Tungsten chandelier
The so-called " tungsten " is a two candlesticks as carriers used anthropomorphic free plastic made of bronze, in the Erfurt Cathedral is located. The figure is dated to around 1160 and was probably made in the Magdeburg foundry. It is one of the oldest free-standing bronze sculptures in Germany and the largest (almost life-size) anthropomorphic round sculptural bronze of the European Middle Ages. In an inscription on the hanging belt ends, a "Wolfram" is named together with his wife "Hiltiburc" as the founder. He is very likely identical with a Mainz ministerial Wolframus scultetus , who is mentioned in two documents from 1157.
During the air raids on Erfurt in World War II, the sculpture was secured by walling behind the sacrament altar.
iconography
It shows a bearded man in a flowing robe that cannot be clearly assigned to a class or an era. It could be a priest's robe or a penitent's robe. In the posture of an adorante , he raises both arms, but without opening his hands. Instead he is holding two candle holders. The figure stands on a base with a square floor plan and castle-like battlements, the feet of which are formed by four small human figures in a floral frame, which apparently symbolize the four rivers of paradise . The depiction of an Old Testament prophet figure is conceivable and would then indicate a theologically conceived continuity of the Old and New Testament.
Refuted speculations about Jewish origins
On the basis of iconographic comparisons, a group of researchers led by theologian Dietmar Mieth put an original creation of the tungsten chandelier for Jewish worship into the room and presented a corresponding publication. Even in advance, there was speculation in the press about the robbery of the candlestick in medieval pogroms, which would have led to the extermination of Erfurt's Jewish community. It is probably a representation of the high priest Aaron and the function would have been that of a Torah holder . Thereupon the Jewish rural community of Thuringia applied for restitution . This was contradicted by those responsible for the cathedral. With reference to the avoidance of images of medieval Judaism on the part of experts, doubts about the thesis expressed by Mieth were voiced. After it was established that the Latin consecration text of the statue was already laid out in the casting, a Jewish origin could be refuted.
literature
- Norberto Gramaccini: On the iconology of bronze in the Middle Ages. In: Städel-Jahrbuch, No. 11, 1987: 147–170.
- Richard Toman / Anton Bednorz: Romanesque. Architecture, sculpture, painting, 2004.
- Julie Casteigt / Dietmar Mieth / Jörg Rüpke: The bearer of the Erfurt Giant Torah Roll: A religious-historical hypothesis about an overlooked Judaicum. In: Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte 68/2. 2016: 97–118.
- Falko Bornschein, Karl Heinemeyer, Maria Stürzebecher: The tungsten chandelier in Erfurt Cathedral. A Romanesque work of art and its environment . Philipp Schmidt Verlag, Neustadt an der Aisch 2020, ISBN 978-3-96049-070-8 .