Xanten Cathedral

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The Xanten Cathedral from the north
The cloister surrounds a green inner courtyard with a high cross from the 14th century

The Catholic parish and former collegiate church of St. Viktor in Xanten on the Lower Rhine is commonly referred to as the Xanten Cathedral because of its importance and size , although it was never a bishop's church. The towers are 72 and 74 meters high. 1937 was the church of Pope Pius XI. awarded the title of a minor basilica , and today it is a provost church .

The St. Viktor Cathedral owes its name to the martyr and member of the Theban Legion Viktor von Xanten , who is said to have been executed in the 4th century in the amphitheater of Vetera near today's Birten . Similar to the legend of Gereon of Cologne , the legend of Viktor also includes the Empress Helena of Constantinople , who is said to have recovered the bones of St. Viktor and his legionaries and built a chapel for them. In modern excavations, the existence of a cella memoriae in the 4th century has been proven. The cella memoriae was not built for Viktor, however, but for two male burials discovered there during excavations, who were later buried in the crypt .

The foundation stone for today's building was laid in 1263 by Friedrich and Konrad von Hochstaden . Construction lasted 281 years and was finally completed with the consecration of the Holy Spirit Chapel in 1544. Since then, the cathedral, although originally planned as a three-aisled nave with a transept, has consisted of a five-aisled nave in Gothic style. In contrast to many other large ecclesiastical buildings of this time, St. Viktor has no ambulatory. The choir are instead connected two pairs chapel, similar to the Church of Our Lady in Trier .

The cloister on the north side of the cathedral with its remarkable pointed arcades was built around 1445.

With the Xanten Abbey Library, St. Viktor contains one of the most important ecclesiastical libraries in the Lower Rhine. The collegiate church with the grave of St. Victor and the memorials of the modern martyrs are destinations for pilgrimages .

history

Creation of the Canon Monastery

Expansion of the Xanten archdeaconate in the 11th century
The Viktorstift within Xanten in the 15th century

There were several memorial rooms over the 4th century graves. In the 6th century, Bishop Everigisil of Cologne built a stone oratory on the site of a venerated saint, which can then be safely considered a Christian building. The first church from Carolingian times with a rectangular choir can be documented for the year 752. During this time one arose around the church pin of the canons , which, in the belief that it was created on the tombs of Victor and his companions, ad Sanctos ( to the Saints was called). Only after its foundation did today's town center develop, to which the name ad Sanctos passed, which eventually developed into today's place name. The monastery became a city ​​within the city and was only connected to secular Xanten by a north and a south gate (of which only the southern one still exists today, which has been expanded with its own chapel).

The Carolingian church was rebuilt at the beginning of the 9th century. Only a few decades later the construction of a three-aisled church began, which was destroyed by the Normans in 863 . Later a new Ottonian building, consecrated between 967 and 969 by the Cologne Bishop Folkmar , was erected in its place . This was restored after fires in the 11th and 12th centuries and supplemented by a Staufer west choir in 1213 .

Collegiate Church of St. Viktor

From 1128 a new building began in the east ( consecrated by Rainald von Dassel in 1165 ). The west facade was built from 1180/90 to 1213 up to the third floor. The large tracery window was inserted later. Up to this stage, no two-tower facade had been planned, at least not with this clarity. The current shape is a concession to the Rhenish two-tower facade of the 13th century.

Then on August 22nd, 1263, the beginning of the new building in the east by Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden and his brother Friedrich, who at that time had been provost of the archdeaconate Xanten. This new building lasted until 1437, now of course in the form of the Gothic, which had made its powerful entrance into the Rhineland from 1248 through the Cologne Cathedral. From this choir, the whole church was Gothic changed over the course of time, with long interruptions, except for the still Romanesque basement of the west facade.

Until 1437 the eastern part was built up to the rood screen, between 1483 and 1519 the western part with connection to the west choir of the Romanesque cathedral. In 1544 the Holy Spirit Chapel was finally consecrated and the cathedral completed, which from then on was the center of an archdeaconate that encompassed the entire Lower Rhine and was able to maintain a certain independence from the Archdiocese of Cologne . So the assets of the monastery were administered by the monastery itself and the election of the provost of Xanten happened largely without the influence of the diocese . The monastery also remained largely independent of secular Xanten. The monastery , located in a ring around the cathedral, enjoyed immunity for centuries ; jurisdiction lay in the hands of the provost as head of the monastery, whose importance is also clear from the seven previously existing monasteries of various orders.

The cathedral does not have a transept and the result is an uninterrupted expansion of the length of the room, which harmoniously picks up on the width and conveys a majestic overall impression that is different from the mysterious light of Cologne cathedral, which is elevated upwards. Here, although it is a basilica, the spatial impression of a hall can almost be felt, which is predominant in the German late Gothic.

Lifting of the pen

The Obelisk de Pauw on Cathedral Square

In 1802 the church monastery was secularized under French occupation by Napoléon Bonaparte and the Obelisk de Pauw was erected in honor of Cornelis de Pauw on Cathedral Square. Extensive renovations were carried out from 1857 to 1868, also with the help of a cathedral building association that was established in 1849. However, this dissolved after the renovation was completed, so that the collegiate church was in a moderate condition in 1925 and a permanent cathedral building was set up; from 1928 a cathedral building association existed again.

1930s excavations

During excavations carried out by Walter Bader under the choir of the cathedral in 1933 a double grave dated to the 4th century was discovered and finally a crypt was created, which was consecrated in 1936 by the Bishop of Münster , Clemens August Graf von Galen . Remnants of the floors of at least seven previous buildings could also be detected. The bones that have been preserved in the double grave could not, however, be associated with names. Since deliberate killing could be proven on these, in connection with the verifiable overbuilding of the tomb, however, the assumption is reasonable that the original cella memoriae was not dedicated to Viktor, but to those who were unknown by name. Accordingly, the legend of St. Victor probably came about later and was carried over to past history.

Destruction in World War II and reconstruction

Towards the end of the Second World War in 1945, the cathedral was hit by aerial bombs and massively damaged by Allied attacks . The upper part of the north tower collapsed. However, the furnishings of the cathedral, including the ornate windows, had already been removed from the cathedral before the attacks began in order to protect it from destruction. The subsequent reconstruction from 1947 onwards was completed in just 19 years by 1966, thanks mainly to Walter Bader. Great importance was attached to a restoration as true to the original as possible in all details. So far, however, not all objects could be put back in their original place. These are mainly sculptures of the outer wall, but also tapestries and paintings of the interior. These will be exhibited in a hall similar to a museum until their restoration. As early as the summer of 1948, the western part of the nave had been prepared as an emergency church so that services could be held there for the first time.

Establishment of the memorial for modern martyrs

In 1966 the crypt under the cathedral was expanded and victims of National Socialism were buried in it. There are urns with ashes from the concentration camps Auschwitz , Bergen-Belsen and Dachau . The graves of Heinz Bellos , Karl Leisners and Gerhard Storms are also located in the crypt . Ash urns, memorabilia and tablets are reminiscent of Wilhelm Frede , Nikolaus Groß and Johannes Maria Verweyen . On January 28, 2006, a relic of Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen , who had preached against National Socialism in Xanten and Münster, was transferred to the Xanten crypt.

Furnishing

Rood screen

A rood screen was built in the choir between 1396 and 1400 , separating the high altar from the community altar. This was preserved after the secularization through the intervention of Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1815.

Tapestries

Tapestries with biblical scenes can be seen above the choir stalls. These are Brussels late renaissance carpets from the early 16th century. The tapestry shown shows how Esther steps in front of King Ahasuerus in order to obtain salvation for the Jewish people.

High altar

High altar 1529–1544

The high altar, the most important sanctuary in the cathedral treasury, contains the bones of St. Viktor in a jeweled shrine, which is one of the oldest preserved shrines in the Rhineland today. The presumed bones of St. Victor have been kept in this shrine since 1128. On the sides of the shrine, busts depicting Saints Viktor and Helena were erected. The altarpiece (retable) was made in 1529 by the Cologne carpenter W. von Roermond and the painter Barthel Bruyn the Elder. Ä. commissioned and is one of the major works of the early Renaissance on the Rhine. In the wings of the altar there are paintings by Bruyn from 1534, on which various events from the legends of Viktor and Helena are depicted. Other paintings made by Bruyn can be found throughout the cathedral and depict not only saints and relatives of the canons but also citizens of Xanten.

More altars

To date, 24 altars, mostly carved out of wood, have been preserved, which were mainly made in the 15th century on the Lower Rhine. Of these, the Martyrs' Altars , the Marien Altars , the Martinus Altars and the Antonius Altars deserve special mention . The martyr's altar was made as a three-part retable in Antwerp in 1525 and contains various depictions of the Passion of Christ and the life of Mary. The Marien altar from 1536 was made by Heinrich Douvermann from Dinslaken . The predella of the altar with the depiction of the root of Jesse is still considered a masterpiece of craftsmanship and, like the martyr's altar, depicts various events from the life of Mary. The Martinus altar was consecrated in 1477, the sculpture of St. Martin on his horse had to be however to be renewed later. The altar wings, filled with numerous paintings, were also added later. In contrast to the altars already mentioned, the Antonius altar is not divided into different representations. Instead, it contains sculptures in several niches depicting Mary Magdalene and Saint Anthony , among others . The reredos on the altar were placed in the cathedral around 1500. In St. Viktor there is also the Helena Altar , the Matthias Altar and numerous other altars in the Baroque style .

Sculptures

On the pillars of the central nave, 28 stone sculptures were attached, which were made around the year 1300 and whose motifs range from depictions of the Annunciation to depictions of saints to depictions of Viktor and Helenas. The sculptures of the four church fathers and St. Martin , St. Cornelius and again the patron saint Viktor date from the 15th century . Finally, in the 15th and 16th centuries, the sculptures of St. Christopher , the Three Wise Men and Mary were added.

Pen library

Most of the abbey library established in 1547 was also preserved. This is located above the cloister in the inner courtyard of the cathedral; most of the historical writings stored there were only handed over to the library by the monasteries around Xanten at the beginning of the 19th century as a result of the secularization . Other parts of the former holdings are now outside the library, for example the oldest surviving manuscript of the pen from the palace school of Charlemagne from the 9th century in Brussels . Other parts of the library were brought to Paris under Napoleon , others came to Bonn , Cologne and Munster .

Bells

Xanten Cathedral has remarkable bell ensemble of six Läuteglocken, three nor of which bell- ringers are rung by hand and two Uhrschlagglocken at the helm of the south tower. The bell from 1962 is a new casting from the material of the previous bell by Gerhard van Wou from 1495. The inscriptions and decorations were adopted. Four shards of the old bell have survived.

With three new bells, the Underberg family made a donation to the parish in 1996 , on the occasion of Underberg's 150th anniversary. The donation was rejected by the church council on the grounds that the tower would not be stable enough for additional bells. In order to relieve the historical bells, it was not until 2014 that the Underberg family made use of the foundation of the new bells made in 1996. The Dorsten company Diegner & Schade, which is responsible for the maintenance of the previous bells, installed another bell cage for it. On the 3rd Sunday of Advent ( Gaudete ) 2014, Auxiliary Bishop Theising consecrated the new bells.

No.
 
Surname
 
Casting year
 
Caster
 
Diameter
(mm)
Mass
(kg, approx.)
Percussive
( HT - 1 / 16 )
Bell drive
 
Location
 
1 Great Viktor 1450 Wilhelm van Arnheim 1,595 2,300 h 0  +3 3 people, manually Bell chamber south tower
2 Helena 1461 Wilhelm van Wou 1,475 2,000 c sharp 1  +4 3 people, manually Bell chamber south tower
3 Anna and Antonius 1962 Eijsbouts Monastery 1,247 1,250 e 1  +3 1 person, manually Bell chamber south tower
4th John 1450 (Wilhelm van Arnheim) 1,030 700 g 1  +6 electric Bell chamber south tower
5 Mother of God Mary 1996 Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock 530 a 1  electric
6th Barbara 1527 Wilhelm Tolhuis 823 300 c 2  +6 electric Bell chamber south tower
7th Little Viktor 1634 Simon Hellingh 736 250 c 2  +9 electric Bell chamber south tower
8th Cardinal von Galen 1996 Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock 208 d 2  electric
9 Karl Leisner 1996 Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock 145 e 2  electric
I. Martha (hours) 1557 Jan Tolhuis 1,100 ? at e 1 Percussion hammer South tower spire, below
II Katherina (quarter of an hour) 14th century unknown ? ? at h 1 Percussion hammer Spire south tower, above

The striking of the clock is a special feature: the full hours are displayed on the larger striking bell. Every quarter of an hour there is one, at three quarters of an hour there are three strikes on the smaller bell and four strikes before the full hour. The half hours are signaled by both bells. The strikes of the alternating bells - always starting with the larger one - add up to the number of the hour that has started.

organ

Seifert organ in front of the large west window; Glass image of Anton Wendling designed

A swallow's nest organ hung on the north side of the nave until it was destroyed in World War II. The current organ in front of the large west window was built in 1975 by the Seifert organ building workshop (Kevelaer). The instrument has mechanical key actions and electric stop action .

Their quality in terms of material and sound is now judged to be so inadequate that extensive conservation measures are no longer required. The organ building association of the Propsteigemeinde is therefore endeavoring to build a new main organ on the site of the former swallow's nest organ, from where the sound reinforcement of the cathedral is easier than from the current organ location. Instead of the Seifert organ, a smaller organ, which is also to be built from scratch, is to be installed in the westwork, which also covers the window less.

I Rückpositiv C – g 3
Metal dacked 8th'
Principal 4 ′
Reed flute 4 ′
Gemshorn 2 ′
Fifth 1 13
Scharff V 1'
Sesquialter II 2 23
Cromorne 8th'
Tremulant
II Hauptwerk C – g 3
Praestant 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Pipe whistle 8th'
octave 4 ′
Coupling flute 4 ′
Super octave 2 ′
Mixture V 2 ′
Cymbel III
Cornet v 8th'
Trumpet 16 ′
Trumpet 8th'
Clairon 4 ′
III Swell C – g 3
Wooden flute 8th'
Viola da gamba 8th'
Beat 8th'
Venetian flute 4 ′
Nasat 2 23
Flute 2 ′
third 1 35
Seventh 1 17
Schwiegel 1'
Mixture 4f 1 13
Basson 16 ′
Hautbois 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
Principal 16 ′
Pedestal 16 ′
Fifth bass 10 23
Octave bass 8th'
Pipe pommer 8th'
Chorale bass 4 ′
Pointed 4 ′
Night horn 2 ′
Rauschwerk IV 5 13
Backset V 2 23
trombone 16 ′
Trumpet 8th'
shawm 4 ′
  • Coupling : II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
  • Playing aids : 3 free combinations, 2 fixed combinations (plenum, tutti), storage (mixtures off, tongues off)

Peregrine falcon and eagle owl at Xanten Cathedral

The peregrine falcon has been breeding on the north tower of the cathedral since 2014 . In 2017, both peregrine falcons and eagle owls brooded at the cathedral for the first time . In 2018 there was only one brood of peregrine falcons at the cathedral.

Individual evidence

  1. sankt-viktor-xanten.de: Pilgrims - guests .
  2. Lauterkompanie from the cathedral is looking for new members
  3. Paul Ley, Helmut Kernder: "With a bright voice". The bells of the Xanten Cathedral . Verlag Kath. Propsteigemeinde St. Viktor Xanten, Xanten 2005, pp. 19–41.
  4. rp-online.de Three new bells for the cathedral bell on December 11, 2014
  5. lokalkompass.de New bells for the Xanten Cathedral from December 17, 2014
  6. For example, at 11.30 a.m., the bells alternate six times to indicate the current 12th hour.
  7. Paul Ley, Helmut Kernder: "With a bright voice". The bells of the Xanten Cathedral . Verlag Kath. Propsteigemeinde St. Viktor Xanten, Xanten 2005, pp. 46–48.
  8. ^ Organ Index
  9. ^ Organ building association - Catholic Propsteigemeinde St. Viktor Xanten. Retrieved January 21, 2019 .
  10. Michael Kladny: Influence of the eagle owl on the breeding behavior of the peregrine falcon . Annual Report 2017 Working Group Peregrine Falcon Protection of NABU NRW: 23
  11. The Xanten Viktor Dom is popular with eagle owls and falcons
  12. Falke brooded again at the cathedral

literature

  • Walter Bader , Herbert van Bebber: Sixteen hundred years of Xanten Cathedral. DuMont, Cologne 1964.
  • Johannes Cuno: News of the sex and origin of the Cuno. Volume 2: 1672-1959. supplemented and edited by Reiner Stephany. Monsenstein & Vannerdat, Münster 2012, ISBN 978-3-86991-554-8 , especially cathedral restorer Carl Albert Sigismund Cuno p. 81 ff. [348ff.]
  • Gustav Ferbers: St. Viktor and St. Viktorskirche in Xanten. Gesthuysen, Xanten 1886, digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf .
  • Heike Hawicks: Xanten in the late Middle Ages. Abbey and city in the field of tension between Cologne and Kleve. (= Rheinisches Archiv. 150). Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-02906-7 . (At the same time: Duisburg, Essen, Univ., Diss., 2004/05).
  • Hans Peter Hilger : The Xanten Cathedral and its art treasures. (= The blue books ). 3rd, improved edition. Langewiesche Nachf. Köster, Königstein im Taunus 2007, ISBN 978-3-7845-5242-2 .
  • Reinhard Karrenbrock, Holger Kempkes: St. Viktor to Xanten. Propsteigemeinde St. Viktor, Xanten 2002, ISBN 3-9807401-1-0 .
  • Paul Ley (Ed.): Xanten Cathedral - 750 Years of Gothic. An introduction to the Xanten Cathedral in eight themed series on the construction and furnishings of the collegiate church of St. Viktor . Anno-Verlag, Rheinberg 2013, ISBN 978-3-939256-16-8 .
  • Paul Ley: The inscriptions of the city of Xanten (= The German inscriptions of the Middle Ages and the early modern times . Düsseldorfer Reihe, Volume 9). With the collaboration of Helga Giersiepen. Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden 2017, ISBN 978-3-95490-144-9 .
  • Thomas Otten : The excavations under St. Viktor zu Xanten. Dom and immunity. (= Rhenish excavations . 53). Zabern, Mainz 2003, ISBN 3-8053-3148-7 .
  • Ingo Runde: Xanten in the early and high Middle Ages. Tradition of sagas - history of the monastery - becoming a town. (= Rheinisches Archiv. 147). Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 2003, ISBN 3-412-15402-4 . (At the same time: Duisburg, Univ., Diss., 2001).
  • Holger Schmenk: Xanten in the 19th century. A city between tradition and modernity. Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-412-20151-7 .

Web links

Commons : Xanten Cathedral  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 39 ′ 44 ″  N , 6 ° 27 ′ 14 ″  E