Altenberg Abbey
Daughter monasteries
Mariental Abbey ( 1143 ) Monastery Wągrowiec ( 1143 ) Monastery Ląd ( 1146 ) Kloster Zinna ( 1171 ) Kloster Haina ( 1188 ) Monastery Derneburg ( 1443 )
Altenberg Abbey (Latin Vetus Mons ) is a former Cistercian monastery in the village of Altenberg in the municipality of Odenthal Bergisch Land, the Valley of the Dhünn. It was founded in 1133; in 1803 it was secularized. To this day is the Altenberg Cathedral. Since the reconstruction of the ruin in 1847 by the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, the church is shared as a Protestant and Catholic parish church.
History
Foundation
The monastery was founded as a filiation (replicas ) of the monastery Mori Moon in Burgundy. 1133 came from there twelve monks under Abbot Berno into Dhünntal. You had was initially the seat of the Counts of Berg, the 11th- century castle on a mountain ledge on the slope of Bülsbergs above the Dhünn, available, Count Adolf II of Berg gave the Cistercians, as he with Schloss Burg the Wupper a new castle built. Adolf's brother, Count Eberhard of Berg had occurred in 1129 in the Cistercian monastery of Mori Moon. The monks tore the castle partially off and rebuilt it, but soon relocated its headquarters to the valley directly to the Dhünn because it offered better conditions for the Cistercian way of life and the monastery after the Cistercian "ideal plan". There they began the construction of a large monastery and put on fields, a grain mill and fish ponds so that the Abbey could take care of themselves; the monastic rule allowed for healthy monks no meat of four-legged animals. A first church, a three-nave Romanesque pillar basilica was consecrated (chorus ) or 1160 ( whole building ) already in 1145. The monastery immunity lasted until the Dhünn. Along the Dhünn emerged Economic and mill building. One of the chapels on the grounds of the convent, which is around 1230 built Markuskapelle at the Dhünn to this day, the northern section of the boundary wall was restored.
The founder, Count Adolf II occurred after 1160, even in the monastery Altenberg, where he died a short time later and was buried in Altenberg, which was the tradition of burials in the Altenberg Cathedral justified for the bergische dynasty until the 16th century; from the 17th and 18th centuries, the grave sites of the abbots are preserved in the cathedral. Adolf's brother, Archbishop Bruno II of Cologne, endowed the monastery with lands that extended to the left side of the Rhine. This creates a foundation for growing wealth of the abbey was laid. End of the 12th century belonged to the Abbey 107 priests monks and 138 lay brothers ( conversi ). Until then, were from the Abbey already five start-up companies expected ( Mariental monastery, Monastery Wągrowiec Ląd monastery, Kloster Zinna and monastery Haina ). The name " Old Mountain" is the first time in 1195, in contrast to the "New Mountain", Burg on the Wupper, mentioned.
1259 on the site of the previous building the foundation for a new, larger church, the High Gothic Altenberg Cathedral, laid, whose choir and southern transept were inaugurated in 1276. On July 3, 1379 final consecration of the overall construction takes place. According to the construction requirements of Cistercians of the cathedral has only one rider and no roof towers.
Development until the secularization
Its location on the river Dhünn the Abbey was an important part of the economy in the region and was promoted by the rulers of the Duchy of Berg and the archbishops of Cologne, for example, exemption from taxes. Towards the end of the 12th century founded the monks in Cologne as well significant trading venue "Old Hof " ( in the area of today's locust street near the main train station ) as a branch organization and center for the economy of the monastery; he served until the 15th century, the Bergische rulers as residence and venue, as well as the Altenberg abbots, some of whom resided in the 18th century more than in Cologne in Altenberg. Another Fronhof in today Köln- Nippes belonged from 1432 to 1803 the abbey; the building of this Altenberg court now serve as community center.
After a period of spiritual and economic stagnation from the 15th century began in the mid- 17th century heyday. Altenberg got a leading position in the Low German Cistercian province. In the late 17th century, the buildings were repaired and made several renovations and new buildings. Preserved are the baroque " Küchenhof " a erected at the Dhünn including the Markuskapelle farmyard, the "Orangerie" and south to the entrance opposite the west front of the cathedral on the crossing of the Dhünn. But Abbot Francis Kramer (1779-1796) then led a dissolute life so at the expense of the abbey, that he was forced to abdicate.
As a result of the French occupation of the left bank of the Rhine at the end of the 18th century the abbey lost two thirds of their lands and suffered an economic crisis. In 1803 the monastery was secularized by the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss.
Reusing the building systems
After the secularization of the abbey was dissolved and initially auctioned off the inventory (1804 ). 1806 sold the interim owner, King of Bavaria, Maximilian Joseph, the church and the monastery at the Cologne wine merchant Johann Heinrich Pleunissen for 26 415 thalers. The chemist Johann Gottfried Wöllner and Frederick man leased the land and established there a chemical factory in order to produce Prussian blue. After an explosion and subsequent fire in the night of 6 to 7 November 1815, the monastery building and the roof of the abbey church were destroyed. The monastery and the church fell more and more. 1830 overthrew a considerable part of the south transept, the crossing and the adjacent parts of the cathedral choir. In the years that followed changed several more times the owners. The system was finally partially used as a quarry.
Besides the cathedral, built in 1863, the Archdiocese of Cologne, a parsonage, the " Archbishop's Villa ". From 1922, the site of the former Abbey with the cathedral became the center for church youth work. The buildings mostly newly created in different phases bear the name House Altenberg. The house Altenberg cultivates also the "old brewery " at the Dhünn, a wing of the Küchenhofs, calls it the "House Mori Moon ", and in the future also the Orangerie.
In January 2013 a complete renovation of the house Altenberg by the Archbishopric of Cologne begins. The facades are to be retained, but the historical gateway and partly earlier arcades to be reopened. The building will make the original building structure of the abbey more recognizable. In the course of the renovation, extensive archaeological excavations and building research projects are taking place in the abbey grounds.
Abbots
The abbey stood in the course of their history 57 abbots.
...
...
...