ARCHITECTURE
 

Germany



see also: Architecture in Germany

 

In Germany, Gothic architecture took root a good deal more slowly than in England. Until the mid-thirteenth century, the Romanesque tradition, with its persistent Ottonian reminiscences, remained dominant, despite the growing acceptance of Early Gothic features. From about 1250 on, however, the High Gothic of the Ile-de-France had a strong impact on the Rhineland. Cologne Cathedral (begun in 1248) represents an ambitious attempt to carry the full-fledged French system beyond the stage of Amiens. Significantly enough, however, the building remained a fragment until it was finally completed in modern times. Nor did it have any successors.


COLOGNE CATHEDRAL



Cologne Cathedral

 

Cologne Cathedral

Cologne Cathedral Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom) is one of the most well-known architectural monuments in Germany and has been Cologne's most famous landmark for centuries. Construction of the gothic church began in the 13th century and took, with interruptions, more than 600 years. The two towers are 157m tall, the cathedral is 144m long and 86m wide. It was built on the site of a 4th century Roman temple, a square edifice known as the 'oldest cathedral' and commissioned by Maternus, the first Christian bishop of Cologne. The present cathedral was built to house the relics of the Magi, brought to Cologne from Italy by Archbishop Rainald von Dassel in 1164. The foundation stone was laid on August 15, 1248, by Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden. The choir was consecrated in 1322. After this initial rapid progress, construction work gradually came to a standstill, and by the year 1560, only a torso had been built. It was only with 19th century romantic enthusiasm for the Middle Ages and the commitment of the Prussian Court that construction work resumed in 1842 with the addition of the towers and other substantial parts of the cathedral. The completion of Germany's largest cathedral was celebrated as a national event in 1880, 632 years after construction had began. The celebration was attended by Emperor Wilhelm I. In the end, the outer appearance remained faithful to the original medieval plans; however, the roof was a modern steel construction. At its completion, the Cologne cathedral was the tallest building in the world, having taken over from the cathedral of Rouen. In 1889, it lost the title to Mole Antonelliana, the cathedral of Turin. For a small fee it is possible to climb a spiral staircase to a viewing platform about 98 metres above the ground. The cathedral suffered 14 hits by World War II bombs; reconstruction was completed in 1956.

Cologne Cathedral



Cologne Cathedral. Interior

 

HALL CHURCHES.

Far more characteristic of German Gothic is the development of the hall church, or Hallenkirche. Such churches, with aisles and nave of the same height, are familiar to us from Romanesque architecture (see fig. 405). For reasons not yet well understood, the type found particular favor on German soil, where its artistic possibilities were very fully explored. The large hall choir added between 1361 and 1372 to the church of St. Sebald in Nuremberg (fig. 473) is one of many fine examples from central Germany. The space here has a fluidity and expansiveness that enfold us as if we were standing under a huge canopy. There is no pressure, no directional command to prescribe our path. And the unbroken lines of the pillars, formed by bundles of shafts which gradually diverge as they turn into ribs, seem to echo the continuous movement that we feel in the space itself.



ST. SEBALD CHURCH




St. Sebaldus Church, Nuremberg.
 

St. Sebaldus Church. Shrine of St. Sebaldus

St. Sebaldus Church (St. Sebald, Sebalduskirche) is a medieval church in Nuremberg, Germany. Along with Frauenkirche (Our Lady's Church) and St. Lorenz, it is one of the most important churches of the city, and also one of the oldest. It is located at the Albrecht-Dürer-Platz, in front of the old city hall. It takes its name from Sebaldus, an 8th century hermit and missionary and patron saint of Nuremberg. It has been a Lutheran parish church since the Reformation. The construction of the building began in 1230s. the church achieved parish church status in 1255 and was completed by 1273-75. It was originally built as a Romanesque basilica with two choirs. During the 14th century several important changes to the construction were made: first the side aisles were widened and the steeples made higher (1309–1345), then the late gothic hall chancel was built (1358–1379). The two towers were added in the 15th century. In the middle 17th century galleries were added and the interior was remodelled in the Baroque fashion. The church suffered serious damage during World War II and was subsequently reconstructed. Some of the old interior did survive, including the Shrine of St. Sebaldus, works by Veit Stoss and the stained glass windows.

473. St. Sebaldus Church, Nuremberg.




MARBURG'S HALL CHURCH


St. Elisabeth's Church

A different type of design, also probably of French origin but developed especially in Germany, is the Hallenkirche, or hall church, in which the aisles are the same height as the nave. Hall churches, consequently, have no tribune, triforium, or clerestory. An early German example of this type is the church of Saint Elizabeth at Marburg, built between 1235 and 1283. It incorporates French-inspired rib vaults with pointed arches and tall lancet windows. The facade has two spire-capped towers in the French manner but no tracery arcades or portal sculpture. Because the aisles provide much of the bracing for the nave vaults, the exterior of Saint Elizabeth is without the dramatic parade of flying buttresses that typically circles French Gothic churches. But the German interior, lighted by double rows of tall windows in the aisle walls, is more unified and free flowing, less narrow and divided, and more brightly illuminated than the interiors of French and English Gothic churches.

St. Elisabeth's Church is a religious building in Marburg, Germany, built by the Order of the Teutonic Knights in honour of Elisabeth of Hungary. Her tomb made the church an important pilgrimage destination in the late Middle Ages.

The church is one of the earliest purely Gothic churches in German-speaking areas, and is held to be a model for the architecture of Cologne Cathedral. It is built from sandstone in a cruciform layout. The nave and its flanking aisles have a vaulted ceiling more than 20 m (66 ft) high. The triple quire consists of the Elisabeth quire, the High quire and the Landgrave quire. The crossing is separated from the nave by a stone rood screen. In earlier times, the front part of the church had been reserved for the Knights of the Order. The Elisabeth Church has two towers with an approximate height of 80 m (263 ft). The northern one is crowned by a star, the southern one by a knight. The Elisabeth Church served as an inspiration for St. Paul's Church of Strasbourg.

The Gothic shrine of Saint Elisabeth is the most important treasure of the church, but other pieces of sacral art are also exhibited.

Construction started in 1235, the year Elisabeth was canonized. The church was consecrated in 1283. However, the towers were not finished until 1340. The church was property of the Order of the Teutonic Knights; some buildings of the Order still exist near the church, among them the Deutschhausgut, which now houses the mineral collection and the department of geography of the Philipps University of Marburg. Until the 16th century, the Landgraves of Hesse were buried in the church. In the context of the Reformation, Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse had the remains of Saint Elisabeth removed, in order to oust the pilgrims from the Protestant city of Marburg. Today, relics of Elisabeth can be found in the Elisabeth convent in Vienna, in the City Museum in Stockholm and in Košice. Most of the monks converted to Protestantism during the 16th century, and the church was used for Protestant services. For a short time at the beginning of the 19th century, both Catholic mass and Protestant communion were celebrated in separate parts of the church.

After World War II, former German president Paul von Hindenburg and his wife were buried in the Elisabeth church, after the evacuation of their remains from the Tannenberg memorial in former East Prussia.

St. Elisabeth's Church



ULM MINSTER

 

Ulm Minster

Ulm Minster Ulm Minster (German: Ulmer Münster, literally: minster) is a Lutheran church located in Ulm, Germany. Although sometimes referred to as Ulm Cathedral because of its great size, the church is not a cathedral as it has never been the seat of a bishop. Ulm Minster is a famous example of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture. Like Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom), also begun in the Gothic era, Ulm Minster was not completed until the 19th century. It is the tallest church in the world, and the tallest structure built before the 20th century, with a steeple measuring 160.9 metres (528 ft) and containing 768 steps. From the top level at 143 m (469 ft) there is a panoramic view of Ulm in Baden-Württemberg and Neu-Ulm in Bavaria and, in clear weather, a vista of the Alps from Säntis to the Zugspitze. The final stairwell to the top (known as the third Gallery) is a tall, spiraling staircase that has barely enough room for one person. In the 14th century, the parish church of Ulm was located outside the walled city. The burghers of Ulm decided to erect a new church within the perimeters of the city and to finance the costs of the erection. In 1377 the foundation stone was laid. The planned church was to have three naves of equal height, a main spire on the west and two steeples above the choir. In 1392 Ulrich Ensingen (associated with Strasbourg Cathedral) was appointed master builder. It was his plan to make the western church tower the tallest spire, which it remains in the present day. The church, consisting of the longitudinal naves and the choir, covered by a temporary roof, was consecrated in 1405. However, structural damage, caused by the height of the naves and the weight of the heavy vaulting, necessitated a reconstruction of the lateral naves which were supported by a row of additional column in their centre. In a referendum in 1530/31, the citizens of Ulm converted to Protestantism during the Reformation. Ulm Minster became a Lutheran Church. Although as large as many cathedrals, Ulm is not a cathedral, the responsible bishop of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg - member of the Evangelical Church in Germany - resides in Stuttgart. In 1543 construction work was halted at a time when the steeple had reached a height of some 100 metres (330 ft). The halt in the building process was caused by a variety of factors which were political and religious (the Reformation, the Thirty Years' War, the War of the Spanish Succession) as well as economic (the discovery of the Americas in 1492 and of the sea route to India in 1497, leading to a shift in trade routes and commodities). One result was economic stagnation and a steady decline, preventing major public expenditure. In 1817 work resumed and the three steeples of the church were completed. Finally, on 31 May 1890 the building was completed.

View toward the choir showing the ancient glass in the apse and the wooden filigree canopy of the nave pulpit.
The aisles, with a network of tracery in the vault