Azelin chandelier

Last updated
Azelin chandelier

Hildesheimer Dom, Thietmarleuchter uber dem Altar.jpg

The chandelier in the Hildesheim Cathedral above the altar, 2015
Year Eleventh century
Type Romanesque art
Medium Gilt copper
Location Hildesheim, Germany
Coordinates 52°08′56″N9°56′47″E / 52.1489°N 9.9464°E / 52.1489; 9.9464 Coordinates: 52°08′56″N9°56′47″E / 52.1489°N 9.9464°E / 52.1489; 9.9464

The Azelin chandelier (German : Azelinleuchter) is a Romanesque wheel chandelier, made in the 11th century for the Hildesheim Cathedral in Hildesheim, Germany, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site since 1985. It is the oldest of four extant wheel chandeliers from that period, along with the Hezilo chandelier, also in Hildesheim, the Barbarossa chandelier in the Aachen Cathedral, and the Hartwig chandelier in the Abbey of Comburg. It was believed to be donated by Bishop Azelin, however his predecessor Thietmar is more likely to be the patron. Therefore, the chandelier is also called the Thietmar chandelier (Thietmarleuchter).

German language West Germanic language

German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. There are also strong similarities in vocabulary with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, although those belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.

Romanesque art artistic style of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the 13th century

Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 12th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is known as the Pre-Romanesque period. The term was invented by 19th-century art historians, especially for Romanesque architecture, which retained many basic features of Roman architectural style – most notably round-headed arches, but also barrel vaults, apses, and acanthus-leaf decoration – but had also developed many very different characteristics. In Southern France, Spain and Italy there was an architectural continuity with the Late Antique, but the Romanesque style was the first style to spread across the whole of Catholic Europe, from Sicily to Scandinavia. Romanesque art was also greatly influenced by Byzantine art, especially in painting, and by the anti-classical energy of the decoration of the Insular art of the British Isles. From these elements was forged a highly innovative and coherent style.

Wheel chandelier lighting device

A wheel chandelier is a lighting installment, in the form of a chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the form of a spoked wheel. The oldest and most important examples derive from the Romanesque period.

Contents

Description

Detail Hildesheim Azelinleuchter Detail.jpg
Detail

A wheel chandelier is also called a corona (crown) and circular chandelier. [1] Like the later and larger Hezilo chandelier, the Azelin chandelier is a circular hoop of gilt copper and tinplate, decorated with twelve towers and twelve gatehouses. However, the decoration is much sparser, limited to a braided bar in the middle of the hoop and an openwork wreath of foliage on the upper edge of the hoop. The twelve gatehouses, to which the ropes holding the chandelier up are attached, are basically rectangular in shape with rounded arches and roofing. It is possible that they once held figures, but these would have had to have been very small and flat. The twelve towers are more elaborate, with a hexagonal groundplan. On the outside there are three niches closed with openwork doors, on the inside there is one niche flanked by two (alternately round or square) towers decorated with battlements and imitation brickwork. The spires of the towers extend above the top of the chandelier's hoop and are alternately round or hexagonal, with openwork windows in imitation of roof lanterns.

Tinning covering object with layer of tin

Tinning is the process of thinly coating sheets of wrought iron or steel with tin, and the resulting product is known as tinplate. The term is also widely used for the different process of coating a metal with solder before soldering.

Braid complex structure or pattern

A braid is a complex structure or pattern formed by interlacing three or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair. Compared with the process of weaving, which usually involves two separate, perpendicular groups of strands, a braid is usually long and narrow, with each component strand functionally equivalent in zigzagging forward through the overlapping mass of the others. The most simple and common hair braid is a flat, solid, three-stranded structure. More complex braids can be constructed from an arbitrary number of strands to create a wider range of structures. Some more complex braids are fishtail braid, five-stranded braid, rope braid, French braid and waterfall braid.

Openwork

Openwork or open-work is a term in art history, architecture and related fields for any technique that produces decoration by creating holes, piercings, or gaps that go right through a solid material such as metal, wood, stone, pottery, cloth, leather, or ivory. Such techniques have been very widely used in a great number of cultures.

The Azelin chandelier has been repeatedly altered by additions, removals, and repairs over the centuries. The overall image of the New Jerusalem, lit up and floating in the air, which all works of this type present, has been maintained. An important and meticulous restoration of the chandelier was carried out between 1982 and 1989, repairing damage of World War II. [2]

New Jerusalem Place

In the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible, New Jerusalem is Ezekiel's prophetic vision of a city centered on the rebuilt Holy Temple, the Third Temple, to be established in Jerusalem, which would be the capital of the Messianic Kingdom, the meeting place of the twelve tribes of Israel, during the Messianic era. The prophecy is recorded by Ezekiel as having been received on Yom Kippur of the year 3372 of the Hebrew calendar. It will be inhabited by people to live eternally in spirit form, created by God as a gift to mankind. Not everyone will reside in New Jerusalem, as most will possibly stay on Earth.

History

The chandelier in the church of St. Antonius, 2008 Hildesheim St Antonius Inneres.jpg
The chandelier in the church of St. Antonius, 2008

The Azelin chandelier, named for its supposed donor, the bishop Azelin (1044–1054) is the predecessor of the Hezilo chandelier, which was probably commissioned by Azelin's successor Hezilo. Perhaps the two wheel chandeliers were originally planned as a set, just as they then hung in the cathedral for centuries: the Hezilo chandelier in the nave, the Azelin chandelier (which is about half the size) in the choir. [3] The chandeliers were created after the devastating fire of 1046, in which the cathedral of Altfrid and many nearby buildings in the Domhof were destroyed. Before this, a gold and silver wheel chandelier, gifted by Bernward of Hildesheim had hung in the nave. This earlier chandelier was definitely destroyed in the fire. [4] The chandelier was thought to have been commissioned by Bishop Azelin after this fire, but according to a lost document from the 16th century his predecessor Thietmar of Hildesheim was the patron. [2] It is not clear, in that case, how the chandelier survived the fire of 1046.

Azelin Bishop of Hildesheim

Azelin was Bishop of Hildesheim from 1044 until 1054.

Hezilo of Hildesheim, also known as Hezelo, Hettilo or Ethilo, was Bishop of Hildesheim from 1054 to 1079.

Choir (architecture) part of a church

A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the western part of the chancel, between the nave and the sanctuary, which houses the altar and Church tabernacle. In larger medieval churches it contained choir-stalls, seating aligned with the side of the church, so at right-angles to the seating for the congregation in the nave. Smaller medieval churches may not have a choir in the architectural sense at all, and they are often lacking in churches built by all denominations after the Protestant Reformation, though the Gothic Revival revived them as a distinct feature.

From 1960, when the cathedral and the adjacent buildings were rebuilt, the chandelier hung in the church of St. Antonius, adjacent to the cloisters of the cathedral. After the completion of extensive restorations of the cathedral, reopened on 15 August 2014, and the conversion of St. Antonius to a part of the Cathedral museum, the Azelin chandelier was returned to the cathedral and placed again above the altar in the crossing, while the Hezilo chandelier, which hung there before, was returned to its original location in the nave. [2]

Literature

Adolf Bertram Catholic cardinal

Adolf Cardinal Bertram was archbishop of Breslau and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.

Related Research Articles

Aachen Cathedral Roman-Catholic cathedral in Aachen, Germany

Aachen Cathedral, traditionally called in English the Cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle, is a Roman Catholic church in Aachen, western Germany, and the see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aachen.

St. Michaels Church, Hildesheim Church in Hildesheim, Germany

The Church of St. Michael is an early-Romanesque church in Hildesheim, Germany. It has been on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list since 1985. It is now a Lutheran church.

Hildesheim Cathedral Church in Hildesheim, Germany

Hildesheim Cathedral, officially the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary or simply St. Mary's Cathedral, is a medieval Roman Catholic cathedral in the city centre of Hildesheim, Germany, that has been on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list since 1985, together with the nearby St. Michael's Church.

Bernward of Hildesheim Bishop of Hildesheim

Saint Bernward was the thirteenth Bishop of Hildesheim from 993 until his death in 1022.

Worms Cathedral Church in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

St Peter's Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church and former cathedral in Worms, southern Germany.

Merseburg Cathedral Church in Merseburg, Germany

Merseburg Cathedral is the proto-cathedral of the former Bishopric of Merseburg in Merseburg, Germany. The mostly Gothic church is considered an artistic and historical highlight in southern Saxony-Anhalt.

Fulda Cathedral Church in Fulda, Germany

Fulda Cathedral is the former abbey church of Fulda Abbey and the burial place of Saint Boniface. Since 1752 it has also been the cathedral of the Diocese of Fulda, of which the Prince-Abbots of Fulda were created bishops. The abbey was dissolved in 1802 but the diocese and its cathedral have continued. The dedication is to Christ the Saviour. The cathedral constitutes the high point of the Baroque district of Fulda, and is a symbol of the town.

Goslar Cathedral cathedral

The church known as Goslar Cathedral was a collegiate church dedicated to St. Simon and St. Jude in the town of Goslar, Germany. It was built between 1040 and 1050 as part of the Imperial Palace district. The church building was demolished in 1819–1822; today, only the porch of the north portal is preserved. It was a church of Benedictine canons. The term Dom, a German synecdoche used for collegiate churches and cathedrals alike, is often uniformly translated as 'cathedral' into English, even though this collegiate church was never the seat of a bishop.

The Goslar Precedence Dispute escalated at Pentecost in 1063 in the Goslar Collegiate Church of St. Simon and St. Jude from a dispute over the order of seating into an armed confrontation which resulted in several deaths. The background is the early medieval legal system, based mainly on personal loyalty and privileges that could be conferred or withdrawn at any time.

St. Lamberti, Hildesheim Church in Lower Saxony, Germany

St. Lamberti is a parish and church in Hildesheim, Germany, the parish of the town's Neustadt. It is named after Lambert of Maastricht, the patron saint of Hildesheim. The church is a late Gothic building, the only hall church of the town. Since the Reformation, it has been a Lutheran parish church. It is situated in the Goschenstraße, on the Neustädter Markt.

Barbarossa Chandelier Wheel chandelier in Aachen Cathedral attributed to Frederick Barbarossa

The Barbarossa Chandelier was made on the order of Emperor Frederick I, nicknamed Barbarossa, and his wife Beatrice sometime between 1165 and 1170 and was installed under the cupola of the Palatine Chapel in Aachen Cathedral. The chandelier was a donation in honour of Mary, Mother of God, the patroness of Aachen Cathedral and simultaneously represented a tribute to the builder of the cathedral, Charlemagne.

Cross of Bernward two Ottonian crosses in Hildesheim, Germany

The term Cross of Bernward principally refers to two Ottonian crosses in the cathedral museum in Hildesheim:

Hezilo chandelier

The Hezilo chandelier is an 11th-century Romanesque wheel chandelier. It is part of the treasures of the Hildesheim Cathedral in Hildesheim, Germany, which has been a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site since 1985. The chandelier was most likely commissioned by Bishop Hezilo of Hildesheim, who rebuilt the cathedral after a fire. He probably also influenced the program of imagery and inscriptions. It is the largest of four extant wheel chandeliers of the period; the others surviving examples are the Azelin chandelier, the Barbarossa chandelier in the Aachen Cathedral, and the Hartwig chandelier in the Abbey of Comburg.

Bernward Doors sculpture

The Bernward Doors are the two leaves of a pair of Ottonian or Romanesque bronze doors, made c. 1015 for Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany. They were commissioned by Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim (938–1022). The doors show relief images from the Bible, scenes from the Book of Genesis on the left door and from the life of Jesus on the right door. They are considered a masterpiece of Ottonian art, and feature the oldest known monumental image cycle in German sculpture, and also the oldest cycle of images cast in metal in Germany.

Bernward Column The Bernward Column (German: Bernwardssäule) also known as the Christ Column (German: Christussäule) is a Romanesque bronze column, made c. 1000 for St. Michaels Church in Hildesheim, Germany, and regarded as a masterpiece of Ottonian art.

The Bernward Column also known as the Christ Column is a Romanesque bronze column, made c. 1000 for St. Michael's Church in Hildesheim, Germany, and regarded as a masterpiece of Ottonian art. It was commissioned by Bernward, thirteenth bishop of Hildesheim. It depicts images from the life of Jesus, arranged in a helix similar to Trajan's Column: it was originally topped with a cross or crucifix. During the 19th century, it was moved to a courtyard and later to Hildesheim Cathedral. During the restoration of the cathedral from 2010 to 2014, it was moved back to its original location in St. Michael's, but was returned to the Cathedral in August 2014.

Baptismal font (Hildesheim)

The Bronze baptismal font in the Hildesheim Cathedral is a late Romanesque baptismal font which was probably made in Hildesheim in the first third of the thirteenth century. It is noted for its pictorial decoration which is of the highest quality and for its perfect proportions and is considered among the most outstanding works of its type. For centuries the baptismal font stood in the western part of the nave, until it was moved to the last of the northern side-chapels in 1653. During the ongoing renovations of the cathedral (2010–2014) it is being displayed in the Bode Museum in Berlin. After the completion of the renovation work, it will be placed in the centre of the nave under the Hezilo chandelier.

Domfreiheit

In the Holy Roman Empire, the Domfreiheit or Domimmunität was the area immediately around the seat of the Bishop of a cathedral and its cathedral chapter, which was managed by the Domdechant; the English term is cathedral close. This area stretched only a few hundred metres from the outbuildings of the cathedral, at most, and was usually surrounded by a fortified wall (Domburg). They belonged to the secular domain or Hochstift of the bishop.

References

  1. ↑ Julia de Wolf Addison: Arts and Crafts in the Middle Ages Archived 2014-05-03 at the Wayback Machine . Medieval Histories
  2. 1 2 3 Der Thietmarleuchter Weltkulturerbe in Niedersachsen. Retrieved 9 May 2014
  3. ↑ Gallistl, p. 45
  4. ↑ Victor H. Elbern, Dom und Domschatz in Hildesheim, Königstein 1979, p. 12.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.