the Magdalen Altar (left rear) is the depiction of St. Valentine on the west wall of the transept. As part of the monastery treasure, the altar is now in the monastery museum.

  • South transept

  • Baptismal font

  • Baptismal font with paintings

  • Valentin (from the Magdalene Altar)

  • Middle picture Magdalene Altar

The Lamentation of Christ by Matthias Grünewald.
  • The Lamentation of Christ (around 1525) by the painter Matthias Grünewald , who had created a series of works for the church since 1516, which, apart from the "Lamentation", can be found in other places today, for example in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich are located. The painting on a fir wood panel is in a chapel in the south aisle. It already had its unusual shape in the original. Presumably it is intended as the front of a grave chest. Visible, very vivid and expressive is the corpse of Christ, marked by the sufferings and taken down from the cross, still wearing the crown of thorns, i.e. before the resurrection. Otherwise the picture lives from hints. In the background the stump of the cross with a leaning ladder. Over the head of Jesus the clasped hands of the mourning Mary. The plaintive woman on the right, possibly Magdalena, represents the mourning viewer, the Good Friday congregation. The two coats of arms on the outside, the left one by Albrecht von Brandenburg, the right one by Theoderich von Erbach, show the importance of the Archbishops of Mainz for the Aschaffenburg monastery. The Aschaffenburg Dagger Madonna , actually the representation of a Lucretia by Hans Baldung , was venerated in the collegiate church for around 150 years, but was transferred to the Kunstkammer in Munich in the 19th century . It is currently (2012) in the archive of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen .
Image of the Madonna in the Maria-Schnee-Chapel
  • the Maria-Schnee- Chapel, which can be reached by stairs from the north aisle through two pointed arcades. The name of the chapel refers to the legend of the so-called snow miracle, according to which Mary let it snow in Rome in the middle of summer to mark where the church of Santa Maria Maggiore was to be built. The image of the Madonna by Grünewald originally painted for this chapel as the central panel of the Maria-Schnee-Altar is now in Bad Mergentheim as the Stuppacher Madonna . A copy by Christian Schad is in Aschaffenburg today . In the picture, Mary, sitting in a garden, has the standing Jesus on her lap and hands him a pomegranate, which can be both a sign of love and a symbol of the fall of man. A mighty church building rises in the background, presumably based on the Strasbourg cathedral and pointing to Mary as the archetype of the church. While the left altar wing has been lost, the right wing, on which the snow miracle is depicted, is now in the Freiburg Augustinian Museum. Another copy of a work by Grünewald for the collegiate church is shown in the chapel today, the “Mocking Christ”, a work by August Bresgen (1888–1987).

Further furnishings include several side altars in the side aisles of the church, other important paintings and a large number of epitaphs and memorial plaques on the pillars and walls of the church. In the chapel below the bell tower there is an allegorical group of figures (Heinrich Philipp Sommer, 1816) as a memorial to Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal , in which the genius of religion lifts the veil of history for the dying, while the genius of eternity lifts the veil of history Blackboard writes. A crucifix from the 19th century (Ludwig Voltz, 1862) hangs above the stairway to the Maria-Schnee-Kapelle, and on the high wall opposite the chapel there is a canvas painting by Johannes Fischer (1570–1643) with Christ between Peter and Paul. In the chapel closest to the choir in the north aisle is the so-called Holy Helper's altar from the 19th century, in which various late Gothic elements from the 15th century are incorporated. The second northern chapel contains a crucifixion group by Zacharias Juncker the Elder. Ä. (around 1650). Opposite in the south aisle hangs above the Lamentation of Christ the epitaph of Canon Heinrich Reitzmann (d. 1528), who shows him praying in front of a picture of a Pietà . Opposite is an altar with a picture from the Cranach school showing a mass of St. Gregorius. The altar adjoining it in the west is the Magdalen Altar by Hans Juncker (around 1620). Max Walter created the modern celebration altar in the crossing in 1979, as did the sacrament house and the base for the wooden crescent Madonna (around 1460).

  • Erthaldenkmal

  • Epitaph for Heinrich Reitzmann

  • Magdalen Altar

  • Crucifixion group

  • Emergency Altar

  • crucifix

The monastery museum has been located in the historical rooms of the Stiftskapitelhaus since 1861 with collections of prehistoric and early historical finds, finds from Roman and early medieval times as well as a collection of old church art from Aschaffenburg and the Lower Main. Which includes

  • a medieval building sculpture and church bells,
  • Sculptures and small sculptures from Romanesque and Gothic , including a large number of Madonna figures, vestments , reliquaries , monstrances , chalices and icons ,
  • Painting from the workshop of L. Cranach and his school, which Albrecht von Brandenburg in particular brought from his former official residence,
  • the oldest chess board in Germany, called the Aschaffenburg board game (around 1300).

A large part of the exhibits belong to the monastery treasure of St. Peter and Alexander and have had their place in the collegiate church over the course of history.

The painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder Cardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg before the Crucified was in the collegiate church until it was acquired by the Bavarian State Painting Collection.

organ

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The organ , consecrated in 1984, comes from the organ building workshop Johannes Klais (Bonn). The nine-meter-high instrument has 54 registers on slider chests and 3,700  pipes , of which the church visitor only sees the prospect pipes on the outside. The game actions are mechanical, the stop actions are electric. In 2013 three registers were added.

I positive C-g 3
1. Bourdon 08th'
2. Quintad 08th'
3. Praestant 04 ′
4th Reed flute 04 ′
5. octave 02 ′
6th Forest flute 02 ′
7th Larigot 01 1 ⁄ 3  ′
8th. Sesquialter II 00 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
9. Scharff V
10. Dulcian 16 ′
11. Vox humana 08th'
II Hauptwerk C – g 3
12. Principal 16 ' (E)
13. Bourdon 16 ′
14th Principal 08th'
15th Gamba 08th'
16. Octave 04 ′
17th Hollow flute 04 ′
18th Fifth 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
19th Super octave 00 02 ′
20th Cornet V 08th'
21st Mixture V
22nd Cymbel IV
23. Chamade 08th' (E)
24. Trumpet 08th'
25th Clairon 04 ′
Celesta (swellable)
Tremulant
III Swell C – g 3
26th Pommer 16 ′
27. Violin principal00 08th' (E)
28. Wooden principal 08th'
29 Reed flute 08th'
30th Salicional 08th'
31. Vox coelestis 08th'
32. Principal 04 ′
33. Flute 04 ′
34. Nasard 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
35. Octavine 02 ′
36. third 01 3 ⁄ 5  ′
37. Sifflet 01'
38. Plein jeu V
39. bassoon 16 ′
40. Trumpets 08th'
41. Hautbois 08th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
42. Pedestal 32 ′
43. Principal 16 ′
44. double bass 16 ′
45. Sub-bass 16 ′
46. Octave 08th'
47. flute 08th'
48. Pommer 08th'
49. Tenor octave 04 ′
50. Night horn 02 ′
51. Backset V00
52. trombone 16 ′
53. prong 08th'
54. Schalmey 04 ′
(E) = register supplemented in 2013

Bells

The oldest bell of the peal comes from the 14th century, the newest are from 2005. In 2005 the Perner foundry from Passau set a cymbal peal on the peal, which resulted in a special overall appearance of the sound. All bells are constructed in heavy ribs.

No. Surname Casting year Caster Weight
(kg) 		Nominal
1 Saint Peter and Alexander 1955 Schilling, Heidelberg 2800 c 1
2 Saint Martin 1955 Schilling, Heidelberg 1400 it 1
3 Gloriosa 14th Century Unknown 1000 f 1
4th Pacem in Terris 2004 Perner, Passau 700 g 1
5 Saint Pius X 1955 Schilling, Heidelberg 600 as 1
6th Saint Joseph 1955 Schilling, Heidelberg 400 b 1
7th Saint Mary 1955 Schilling, Heidelberg 300 c 2
8th Saint Jacobus and John 2005 Perner, Passau 148 as 2
9 Saint Andrew and All Saints' Day 2005 Perner, Passau 105 b 2
10 All Souls 2005 Perner, Passau 72 c 3

Marginal note

In 976, the then cantor Gozmar is said to have accidentally killed a student at the collegiate school with a writing board or an inkwell.

See also

literature

  • Alois Grimm: Aschaffenburg house book. Dalbergstrasse-Stiftsgasse-Fischerviertel . Geschichts- und Kunstverein Aschaffenburg eV, Aschaffenburg 1985, ISBN 3-87965-007-3 , pp. 340-390.
  • Wiltrd Fischer-Pasche: Economic and property history of the former collegiate monastery St. Peter and Alexander zu Aschaffenburg up to the end of the 14th century . = Publications of the History and Art Association Aschaffenburg e. V. 1993.
  • Edgar Röhrig (ed.): The collegiate church of St. Peter and Alexander Aschaffenburg . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 1999, ISBN 3-7954-1197-1 .
  • Wolfgang Schneider: Aschaffenburg. Collegiate Basilica of St. Peter and Alexander . 10th edition. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-7954-4193-7 . (Series: Small Art Guides, No. 230)

Web links

Commons : Stiftskirche Aschaffenburg  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Kratzer: The emperor's sloppy document. In: www.sueddeutsche.de. July 11, 2020, accessed July 11, 2020 .
  2. ^ Pius XII .: Litt. Apost. Quasi civitas , in: AAS 50 (1958), n.14, p. 670s.
  3. ↑ Alois Grimm: House book. P. 345.
  4. ↑ Alois Grimm: House book. P. 343.
  5. ↑ Julius Hülsen:  Denzinger, Franz Josef Ritter von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 47, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1903, pp. 661-663.
  6. ^ Wolfgang Schneider: Aschaffenburg. Collegiate Basilica of St. Peter and Alexander. P. 8.
  7. ↑ Magdalen Altar in the Abbey Museum of the city of Aschaffenburg
  8. ^ Wolfgang Schneider: Aschaffenburg. Collegiate Basilica of St. Peter and Alexander. P. 20.
  9. ↑ Bavarian State Painting Collections
  10. ↑ To the Klais organ
  11. ^ House of Bavarian History: Monasteries in Bavaria

Coordinates: 49 ° 58 ′ 25 ″  N , 9 ° 8 ′ 47 ″  E