St. Mary Magdalene Church (Wroclaw)

The Magdalene Church at Breslau (St. Mary Magdalene, poln Katedra Sw. Marii Magdaleny ) is a Gothic brick church. She was as one built by the Council and the citizens citizenship church also one of the main churches of the city on the Oder. On October 23, 1523 held Johann Hess, the reformer of Wroclaw, his first sermon in the Church of the Madeleine. Until 1945 the church was Protestant, since she is Old Catholic.

History

Predecessors

The establishment of the first parish church - as the successor of St. Adalbert's Church - under the patronage of St. Andrew and Mary Magdalene was 1226-1232 by Bishop Lawrence I. of Wroclaw. 1241 a fire destroyed during the Tartar invasion this church building. A second building, which was carried out 1242-1248, had only about 100 years existence.

Architecture

The church is designed as a three-aisled basilica. Its present form was the church built in brick in the years 1342-1362, while the towers were completed later. Instead of 1481 established lead- covered, wooden Gothic peaks, the towers 1564-1581 were given the copper -roofed Renaissance domes. The other one in 47 meters height bridge between the two towers was first mentioned in documents in 1459.

On March 22, 1887 there was burning on the occasion of the 90th birthday of Kaiser Wilhelm I on the bridge fireworks from. Here, the north tower caught fire and the two Turks bells fell down and crashed.

Portals

The west portal is the main portal of the church. His ornamental, figurative jewelry is Gothic. On the south side is a Renaissance portal and a late Romanesque portal, derived from the 1546 aborted Vincent monastery on the Elbing. There is a Baroque portal on the north side.

Equipment

Inside the church there are 16 chapels and numerous side altars and epitaphs. The epitaph for Adam of Arzat created in 1677 by the sculptor Matthias Rauch Müller, who also wrote the epitaph for Octavius ​​Pestaluzzi.

Bells

In the south tower hung the hangdog bell, which was cast in 1386. It was rung on feast days and the Our Father. Probably the biggest bell in Silesia with a circumference of 6.30 meters and an inner height of 1.80 meters, it was destroyed by fire on May 17, 1945 forever.

Presence

Today is the Magdalene Church in possession of the Polish Catholic Church. It is the cathedral church of the Old Catholic Diocese of Breslau.