In December 2015 we had our Christmas Market 'fix' in Munich. The markets certainly brought out the crowds and a highlight was to attend Mass in the wonderful Asamkirche St Johann-Nepomuk about which more one day! I wanted to get out of the centre and see the former Court church of Berg am Leimer, as a contrast to the bustle of the city. This fine church was built 1737-57 for Clemens August, Archbishop of Cologne for his nearby Landschloss. The architect was Johann Georg Fischer.Now it is a simple parish church in a suburban outer area of Munich. We arrived as Sunday morning Mass was finishing and it was hard to get a decent look because the local official was keen to lock up the gates at the centre of the screen at the back of the church. This is quite common for Baroque churches to have a fine metal screen at the back which allows worshippers to pray without penetrating the body of the nave.What a joy to be able to worship in such a church every week!
There is stucco work and ceilings of the life of St Michael by JB Zimmermann, and with altars by the studio of JB Straub. Appropriately the high altar has a painting of St Michael overcoming Satan by Johann Andreas Wolff. The pulpit is crowned by a statue of ST Micael with the Bavarian flag, by Benedikt Hasler. Technically it is a wall pillar church with octagonal nave, narrower octagonal choir and transversly elliptical sanctuary of the same width.
The twin western towers are fine and present a dignified appearance - at least to this Baroque starved Englishman!
The photos are our own - the weather was beautiful.
I have seen this Abbey church twice in my ramblings across Europe. the first time was in the early 1990s on a return journey from Italy. It was a new route, a new experience glimpsing this strange corner - Alsace - was it French or was it German? Then in 2015 Alsace was our goal and I had to make a repeat visit.
It was a joy : as our photos show. It has been fun to select videos to try to give you the atmosphere of this remarkable building. Do take a look if you are in the area. One day I'll be back to hear the organ!
The Abbey, dedicated to Saint Maurice, was founded in 667 by Saint Deodatus of Nevers on the island of Novientum in the River Ill. using relics of Saint Maurice which Deodatus had obtained from St Maurice's Abbey.Thanks to the support of Adalrich, Duke of Alsace, father of Saint Odilia, this Benedictine monastery flourished.It was destroyed by the Swedes during the Thirty Years War of 1618-48 and was not rebuilt until the early 18th century. The architect was the Austrian, Peter Thumb. Then lightning caused a disastrous fire in 1717 and Peter Thumb was recalled to do a rebuild. He incorporated several of surviving parts, including the seven sided apse, the square crossing with the same width as the choir and the tall shafts of the three towers, two on the west front and one behind at the back of the apse. The latter is very unusual and recalls Carolingian churches, It is this 3 tower feature that is most memorable. This rebuilding began in 1719 with a staggering 200 assistants to Thumb. It must have been a rich foundation! By 1727 the structural work was done, and decoration was underway. The frescos were completed 1728-1759.Furnishings completed by 1735. The interior is impressive and shows characteistics of Thumb's Voralberg style further west than ever seen before.
The above video gives a lovely little tour of the interior with Gregorian chant baackgound.
The abbey was dissolved during the French Revolution and the conventual buildings were demolished. The contents of the library were taken to Strasbourg, where most of them were burnt in the market place. The site was reoccupied in 1829 by a community of Marianist Brothers and Priests and from 1887 by the Sisters of St Joseph of Saint-Marc.
Confessionals complted 1733-5
Model of Ebersmunster in the 18th century
Silbermann organ
The church is justly famous for its wonderful Silbermann organ.
This little video merges piano and this wonderful organ into a tour of the church
I cannot over recommend this church! St Lawrence, Little Stanmore, (or Whitchurch as it was formerly known), is a famous small church in north London. It was an 18th century rebuild of a late medieval church to accompany the huge nearby country house called Canons, the residence of James Brydges, first Duke of Chandos. (1674-1744). He was Paymaster General to John Churchill Duke of Marlborough on his campaigns. He must have had his hand in the till because he came out of it with a large fortune. Also he married Mary Lake of Canons and on his retirement bought their family home, pulled it down and rebuilt the huge Baroque palace for which he became famous.The cost of upkeep proved all too much and the second Duke demolished it and sold off the contents in 1747-53. Only the church remained.
It is unique among parish churches in England in retaining nearly all the original woodwork and paintings restored 1973-1984. The woodwork includes Corinthian columns by Grinling Gibbons no less - restored to their original golden oak colour in the 1970s.The result is an interior very much like it was in the early 18th century. But this is not the English baroque of Christopher Wren but the continental baroque which I love so much! The only similar chapels that I can call to mind are Chatsworth in Derbyshire and Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire.
The church was designed by John James. He left only the 14th century tower to create a new vessel which has been filled by remarkable trompe l'oeil effect by the Frenchman Louis Laguerre. (1663-1721).Laguerre was a pupil of Charles le Brun and came in England in 1683 and worked as an assistant to Antonio Verrio (the creator of the remarkable wall paintings at Burghley House in Stamford). Exactly how much Laguerre contributed is unclear and who undertook other works will never be verified through lack of documentation.The decoration around the walls and roof contain no biblical references, but concentrate on producing the effects of columns, urns, niches, putti and a dome. In the church the visitor is met with paintings over the altar of the adoration of Jehovah (anon.); to the right of the altar by the Holy Family (Antonio Bellucci); to the left of the altar by the descent from the Cross (Bellucci); various miracles on the ceiling (Laguerre)and on the walls of the nave are Evangelists and Virtues.(Francesco Sleter). Finally on the half dome abobe the west gallery or Chandos pew is a view of the Transfiguration. (Bellucci) With the imitation sky in the retrochoir lit by a concealed window and trompe l'oeil statues in dramatic poses and the painted scenes on walls and ceiling it is a trully remarkable interior for England!
The organ is believed to have been played by George Frideric Handel who worked at Canons 1717-1718 and wrote the eleven Chandos anthems, a Te Deum, Acis and Galatea and Haman and Mordecai (later morphed into Esther) while there. The anthems must have been performed in the church because the chapel in the house was not finished then.We can easily imagine the Duke sitting up in his central box at the back of the church with his bodyguard and servants in the other boxes!
The church is a regular concert venue and the acoustic is superb. I attended a 2016 Handel Festiival concert of music which would have been performed at Canons : tremendously atmospheric. Magic!
The adjacent mausoleum was added by the first Duke after the death of his second wife. Designed by James Gibbs and decorated with trompe l'oeil columns and figures by Gaetano Brunetti, it also featiures a large monument to the Duke designed by Grinling Gibbons. It is a remarkable space.
The photos date from a Sunday summer afternoon in 2017 when Paula and I last visited. The church is in regular use but visiting hours are limited so do check the web site. You will not be disappointed.
Transfiguration scene by Bellucci
Pews and trompe l'oeil
Altar area with Handel organ and paintings by Bellucci
Meinrad was educated at the abbey school on Reichenau Island, in Lake Constance, under his kinsmen, Abbots Hatto and Erlebald, where he became a monk and was ordained a priest. After some years at Reichenau, and at a dependent priory on Lake Zurich, he embraced an eremitical life and established his hermitage on the slopes of Etzel Mountain. He died on January 21, 861, at the hands of two robbers who thought that the hermit had some precious treasures, but during the next 80 years the place was never without one or more hermits emulating Meinrad's example. One of them, named Eberhard, previously Provost of Strassburg, erected in 934 a monastery and church there, of which he became first abbot.
The church was miraculously consecrated, so the legend runs, in 948, by Christ himself assisted by the Four Evangelists, St. Peter, and St. Gregory the Great. This event was investigated and confirmed by Pope Leo VIII and subsequently ratified by many of his successors, the last ratification being by Pope Pius VI in 1793, who confirmed the acts of all his predecessors.
In 965 Gregory, the third Abbot of Einsiedeln, was made a prince of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Otto I, and his successors continued to enjoy the same dignity up to the cessation of the empire in the beginning of the 19th century. In 1274 the abbey, with its dependencies, was created an independent principality by Rudolf I of Germany, over which the abbot exercised temporal as well as spiritual jurisdiction. It continued independent until 1798, the year of the French invasion. The abbey is now what is termed an abbey nullius, the abbot having quasi-episcopal authority over the territory where the monastery is built.
For the learning and piety of its monks, Einsiedeln has been famous for a thousand years, and many saints and scholars have lived within its walls. The study of letters, printing, and music have greatly flourished there, and the abbey has contributed largely to the glory of the Benedictine Order. It is true that discipline declined somewhat in the fifteenth century and the rule became relaxed, but Ludovicus II, a monk of St. Gall who was Abbot of Einsiedeln 1526-44, succeeded in restoring the stricter observance.
In the 16th century the religious disturbances caused by the spread of the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland were a source of trouble for some time. Zwingli himself was at Einsiedeln for a while, and used the opportunity for protesting against the famous pilgrimages, but the storm passed over and the abbey was left in peace. Abbot Augustine I (1600–29) was the leader of the movement which resulted in the erection of the Swiss Congregation of the Order of St. Benedict in 1602, and he also did much for the establishment of unrelaxed observance in the abbey and for the promotion of a high standard of scholarship and learning amongst his monks.
Nave of the abbey church Details of the ceiling paintings Details of the ceiling paintings
The pilgrimages, just mentioned, which have never ceased since the days of St Meinrad, have tended to make Einsiedeln the rival even of Rome, the Holy House of Loreto and Santiago de Compostela, serving as a major stopping point on the Way of St. James leading there. Pilgrimages constitute one of the features for which the abbey is chiefly celebrated. The pilgrims number around one million, from all parts of Catholic Europe or even further. The statue of Our Lady from the 15th century, enthroned in the little chapel erected by Eberhard, is the object of their devotion. This chapel stands within the great abbey church, in much the same way as the Holy House at Loreto, encased in marbles and elaborately decorated.
September 14 and October 13 are the chief pilgrimage days, the former being the anniversary of the miraculous consecration of Eberhard's basilica and the latter that of the translation of St Meinrad's relics from Reichenau Island to Einsiedeln in 1039. The millennium of St Meinrad was kept there with great splendour in 1861 as well as that of the Benedictine monastery in 1934. The great church has been many times rebuilt, the last time by Abbot Maurus between the years 1704 and 1719. The last big renovation ended after more than twenty years in 1997. The library contains nearly 250,000 volumes and many priceless manuscripts. The work of the monks is divided chiefly between prayer, work and study. At pilgrimage times the number of confessions heard is very large.
In 2013 the community numbered 60 monks. Attached to the abbey are a seminary and a college for about 360 pupils who are partially taught by the monks, who also provide spiritual direction for six convents of Religious Sisters.
I was fortunate to visit in 1974 when I was staying with a Swiss family near Zurich. An Anglican then I was puzzled by some of the Catholic practices like genuflecting before the altar but even more by the bareness of local Zwinglian chuirches like the Grossmunster in Zurich.
So far I have not included any churches from France! This example is special : the great chapel used by the Kings of France in their great palace at Versailles. I must have visited Versailles about six times and the tragedy is that this is one of the first rooms seen and is full of those ubiquitous umbrella-led groups. It is less of a bear garden than the the Sistine chapel though! Try a little of the video below to relive those chaotic moments!
See what I mean?!
For a detailed in depth description see the excellent article on Wikipedia here, It is the fifth such chapel. I had no idea! This present fifth chapel is a masterpiece by Jules Hardouin-Mansart begun in 1689 and consecrated in 1710. (This reminds me that Versailles must have been a building site much of Louis XIV'S reign : rather like the city of London now - different style of course).
Te Deums will have been sung here to celebrate victories and birth of children marriages, deaths etc.
Last year I saw advertised recreations of such performances : prices were astronomical and I regret I did not use Eurostar to Paris to attend! Therefore it is with pleasure that I am featuring some little videos to give the mood.
There is some nice atmosphere here. Watch a little to get the idea.Grand Dialogue by Louis Marchand played on the 1710 Cliquot organ
Now this is the real thing! Period instruments including a serpent recorded in the chapel, The famous Te Deum (Eurovision music) is very jolly! Chapelle Royale de Versailles, playing Marc Antoine CHARPENTIER, Te Deum, Conductor Martin Gester, Le Parlement de Musique. This is terrific!
Not in the Chapel but gives the idea of triumph superbly. What a super track. Just the thing to play through headphones to brighten up walks from the station!
Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1636 - 1704)
Marche de Triomphe et Second Air de Trompette in D major: 2. Second Air de Trompette" by Musica Antiqua Köln & Reinhard Goebel
This Cistercian house was founded in 1137 in a river valley of the river Kamp. It was extensive and only completed in 1218. by the end of the 14th century it was in danger and plundered several times.The most serious occasion was in 1426 when 4000 Hussites attacked and burnt it down. Rebuilit in the first half of the 15th century there were 40 monks again by the end of the century. The Protestant Reformation reduced the community to six. Again it recovered and the 17th and 18th century saw the abbey at its height. It continues to this day as a working Abbey.
There are buildings from Romanesque through Baroque and a major rebuild took place in the 18th century. The massive church tower was constructed by Josef Munggenast. at 325 feet it is the highest tower of a Cistercian monastery.
The famous Egedacher organ dates from 1728-1731. The video below of the organ is wonderful and means a lot to me, because I sometimes play parts of Muffat Apparatus-Musicus Organasticus. The difference is of course that I play an Allen computer organ and this is the real authentic organ sound.
The 1731 Johann Ignaz Egedacher organ in the monastery church of Zwettl is quite unique in that all of the manual pipework is in the case hanging on the gallery (Brustwerk), while the two main cases only contain the pedal pipes.
Egedacher built a three-manual organ , of which the third manual is quite unique in that it doesn’t contain any 8-foot flue stops. The reed stop Fagot/Huboa is in actual fact a type of Regal with very short wooden resonators.
In 1753 the organ was re-voiced and exactly 100 years later the tracker action was rebuilt. Josef Breinbauer revoiced the organ in 1880 and added a few Romantic stops. Rieger altered the organ again in 1912. Then in 1941 Ferninand Molzer built a new 3-manual electro-pneumatic organ which could be played from the Egedacher console. As this turned out not to be a success, the organ was dismantled in 1983 and Gerhard Hradetzky reconstructed the original specification, tracker action, wind system and temperament. Jürgen Ahrend revoiced the organ in 1991.
Zwettl was blessed with outstanding abbots in the 17th and 18th centuries. There was Abbot Link (1646-71), Caspar Bernhardt (1672-1695) who created the series of closed courtyards characteristic of urban Baroque style.The library has frescos by Paul Troger. The Abbot's lodging has white facades with pale yellow plaster. Abbot Melchior Zaunagg (1706-47 transformed the church, complete with massive retable above the high altar. He was responsible for bringing in the best painters, sculptors, stucco workers, cabinet makers, stained glass makers and fresco painters to decorate his church. The result is a wonderful combination of medieval and Baroque : a tribute to the collaboration of Abbot Zaunagg with his architect Josef Munggenast and art adviser Matthias Steinl.
We visited with guided tour in 2008.
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Abbey church .Photo by Welsserstler on Flickr CC
Zwettle Abbey aerial view
Library. Photo by Welsserstler on Flickr CC
General video about Zwettl with interesting section on the library
Neresheim was founded in 1095 as a house of (secular) Augustinian Canons, and converted to a Benedictine monastery in 1106.
In the 13th century, the abbey owned seven villages and it had an income from a further 71 places in the area. Ten parish churches were incorporated. During wars and conflicts the monastery was destroyed several times. The Thirty Years' War in the 17th century and Napoleonic Wars of the beginning of the 19th century were both disastrous.
After much internal debate, in 1745, the decision was taken to build a new abbey church instead of rebuilding the old Romanesque church, which had been superficially updated to the Baroque style in the late 17th century. Abbot Amandus Fischer (1711–29) had brought in architect Dominikus Zimmermann to rebuild and redecorate the abbey's Festsaal, which was carried out in 1719-20 in a high Rococo style. Seeking stylistic continuity with his predecessor's building program, Abbot Aurelius Braisch (1739–55) commissioned architect and building engineer Johann Balthasar Neumann to rebuild the abbey church in 1747. Neumann, the most sought-after architect in central Europe at the time, had designed the pilgrimage church of Vierzehnheiligen and the Residenz at Würzburg, which were admired for their light formal invention, sumptuous materials and lightness of touch. Neumann's plan called for a conventional basilica consisting of nave, crossing and choir which were articulated as a series of oval-shaped bays surmounted with shallow domes.
Work began on the new church in 1750, but Neumann's premature death in 1753 necessitated the finding of new builders willing to carry out Neumann's plans. Subsequent architects altered or abandoned the original design, particularly the construction and profile of the domes, which slowed progress. The finished church, consecrated in 1792, should be attributed to Neumann with reservations or characterized as the work of disparate hands.
The domes were frescoed by Austrian painter Martin Knoller over the 6 summers of 1770-75. Seven scenes from the Life of Christ are depicted, including Christ among the Doctors, the Last Supper and the Ascension.
Johann Nepomuk Holzhey of Ottobeuren built the last of the great South-German, Baroque organs at Neresheim over the years 1792-1797.
In 1802 the monastery was suppressed and secularized. Due to the disruptions caused by the Napoleonic invasion, custodianship over the abbey's assets and property was granted to the Princely House of Thurn und Taxis for the years 1803-06. Afterwards, the Bavarian state assumed ownership. Both the abbey and the County of Thurn un Taxis were annexed by the kingdom of Württemberg in 1810.[1]
Precious objects were bought from Thurn und Taxis by Bavaria. The Prince of Thurn und Taxis funded and refounded the monastery, which opened in 1919. The first abbot was Bernhard Durst (1921–65). In 1919, the abbey was resettled by Benedictines from Beuron Abbey and the Emaus Abbey in Prague.
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