Otterberg abbey church

About

The Otterberg Abbey Church is the Romanesque church of the former Cistercian Otterberg Abbey near Kaiserslautern. After Speyer Cathedral, it is the largest church in the Palatinate. Today it is used as a simultaneous church by the Protestant and Roman Catholic local congregations.

The abbey church formed the center of the abbey and today of the town of Otterberg in the Kaiserslautern district in Rhineland-Palatinate, which is located about 6 kilometers north of Kaiserslautern.

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Construction of the monastery complex on the Otterbach began before 1168. Based on findings dated in part absolutely by dendrochronology, supplemented by relative datings derived from the sequence of mason's marks used, the construction proceeded as follows:

- 1180–1199: the lower part of the southern aisle, south transept and choir up to the vault springing, followed by the north transept and the eastern bays of the north aisle and the chapels of the transept.

- 1199–1204: the remaining walls of the transept up to the vault springing were raised and construction of the nave proceeded westward.

- 1204–1211: transept and choir were completed and vaulted. For this, the eastern bays of the nave also had to be erected and vaulted as buttresses for the crossing. Probably a first consecration of choir and transept took place at the end, so that they could be used for worship. The outer wall of the south aisle also reached its final height.

- 1211–1236: the four eastern bays of the main and side aisles were completed up to the vault and the lower part of the west end.

- 1236–1246: the west gable was completed and work was done on the roof. The rose window is dated 1241 by inscription.

- After 1246: the church received its final roof. In 1253, the convent still lacked the necessary funds to complete the church, but on May 10, 1254, the entire church was consecrated by the auxiliary bishop Arnold of Semgallen in the presence of the Archbishop of Mainz Gerhard I of Dhaun. The patrons were Mary and John the Baptist. There is little information about the history of the church after its completion.

In the course of the Reformation, the monastery fell to the Palatinate around 1560. Count Palatine John Casimir settled Reformed religious refugees, Walloons, from the Spanish Netherlands here from 1579, who now used the former abbey church for their services. However, the church was in poor structural condition: the roof was leaky and rainwater dripped through the vault into the church. The new community received city rights as early as 1581. After a brief flourishing, the Thirty Years' War hit the city hard: in 1622 it was captured by troops of the Catholic League, in 1631 by the Protestant Swedes, and in 1635 again by the League. One third of the houses were destroyed afterward, many families had fled. However, the church building seems to have survived the war relatively unscathed. The damages known from the following period suggest on the one hand rather a lack of building maintenance, on the other hand a major fire occurred in 1670 or 1671, which destroyed the roof and the ridge turret over the crossing.

The population that set about rebuilding Otterberg after the war was divided into three confessions : in 1680 there were 28 Reformed, nine Roman Catholic and eight Lutheran families. In addition, there was the repeated confessional change in the family branches of the Counts Palatine, who ultimately turned to the Roman Catholic confession. This led in 1691 to Count Palatine John William ordering that the Roman Catholics be allowed to share the Reformed former abbey church in Otterberg; in 1698 the right was also granted to the Lutherans. In 1707, a spatial division within the church building took place: choir and transept were assigned to the Roman Catholic community, the nave to the Reformed; in 1708 the separation was also carried out structurally by installing a partition wall. The Lutherans built their own church from 1732 to 1743, which became superfluous in 1830 – after the church union of 1818 – and was demolished.

In 1789, the building was considered at risk of collapse. It was confiscated by the invading French during the Revolutionary Wars and used as a warehouse.

In 1815, the Palatinate came to the Kingdom of Bavaria, and in 1818 the two Protestant confessions united here to form one church. From 1821 to 1831, the former abbey church was thoroughly renovated for the first time. A new drainage system was installed and the floor was raised by 1.5 m–2 m. According to other sources, it was even up to 2.40 m. A wall about 3 m high was built between choir and transept and the separated part became the Roman Catholic sacristy. Furthermore, the apse was separated from the choir by another wall and a bell cage was installed there as a replacement for the – always missing in a Cistercian church – church tower. In the Protestant part, a gallery was installed. Two ridge turrets were placed on the roof, but had to be removed again in 1865. In 1898, a sacristy for the Roman Catholic community was added to the south transept; the corresponding installations in the choir could thus be removed again.

The next renovations followed in 1902 (Protestant part) and 1911 (Roman Catholic part).

In 1970/71, an exterior renovation took place, and a ridge turret based on an engraving by Matthäus Merian was again placed on the crossing as a bell tower. With the partition wall from the beginning of the 18th century, the original spatial impression had been completely lost. It was therefore removed in 1979–1981. A comprehensive renovation followed, led by building director Peter Roth. Since then, the church has been used again as a simultaneous church. The usage rights of both communities remained unaffected. The church benches in the transept continue to serve the Roman Catholic community, the individual chairs in the nave the Protestant one, with both communities using the same altar in the crossing. During the renovation in the 1980s, the medieval drainage system was examined archaeologically, a new drainage system was installed for the second time, and the floor was lowered again to approximately the original height.

Construction of the monastery complex on the Otterbach began before 1168. Based on findings dated in part absolutely by dendrochronology, supplemented by relative datings derived from the sequence of mason's marks used, the construction proceeded as follows:

- 1180–1199: the lower part of the southern aisle, south transept and choir up to the vault springing, followed by the north transept and the eastern bays of the north aisle and the chapels of the transept.

- 1199–1204: the remaining walls of the transept up to the vault springing were raised and construction of the nave proceeded westward.

- 1204–1211: transept and choir were completed and vaulted. For this, the eastern bays of the nave also had to be erected and vaulted as buttresses for the crossing. Probably a first consecration of choir and transept took place at the end, so that they could be used for worship. The outer wall of the south aisle also reached its final height.