SS. Peter and Paul's Church, Göttingen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Paulinerkirche in the historic city center of Göttingen was completed as a minster in 1304. Today it serves as a convention and exposition center for the Göttingen State and University Library.
Since 1294 the Dominican Order was permitted to settle in Göttingen and started to build a monastery in the western part of the city center. The minster was constructed in the style of a gothic hall church typical for the order. Upon completion of the minster the Paulinerkirche is the most ancient gothic hall church in the historic center of Göttingen.
It was dedicated in 1331 to the apostles Peter and Paul. This is the origin of the name of the church. Since 1341 it was the repository for important relics of saint Thomas Aquinas. These drew every year great numbers of pilgrims to Thomasmass and provided the church with a good reputation in even far away places.
Twelve years after Martin Luther's publication of the 95 Theses reformation got hold in Göttingen in 1529. This resulted in hardships for the black friars in the subsequent years. The city magistrate in the beginning did not have full administrative control over the parish churches. These were under the authority of duke Erich I of Brunswick-Lüneburg, prince of Calenberg-Göttingen. He still kept faithful to the old belief and did not want to permit Lutheran sermons in his churches. The city magistrate therefore decided to say the masses in the two churches of the mendicant orders. The largest one of these was the Paulinerkirche, so most of these masses were said primarily here. The first regular mass was said by reverend Friedrich Hüventhal against the wishes of the monks on October 24, 1529. Also, in this place the first children in Göttingen were baptized to the Lutheran faith.
Shortly afterwards the monastery was dissolved, and the building was then used as a paedagogium for educational purposes. This lead later to the establishment of the Göttingen University in this building in 1737. A short time before this the foundation of the university library of Göttingen took place. The masses for the students and adademics continued in the church until 1803. The rapildy growing library resulted in a shortage of available space, so the masses had to move to another place. The library took over all parts of the building.
In 1812, under the rule of Jérôme Bonaparte, king of Westphalia, the lower windows were taken down and an additional floor was integrated. The upper part of the church was converted to a library hall.
The church suffered heavy damages in an allied air raid on November 24, 1944. After World War II the church was rebuilt and the library hall was opened as a lecture hall. Later it was used for the central catalogue of Lower Saxony.
Today, since the opening of the new building for the Göttingen State and University Library at the campus in 1992, the lecturing hall covers the entire length of the former church. The monumental hall building with a length of 52 meters offers all requirements for modern use, yet retains its ancient character. In spite of several renovations of the church building, it is still almost completely unadorned in its attire, inside as well as outside. In the lecturing hall there are long rows of bookshelves with the books which formed the base for the library in the 18th century.
The Paulinerkirche today is part of a building complex of the university library at the site of the former monastery precinct. The most important stock of books is stored since 1992 in the new building at campus. However, in the adjacent Gründerzeit style building remains the manuscript reading room, the research library, the Asia-Africa library, the map collection as well as several storage rooms. The Kollegienhaus (college house) is located between this building and the Paulinerkirche which was constructed as a baroque building between 1734 and 1737 from material of the old monastery. In this building in Papendiek street is the main entrance to the library as well as to the lecturing and exposition hall in the Paulinerkirche on the first floor. In front of the building is a bronze statue of important Göttingen professor Georg Christoph Lichtenberg.
[edit] Literature
- Wulf Schadendorf, Göttinger Kirchen, Göttingen, 1953
- Elmar Mittler (Hrsg.), 700 Jahre Pauliner Kirche - vom Kloster zur Bibliothek, Göttingen, Wallstein, 1994, ISBN 3-89244-188-X
[edit] External links
