Templar Chapel (Müelte)

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Templar chapel in Müelte
Interior view of the front of the nave
Interior view of the back of the nave
Bell with symbol of the Templars (attic)

The Templar chapel "Our Dear Women" in Müelte, a district of the city of Wettin in the Saalekreis , is a Gothic chapel of the Knights Templar built in the second half of the 13th century . Today it is one of the few remaining structural evidence of the Templars in Germany .

history

In 1269 the Counts of Brehna-Wettin gave the Knights Templar the right to patronize the Petrikirche in Wettin. The court in Müelte was only mentioned for the first time in 1270, when in an archbishop's Magdeburg document the Commander Gero of the Ordenshof in Müelte was named as a witness. With the naming of the Commander-in-Chief, the existence of the Templar Coming Munch is evidenced. The Counts of Brehna were very closely associated with the Knights Templar, Count Dietrich II even became a Knights Templar.

Archbishop Burchard III. As sovereign prince of Magdeburg in May 1308, immediately after his consecration by Pope Clemens V in 1307, he gave the order to abolish all of the Templars who were in the archbishopric and to take the Templars and their masters who lived there prisoner. The Knights Templar resisted fiercely, and many evaded arrest. At that time there were four comedians in the Archdiocese of Magdeburg. At the Council of Vienne in 1312, the Knights Templar was then formally repealed. In the Holy Roman Empire they were allowed to live as monks . In the Archdiocese of Magdeburg some of them were accepted into the Order of St. John , others became private individuals. Burkhard III. issued a power of attorney for the Order of St. John to take over the goods of the Templars for his diocese , in which he requested "[...] suitable and honorable personalities who had formerly belonged to the Templars, for the service and benefit of the order [...] take in and allow. "

It has not been proven whether the Müchelner Hof actually came into the possession of the Johanniter. After the repeal of the coming, the court was mentioned as the priory of the order of the regulated Canons of the Holy Martyrs of Penance, founded in the middle of the 13th century.

Contrary to expectations, it is thanks to the secular use of the chapel for centuries (among other things as a storehouse and barn) that it has been preserved in its original architecture. After the city of Wettin became the owner of Gut Müuellen, security measures were hesitantly carried out on the Templar chapel in 1946 and 1956. After the chapel was included in the list of monuments in the Halle district , which only happened in 1984, a concept for the preservation of monuments was developed. The work has essentially been completed, so that the chapel is now regularly used as a space for concerts and exhibitions.

Templar Chapel during the roof renovation in summer 2019

In the summer of 2019, a complete roof renovation was carried out on the Templar chapel, thus securing the building's existence in the long term. During this roof work, the chapel was - as usual - open to visitors from 9 a.m. all day.

chapel

The towerless hall church in the early Gothic style, probably built around 1260 to 1280 , has a base area of ​​6 by 14.5 meters. The continuously vaulted, two-bay building does not have an exact east-west orientation.

All the stone of the almost ten meter high building consists of sandstone blocks, the wall surfaces are made of rubble stones. The seven large windows are decorated with three-pass tracery . The gable roof has brick gables at its ends . A water basin from the construction period is embedded in the choir wall. The single-nave church is accessed via an entrance on the south side under the gallery . Another is in the east yoke. On the west wall there is a passage to a stone spiral staircase that leads to the gallery and the attic. The stair tower is integrated in the masonry.

Remnants of painting on the plaster of one of the stones, including a face of remarkable quality, probably come from the time the chapel was built. The coat of arms of the Counts of Brehna , three red leaves on a white background, can be seen from the gallery on the northwest wall .

As early as 1886, an inventory of the architectural and artistic monuments of the Saalkreis mentioned the Templar Chapel in Müchi and honors the building "In general and in detail the construction and ornamentation [...] as absolutely exemplary [...] belonging to the best pieces of early Gothic."

documentation

In 1990 film students at the Potsdam-Babelsberg University of Film and Television set up a film exercise about the chapel and the restoration work taking place in it.

literature

  • Rolf Affeld / Frank Heinrich: The Templar Chapel of Müchi . Argos, Leipzig 1996, ISBN 3980456145 .
  • Edmund Baron / Jörg Hebestedt: The Templar Chapel of our Dear Women in Müelte near Wettin . 3rd, exp. u. edit again Fly head, Halle 2012, ISBN 978-3-930195-57-2 .

Web links

Commons : Templar Chapel  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Gustav Schönermark: Descriptive representation of the older architectural and art monuments of the city of Halle and the Saalkreis. Halle 1886, p. 538
  2. ^ Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf: Steinhaut

Coordinates: 51 ° 34 ′ 33 ″  N , 11 ° 49 ′ 39 ″  E