The Abbey Church of Balthasar Neumann
A new church
The old church was in a state of disrepair
Around 1740 it became apparent that neither its structural condition nor its size
would suffice for the future. It was therefore up to Abbot Aurelius Braisch to build the
most massive work in the history of building and art in Neresheim. He made the far-reaching decision to build a new church. Times were calm, the monastery had secure income. This allowed the first thoughts to develop into bold ideas: the new church had to become the culmination of all the monastery buildings that had been built so far.
Balthasar Neumann
Who came into question for the realisation of such plans? Basically a handsome number! The names of local church architects from Upper Swabia and Vorarlberg had a good reputation. However, the Neresheim abbot does not seem to have approved of any of them. He opted for the first master builder of his time: Balthasar Neumann, the chief building director, artillery officer and engineer for the prince-bishops of Würzburg.
Diverse references
When Abbot Aurelius approached Neumann, the son of a clothier born in 1687 in Eger
the undisputed reputation of being the most important architect between Cologne and Constance. His creative intuition was combined with enormous manpower and ingenious organisational talent.
The complete oeuvre
Provided with the benevolence of his employer and patron Prince-Bishop Friedrich
Karl von Schönborn, Neumann often surveyed, planned and built more than half a dozen different projects at the same time, on imperial and royal residences, on the prestige projects of neighbouring princes, dukes and cardinals. His life's work includes 58 castles, monasteries and housing estates, 28 churches, 5 bridges, 9 fortifications and 8 waterworks. Not counting the multitude of unrealised designs and modernisation proposals! The Neresheim Abbey Church was to be his last major sacred building, the completion of which took considerable time beyond his early death.
The Start of Construction
When Neumann first came to Neresheim, he took the plans of Münsterschwarzach along with him, as requested, but was able to convince the abbot as well as the convent that ...
... “one church does not have to turn out like the next.”
The preparatory groundwork began in Neresheim in 1745. The actual start of construction followed in 1747. Neumann had delivered a cost estimate of 45,791 fl and a thoroughly elaborated design. However, his many obligations did not allow him to be present in Neresheim all the time. Therefore, he entrusted the construction management to his pupil, Leonhard Stahl.
The Construction
The designs and execution
In 1749, problems arose with the old church’s demolition. The construction manager, Stahl, then produced a layout of both the old and the new church. Of all the design and execution drawings made for the Neresheim Abbey Church before and during the construction period, 20 plans have been preserved that can be reliably attributed to the Neumann building office and its instructions. Their faithful reproductions are included in the content of the monastery museum.
In 1750, on the feast of St. Ulrich, the ceremonial laying of the foundation stone took place, accompanied by the sound of music and three shots fired by the "big gun". Over the Following few years, construction progressed rapidly. Balthasar Neumann passed away on 19 August 1753. A brief feverish illness prevented him from doing any work. His final work had...
... "advanced from the foundation and into something more respectable in the heights.“
The sudden loss of the great master builder was particularly sorely felt in Neresheim. In his letter of condolence, Abbot Aurelius wrote to Neumann's widow that the...
...“main pillar of my church building, which had started out so powerfully, had fallen.”
The vaulting in wood
On 28 June 1759, the abbot and the convent took a significant decision regarding the construction and the building’s continuity: Deviating from Neumann's designs, they decided to vault the domes in wood. The light-providing lantern of the main dome and a number of ornamental details were dispensed with. For the wooden construction, the vaulting was designed to be flatter than originally intended by Neumann
The execution
Johann Baptist Wiedemann, a master builder from Donauwörth, was entrusted with the final completion. The carpenters, Hans Georg Neumayr from Wallerstein and Franz Josef Pfeifer from Ebnat, were commissioned with the work. In the winter of 1769/70, the church was vaulted and completed to such an extent that the dome frescoes could be started with in the following summer months The building had now found its final form, still dominated by Balthasar Neumann's ingenious planning, with a layout in the shape of the Latin cross, boasting a length of 83 m and a width of 35 m In the transept. Its full dimensions are now spanned by seven domes, the largest of which, the main dome or the "Neresheim canopy", has a diameter of 24 m in the longitudinal direction and a height of 32 m.
The exterior and interior
The façade
While the church was growing in height, the mighty façade was built at about the same time on the west. Essentially, its execution was based on Neumann's plans from 1749. The two 4 m high sculptures of St. Ulrich and St. Afra were created by Johann Michael Fischer from Dillingen in 1767.
The exterior
The exterior of the church has a relatively sober design and, as such, resembles most southern German baroque churches. Merely the slightly-protruding façade of hewn limestone ashlars in its central section is richly enhanced by Corinthian pilasters and high, round-arched windows in its two storeys.
The Interior
Whereas the Neresheim façade lacks the subtle filigree look of Vierzehnheiligen,
Its monumental austerity and sobriety is awe-inspiring. The visitor is all the more impressed by the contrast of the interior. It becomes apparent that the restrained exterior is well-considered. The symbolism of the contrast between all earthly imperfection and heavenly glory, which is the basis of baroque architecture, clearer here in Neresheim than hardly anywhere else.
The outer shell is nothing, the interior is everything!
"Baroque architecture, not only of Germany but of Europe, has hardly anything that can compare with it" (Dehio).
Brightness
Neumann assigned an important role to brightness, provided by 45 windows, which provided light in abundance. No presence of any mystical twilight, typical for medieval cathedrals, is noticeable. Shielded by mighty pillar backdrops to the greatest extent, the light becomes a typical baroque design element, whose effect successfully lends wings to the imagination.
Wall architecture
The wall architecture displays a three-part structure: a pierced plinth storey, above it the main storey with galleries and a lower row of windows, above the mighty main cornice, a second row of windows between the vaulting attachments. On the main floor, the contrasting movement of the galleries projecting into the room and the main, outward-swinging cornice above is impressive.
"Exceeding all knowledge, the Neresheim church experience is so moving because of the truly magnificent spatial stereogram, with the grandiose dominant main dome feature, supported by four pairs of free-standing columns. Neumann has not only crowned his own work here, but as the spokesman of his entire epoch, he has fulfilled its wishes and aspirations" (von Freeden).