Our women (Memmingen)
The Evangelical Parish Church of Our Women in Memmingen , Upper Swabia, is the second largest church of the Evangelical Lutheran Dean's Office in Memmingen . It is also known colloquially as "Frauenkirche" or "To Our Lady". It is geosted , as was customary for church buildings up to the 16th century, is in the former weavers 'and tanners' quarter of the city and sets a strong urban focus in the southern old town. It was first mentioned in a document in 1258, but the first church building at this point was probably built before 500. This makes it one of the oldest in Upper Swabia .
The church is best known for its well-preserved frescoes from the early days of the Memmingen School in the 15th century. After the Reformation, from around 1530 to 1806, the church was used as a simultaneous church by the Catholic and Protestant townspeople, and until the secularization in 1802, also by the Catholic Cross Lords and Franciscan Sisters . It was probably the oldest simultaneous church in the area of today's Bavaria .
location
The church stands on the city wall in the southern old town, which was previously protected from enemy attacks by the large and small pitch towers . Until about 1340 it was outside the city wall in the so-called Wegbach settlement. At that time it was surrounded by a moat and a churchyard wall. A stone with the year 1205 was found during construction work next to the church. It is believed that it came from the wall. However, it could also have been a tombstone. Today the tuff is embedded in the northern sign .
history
Predecessor churches and first mention
Some remains of the foundations of the Church of Our Women could be from the late Roman period. During extensive restorations in 1891 and 1979, remains of the foundations of several previous buildings were discovered. The oldest building with an approximately 30 centimeter high choir barrier had a rectangular floor plan of approximately 9.5 × 7 m and was located in the middle of today's main nave. An 8 m wide choir is more recent. In addition to the possibly Roman or Merovingian remains, there are Carolingian ones, the dimensions of which, however, can no longer be determined.
In the 11th or 12th century the church was expanded as a Romanesque basilica and the floor was raised by about 25 centimeters. The considerably enlarged building (32 × 16 m) had six bays , three naves (main, south and north aisles) and a round apse as a choir. The pillars had a square floor plan with a side length of about 1.1 meters. Remnants of it are visible in the form of pillars and niches. Presumably there were two east or west towers, as is common in Upper Swabian Romanesque churches, but no foundations could be located.
Whether the Frauenkirche originally served as a baptistery, missionary church or royal court church is essential for the dating of the first complex. The St. John's altar, which existed until the Reformation, the location by a brook (which used to run even closer to the church) and the Marian patronage speak in favor of its use as a baptistery and thus of late Roman origin. The Roman road leading by with the nearby watchtower also allows this conclusion.
Before the church was included in the fortifications of the upper town in the 14th century, it was surrounded by a wall with a moat. The trench was about 8 meters wide and 1.4 meters deep. A tuff stone with the year 1205, which is today in the northern sign , in the entrance area of the church, gives an indication of the construction time . However, it is unclear whether it belonged to the wall or served as a tombstone. The poor state of preservation does not allow any further conclusions.
The church was first mentioned on the occasion of a property sale in 1258. In 1280 there was already an altar of Mary in the church.
Change of ownership
The church was imperial property. Therefore, on April 23, 1341 , Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian was able to give patronage to the Kreuzherrenkloster . This donation was made in 1346 by the Augsburg bishop Heinrich III. confirmed by Schönegg . Although so that the Church in the Kreuzherrenkloster incorporated was, it remained a parish church. The monastery was not entrusted with the care of the congregation, but nevertheless collected money and natural goods from the congregation as church tithing for the pastor's remuneration. On April 22, 1342 Kaplan Siegfried von Biberbach against payment declined from 110 pounds Heller on the right as Kirchherr of our women. The Frauenkirche probably belonged to the city earlier (although it was in the Wegbach settlement at that time), because the entire tradition speaks of the "Memminger Marienkirche".
The synods of the Memmingen chapter , to which, for example, the Ottobeuren parish with the abbey belonged, were held in the church. Despite the incorporation into the Kreuzherrenkloster, the church apparently had to be looked after by a secular priest, that is, he was not allowed to be a member of a spiritual convent . This becomes clear in a deed of foundation from 1359. It remained the main church of the Memmingen chapter. Between 1423 and 1438, a 13-point treaty re-regulated the relationship between the church and the Kreuzherrenkloster after there had been great tensions between the city and the Order of the Cross.
Extensions up to the Reformation
Weavers , butchers , tanners , small shopkeepers and the "unclean" estates with the executioner and whores were resident in the church of our women . The weavers, who made up about half of the church members, had been impoverished by the discovery of America, the new markets in Eastern Europe and the competition from the rural population since the beginning of the 16th century. The Frauenkirche had become the church in the quarter of the poorer population.
It looked different in the 14th and especially in the 15th century. The Romanesque church building was lavishly converted into a Gothic one and expanded on all sides up to the former church wall to its present size. Three north side chapels with a width of 3.5 meters each were added. The church was then 58 meters long and 30 meters wide with the chapels. The tower should also come from the same building era. In 1444 the cemetery was expanded and surrounded with a wall, in 1445 the pond near the church was walled, in 1447 an arena was added to the north central entrance and in 1449 a small hour bell was purchased. The interior fittings in the 15th century are primarily due to the Vöhlin trading and patrician family , one of the richest families. The apses were demolished and the old pillars removed with the exception of remains in the west and replaced by a pointed arch arcade system. The entire nave was raised and provided with a flat ceiling, the choir was removed and replaced with a larger one. The enclosure walls from 1343 have been preserved. On the Sunday before Ascension Day in 1447, five altars were consecrated and in 1448 the aisles were vaulted. In the period from 1458 to 1459 the builders Balthus Imhof and Hans Stier built the choir with a Gothic vault. On the Sunday before Pentecost 1460 the church was consecrated with four new altars. The Memmingen school around Hans Strigel the Elder painted the fresco decorations in the church . The first organ was installed above the pulpit in 1486.
On St. Mark's Day , April 25, 1471, four armed journeyman weavers broke into the church while drunk during the Vespers service. They beat anyone in their way, men, women and children. Two of the intruders were instantly killed by panicked worshipers, and the other two were sentenced to death by beheading by the city court . The sentence was carried out a short time later.
On June 10, 1478, the Lords of the Cross were authorized by Pope Sixtus IV to have church activities carried out by friars and no longer by paid lay priests. On March 6, 1479, Pope Sixtus IV reserved a vacant benefit of the Frauenkirche for the friar Jakob Matzenberger. On June 13, 1482, Innocentius Flavius, general hospital master in Rome, requested the hospital master to give Jakob Matzenberger a benefit from the patronage of the hospital that had become vacant. In the same year the friar was appointed to the parish supervisor.
In 1487 a transition was built from the opposite Maria Garten monastery to the first gallery after the Franciscan Sisters, who until then mainly worked in nursing, lived in a strict enclosure and no longer wanted to go down the secular street when attending church services, as they had previously done. The mayor, the city council and the hospital manager gave their consent. In the same year the staircase to the first gallery was built so that the sisters could go down into the nave for confession. The church only preached every two weeks. In order to change this, Hans Vöhlin founded a second helper in 1487.
During a visit in 1504 Maximilian I heard Holy Mass in the Frauenkirche . Before the Reformation, the church had around twelve altars, but not all of their locations can be determined. The last of three chapels was donated by the church caretaker Heinrich Minner in 1522. Thirteen ministers were serving in the Church at that time.
Reformation (c. 1525 to 1565)
Often times the Reformation was not introduced through a formal, documented act. The change in the language of worship from Latin to German is symptomatic. While in the other parish church of St. Martin the mass was already celebrated in German and the baptism was carried out according to the old and new rites , the mass in the Frauenkirche continued to take place in the old form. This is mainly due to the pastor Jakob Megerich, who is described as extremely conservative in the chronicles. This is possibly related to the fact that in early 1523 two young people, Ulrich Geßler and Raphael Sättelin, robbed the sculpture of a Jew from the Mount of Olives from the Frauenkirche. They wandered the streets with her, mocking and mocking her. The city council punished the two patrician sons on February 9th. It can no longer be clarified whether the robbery occurred out of Reformation zeal or hatred of Jews, or whether it was triggered by a dispute with the pastor. It is only certain that it was the first documented action against portraits in a Memmingen church.
The fact that the Reformation forces were stronger in this congregation became evident at Christmas 1524 when the congregation drove the pastor into the sacristy “with fists and feet,” as he wrote to the Augsburg bishop. An escalation could only be prevented by the intervention of several councilors . Pastor Jakob Megerich was invited to a religious dispute on January 2, 1525 with Christoph Schappeler , whereby Megerich was defeated and deposed. He was followed by the first Reformed pastor in office, Simprecht Schenck, a follower of Zwingli. He had left the Carthusian monastery in Buxheim and converted to reformed teaching. Schenck received an annual salary of 60 guilders on the condition that he taught the pure gospel. On July 14, 1525, the Swabian Federation demanded that Schenck be expelled from the city. He went “voluntarily”.
The city committed itself to the Reformation, initially to the Zwinglische, later, after Zwingli died, to the Lutheran doctrine. However, from July to October 1525, the Roman Catholic order of worship was restored. From November, after the Swabian Federation withdrew from the city, the Reformed Georg Gugy from Constance was employed by the city. He received a new contract every month. A long-term obligation was avoided because one had to be careful with the Swabian Confederation, which had already occupied the city in May / June 1525. Gugy regularly preached in church on Wednesdays.
Due to the compulsory orientation of the Memmingen Reformation, almost all sacred cult objects were removed from the Church of Our Women in July 1531, including many altars and pictures. There is no inventory, so the extent of the destruction is not clear. The cult objects were partly destroyed, partly confiscated by the city administration and sold or given to the craftsmen as wages. Individual pieces were rescued to the surrounding Catholic areas and monasteries by Catholic believers, for whom they had not lost their ideal value. In 1548, Emperor Charles V reintroduced the Roman Catholic rite in the church.
Simultaneous Church (1565 to 1806)
This only changed in 1565, when the Evangelicals held a service again. An agreement was reached in the Mindelheim Treaty of 1569 and our women became a simultaneous church , as it had been since 1524. The Protestant believers could use the nave and the organ gallery from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. At other times the church served the nuns of the neighboring monastery as well as the Lords of the Cross and the part of the city population who remained Catholic. In the year the contract was signed, the church received a new pulpit. It was not until 1806 that the Mindelheim Treaty lost its importance after the Protestant parish had acquired the entire church. The Catholic parishioners were now dependent on the St. Johann Baptist monastery church in the former Augustinian monastery.
Use by both denominations prevented radical baroqueizations. This included the installation of a new organ case above the pulpit in 1659 - a new organ was purchased in 1662 - and the construction of galleries on the west side and the north side , which remained in the church until 1890. From 1799 the church was used as a warehouse for war equipment for two years and ten months. In 1801 services could be celebrated again. Not until 1808 was the city requested by the Royal Bavarian State Administration in Ulm to restore the church interior. In 1811 the parish became independent after the church had been administered by the city government before 1802 and then by the parish of St. Martin until 1811.
Independent parish (1811 to 1945)
The church was redesigned in the 19th century, like many other places of worship, in line with historicism . A wooden vault was built in, which significantly changed the spatial impression of the Gothic church. City architect Johann Georg Knoll replaced the baroque pulpit with a new one in the style of historicism in 1829. This was removed again almost 60 years later. In September 1838 the roof structure of the church was in danger of collapsing, which is why the church had to be closed and the church service relocated to St. Martin. The roof structure was then supported and the service could take place in the church again a little later.
In 1850 the organ was replaced by a larger one. Since 1859 the choir has been incorporated into the rest of the church with a new altar. The church roof - until then with glazed colored tiles - was re-covered with roof slate in 1870/1871.
The frescoes whitewashed in 1602, including one of the most important works by the Strigel family , were exposed from 1893 to 1897. They are among the most valuable of the late Gothic. This started another large-scale interior renovation. The wooden vaults were removed again and replaced by a flat wooden ceiling. The side gallery on the north wall was demolished, and a second gallery was built on the west side. During the renovation of the floor, the Romanesque or pre-Romanesque pillars were discovered.
Destruction in World War II, renovations, excavations (since 1945)
Because the city was never attacked from the south during city sieges and the city fortifications were secured there with the large roundabout and the so-called gschwöllt water , the basilica escaped war damage. This changed in the last days of World War II. During the bombing of April 20, 1945, the four-part ribbed vault in the west yoke of the north aisle collapsed . The frescoes of the main nave and the arcade arches have been preserved. The pressure waves burst all 43 windows, including the large choir windows. The roofs were covered, the main portal was torn apart by the air pressure.
Only in 1955 were the traces of the bombing completely removed and the original condition restored as far as possible. In the 1970s the church was renovated again. A new altar was built in the main nave in front of the pulpit. The tower was painted back from the 16th century. When the floor in the nave was opened for the installation of warm air heating, further remains of the oldest previous church were discovered. During the renovation of the tower in 1973, gold coins and leaden tablets from 1730 were found in the ball above the lantern. These were written on lead tablets along with coins (2 DM pieces, 10 Mark special mint for the 1972 Olympics), as well as cutouts from the Memmingen Newspaper put back in the ball. The roof of the main nave was renovated and re-covered in 2010.
architecture
The church is a three-nave, six-bay basilica with a raised choir. In front of the northern sign is the abandoned cemetery, which has been converted into a small park with several beech trees . A unicorn statue stands on the church forecourt as a symbol of the Marian cycle inside the church . The old Franciscan convent is adjacent to the west and now houses an old people's home (civic monastery ) with the dementia department in the south. Behind the old church wall in the east lies the Reichshainpark.
Exterior construction
The nave of the east-facing church appears on the outside with a raised central nave and lower aisles as well as their extensions. The side aisles and extensions with simple windows connect to the central nave with pent roofs . Its skylights, decorated with tracery , open above it , one skylight per yoke . At the same time, flat pilaster strips that rhythmize the outer wall between the skylights reflect the structure of the interior in yokes. The central nave is covered with a gable roof. A golden cross rises on the associated Swabian west gable. The west facade, which is also structured with pilaster strips, is dominated by a large tracery window located roughly in the middle between the floor and the roof. It is flanked by smaller windows, another small window is in the pediment triangle. In the east, as an extension of the central nave, the choir, which is about two bays long, is separated from the nave. The external impression of the choir with a 5/8 end is shaped by buttresses between high tracery windows. In the south, next to the choir and south aisle, the new sacristy was built, followed by a chapel extension to the west. The center of the remaining free wall area of the south nave occupies one of the two church entrances with the southern sign. Chapel extensions and signs also determine the appearance of the north side. In addition, at the level of the second yoke, seen from the east, there is the tower with the old sacristy, which cuts deeply into the north aisle. The walls of the church consist of brickwork , the uniform plaster application of which does not allow the identification of individual construction phases.
inner space
Central nave
The central nave is 38.5 meters long and 11 meters wide. It can only be entered through the two signs or through direct access between the tower and the choir in the north aisle. Today's main entrance is the northern sign. The walls of the main nave are kept simple and whitewashed. It is divided into six bays with Gothic pointed arches . The inner sides of the pointed arches are - like the areas between the arches - decorated with frescoes, the pillars are whitewashed red. The main nave closes off a wooden flat ceiling in the style of historicism at the top. The carving motifs were taken from a 15th century ceiling from the Kramer guild on the Weinmarkt. On the west side there are two galleries , one gallery being occupied by the organ. These galleries have the same carving motifs as the ceiling. The central nave is illuminated by skylights on both sides and a large window with simple tracery and several smaller ones on the west side.
North ship
The north aisle has a length of 38.5 and a width of 6 meters. It dates from the 14th century, was raised in 1448 and provided with a Gothic ribbed vault . In the second yoke, the tower slides about 3 meters into the nave. It includes two former side chapels, the northern sign and the staircase to the galleries. The windows of the aisle and the chapels, which are designed without tracery, are vaulted. In a bombing raid in World War II, two yokes of the north aisle were destroyed and rebuilt shortly afterwards. You can recognize them by the missing ceiling frescoes. The north aisle has two entrances from the northern sign and from the tower.
South aisle
The south aisle is 38.5 meters long and 6 meters wide. It also dates from the 14th century, was also raised in 1448 and, like the north aisle, has a Gothic ribbed vault. The vaulted windows of the aisle and the attached chapel have no tracery. The former Minner Chapel, donated in 1522, served as a Protestant baptistery during the Simultaneum . The only access to the south aisle is the southern sign.
Choir
The 19.5 meter long and 10 meter wide choir was built between 1458 and 1459. Each wall segment has a high window with simple tracery. The ceiling consists of a Gothic ribbed vault. The chancel is three steps higher than the nave, three more steps lead to the end of the choir with the high altar .
tower
The tower was probably built from tuff at the beginning of the 14th century . The sacristy was located on its lowest floor until it was moved to a new building at the southern end of the choir in 1487. The formerly Gothic, pointed roof of the tower was often hit by lightning and in the 17th century, after another lightning struck, it was replaced by today's lantern with a crossed pointed roof. Since the Middle Ages, the clock face, originally frescoed, has often been painted over, most recently with stone paint. When the tower was renovated in 1973, at least three layers of paint were uncovered. The renaissance painting of the dial from around 1650 was finally restored. The Gothic sundial on the east side was also restored and a new one was attached to the west side.
The tower has a square floor plan with a side length of 8.3 meters. It is 46.5 meters high to the lantern and 54 meters high to the top and has two entrances, one in the north aisle and the other on the north outer wall. Another wooden tower is integrated into the tower as a belfry . The ribbed vault of the former sacristy in the basement was renewed in 1955 as it had been damaged by pressure waves from bomb explosions in World War II.
New sacristy
The new sacristy is next to the choir, where the entrance is. It also has a Gothic ribbed vault. The wood paneling of the walls has small, ornamental carvings. The windows are equipped with simple tracery.
Furnishing
There is a wide variety of works of art in the church, mostly frescoes. The great wealth of altars and other carvings was destroyed or sold in the iconoclasm during the Reformation .
Frescoes
The extremely well-preserved frescoes from the 15th century were made by the Memmingen School under the direction of Hans Strigel the Elder. Ä. created, but must have been partially renewed in 1506. They apparently survived the iconoclasm of June 19, 1531 unscathed. They were probably covered with whitewash in 1631 because they had become damaged and the means for repairs were lacking during the Thirty Years' War . After that the frescoes fell into oblivion.
After their rediscovery around 1890, the entire interior of the church was thoroughly examined and the frescoes were uncovered again from 1893. Some were replenished according to the customs of the time, but most were in such good condition that only the colors were refreshed. Thanks to the careful approach to rediscovering and refreshing the colors from 1893 to 1897 by Professor Franz Haggenmiller from Munich, they are very well preserved to this day. Other restorers were Ludwig von Kramer and Bonifaz Locher . The measures were completed in 1901.
The majority of the frescoes can be assigned to three areas, the ornamental paintings , the Apostles' Creed and the Marian Cycle .
Ornamental paintings
Parts of the north and south aisles and parts of the inner rib arches of the main nave are decorated with ornamental paintings.
Ornaments entwined around the keystones of the vaults, which were interrupted by the arches of the pointed vaults. They were partially provided with a false gold plating. A short time later this gilding became unsightly, so that it was painted over as early as the 16th century. The coats of arms on the keystones were mostly added during the major church restoration. Only in the sacristy, the Pinzenau chapel and partly in the south aisle has the condition from the time of construction been preserved.
The ornaments of the choir, which had still belonged to the Lords of the Cross , were never painted over because the city had no handle there. They are from the first church painting around 1460.
Apostolic Creed
The Memmingen school around Hans Strigel the Elder Ä. painted a cycle of frescoes distributed over the entire nave with the twelve apostles , to whom the twelve articles of the Apostles' Creed are assigned on banners . The figures, one on each yoke and two on the west wall at the height of the first gallery, have an average height of 230 centimeters . They stand on painted consoles . The twelve articles are written in Swabian dialect . At the eastern end of the main nave there is a message board on both sides; next to the panels and also at the two western ends you can see a trumpet angel with a banner . The angels remind of the Last Judgment , the tablets admonish that eternal bliss can only be achieved by those who have the Christian faith; whoever does not have it cannot be saved. These texts by Athanasius , the Patriarch of Alexandria , speak in their Latin version of the "fides catholica". The “Christian faith” of the German version suggests that it originates from Protestant overpainting. The same applies to the belief in "the Christian hailing churches", which has probably replaced the belief in "the holy Catholic Church".
Starting in a clockwise direction from the choir, on the south wall of the main nave, Peter , Andrew , James the Elder , John and Thomas are depicted , while James the Younger and Philip are depicted on the gallery on the west wall . The north wall of the main nave is adorned by the apostles Bartholomäus , Matthäus , Simon , Judas Thaddäus and Matthias . Until the iconoclasm in 1531, Peter wore the triple papal crown , a representation not uncommon in the Middle Ages and early modern times. It was destroyed with hammer blows. When it was discovered in 1893, only two figures were damaged; all the others came back to life in excellent condition. The creed begins with Peter and ends with Matthias. The connection between an article of faith and an apostle is freely chosen; there were numerous variants for depictions of the twelve apostles in connection with the creed .
Saint Simon, one of the two defective depictions of the apostles directly after the discovery
Saint Simon today, after the defective parts were filled
The apostle Thomas on the last northern yoke
The apostle Philip on the west wall
In the arches there are representations of angels , of people from the Old Testament - prophets , patriarchs, kings and other important men - and of important representatives of the New Testament : Christ, Mary, four evangelists and two apostles. One of them is Paul, who expands the group of the twelve apostles. All of them have banners with quotes from the Bible. The biblical passages of the individual arches also comment on the corresponding articles of the creed in Swabian dialect. However, they are not systematically ordered, but rather a series of analogies and content-related quotes on the respective topic without any recognizable guidelines. In some arcs, the scriptures are assigned to two consecutive Creed articles. The frescoes on the fifth arch are completely out of this scheme: without exception, angels with musical instruments are depicted. There are no German Bible commentaries on banners, but the beginning of the Gloria in Latin , which is solemnly sung in the liturgy of the Easter Vigil and thus fits the article of the resurrection from the dead. There is also another peculiarity: in the ninth arch, the only exception to the groups mentioned is a figure from church history - Bernhard von Clairvaux . It can be assumed that the author who designed the theological program was not only familiar with Bernhard's writings, but also wanted to emphasize it. The influence of Bernhard's works on the Marian cycle is obvious, his pronounced veneration of the Blessed Mother is already reflected in the tenth arc: It is about the forgiveness of sins, but the comments refer mainly to Mary. The very first banner brings a symbol of Mary , the aurora consurgens , the glowing dawn. Mary has an important function as a “refuge for sinners”, as a representative of mercy , as is shown in more detail in the Marian cycle.
Marian cycle
The cycle of Mary on the inner tower wall in the north aisle is a specialty. This fresco depicts the life story of Mary in 14 individual images from the Annunciation to the adoration of the Baby Jesus by the three wise men . These 14 panels are about one square meter each. The entire area above these scenes is provided with allegorical and symbolic depictions of the Virgin Mary up to the vault . The main motif is the sacred ( mystical ) unicorn hunt on the right, a type of image that was widespread in the 15th and 16th centuries, especially in German art. The depiction of the unicorn hunt was banned by the Council of Trent in the 16th century. The scene takes place in the hortus conclusus , in the closed garden. In the left foreground, Archangel Gabriel blows a hunting horn, in front of him are four dogs with banners. In similar representations, the dogs carry banners with the words veritas , misericordia , iustitia and pax (truth, mercy, justice and peace). Since the word Truth has been preserved on the top volume , it can be assumed that the other three labels were written in German. The compilation of these four virtues goes back to the book of Psalms . In the Vulgate the text is:
Misericordia et veritas occurrerunt iustitia et pax deosculatae sunt (mercy and truth meet, justice and peace kiss). (Ps 85 [84], 11)
Bernhard von Clairvaux then wrote a parable about these four virtues in his first sermon on the occasion of the feast of the Annunciation . The story assumes that Adam and Eve received the virtues from God, mercy as protector, truth as educator, justice as guide, so that people not only recognize what is good, but also do it, and peace in order to to be happy. Because of the fall , the people then lost all four of their own fault. A dispute broke out among the virtues. Truth and justice wanted death as punishment for Adam and Eve, mercy and peace asked for people to be spared. The couples called on God as the highest judge to resolve the dispute. In order to satisfy both sides God decided that one that no debt has loaded up, die and this death bringeth salvation should be. Someone has to die voluntarily out of love, because love is stronger than death. Truth set out to search the world, but did not discover any innocent man who wanted to die voluntarily, mercy sought in heaven, but did not find anyone who had enough love. Then God sent his Son into the world, who by his death not only redeemed people, but also settled the quarrel between the virtues, and that is why these four were also present at his Incarnation. The virtuous couples were reconciled, justice and peace kissed and the angels proclaimed peace on earth at the birth of Christ. Justice changed. Before Christ she was bound by the law and oppressed people with fear. But now she spurred people on with love.
The dispute between the four virtues is depicted on many miniatures and belongs to the subject of the divine counsel for redemption, the incarnation of Christ. The mystical unicorn hunt connects this controversial topic with the legend of the catching of the unicorn in the womb of a virgin and with the Annunciation to Mary by the Archangel Gabriel. The Annunciation motif includes God the Father, who is depicted at the highest point of the fresco and has his head tilted towards Mary. The dogs chase the unicorn into their laps. The special and unique thing about the fresco is that the unicorn carries the baby Jesus. Such a representation is not known from any other church. Since the unicorn is already a symbol for Jesus, there was no need to represent him as a person. The mythical animal is also an attribute of chastity and thus points to the virgin conception of the Mother of God. Mary and the baby Jesus are provided with a halo . Maria holds out her hands to the child. On the other side in the foreground twelve prophets appear above the wall parapet, the leaves with the prophecies of the miracle of conception fall from the wall. Only fragments of the texts have survived, which read:
- "The Lord / the (we) searching / the landlord came from his shark temple"
- "The wisagong is fulfilled, that anointed ..."
- "Ain junckfraw host ..."
- "Uss dir, uss (g) at the ..."
- "the gentleman…"
In the middle and background you can see a palatial building, the outlines of a castle and town and numerous symbols of the Virgin Mary . These are named on tape in German, but the inscriptions are badly damaged. Nevertheless, some symbols can be identified with certainty: electa ut sol (exquisite like the sun), pulchra ut luna (beautiful like the moon), stella maris (sea star ), aurora consurgens (glowing dawn), rubus incombustus (not burned thorn bush ), hortus conclusus (closed garden), turris eburnea ( ivory tower ), porta clausa (closed gate), civitas dei (city of God), the fleece of Gideon and Jerusalem as the city of David . To the left of the twelve prophets we find the first picture from the Marian cycle:
- The scenes from the life of Mary begin with Joachim's sacrifice . Joachim and Anna , Maria's parents, are a pious couple who, however, have to live in shame because they are childless. Having appeared before the priest to perform his sacrifice, Joachim is rejected with his gift.
- The second picture, Joachim in der Einöde, shows Joachim, leaning on his staff, walking across a stone-strewn street to his herds, which are indicated in the background. A golden angel, holding a banner in his hands, hovers down to him and announces that he is going to have a child. As a sign of the truth of the proclamation, Joachim will meet Anna at the Golden Gate in Jerusalem.
- The third picture shows Anna in the women's room , covered with a white hood , sitting on a couch in front of a red folded curtain. She wipes her eyes with a white handkerchief and seeks consolation in a prayer book that she holds on her knees in her right hand. A white-robed angel flies in through a window under which there is a cupboard with partially opened drawers, announcing the same thing to her as Joachim before.
- In the fourth picture, Joachim and Anna meet in front of the Golden Gate . Here, too, the road is stony, in the background the walls and towers of Jerusalem can be seen.
- The fifth picture shows the birth of Mary . Anna lies in bed, clad in white, and offers her hand to her husband who approaches. In the foreground a woman kneels on the floor with her sleeves rolled up in front of a bathtub in which she is laying the newborn Maria. Halos can be seen over her and over Joachim and Anna. Linen towels are spread out on a table. A servant enters through the door in the background.
- The temple walk of Mary can be seen on the sixth image. Three-year-old Mary is expected by a priest at the top of a staircase. The parents are preparing to follow her. Two other people in the foreground take part in the scene.
- The seventh picture shows the stick miracle . A crowd of young people with rods in their hands streams in through a door visible in the corner. Gold-trimmed red and blue skirts and hats indicate the great importance of the celebration. They accompany the bareheaded, halo-awarded Joseph, who, as in the following pictures, wears a red skirt and appears almost senile. As he steps in front of the priest, the rod that Joseph wears turns green like a fresh palm branch. The other applicants remain as thin as spider veins. In the foreground, a curly young man in an elegant, splendid dress sinks to his knees to break his rod. It is one of the rare pictorial representations of this scene in Germany. Usually it is left out in Marian stories.
- The marriage of Joseph to Mary can be seen in the eighth picture. Both stand in front of the priest, who is wearing a turned-back red cloak over his white petticoat. Mary and Joseph have joined their hands. The priest extends his right hand over it in a blessing. Four persons on the side of the bride and as many on the side of the groom are the groomsmen.
- The ninth picture shows the scene of the Annunciation . In the late evening hours - a dark sky can be seen through the window opening - Maria kneels in front of the red, folded, canopy-like bed curtain on a stool on which a book is open. The archangel Gabriel in a golden dress and red cloak pulls the curtain aside at one corner and brings the joyful message to Mary. The Holy Spirit in the form of a white dove, proceeding from God, who appears in the bust above in the sky, has sunk down on the forehead of the Virgin.
- The scene of Mary's visit to Elisabeth can be seen in the tenth picture. In a light green landscape, from which a tower with a piece of city wall emerges in the background, the two women greet each other in a tender embrace in front of an open door. The contrast between the old and the young woman is clearly marked. The figure in the cloak and hood in the background is probably the priest Zacharias .
- The eleventh picture shows Joseph's escape . As with the Annunciation, Mary is sitting in a room in front of a red bed curtain. Joseph, a knotted stick in his right hand, a bundle on his back, must have just exchanged the last words with her, only to leave the innocent. The appearance of an angel floating in through the window prompts him to turn to it and hear what is to happen to the helpless Virgin. This scene is also only known in this way from this fresco.
- The twelfth picture shows the birth of Jesus . The newborn child lies on the floor, bare and in a trough. The parents stand on both sides, three little angels between them look at the infant Jesus in adoring astonishment. Two shepherds look in over the low parapet that closes the room at the back and allows a clear view of the nocturnal hilly landscape, a third pauses with his flock, captivated by the angel's appearance. Ox and donkey stuck their heads inthrough an opening in the wall.
- The penultimate picture shows the circumcision of Christ . In the middle of a group of ten people, facing the observer, sits a worthy priest on a high-backed chair. Under his priest hat a white veil falls over his head and shoulders down to his hands. He holds the child on this shawl while a priest sitting next to it with his head uncovered applies the knife. On the other hand, a woman holds a long white bandage ready. Behind this group, six spectators stand side by side in a quiet position. The man in the long red skirt with a gray beard and hair is believed to represent Joseph .
- The last picture shows the adoration of the Magi . The parapet in the twelfth picture has been shortened to make room for a door. It was through this that the distinguished guests came in. Joseph is missing in this scene. Maria is sitting in the middle, the bare child on her lap. The latter stretches his arms towards the old man, who kneels in front of the child and has taken it by the right hand. Standing sideways, a crescent-shaped viewing vessel in his hands, is the second king, identified by his bulging lips, blunt nose and brown skin as a Moor . The third one, hat in hand, steps in from the other side with his gifts.
There is no information about the time of origin or the author of the cycle . The circles that can be seen between two panels of the life of Mary come from a consecration cross which, as the application of paint shows, was painted before the pictures.
Other frescoes
There are several frescoes in the choir. The fresco on the north choir wall represents Hans Vöhlin the Elder . Ä. dar, one of the most important donors of the Church. As a life-size figure, the elderly man kneels on an upholstered bench in a paneled room. A small house altar is attached to a wall board from which a rosary hangs. A hanging lamp is attached to a cord on the ceiling above the person praying. Over his shoulder you can see a river landscape, the motif of which may be based on the Upper Swabian Illertal . There the Vöhlin were very wealthy, which supports this assumption. The floor of the painted room is closed off at the front by three rafters. Three coats of arms with the coats of arms of the founder and probably those of his two wives from the houses of Rappenstein and Imhof hang on straps over the beam threshold . On a tape above the head of the person praying it says: Holy Mary, pray for us. At his feet is the stech helmet with the Vöhlin helmet ornament . Furthermore, the inscription: MCCCCLXIV (1464) and below Ernewert 1552 (Renewed 1552) can be read.
The image of the Virgin Mary in a small niche in the south wall of the choir is also a Vöhlin Foundation. The niche, in which there was presumably a holy grave , is 2.21 meters wide, 1.75 meters high and 0.45 meters deep. The lower half of the niche wall is painted with a carpet pattern. In the upper one you can see a portrait of a Madonna and Child above clouds, spreading a rosary with her hands , to the right and left of it an angel making music. At about the same height are the side wall, to the right of the group, the coat of arms, and to the left, the stech helmet with the Vöhlins crest ornament. A tracery framing with a fish bubble pattern leads from the soffits over to the outer wall, on which a rod covered with leaf corrugations (rosettes made of stone) completes the picture.
On the south-east wall of the end of the choir you can see a flying angel holding a large wafer in his hands. Since the host was also called angel bread in the past , it is assumed that the angel belonged to a plastic that has disappeared.
In the choir arch the wise and foolish virgins are depicted, over whom Christ is enthroned. The five wise virgins on the left side of the choir arch hold up their carefully filled oil lamps. You look alert, caring. You are aware of the Groom's arrival at any time. On the right side you can see the five foolish virgins holding down the empty oil lamps and not prepared for the bridegroom. They think they still have enough time and rely on their smart sisters.
Above the church gate in the northern sign there is a Christmas fresco made up of three individual pictures. The first picture (bottom left) shows the Annunciation . Maria is sitting next to a lectern with an open book. In front of her, the angel points with his right hand to the tape with the words Ave gratia plena. dominus tecum (Greetings, full of grace. The Lord is with you) that he holds in his left hand. Another scroll over the head of Mary gives the answer: Ecce ancilla domini. fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum. (See the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word). Both texts come from the Gospel according to Luke , chapter 1, verses 28–38. The second picture at the bottom right shows the birth of Christ . Under and in front of a roof supported by four posts is a manger, in the front part of which the child lies, while the ox and donkey eat from the rear part. The mother kneels in front of the child praying, Joseph stands behind. From the other side, a nun approaches in a praying posture, whose tape is no longer legible. In the background you can see the star of Bethlehem and the scene of the Annunciation to the Shepherds by an angel appearing in heaven. Its message is indicated by an empty tape. The third picture above shows the three kings . Under a similar wooden roof as in the fresco of the birth of Christ, Mary sits on an altar-like bench with a raised pedestal, holding Jesus on her lap. One of the kings kneels and hands out a box. The second stands on the other side and the third bends his knee in a lively movement. Both wear crowns and offer ciboric vessels. A feeding trough with the animals is pushed to one side.
The southern sign was not changed to Baroque style. The frescoes there from the beginning of the 15th century are probably the oldest preserved in the church. The Gothic furnishings are still completely preserved there. The ceiling is adorned with a starry sky with ornamental decorations on the cross ribs. On the west side, a niche 1.71 meters high, 1.14 meters wide and 0.18 meters deep with the crucifixion scene is set into the wall. The reveal surface serves as a frame. A leaf ornament in light gray color on a black background and in various sweeping shapes is placed between two strips. These have a four-pass ornament in green on a black background. With the outer of these strips with a crab-like green leaf ornament, the frame extends over the wall surface. To the left of the crucified Jesus stands the suffering Mary, her eyes on John to the right of the cross. He carries the gospel in his arms. Jesus himself already has the side wound that was only inflicted after death. The blood that he sheds is caught by two angels with goblets.
The staircase to the old gallery in the vestibule was also illustrated earlier. Here, however, the frescoes were so damaged that most of them could not be restored.
The pillars at the height of the pulpit used to be decorated with images from the Holy Scriptures. However, most of these frescoes were so damaged that they were whitewashed during the iconoclasm. A fresco is revealed on each of the two pillars. The fresco in the north aisle in front of the Marian cycle on the inner tower wall shows Christ as the Man of Sorrows . He is depicted half life-size about three feet above the ground. Christ is clad only in a loincloth, with a crown of thorns, his wounds and a halo , and is in front of a carpet held by two angels that have only survived in fragments, surrounded by instruments of torture.
The pillar on the south nave, on which the pulpit is located, also has remains of frescoes, one with the Virgin Mary surrounded by angels. This was very finely worked out, as you can see from the remains. The north side of the same pillar shows a patterned Gothic carpet held by two angels. This fresco was either created when the pulpit was erected or was already there when the organ case was attached.
Oil paintings
The altarpiece of the high altar was painted by Johann Friedrich Sichelbein of the Memmingen School around 1700. In 1806, at the end of the Simultaneum, it was given to the Catholic parish of St. Johann and bought back in 1868. It shows the crucifixion scene on Golgotha. Two pictures by Rudolf Schwemmer from 1961 are in the baptistery. They show the event of Pentecost and Jesus' blessing of children in a modern representation. In the south aisle hangs a picture with the resurrection of Jesus in moderate expressionism . It was created in 1951 by Ulrich Franke . The Last Supper painting next to the Hawanger Madonna was painted by Andreas Küchle in 1820 .
In the new sacristy there is a cycle of pictures with scenes from the Old and New Testament by Johann Friedrich Sichelbein. Before the frescoes were uncovered, the pictures hung in the arcade arches of the nave.
Carvings
In the choir
The baroque choir stalls from 1696 by an unknown artist with shells, putti , grimaces and fruit hangings have an average artistic value. Above the entrance to the sacristy is the coat of arms of the former hospital master of the upper hospital . The door to the sacristy is also decorated with carvings that were commissioned by the city just before the choir stalls. In the upper field of the door bears the city coat of arms framed by putti and fruits as a sign that the sacristy behind it belonged to the Reformed part of the church. The high altar dates from 1859.
Ceiling, pulpit, cross altar and gallery
The wooden flat ceiling (1897), the pulpit with the sound cover (1895) and the galleries (1897) were made in the style of historicism and all show the same Memmingen carvings. The balustrades of the galleries were decorated with decorations and biblical words. On the paneling of the pulpit, the evangelists Mark with the lion, Luke with the bull, Matthew with the winged man and John with the eagle are depicted in flat carving technique . At the bottom, the dove of the Holy Spirit hovers in a golden halo.
The cross altar in front of the pulpit is a modern, square table for the Lord. It was created in 1979 by the Munz-Natterer couple from Neuching . It has bronze connecting pieces on the sides and corners, which are supposed to represent the body of Christ. A rock crystal symbolizes Christ's death on the cross.
Statues
The Madonna on the east side of the north aisle was created by Ivo Strigel around 1500 . For a long time it was in a farm in Hawangen , from which it takes its name. The mother of God in a golden cloak with blue lining carries the baby Jesus in her arms. He holds the globe in his left hand. The Hawanger Madonna belongs to the type of a crescent moon Madonna : under her right foot is a golden crescent moon with a male face, which is believed to be a self-portrait of the Memmingen artist. It stands on a stone base that was attached in the 20th century.
In addition to the Hawanger Madonna, there are two wooden statues in the church. The Good Shepherd on the east side of the main nave is a figure from the late 19th century by the sculptor Geiger from Memmingen. She wears flowing red-brown hair. The red robe is held together at the neck by a brooch with three pearls, the undergarment is blue. The shepherd carries a lamb on his left arm and a crooked shepherd's staff in his right. His feet are bare and a sheep is sitting on his left. It is currently impossible to say who a figure in the Madonna niche of the choir is. In the sacristy there is a Saint John with dark, long, flowing hair. The robe is golden, the undergarment blue. The time of creation and the creator of the figure are unknown. Both statues come from the estate of the painter and art collector Fritz Hail, which his sister Luise Hail gave to the parish.
Church stalls
The stalls in the east half were made from oak in 1979 using the old cheeks from 1897. The rest of the lay chairs come from different periods. There are also medieval pews, some with carvings. One of the cheeks in the north aisle bears the Vöhlin coat of arms. In the south aisle there is a pew from 1897 with ornamental carvings and verses from the Bible.
Stonemasonry
Six stone figures stand on the consoles of the pillars in the choir. They were made at the end of the 19th century and painted in color. During the renovation of the church in the 1950s, they had to be painted gray at the instigation of the State Office for Monument Preservation in Augsburg. They represent men who had a significant influence on the spread of the Reformation, namely Martin Luther , Philipp Melanchton , Elector Friedrich the Wise , Gustav Adolf of Sweden , Christoph Schappeler and Ambrosius Blarer .
The baptismal font created by an unknown artist in the so-called Minner's Chapel , the only chapel on the south aisle, dates from 1565 and was made of red marble . It has a great stylistic similarity to the baptismal font of St. Martin's Church, also made of red marble.
Grave slabs
The grave slabs that used to be on the floor and on the outside wall were repeatedly moved during the renovations of the church. Today they are in the side chapels and in the northern sign; the largest surviving epitaphs hang in the north aisle . The writing of three can still be deciphered, that of the rest is usually so weathered that it is no longer legible. The oldest grave slab comes from the chaplain Konrad Schriber from the year 1439. Next to it is that of the Memmingen merchant and patrician Jörg Hürsich and his wife from 1606 and 1608 respectively. Many also come from deceased Franciscan nuns of the opposite monastery . The slab from the grave of Hans Vöhlin , the church's greatest donor, is attached to the wall in the western side chapel of the north aisle, the Möttelinkapelle . It was created in 1441 and is badly weathered.
In the northern sign, there are several 30 × 30 centimeter panels with the names of nuns from the Franciscan convent carved into the floor.
organ
The first organ, donated by Hans Vöhlin around 1487 , was located on a gallery at the location of today's pulpit. The organ house above the pulpit was renewed in 1659, but the new organ was not acquired until 1662. It stayed there until Eberhard Walcker built a new organ with two manuals, a pedal and 25 stops in 1850.
Today's organ was built in 1929 by the Steinmeyer company from Oettingen as opus 1512 . It has 52 sounding registers , distributed over three manuals and pedal . The action is electro-pneumatic.
The organ survived the Second World War largely unscathed and was spared major changes in the post-war years.
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- Coupling : II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P.
- Playing aids : two free combinations; Piano pedal II, III; Crescendo roller ; Generaltutti; Pedaltutti; Shelf (pedal register, hand register, tongues, mixtures, roller) .
- annotation
- ↑ from Gedeckt 16 ' by SW 1
- ↑ from night horn covered 8 ' from SW 1
- ↑ from Rankett 16 ' from SW 2
- ↑ from Krummhorn 8 ' from SW 2
Bells
The original bells were cast over several times, most recently in 1852 when some had cracked. The oldest and largest bell was from 1530. In 1912 the three smaller ones had to be handed in for the First World War and were replaced by new ones in 1921/22. Even in World War II , the bells had to be delivered for armament purposes. Some of it never came back. The new bells are from 1953 and 1961.
- The praise bell weighs 1,200 kg and is the sound it one voted. It bears the slogan “Glory to God on high. - His praise shall always be in my mouth ” and serves as an hour bell. She calls the believers to worship for ten minutes and then rings the other three bells for another five minutes. The bell of praise was purchased in 1530 and cast by Johannes Hermann from Memmingen on July 1, 1852. It was rung for the first time on October 31, 1852. Hermann's coat of arms (ram) is engraved under the year 1852. During the Second World War, the bell came back safely from the bell cemetery on May 30, 1947 .
- The call bell with the weight of 700 kg and the tone Ges 1 carries the slogan “Your dead will live” . It is also called the Fallen Memorial Bell . It rings during the Our Father's Church service, during morning and evening prayers, at twelve o'clock for peace prayer and at funerals. She was fetched from the bell tower on November 19, 1917, but returned unharmed. In the Second World War it had to be returned for armaments purposes and never came back. Today's bell was rung for the first time on December 28, 1953.
- The servant bell is tuned to the note as 1 . It was donated in 1961 by Eduard Schultz, the owner of the Magnet-Schultz company, in memory of his mother, Elisabeth Schwerdtfeger. It bears the slogan "In Christ faith is valid, which is active through love" and the heraldic animal of the Schwerdtfeger pharmacy, the unicorn. It is used to ring eleven o'clock. After the Second World War, she never came back to the city. On March 5, 1961, the new bell was raised.
- The prayer bell weighs seven hundredweight and is tuned to tone b 1 . In the First and Second World War she was sent to the bell cemetery, from where she returned. It was cast in 1953 and wound up on December 28th. It strikes the quarter, half and three quarters of an hour.
Use of the church
Before the Reformation, the parish church was used by the city's Catholic population and, from 1341, by the Roman Catholic cross-lords and, from around 1444, by the nuns of the Franciscan convent opposite Maria Garten . From around 1530 the church was divided into two parts and, according to the Mindelheim Treaty of 1569, was the place of worship for the Catholic and Reformed townspeople. It stood in the poorer part of the city, the so-called Wegbach settlement, which was also called Wegbachvorstadt. After the end of the imperial city period in 1803, the church was partially rededicated as an arms store, hospital and warehouse. The church has belonged to the Lutheran parish of Our Women since 1811 . Until the construction of the community hall in the 1990s, the nave was also used as a community hall.
Today services, meditations and concerts take place in the church. Services are usually held every Sunday morning. The parish hall is north of the church across from the choir. Church life is extremely lively. The pastor is currently Christian Kunzmann.
Parish
Before secularization and the new building areas of the 1950s and 1960s, the parish of the church was the southern old town, for example from the Weinmarkt to the Hohe Wacht. With the new building areas, the community also grew strongly, which is why the Memmingen deanery decided to found new communities in the new housing estates. Since around 1970, the parish has been the southern part of the city, starting from the wine market. Since most of the new development areas in the east, west and north of the city were created with the districts, the community shrank from 3600 (1980) to around 1800 today. The Protestant population of Benningen belongs to the parish .
literature
- Friedrich Braun: The parish church to our women in Memmingen. A contribution to the history of Upper Swabian church construction . Köselverlag, Munich 1914.
- Julius Miedel: Guide through Memmingen and the surrounding area . 3rd, revised edition. Part 1. Memmingen publishing and printing cooperative, Memmingen 1929, p. 114–122 (first edition: 1900).
- Theophil Haffelder: Evang.-Luth. Parish Church of Our Women in Memmingen (= Small Kunstführer . No. 1404 ). Schnell & Steiner GmbH & Co., Munich 1983, OCLC 180494446 .
- Theophil Haffelder: The history of the Frauenkirche of Memmingen . Self-published by the author, Memmingen 2000, OCLC 76268292 .
- Gudrun Litz: The Reformation image question in the Swabian imperial cities . Mohr Siebeck Verlag, Tübingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-16-149124-5 , p. 150-152 .
- Franz Kuntze: The unicorn's hunt in words and pictures. In: Georg Steinhausen (Hrsg.): Archive for cultural history. Volume 5, Berlin 1907, pp. 273-310.
- Gerhard B. Winkler (Ed.): Bernhard von Clairvaux. All works in Latin / German. Volume 8. Tyrolia-Verlag, Innsbruck 1997, ISBN 3-7022-2118-2 , pp. 97-127.
Web links
- Art and history (website of the parish)
- D-7-64-000-32 (PDF, p. 9). The Frauenkirche at the State Office for Monument Preservation in Bavaria
Individual evidence
- ↑ tungsten Arlat: The Growth of Memmingen 350 (Memminger Geschichtsblätter 1977-78) 1400, page 89 . Publishing house of the Memminger Zeitung, Memmingen 1978.
- ^ Theophil Haffelder: The history of the Frauenkirche of Memmingen . Self-published by the author, Memmingen 2000, p. 8-22 .
- ↑ Schorer's Memminger Chronicle, page 35, year 1471.
- ^ Gudrun Litz: The Reformation picture question in the Swabian imperial cities . Mohr Siebeck Verlag , Tübingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-16-149124-5 , p. 140 .
- ^ Reformation in Memmingen , in: Martin Brecht and Hermann Ehmer, Südwestdeutsche Reformationsgeschichte - On the introduction of the Reformation in the Duchy of Württemberg 1534, Stuttgart 1984, p. 163.
- ↑ Memminger Chronik des Friedrich Clauss, covering the years 1826-1892, edited by Friedrich Döderlein, Memmingen, Verlag von B. Hartnig, 1894, page 135
- ↑ This means the angular choir closings, which are named after the number of segment parts, in this case the 5/8 end.
- ↑ In the Kramer Guild, the Twelve Articles , the demands of the rebellious farmers against the Swabian Federation, were drawn up in 1525 .
- ↑ a b c d Written information from the rectory of our women dated September 2, 2008.
- ↑ Prof. th. Friedrich Braun: The parish church of Our Women in Memmingen - A contribution to the history of Upper Swabian church building, page 20-21 . Köselsche Buchhandlung, Munich 1914.
- ^ Theodor Haffelder: Memmingen Our women (page 22, middle) . Schnell & Steiner GmbH & Co, Munich 1983.
- ↑ Prof. th. Friedrich Braun: The parish church of Our Women in Memmingen - A contribution to the history of the Upper Swabian church building . Köselsche Buchhandlung, Munich 1914.
- ^ Theodor Haffelder: Memmingen Our women . Schnell & Steiner GmbH & Co. / page 6, Munich 1983.
- ↑ Information from Mr. Haffelder from the Frauenkirche on September 14, 2008 around 3:45 pm in the Frauenkirche on the day of the open monument .
Coordinates: 47 ° 58 ′ 53.8 ″ N , 10 ° 11 ′ 2 ″ E
