Crypt

A crypt ( gr, the Hidden ', the word was also tomb ) is under the choir ( apse ) or being below the altar of Christian Churches space usually for shrines (also reliquaries ) and altars served. In the crypt there were initially after early Christian custom of the relics of a martyr.

History

As a precursor of the crypt ( gr κρυπτός: hidden ',' secret '), the early Christian underground grave installations are outside the walls of ancient Rome. About some of these tombs churches were built later, such as Alt- St. Peter's in Rome, said to have been built on the grave of the disciple Peter. The grave is located in most cases under the apse in Romanesque sometimes under the west choir. The actual Holy grave under the altar can be designed to be non- walk-in chamber, known as the Augsburg Confession.

The first crypts were created into studs, which is why they are called " studs crypt ". To generate close to the grave, was allowed to follow the tunnels of the apse, creating a room around the grave was. This form is called " ring crypt ". The first ring crypt can be found in Old St. Peter to 590 as cultivation to ring the outer crypt crypt, in the mainly religious dignitaries were buried, which made necessary altars for memorial services emerged. The first outer crypt can be found in Brixworth, England, it was built in the early 8th century. The heyday of the crypt as the design was the Romanesque period, in the form of the hall crypt, which developed out of the ring with outer crypt crypt.

The hall crypt is mehrschiffig and often extends to below the transept of the church. Their height made ​​it necessary to raise the choir. The hall crypt of the Speyer Cathedral, for example, seven meters high and has seven apses, creating a " lower church " was born. In hall crypts and secular dignitaries were buried. With the advent of Gothic crypt disappeared, as have now been held martyrs and their relics in shrines and placed above ground in dealing choirs open display. Newly built churches of the Cistercians and later founded the Order do not usually have crypts, as they were not built on saints' tombs.

Significant crypts

• Crypts in the Basilica of St. Emmeram ( Regensburg, Germany ): Ring crypt (before 791 ), Ramwoldskrypta (about 980 ) and Wolfgang Crypt ( 1052 )
• Crypt of St. Michael in Hildesheim (1010 - 1015)
• Crypt of the Paderborn Cathedral
• Crypt of St Michael's Church (Hamburg)
• Crypt of the Brunswick Cathedral
• Crypt of the cathedral Mönchengladbach
• Crypt of the Speyer Cathedral
• Crypt of Fulda Cathedral
• Crypt of the Freising Cathedral
• Crypt in the monastery Neuenberg
• Crypt in the cathedral of Gurk (Carinthia, Austria )
• Crypt in Schlägl (Upper Austria, Austria )
• Crypt in the cathedral of Lund (Sweden)
• Crypt in St. Peter's Basilica (Rome, Italy ), see Vatican Grottoes
• Crypt of the Matthias Church (Budapest ), Hungary
• Leonhard crypt in Wawel Cathedral ( Krakow, Poland to 1038 )
• Crypt of San Antolin in the Cathedral of Palencia, Spain