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.
Wheel chandeliers were made for the practical purpose of lighting the great churches and other public areas, but in religion they also had symbolic significance, depicting the Garden of Eden or the Kingdom of God. The wheel, its gates, and its towers, which are usually decorated with Prophets and Apostles or inscribed with their names, symbolise the city walls of the New Jerusalem. The buttresses, towers, and candles number twelve or a multiple of twelve, after the numerology of the Book of Revelation. This symbolism is first found on two wheel chandeliers of Hildesheim Cathedral. [1] The great wheel chandelier of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was an inspiration. [2]
In Germany there are four great Romanesque wheel chandeliers. The fact that they are made from fire-gilt copper and not from pure gold has saved them from being melted down. They were decorated with Prophets and angels in silver and with precious gemstones, but for the most part these have been lost.
The wheel chandeliers of the Gothic period in Germany are smaller in size than the Romanesque ones, and they are no longer representations of Jerusalem. [3] The brass chandelier in Münster Cathedral consists of a pierced rim decorated with a few statuettes on its side, and ornamented with tracery-work like filigree and pinnacles. [3] In the Minster Church of St. Alexander in Einbeck there is a later gothic wheel chandelier of painted brass with a diameter of c. 3.5 metres. The inscription on its bracket dates it to 1420. It was presumably gifted by Degenhard Ree, a canon of the collegiate church. The composition ought to go back to a lost example in Pöhlde Cloister. [4]
Another Gothic example is one in bronze found in the Cathedral of St. Stephan and St. Sixtus in Halberstadt (1516).
In some neo-Romanesque churches there are large wheel chandeliers too. Some of these were electric even when they were first installed Some examples:
There are also contemporary wheel chandeliers, which continue this tradition:
Another type is the wagon wheel chandelier. As its name suggests, it is usually made from old wagon wheels. As opposite to most of the wheel chandeliers, wagon wheel chandeliers were usually created as a cheap way to lighten the common spaces of large houses, businesses and public halls. Most of them were made from wood reinforced with steel.
Hildesheim is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about 30 km (19 mi) southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Leine River.
Aachen Cathedral is a Catholic church in Aachen, Germany and the seat of the Diocese of Aachen.
Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term rose window was not used before the 17th century and comes from the English flower name rose.
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 because of its outstanding Romanesque architecture and art. It is now a shared church, the main church being Lutheran and the crypt being Roman Catholic.
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 in Lower Saxony, Germany, that serves as the seat of the Diocese of Hildesheim. The cathedral has been on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list since 1985, together with the nearby St. Michael's Church because of its unique art and outstanding Romanesque architecture.
The Comburg is a former Benedictine monastery near Schwäbisch Hall, Germany.
Bernward was the thirteenth Bishop of Hildesheim from 993 until his death in 1022.
Hezilo of Hildesheim, also known as Hezelo, Hettilo or Ethilo, was Bishop of Hildesheim from 1054 to 1079.
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.
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.
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.
The Azelin chandelier 1018 A.D 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).
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.
The Bernward Column also known as the Christ Column is a bronze column, made c. 1020 for St. Michael's Church in Hildesheim, Germany, and regarded as a masterpiece of Ottonian art. It was commissioned by Bernward, the thirteenth bishop of Hildesheim in 1020, and made at the same time. 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.
St. Godehard is a church in Hildesheim, Germany, formerly the church of a Benedictine abbey. It remained almost unaltered through the centuries and was not damaged much in World War II. It is one of the most important examples of Romanesque architecture in Germany.
The German: Herrenhäuser Kirche in Hanover-Herrenhausen, Lower Saxony, Germany) is a church built in neo-Gothic style. Located close to the Herrenhausen Gardens, it belongs to the Lutheran congregation of the Herrenhausen-Leinhausen parish and is a listed historic building.
Reformierte Kirche Rüti is an Evangelical Reformed church in the Swiss municipality of Rüti in the Canton of Zürich. It was built between 1214 and 1219 AD as the Romanesque style church of the then Premonstratensian Kloster Rüti, an abbey that was founded in 1206 by the House of Regensberg and suppressed in 1525 as part of the Reformation in Zürich.
Aegidien Church, after Saint Giles to whom the church was dedicated, is a war memorial in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony, Germany. The church dates from 1347, when it replaced an older Romanesque church dating to 1163. This in turn replaced an even earlier chapel. Aegidien Church was destroyed during the night beginning 8 October 1943 by aerial bombings of Hanover during World War II. In 1952, Aegidien Church became a war memorial dedicated to victims of war and of violence.
St. Leonhard is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. Its historic church dates to 1219, when it was erected in the centre of the town close to the river Main, as a Romanesque-style basilica. From 1425, it was remodeled to a hall church in late Gothic style. St. Leonhard was the only one of nine churches in the Old Town that survived World War II almost undamaged. Today, the parish is part of the Domgemeinde and serves as the parish church of English-speaking Catholics. It is a monument of Frankfurt's history as well as church history and medieval crafts.
St. Moritz, also St. Mauritius, is a church in Halle (Saale), Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, dedicated to St. Maurice. The late-Gothic hall church was built as an Augustine Stiftskirche from 1388. It features late-Gothic stone sculptures and a notable organ from 1925.