Baptism angel

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Baptism chapel Burg Bodenstein
Baptism of the Engelkirche in Hinterhermsdorf , who gave the church its name
Baptism by Bertel Thorvaldsen , Vor Frue Kirke , Copenhagen

A baptismal angel is a sculptural wooden angel figure , often the size of a man, as a special form of the baptismal font from the Baroque period .

history

Baptisms were common in Lutheran churches in Germany , Denmark and Sweden in the 17th and 18th centuries, and hung vertically from the ceiling of the choir . During the christening ceremony , they were lowered using a cable . There were also standing or kneeling baptismal that a baptismal font on their head wear or in the height of lift ( "Beck Stemmer").

Baptisms are part of the long tradition of figurative works . In a baptismal bowl in their hands they offer the water for the sacrament of baptism and thus embody the bridge to heavenly things . Mostly they were created by regional masters on site. In addition to their religious significance, the hanging baptismal angels were primarily intended to solve the problem of space in the churches, which were becoming too small for the growing population. In the course of the 19th century, androgynous baptismal angels were so controversial that they were removed from many churches or necessary repairs to the suspension were omitted. In 1846 the Wolfenbüttel Consistory even banned baptismal angels for aesthetic reasons. Their ecclesiastical value was rediscovered in the second half of the 19th century.

See also

literature

  • Gisela Aye, Axel Chr. Kronenberg: Baptismal font and baptismal angel in Lower Saxony. From the end of the Thirty Years War to the middle of the 19th century (= Adiaphora. 5). Schnell & Steiner, 2006, ISBN 3-7954-1907-7 .
  • Friedrich Barenscheer: Baptism angel in Lower Saxony (= Bomann archive. Celler contributions to regional and cultural history. Issue 9, ZDB -ID 885005-7 ). Bomann Museum, Celle 1972.
  • Brigitte Becker-Carus: Baptism angel in Pomerania (= contributions to the Pomeranian regional, church and art history. Volume 15). With contributions by Martin Seils. Thomas Helms, Schwerin 2012, ISBN 978-3-940207-57-9 .
  • Helga de Cuveland: The baptismal angel, a new baptismal device of the Protestant church furnishings of the 18th century. Taking into account two rediscovered specimens in Hamburg museums. In: Contributions to German folklore and antiquity. Volume 24, 1985, ISSN  0408-8220 , pp. 37-41.
  • Helga de Cuveland: The baptismal angel. A Protestant baptismal device from the 18th century. Origin and meaning. With a catalog of North Elbian baptismal angels. Friedrich Wittig, Hamburg 1991, ISBN 3-8048-4389-1 (also: Hamburg, University, dissertation, 1990).
  • Marina Flügge, Mechthild Noll-Minor, Sabine Stachat, Werner Ziems (Red.): Baptism angel in Brandenburg. An inventory (= workbooks of the Brandenburg State Office for Monument Preservation and State Archaeological Museum. 14). Michael Imhof, Petersberg 2006, ISBN 3-86568-079-8 .
  • Axel Christoph Kronenberg: Twenty angels and one wing. Invitation to the baptismal angels in the Hildesheimer Land-Alfeld parish. Published by the church district of Hildesheimer Land-Alfeld. Alfeld, third edition 2015.
  • Helmuth Meißner: Baptism angel in Upper Franconia (= Colloquium Historicum Wirsbergense . Intermediate edition . 1996, ZDB -ID 2215476-0 ). Schulze, Lichtenfels 1996.
  • Bettina Seyderhelm: A thousand years of baptisms in Central Germany. An exhibition of the Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony and the Church District of Magdeburg under the patronage of the Vice President of the German Bundestag Wolfgang Thierse in Magdeburg Cathedral, August 20 to November 5, 2006. Catalog. Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg 2006, ISBN 3-7954-1895-X .
  • Bettina Seyderhelm (ed.): Baptism angel in Central Germany. Winged baptismal devices between Salzwedel and Suhl. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7954-2292-9 .
  • Bengt Stolt: De svävande dopänglarna. In: Iconographisk Post. No. 2, 1989, ISSN  0106-1348 , pp. 27-40.

Web links

Commons : Taufengel  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horst Ende : Mecklenburgische Taufen im Wandel der Zeit , 2009, pp. 8–9.