Mariä Verkündigung (Mindelheim)

About

Mariä Verkündigung (English: Church of the Annunciation) is a former monastery church in the Upper Swabian district town of Mindelheim in Bavaria, Germany. From the 13th to the 16th century it served as the church of an Augustinian monastery, from the 17th to the 18th century as the church of a Jesuit college, briefly after its dissolution as the church of the Maltese Order, and since the 19th century as a filial church of the Roman Catholic parish of St. Stephen in Mindelheim. The building received its present form in the 18th century. The Church of the Annunciation is particularly known for its Baroque nativity scene with life-sized figures, which is erected annually during the Christmas season in the choir.

The church is situated at the western end of Mindelheim's old town, directly in front of the Lower Gate ( Unteres Tor ) on Maximilianstraße, which also contains the main entrance. The west façade abuts the former town wall. The Franz Xaver Chapel, attached to the south side, projects into the pavement. Beneath the sacristy and the chancel flows the river Mindel.

Period of the Guillemites and Augustinians

In 1250, Schwigger II von Mindelberg founded a monastery of the Guillemites (Wilhelmiten) in Bedernau; in 1260 the community adopted the Rule of the Augustinian Hermits. On 17 May 1263, Hartmann von Dillingen, Bishop of Augsburg, granted the brothers permission to settle in Mindelheim. In the same year they purchased several houses on the western edge of the small town and erected monastery buildings and a church. The first church was consecrated on 11 May 1264. As early as 1286, a fire completely destroyed both monastery and church. Heinrich III von Mindelberg and his two sons endowed an altar for the reconstruction and donated ten Augsburg pounds of heller annually for ten years. Until the 15th century the church served as the burial place of the Lords of Mindelheim. Around 1460 the order formally adopted the Rule of Saint Augustine.

Major building works on the church and monastery took place in the mid-15th century. To finance the construction of the new rib-vaulted choir – which was larger, more elegant and more solidly built than the former nave – the monks sold one Jauchert (approximately 3,600 m 2 ) of farmland. The choir is attributed to the master builder Konrad Murer. At that time the church contained eleven altars. In 1482 the Auxiliary Bishop of Augsburg, Ulrich, came to Mindelheim to consecrate several altars. Of the late-Gothic furnishings, only a fragment of a carved choir stall cheek survives in the Mindelheim Local History Museum (Heimatmuseum Mindelheim). In 1515 the bones of four Lords of Mindelheim were exhumed at the entrance to the choir; their subsequent fate is unrecorded. In the same year, Emperor Maximilian I donated to the church a two-ell-high (approximately 1.2 m) silver statue of Saint George, which was melted down in 1622.

Dissolution of the monastery and takeover by the Jesuits

According to the Historia Collegii, the chronicle of the Jesuit college, Martin Luther is said to have visited the monastery in 1518 and preached in a chapel of the church that bore his name until the early 17th century. From 1522 onward the monks began converting to Lutheranism and abandoning the monastery. With the definitive closure of the Augustinian house in 1526, the church lost its status as a monastery church.

As early as 1589, the lord of the manor Christoph Fugger planned to settle Jesuits in the vacant buildings. On 30 June 1618, Duke (later Elector) Maximilian I of Bavaria formally handed the former Augustinian monastery over to the Society of Jesus. Prolonged vacancy had left the complex in serious disrepair. On 29 April 1625 a commission from Munich inspected the site and declared the nave of the church in particular to be in urgent need of reconstruction. The Bavarian electoral treasury bore the majority of the costs for the rebuilding of both church and college, which was directed by the Jesuit lay brother Johannes Holl.

On 3 July 1625 seven altars, tombstones and benches were removed from the old church interior. Six days later demolition of the nave began. The western wall of the church, which abutted the town fortifications, was torn down together with the adjoining stretch of the town wall; the south wall was initially left standing. On 24 August 1625 the city steward Sebastian von Sauerzapf, city pastor Sebald Wachfelder and mayor Hans Knaus laid the foundation stones for a new nave that was to be ten feet longer than its predecessor.

By the end of 1625 the west and north walls of the nave were complete. The six choir windows were enlarged and the vaults and walls received stucco decoration. In 1626 the old south wall was demolished and rebuilt. The roof framework of the nave was finished by July 1626. Only three provisional altars were initially installed. On 10 October 1626 the Auxiliary Bishop of Eichstätt, Georg Rösch, consecrated the two side altars. The following day, 11 October 1626, Bishop Heinrich V von Knöringen of Augsburg, assisted by Bishop Rösch and the Prince-Abbot of Kempten, consecrated the church and the high altar.

During the Thirty Years' War, on 17 September 1631, penitential devotions and processions were held to avert the advancing Swedish troops.

After the war the provisional altars were replaced. In 1649 a high altar more than 40 feet tall, by an unknown master, was erected; it was probably polychromed in 1659 by Jakob Staiger of Ottobeuren and fitted with an altarpiece. In 1650 the Prince-Abbot of Kempten donated a Guardian Angel altar. The Confraternity of St Joseph, founded in 1634, financed a St Joseph altar in 1661, the polychromy being paid for by the city magistrates. On 29 June 1661 the Auxiliary Bishop of Augsburg, Kaspar Zeiler, reconsecrated the altars. None of these three altars has survived; only the altarpiece of the St Joseph altar, painted by Christoph Storer, remains and now adorns the present side altar. In 1661 city pastor Johann Sutor donated a pulpit. In 1663 a new organ by a builder from Halle was installed and a cenotaph was erected behind the high altar. Two confessionals near the pulpit were added in 1669.

The Franz Xaver Chapel, attached to the south wall of the choir, was built between 1690 and 1694 at the expense of Duke Maximilian Philipp of Bavaria and his wife Mauritia Febronia. It was consecrated on the feast of St Francis Xavier (3 December) 1704 by Prince-Bishop Alexander Sigismund of Augsburg. The portals on either side of the choir date from 1690, as do a donated antependium and two silver busts for the high altar. In 1706 a bell cage was installed on the choir roof.

The Jesuit priest, master builder and architect Joseph Guldimann S.J., who resided at the Mindelheim college from 1720 to 1722, carried out a fundamental rebuilding of the church in 1721–1722. He first arranged for the removal of dilapidated elements: the roof, the nave ceiling and the former gallery together with its spiral staircase. The nave side walls were raised by about 2.5 metres; new wall pilasters were inserted, the windows were made taller and new windows were added on the west side. After the construction of the western vestibule and stair towers, the nave received in 1722 a masonry barrel vault with rich stucco decoration and a new roof. Two new galleries were installed on the west side and received balustrades by 1723. A new pulpit and organ were then installed, and the floor was laid with Solnhofen limestone slabs.

In 1726 ten new confessionals were made and erected; in 1727 the stucco was painted and the pulpit, organ and gallery balustrades were polychromed. The tabernacle acquired for the high altar in 1728 is no longer extant, for between 1734 and 1737 the 17th-century altars were removed and replaced with new Baroque ones. The pilasters and walls, painted in 1736 for 150 guilders, were given a new colour scheme by Italian painters in 1768 and have been repeatedly overpainted during later restorations. In 1743, during the remodelling of the Franz Xaver Chapel, Matthias Willerotter created the stucco work and the altar.

After the suppression of the Jesuit order in 1773, the Bavarian state took possession of both college and church. In 1776 the Carmelites and in 1777 the Dominicans unsuccessfully petitioned the Elector to be granted the former college and church. From 1773 to 1781 the church served as a filial church of the parish church of St Stephen. In 1781 the Sovereign Military Order of Malta took it over, only to return it to the parish in 1808.

On 25 and 26 April 1849 the church hosted the election of the six electors from Mindelheim for the Frankfurt National Assembly.

During a comprehensive restoration between 1904 and 1907, Jakob Brandl enriched the chancel ceiling with stucco reliefs. Because moisture-permeable plaster was used on the walls during another restoration in the 1970s, the interior is currently in poor condition. The planned comprehensive renovation has had to be postponed indefinitely because the Diocese of Augsburg is unable to provide the necessary funding.

In 1250, Schwigger II von Mindelberg founded a monastery of the Guillemites (Wilhelmiten) in Bedernau; in 1260 the community adopted the Rule of the Augustinian Hermits. On 17 May 1263, Hartmann von Dillingen, Bishop of Augsburg, granted the brothers permission to settle in Mindelheim. In the same year they purchased several houses on the western edge of the small town and erected monastery buildings and a church. The first church was consecrated on 11 May 1264. As early as 1286, a fire completely destroyed both monastery and church. Heinrich III von Mindelberg and his two sons endowed an altar for the reconstruction and donated ten Augsburg pounds of heller annually for ten years. Until the 15th century the church served as the burial place of the Lords of Mindelheim. Around 1460 the order formally adopted the Rule of Saint Augustine.

Major building works on the church and monastery took place in the mid-15th century. To finance the construction of the new rib-vaulted choir – which was larger, more elegant and more solidly built than the former nave – the monks sold one Jauchert (approximately 3,600 m 2 ) of farmland. The choir is attributed to the master builder Konrad Murer. At that time the church contained eleven altars. In 1482 the Auxiliary Bishop of Augsburg, Ulrich, came to Mindelheim to consecrate several altars. Of the late-Gothic furnishings, only a fragment of a carved choir stall cheek survives in the Mindelheim Local History Museum (Heimatmuseum Mindelheim). In 1515 the bones of four Lords of Mindelheim were exhumed at the entrance to the choir; their subsequent fate is unrecorded. In the same year, Emperor Maximilian I donated to the church a two-ell-high (approximately 1.2 m) silver statue of Saint George, which was melted down in 1622.