- Elisabeth Church (Marburg)
The Elisabeth Church in
Marburg was built by the Order of theTeutonic Knights in honor ofElisabeth of Hungary . Her tomb made the church an importantpilgrimage destination in the lateMiddle Ages . The building is now a Protestant church. The Elisabeth Church is the model for the newSt. Martin's Episcopal Church (Houston, Texas) .Architecture
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 fromsandstone in a cruciform layout. Thenave and its flankingaisle s 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 stonerood 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 Gothic shrine of Saint Elisabeth is the most important treasure of the church, but other pieces of sacral art are also exhibited.
History
Construction started in 1235, the year Elisabeth was canonized. The church was consecrated in 1238. 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 thePhilipps 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,relic s of Elisabeth can be found in the Elisabeth convent inVienna , in the City Museum inStockholm and inKošice .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 presidentPaul von Hindenburg and his wife were buried in the Elisabeth church, after the evacuation of their remains from theTannenberg memorial in formerEast Prussia .Current developments
In order to start a long-needed renovation of the church and the remodeling of its immediate neighborhood, the "Stiftung Heilige Elisabeth" foundation was established in 2004 and supports the city of Marburg and the
Protestant Church of Hesse-Kassel and Waldeck in the financing of the repair measures.ee also
*
Konrad von Marburg References
"The article is based on a translation of the German Wikipedia article Elisabethkirche (Marburg)".
*de icon Hermann Bauer: "Sankt Elisabeth und die Elisabethkirche zu Marburg". Marburg, Hitzeroth 1990 ISBN 3-89616-031-1
*de icon Andreas Köstler: "Die Ausstattung der Marburger Elisabethkirche. Zur Ästhetisierung des Kultraums im Mittelalter". Berlin, Reimer 1995 ISBN 3-496-01134-3
*de icon Eberhard Leppin: "Die Elisabethkirche in Marburg an der Lahn". Königstein, Langwiesche 1999 ISBN 3-7845-2913-5External links
* [http://www.elisabethkirche.de/rundgang/index.htm Elisabeth Church]
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