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St. Elizabeth's Church (Elisabethkirche) in Marburg, Germany, was built by the Order of the Teutonic Knights in honour of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary. [1] Her tomb made the church an important pilgrimage destination during the late Middle Ages.
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 from sandstone in a cruciform layout. The nave and its flanking aisles have a vaulted ceiling more than 20 m (66 ft) high. The triple choir consists of the Elisabeth choir, the High choir and the Landgrave choir. The crossing is separated from the nave by a stone rood screen. In earlier times, the front part of the church had been reserved for the knights of the Order. The 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. It served as an inspiration for St. Paul's Church in Strasbourg.
The Gothic shrine of St. Elizabeth is the most important treasure of the church, but other pieces of religious art are also exhibited.
Construction started in 1235, the year Saint Elizabeth was canonized. The church was consecrated in 1283. However, the towers were not finished until 1340. The church was the 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 the Philipps 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 Elizabeth's remains removed, in order to deter pilgrims from the Protestant city of Marburg. Today, relics of Elizabeth can be found in St. Elizabeth Convent in Vienna, and in Košice. The Reliquary of St. Elizabeth is in the Swedish History Museum, Stockholm.
Most of the knights and clerics of the Order who were attached to the church converted to Protestantism during the 16th century, and the church was used for Protestant services from that point on. For a short time at the beginning of the 19th century, both Catholic Mass and Protestant communion services were celebrated in separate parts of the church.
After World War II, former German president Paul von Hindenburg and his wife were buried in the Elizabeth Church, after the removal of their remains from a salt mine where they were hidden under orders of their son Oskar von Hindenburg to protect them from Soviet Forces, later to be found by the US Army, and finally put to rest in this 13th-century church.
This section needs to be updated.(April 2022) |
In order to start a long-needed renovation of the church and the remodelling of its immediate neighbourhood, 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.[ citation needed ]
In 2023 it was reported that renovation work was underway on the stained glass in the church. [2]
Marburg is a university town in the German federal state (Bundesland) of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (Landkreis). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximately 76,000.
Marburg-Biedenkopf is a Kreis (district) in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Waldeck-Frankenberg, Schwalm-Eder, Vogelsbergkreis, Gießen, Lahn-Dill, Siegen-Wittgenstein.
Elizabeth of Hungary, also known as Elisabeth of Thuringia, was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary and the landgravine of Thuringia.
Henry I of Hesse "the Child" was the first Landgrave of Hesse. He was the son of Henry II, Duke of Brabant and Sophie of Thuringia.
Otto I was Landgrave of Upper Hesse from 1308 and then Landgrave of Lower Hesse from 1311 until his death.
Conrad was the landgrave of Thuringia from 1231 to 1234 and the fifth Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from 1239 to 1240. He was the first major noble to join the military order.
The Church of the Teutonic Order, also known as the Church of Saint Elisabeth of Hungary, is the mother church of the Teutonic Order, a German-based Roman Catholic religious order formed at the end of the 12th century. Located in Vienna, Austria, near the Stephansdom, it is the current seat of the Grand Master of the Order.
Limburg Cathedral (German: Limburger Dom, also known as Georgsdom after its dedication to Saint George, is located above the old town of Limburg in Hesse, Germany. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Limburg. Its high location on a rock above the river Lahn provides its visibility from far away. It is the result of an Early Gothic modernization of an originally Early Romanesque building and therefore shows a Romanesque-Gothic transitional style.
Naumburg Cathedral, located in Naumburg, Germany, is the former cathedral of the Bishopric of Naumburg-Zeitz. The church building, most of which dates back to the 13th century, is a renowned landmark of the German late Romanesque and was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. The west choir with the famous donor portrait statues of the twelve cathedral founders (Stifterfiguren) and the Lettner, works of the Naumburg Master, is one of the most significant early Gothic monuments.
The University Church of Marburg is a 13th-century, asymmetric, two-aisled hall church in Marburg, Hesse.
Sophie of Thuringia was the second wife and only Duchess consort of Henry II, Duke of Brabant and Lothier. She was the heiress of Hesse which she passed on to her son, Henry upon her retention of the territory following her partial victory in the War of the Thuringian Succession in which she was one of the belligerents. Sophie was the founder of the Brabant dynasty of Hesse.
Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg was Landgravine consort and Regent of Hesse-Kassel. She married the future William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel in 1619 and became Landgravine upon his ascension to power in 1627. In 1637, military defeats forced her and William V into exile in East Frisia. Later that year, she became regent for their son William VI upon her husband's death. Through skillful diplomacy and military successes in the Thirty Years' War, she advanced the fortunes of Hesse-Kassel and influenced the Peace of Westphalia that brought the conflict to an end. She handed over an enlarged landgraviate to her son when she abdicated upon his majority in 1650. However, her health had deteriorated over the course of the war, and she died soon after her abdication in 1651.
Elisabeth of Hesse was Hereditary Princess of Saxony in 1519-1537 by marriage to John of Saxony. After the death of her husband, she managed her Wittum, the Saxon districts of Rochlitz and Kriebstein between 1537 and 1547, earning her the name Elisabeth of Rochlitz. She allowed for the spread of Protestantism in her territories. She acted as mediator between her Catholic mother and Lutheran brother, and as the nurse of Maurice of Saxony.
Köniz Castle is a castle in the municipality of Köniz of the Canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
The Hessian War, in its wider sense sometimes also called the Hessian Wars (Hessenkriege), was a drawn out conflict that took place between 1567 and 1648, sometimes pursued through diplomatic means, sometimes by military force, between branches of the princely House of Hesse, particularly between the Landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel and the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt. It was triggered by a division of inheritance following the death of the last landgrave of all Hesse, Philip I in 1567.
The Dominican Monastery is a former Christian monastery in Frankfurt am Main. It is the seat of Protestant Regional Association, a group of Protestant congregations and deaneries in the city, and serves as the convention site for the Synod of the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau, held usually twice a year. The former monastery compound includes a Lutheran church building, called the Church of the Holy Spirit.
St. Valentin is the common name for the Catholic parish church and Basilica minor Basilica of SS Dionysius and Valentinus in Kiedrich in the Rheingau, in Hesse, Germany. It was built at the end of the 15th century in the Gothic style. Its organ is one of the oldest playable organs in Germany. The church was a pilgrimage destination for people with epilepsy and therefore has notable carved wooden laity stalls, including one decorated with the "Gerechtigkeitsspirale".
St Martin's Church is a Protestant parish church in Kassel, Hesse, Germany. It is also the preaching-church of the bishop of the Evangelical Church of Hesse Electorate-Waldeck. It is in the Gothic style and was begun in 1364 and completed in 1462, dedicated to St. Martin of Tours. It became a Protestant church in 1524, when Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse converted to Protestantism. From the 16th century until the end of the 18th century it was the burial place for the landgraves of Hesse.
The Marienstiftskirche is a Lutheran three-aisled hall church in Lich, Middle Hesse, Germany. It was built between 1510 and 1537, making it the last Late Gothic hall church to be built in Hesse. The architectural style straddles the transition between Gothic and Renaissance. It is a Hessian heritage site and contains objects of national art historical significance. The neighbouring Stadtturm, with its historic triple peal serves as a clocktower for the Marienstiftskirche.
The Carmelite Monastery Church of the Annunciation at Hirschhorn in Hesse, Germany dates from 1406, when the Lord of Hirschhorn established a Carmelite monastery there. Its architectural style is late Gothic. In 1803, the monastery was dissolved, and the church deconsecrated. The church fell into ruin; but it has since been rebuilt, and it was reconsecrated in 1910.
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