Würzburg – Neumünster

History

According to tradition, the Irish wandering bishop Kilian, together with his companions Kolonat and Totnan, died a martyr's death in 689 on the site where Neumünster now stands. This was probably the site of a farm belonging to the Frankish dukes, who at the time were based at the Marienberg fortress on the other side of the Main. Kilian was probably active in and around Würzburg from 686.

In 742 the Anglo-Saxon missionary Boniface founded the diocese of Würzburg and appointed the first bishop, Burkard (742-753/54), who was one of Boniface's closest collaborators. The foundation of the diocese was confirmed by Pope Zacharias.

The bones of the three wandering monks Kilian, Kolonatus and Totnanus were probably also discovered at this time. Bishop Burkard recovered the bones in 743, which at the time was tantamount to canonization. Kilian thus became the patron saint of the young diocese. The remains of the three martyrs were originally buried in the church at Marienberg. However, miraculous light phenomena then prompted Burkard to set about building a church on the site of the discovery on the other side of the Main.

According to the latest research, Burkard began building the first cathedral, the neighbouring church in Neumünster, which today bears the names of Saints Kilian, Kolonat and Totnan, apostles and martyrs of Frank, on the present site around 750. This first building was not completed until Bishop Berowelf (768-800), and it was Berowelf who had the bones of the Frankish apostles transferred to the cathedral on the day of its consecration on 8 July 788.

In the eighth century, Bishop Megingoz (753-768) had a memorial building, the Salvatordom, built on the site of the present-day Neumünster to maintain the memory of the place of the martyrdom. First Bishop Burkard and later Bishop Megingaud himself were buried in this church.

Then, around 1057, Bishop Adalbero (1045-1090) of Würzburg, with the support of Queen Richeza of Poland and the Counts of Rothenburg-Comburg (cf. Emehard)[1] founded the canonical monastery of Neumünster, dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist. Neumünster became the nucleus of the abbey.

This church then became the nucleus of the abbey of Neumünster, which was founded around 1060 by Bishop Adalbero (1045-1090) to keep alive the memory of the site of the martyr's death. The first two bishops of Würzburg, Megingoz and his predecessor Burkard, were also buried in this church after their deaths.

The first canons came from the monastery of St. Stephen in Würzburg. The newly founded monastery was given a two-storey Romanesque colonnaded basilica, which was restored and enlarged on the east by 1250.

In the Middle Ages the monastery played an important role in the dissemination of Middle High German and Latin texts. The monastery had its own library as early as the 13th century. In Kreuzgarten, the Minnesinger Walter von der Vogelweide (c. 1170-1230), a German lyric poet and one of the greatest figures of the German minnesang, i.e. lyric or love poems and songs, which flourished in the 12th century and continued into the 14th century, found his final resting place.

However, the extension was by no means the end of the rebuilding work. In the 14th century the church was painted and around 1500 there are signs of further alterations in the vault of the Marian choir. At the beginning of the 17th century the church was vaulted and as part of this work it was painted again, this time in the Renaissance style.

In the second half of the 17th century, the successors of the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, Johann Philipp von Schönborn, had the desire to move the princely court from the Marienberg fortress to the city and to transform Würzburg into a modern and representative residential town.

In this context, the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, Johann Gottfried von Guttenberg (1645-1698, in office 1684-1698), together with the chapter of the abbey, planned the construction of a new building in Neumünster as early as 1698. His successor Johann Philipp von Greiffenclau-Vollraths (1652-1719, in office 1699-1719) took up these plans again in 1702.

The urban planning situation at the Kürschnerhof must have been very unsatisfactory for him, an educated and modern-minded absolutist prince. Among the small and disparate half-timbered or half-timbered houses stood the west choir of the then completely outdated church building. The street itself had been enclosed as a courtyard by a cross-bar to the south of the church since 1500. The potential to create a square was there, but not exploited with the featureless church choir and the narrow brick row of furrier's houses opposite.

From 1702 Johann Philipp von Greiffenclau was therefore in constant contact with the abbey chapter and especially with the abbey provost Johann Philipp Fuchs von Dornheim. However, the financial burden of supporting the Habsburgs in the War of the Spanish Succession delayed the start of construction until 1711.

During the planning period, the Prince-Bishop consulted several master builders, had them draw the outlines and together with them worked out the overall architectural concept for the Kürschnerhof, the collegiate buildings north of the church, the bishop's office buildings south of the church and the adjacent cross-bank to the Domstrasse.

In addition to the urbanistic advantages of the new building, the project also had a cult and subsequently political significance; the west choir of Neumünster was eventually placed over the grave of the Frankish apostle Kilian. The dome, funded by the abbey chapter, was intended to mark a holy place for pilgrims coming from afar and also to resemble the dome over the tomb of St. Peter in Rome. The façade, on the other hand, was intended to attract the attention of passers-by in the immediate vicinity. Greiffenclau took over its cost. The reasons for this generosity are obvious. Every bishop of Würzburg considered himself the successor of the legendary Irish wandering bishop Kilian, and just as St. Kilian was the spiritual leader of the Franks in the seventh century, the prince-bishop wanted to be a comprehensive leader of the present.

After the demolition of the old west choir, the foundation stone of the dome was laid on 18 June 1711. On 23 May 1712 the foundation stone of the facade, which is considered one of the most beautiful Baroque facades in southern Germany, was laid. The documents list Valentin Pezzani as master builder and master craftsman for the stone work on the facade, Joseph Greissing as master carpenter and master craftsman and the Marckhardt brothers as master stonemasons. The dome was completed in 1714, the façade in 1716 according to the inscription. The staircase in front of the façade was completed in 1719. The red sandstone came from the "Schloß" quarry between Leinach and Erlabrunn, which existed until 1977.

After the completion of the Baroque west building and facade, the interior was Baroqueised in the following years until 1721 according to plans by the brothers Dominik and Johann Baptist Zimmermann. The stucco decoration of the nave was done by Johann Georg Möhrlein (1695-1721) before 1721. The master of the stucco work in the chancel, transept and crossing, which can be dated to after 1720, is unknown.

In 1736 the Munich court painter Nikolaus Gottfried Stuber executed the fresco of the dome. The interior was only completed around 1781 with the installation of classical choir pews and a sacramental altar.

Together with the crypt of St. Kilian, which was restored in the 19th century to the taste of the time by the Brotherhood of St. John of Nepomuk and the Fellowship of the Fear of Christ, the collegiate church was the centre of Baroque piety in Würzburg.

The question of Johann Dientzenhofer's authorship of the designs for the west façade

According to the chapter minutes of the Neumünster monastery, several "persons knowledgeable about the building" were consulted in the planning phase up to 1711, including the builder Joseph Greising, who was in charge of Würzburg in the period between Petrini and Balthasar Neumann. Whether the facade designs were possibly influenced by Johann Dientzenhofer or (co)designed by Greissing and/or other Würzburg court artists is currently an unconfirmed hypothesis.

The building file only mentions "a certain Bamberg master builder", which could indeed refer to Johann Dientzenhofer. According to the file, he came only once, shortly before the foundation of the dome, on behalf of the monastery. After a surprising encounter with a rock while digging shortly afterwards, there was apparently no reason to seek further outside advice. Dientzenhofer does not appear in any other construction files, nor in the document on the foundation stone for the façade, in which Joseph Greissing and Valentino Pezzani are named. Since, according to almost all authors, Valentino Pezzani, mentioned in the documents laying the foundation stone, was only involved in the construction work, the question of authorship in the literature focuses on Greissing and Dientzenhofer.

One of the arguments for assessing authorship is the fact that the façade was the personal project of Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp von Greiffenclau. During his lifetime, he did not commission Johann Dientzenhofer, the master builder of the Bamberg Schönborns. The hostility towards the Schönborns stemmed from their desire to secure Greiffenclau's succession during his lifetime.

The design of the façade from the circle of Würzburg court artists, probably Jakob van der Auwer, Balthasar Esterbauer and the plasterer and altar builder Brother Kilian Stauffer OFM, according to the commission of the client, who certainly knew the Roman models at least through engravings, under the final editorship of his court architect Greissing, is therefore probably the most probable.

However, the design of the façade cannot at present be conclusively attributed to any of the master builders mentioned.

Secularization

After secularization in the early 19th century, the monastery was dissolved in 1803. The church became state property in the same year and was used as a military depot from 1809 to 1811 and again in 1814. However, Kiliansgruft remained a destination for pilgrims. In , services were moved from Neumünster to the Marienkapelle, only to return to the Neumünster church in 1821.

In 1908, Neumünster was elevated to the second parish church in the old town with St. John the Evangelist and St. John the Baptist as patrons.

In the air raid on Würzburg on 16 March 1945, Neumünster was not as badly hit as the neighbouring cathedral, but much of the furnishings in the dome area, the north choir stalls and numerous paintings were burned. In the same year, the first restoration work began. The façade was restored by 1949.

After the reconstruction, the church in Neumünster assumed the function of the Episcopal Church of the Diocese of Würzburg from 1950 until the rebuilding of the cathedral in 1967.

In 1983-1985 the west facade was restored. The interior was restored and redecorated between 2007 and 2009.

Neumünster was built as a Romanesque basilica with two transepts, later rebuilt in the Baroque style with a high dome and a grand Baroque façade instead of a west choir.

The tense, dynamic west front was built between 1712 and 1716 and is considered by experts to be one of the "finest creations of the German Baroque". The schematic structure of the façade is reminiscent not only of Roman Baroque churches, but also of Baroque altarpieces. On the first floor, two statues by Jakob van der Auwer commemorate the church's patrons, John the Evangelist (left) and John the Baptist (right). The second floor features Christ the Salvator in the centre and the saints Kili-an (centre left), Kolonat (far left), Totnan (far right) and the first Bishop of Würzburg, Burkard (centre right).

From Kiliansplatz, Neumünster appears as a three-nave basilica with an east transept and a semicircular apse.

Neumünster's façade on the present Kürschnerhof bears the inscription ANNO MDCCXVI POSUIT / JOANNES PHILIPPUS EPISCOPUS / HERBIPOLENSIS F.O.D. [= Franciae orientalis Dux] on the frieze of the main entablature, it is divided into three parts placing the name of the prince-bishop in the middle. On the frieze of the pediment of the facade is SS. MM. [= Sanctis Martyribus] CHILIANO ET SOCIIS PATRIAE PATRONIS ('To the Holy Martyrs Kilian and his companions, Patrons of the Fatherland').

The figural decoration in the basement of the facade to the left and right of the entrance gate, the patrons of the monastery John the Evangelist and John the Baptist, as well as the relief for the glorification of the Virgin Mary in the segmental gable were created by the court sculptor Jakob van der Auwer (1672-1760). Jakob's son Johann Wolfgang van der Auwera also created works for Neumünster, but these were destroyed in the fire of 1945.

The upper floor of the façade recedes a few decimetres beyond the zero level of the façade, making room for the presentation of the Salvator mundi sculptures in the niche and the diocesan patrons created by Balthasar Esterbauer. Totnan and Kolonat stand on the outside on the attic, Kilian and Burkard according to their episcopal rank inside and a little higher up on the balustrade.

In the crypt of St. Kilian, visitors and pilgrims find themselves at the actual site of the martyrdom of the Frankish apostles. It was here that three Irish missionaries were supposedly murdered and their bones buried. The crypt is of Baroque origin and resembles the spatial form of a dome. In the centre of the mystical crypt, on a box altar dating from around 1250, stands the shrine of St. Kilian, made in bronze in 1987 by Heinrich Gerhard Bücker. Scenes from the life of Jesus are combined with scenes from the life of the witnesses of faith.

The authors of the interior furnishings are, among others, brothers Johann Baptist and Dominikus Zimmermann. Dominikus Zimmermann mainly created the stucco decoration around 1720 (e.g. the plaster inlays on the altar of St. Boniface, which was burnt down in 1945). The paintings (fresco cycle and oil paintings) by Johann Baptist Zimmermann (1732) and Nikolaus Stuber (1736) have largely been lost, but were largely copied after 1945.

The main altarpiece with Johann Baptist Zimmermann's painting of St John on Patmos from 1724 has survived. The rich altarpieces of the Neumünster church also included paintings by Anton Clemens Lünenschloss, Giovanni Conca (c. 1690-1771) and Joseph Scheubel, but most of them were burnt down in 1945.

Important works of art from the pre-Baroque period include Riemenschneider's Madonna (1493), a tombstone for Johannes Trithemius from the Schottenkirche St. Jakob, also by Tilman Riemenschneider, and a 14th-century Gothic plague cross.

There was a huge revival of interest in Neumünster in the second half of the 19th century. In 1849, the relics of St. Kilian, St. Kolonat and St. Totnan, which had been deposited there in the spirit of the Enlightenment in 1795, before the secularization of the diocese, were rediscovered in the chamber of Würzburg Cathedral. On July 8, 1850, the feast of St. Kilian, the three skull relics were solemnly transferred to the crypt of St. John and it again became the destination of many pilgrimages.

From 1950 until the rededication of the cathedral in 1967, Neumünster served as a diocesan cathedral. Since then it has once again been the parish church of the parish of St. Kilian in Würzburg.

Neumünster is still primarily used for the veneration of St. Kilian. Thousands of pilgrims and worshippers head to the crypt of St. Kilian, where the bones of the missionaries rest, every year. Here they commemorate the patron saint of the Franks, but also many other saints and blesseds from the Diocese of Würzburg. In addition, the church in Neumünster has been a centre of Eucharistic adoration since the time of Bishop Julius Döpfner.

The west facade was restored between 1983 and 1985.

Between 2007 and 2009 the interior of the church was extensively renovated and redesigned. Instead of the Baroque altars in the domed room, which were destroyed in 1945, two neoclassical former side altars from St. Kilian's Cathedral found a new home.

The Baroque furnishings incorporate modern works by Markus Fräger, Jacques Gassmann, Thomas Lange, Jürgen Lenssen, Michael Morgner, Ernst Singer, Michael Triegel, Hann Trier and Ben Willikens, among others. High in the central nave of the Neumünster are eight paintings in bright colours by Thomas Lange from the Gospel of John, depicting the stops in the life of Jesus and the miracles.