Pilgrimage Church Bleidenberg (Oberfell)

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Pilgrimage Church Bleidenberg (Oberfell)
Pilgrimage church Bleidenberg

Pilgrimage church Bleidenberg

Data
place Oberfell , Rhineland-Palatinate
Construction year 10/11 century
Coordinates 50 ° 15 '6.1 "  N , 7 ° 27' 21.5"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 15 '6.1 "  N , 7 ° 27' 21.5"  E

The pilgrimage church on the Bleidenberg is a building that shapes the landscape on the Lower Moselle in Oberfell . It sits enthroned on the edge of a plateau on the right side of the Moselle above the towns of Oberfell and Alken with a view of the Moselle valley and the front Maifeld . Its construction goes back to the time after the peace treaty of the Thurant feud in 1248. The church still belongs to the Catholic parish of Oberfell and is looked after by a volunteer team. It is mainly used for church services, but also for cultural events. The first pilgrim stone on the Moselle Camino has been in front of the church since 2012 .

history

The pilgrimage church "Our Lady" is actually a Trinity church and is still very attractive today. According to the former Trier diocese architect Ulrich Craemer , its building history can be divided into three periods. Major parts of the nave , which was built in the style of a basilica , date from the 10th or 11th century. In the next phase, another, smaller choir was added in the right aisle and a tower on the left aisle. This later had to give way to the new, high Gothic choir and was replaced on the side of it.
Originally there was an early Romanesque chapel on the Bleidenberg , which was dedicated to the Mother of God and was destroyed during the Thurant feud. The feud was caused by the behavior of the Lord of Thurant Castle , the Palatine Marshal Zorno, who was seen as a vicious tyrant towards the population and, above all, travelers from Kurtrier and Kurköln . After all, it was Arnold II of Isenburg , Archbishop of Trier, who besieged the castle together with the citizens of the communities of Oberfell, Alken and Brodenbach . Bliden were also used, from which the name Bleidenberg should be derived. Ultimately, with the participation of Cologne's Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden, the castle was conquered and a peace treaty was concluded on September 17, 1248. Today the document is considered to be one of the oldest surviving German documents. Arnold had the church rebuilt in thanks for the victory over Zorno and consecrated it as early as 1250 on Trinity Day under the previous patronage of Mary . Since then, the Trinity procession from Oberfell to Bleidenberg has taken place every year.
In a letter of indulgence dated June 29, 1256, which is kept in the Oberfeller parish archives, 12 named church dignitaries (including Basil (Archbishop of Jerusalem), Petrus (Bishop of Salerno) and Bishop Cyprian) grant pilgrims to the Bleidenberg Church an indulgence from Rome 40 days, which was confirmed by Archbishop Baldwin of Luxembourg on July 6, 1321 from Boppard.

Look at the choir

The first written mention of an altar comes from 1308. In a visitation protocol from 1656 the patronage of Mary is confirmed again and it is reported of four altars donated to John the Baptist , Mary Magdalene , the Most Holy Trinity and the Most Blessed Virgin. The church was therefore in good condition and was able to call a monstrance , a ciborium , two chalices and necessary paraments its own. Since 1680 only a Marian, a Nicholas and a cross altar are spoken of.
During the French occupation, the church fell victim to secularization in 1803 and was sold, and pilgrimages were banned. In the process, the new owner squandered large parts of the building fabric that were used to build apartments or stables. Over time, the church fell into ruin . Only the side walls and the west gable withstood the weather-related influences at the height.
At the initiative of the Oberfeller pastor Martin Cornely (1848–1860), at least the choir was prepared by adding a new roof and building a front wall so that it could be used again for church services . After the Second World War , the damage caused by war and weather, especially in the area of ​​the choir, could be repaired by simple safety measures. During this time, the mountain pilgrimages from the Oberfeller parish church to the Bleidenberg began again. Unfortunately, no further planned work on the masonry was carried out, so that the church ruins in this condition soon posed a serious danger to visitors. The only alternatives were to remedy the deficiencies in the form of a complete renovation or the closure of the site. The intensive efforts to restore the church of the Oberfeller pastor Walter Leonards finally met with success on August 12, 1962. On this day the church council of the Catholic parish of St. Nikolaus in Oberfell decided to keep the pilgrimage church for the future. An investment of around DM 47,600 was calculated, with which it was possible in 1963/64 to secure the masonry and build a new roof structure. In addition, the church interior was redesigned for future use.
The people of Oberfell have been closely associated with the church and pilgrimage for a long time. On August 15, 1697, the pastor at that time was given permission by Brother Franciscus Ruiz of the Trinitarian Order from Rome to set up a brotherhood with the purpose of ransom and exchange of prisoners and slaves from Oberfell and Bleidenberg. He received the right through Brother Bruno Tandel, Minister of the Trinitarian Order in Vianden , to “ bless and impose scapulars , red and black crosses.” Only the brotherhood book remains from this time. Much later, in 1955, the music association "Mosella" Oberfell, which still exists today, was founded with the aim of providing musical accompaniment to the processions. Since 1994 there has been a committee within the church choir "Cäcilia" Oberfell that strives to stimulate awareness of the church, to research its history and to improve the building fabric. So far, numerous serenade concerts have been carried out in the church, the proceeds of which have already been used to implement a number of projects, especially on the building itself.

architecture

Floor plan of the pilgrimage church

Today the church building, originally erected as a basilica, presents itself as a three-aisled, transeptless relay hall (20 m × 10.55 m) with an upstream choir and a 5/8 apse (8.20 m × 6.20 m) Restoration of the building, which was carried out rather carelessly, in the middle of the 20th century, the historical building fabric was so impaired in large areas that it no longer seems possible to give precise information on the dating and construction. For example, the entire floor of the five-bay nave was excavated and then poured with concrete, so that an archaeological excavation would be pointless. The remaining plaster was completely removed both inside and outside and replaced with a dark gray cement plaster. Two decades later, a fire as a result of a lightning strike caused further major damage and destroyed the few remaining medieval paintings.
The floor plan of the church indicates some irregularities in the architecture. First of all, the orientation of the building, shifted by about 45 degrees to the north, is striking; At the time, Jerusalem in the east actually gave the location. In addition to the inclined clamping of the western front in the nave, the pillars of the side aisle arcades, which are attached in differently sized areas, are not in an axial line, but are in some cases significantly shifted to one another. Furthermore, the south aisle is wider than the north aisle and the longitudinal axis of the choir differs from that of the nave, but coincides with the west portal.

Furnishing

Altar in the main choir

Pilgrim stone

Pilgrim stone from 2012

In front of the church, at the end of steep footpaths with 7 stations each from Alken (since 1648) and Oberfell (since 1984) up to Bleidenberg and on the route of the Mosel-Camino from Koblenz-Stolzenfels to Trier, there is a pilgrim's stone with a resting place. The consecration took place on June 3, 2012 on the occasion of the 764th mountain pilgrimage on Trinity Sunday.
The artistic work was carried out by the Oberfeller stonemason Jens Fischer; he used Mendiger basalt as material . The design of the square was carried out by a group of pilgrim enthusiasts from Oberfell and the surrounding area.
The three interwoven rings in the pavement symbolize the trinity of the pilgrimage church. There are various symbols on the pilgrim stone itself: a crossed hatchet with a staff as attributes for the Trier diocese saint and apostle Matthias , the motto of the Matthias pilgrimage to Trier ("You my friends") and a scallop shell for the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain .

literature

  • Board of Trustees for the reconstruction of the Trinity Church on the Bleidenberg near Oberfell (ed.): The Trinity Church on the Bleidenberg near Oberfell . Alfa Druck, Berlin 1963.
  • Axel von Berg: Prehistoric and early historical finds on the Bleidenberg near Oberfell . In: Church choir "Cäcilia" Oberfell (Ed.): The Trinity Church on the Bleidenberg . Oberfell 1998, p. 32–39 (Ed .: Gottfried Thelen).
  • Günter Brücken: New oppidum discovered on the Lower Moselle . In: Archeology in Rhineland-Palatinate . No. 1 . Mainz 2003, p. 45-47 .
  • Günter Brücken: The Bleidenberg near Oberfell on the Moselle (Mayen Koblenz district) . From prehistory to the Thurant feud. In: The Contested Place - from Antiquity to the Middle Ages . Supplements to Mediaevistics. No. 11 . Frankfurt am Main 2008, p. 215-226 .
  • Udo Liessem: The chapel on the Bleidenberg . In: Olaf Wagener, Heiko Laß (ed.): Sieges and siege systems in the Middle Ages . Supplements to Mediaevistics. No. 7 . Frankfurt am Main 2006, p. 291-304 .

Web links

Commons : Wallfahrtskirche Bleidenberg  - collection of pictures

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Alois Thomas , Walter Leonards: From the history of the church on the Bleidenberg near Oberfell on the Moselle . In: Board of Trustees for the Reconstruction of the Trinity Church on the Bleidenberg near Oberfell (ed.): The Trinity Church on the Bleidenberg near Oberfell . Alfa Druck, Berlin 1963, p. 7-13 .
  2. ↑ Bleidenberg tradition. Retrieved January 22, 2014 .
  3. ↑ a b c local administration top coat / Mosel (ed.): Chronic the municipality top coat - Part I . Oberfell 1988, p. 43-49 .
  4. ↑ a b Rolf Finkler: The Trinity Church on the Bleidenberg near Oberfell . Building history and building industry considerations. In: Board of Trustees for the Reconstruction of the Trinity Church on the Bleidenberg near Oberfell (ed.): The Trinity Church on the Bleidenberg near Oberfell . 1st edition. Alfa Druck, Berlin 1963, p. 15-21 .
  5. ↑ a b Olaf Wagener: Bleidenberg and Thurant Castle . With contributions by Udo Liessem and Günter Brücken. Ed .: "Committee for the Restoration of the Bleidenberg Church" of the church choir "Cäcila" Oberfell. Oberfell 2009, p. 23-27 .
  6. ↑ Pilgrim's stone blessed on the Bleidenberg in Oberfell . In: Blick aktuell Untermosel . June 9, 2013.