Frankfurt Am Main-Dominikanerkloster-Ansicht von der Kurt-Schumacher-Strasse-Gegenwart

The Dominican Monastery () is a former Christian

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. It is the seat of Protestant Regional Association, a group of

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

congregations and deaneries in the city, and serves as the convention site for the Synod of the

Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau The Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau (, EKHN) is a United Protestant church body in the German federal states of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate. There is no bishop and therefore no cathedral. One of its most prominent churches is Katharinen ...

, held usually twice a year. The former monastery compound includes a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

church building, called the ''Church of the Holy Spirit'' (). Founded in 1233, the monastery came under the possession of the city in 1803. Completely destroyed during World War II, it was rebuilt in 1955–1957 by the architect Gustav Scheinpflug based on the old floor plan and layout, but in the architectural style of the post-war period. Of the original Gothic structure, only the late Gothic style

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

of the church remains.

History

HMF Duerer Gruenewald Harrich Heller-Altar DSC 6312

Founding

The

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

initially established itself in Frankfurt in 1233. The city assigned its members a plot of land near the medieval city wall ( Staufenmauer), where they built a small house which would later serve as the monastery entrance. Construction of the actual monastery began in 1238, but the pace of building was slow due to the Order's reliance on

alms Alms (, ) are money, food, or other material goods donated to people living in poverty. Providing alms is often considered an act of Charity (practice), charity. The act of providing alms is called almsgiving. Etymology The word ''alms'' come ...

from abroad. In 1245 the monastery buildings were completed, but the construction of the church on the southern part of the complex lasted a few more years. From a

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

issued on 30 May 1259, the church appears to have already been

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

at that time.

14th century

The monastery church was, after the imperial Collegiate Church of Saint Bartholomew the largest church in the city. It attracted several prominent scholars and preachers and received numerous donations from the local citizenry. The elections of the

German kings This is a list of monarchs who ruled over East Francia, and the Kingdom of Germany (), from Treaty of Verdun, the division of the Francia, Frankish Empire in 843 and Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in ...

Adolf of Nassau (1292), Henry VII (1308) and

Günther von Schwarzburg Günther XXI von Schwarzburg (c. 1304 – 14 June 1349), disputed King of Germany, was a descendant of the counts of Schwarzburg. Biography Born as the younger son of Henry VII, Count of Schwarzburg-Blankenburg (c. 1267–1324) and his wi ...

(1349) took place at the monastery. The monastery was also involved in the conflict between

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Louis IV and

Pope John XXII Pope John XXII (, , ; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death, in December 1334. He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Papacy, Avignon Pope, elected by ...

. After the Dominicans sided with the papacy, they were expelled from Frankfurt and other cities in 1330. They were allowed to return to Frankfurt after the city council and the citizenry appealed to the Emperor, but were obliged to not oppose the Emperor and clergymen loyal to him with either "words or works." In 1359 the Emperor Charles IV placed the Dominicans under his protection, a privilege that was regularly confirmed by his successors.

Late Middle Ages

In the 15th century the monastery was significantly expanded. A

cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...

was built in 1449 and further extended in 1499 so that it was fully enclosed in all four directions. In 1470–1472 the choir of the church was rebuilt in the late Gothic style. The monastery library became the largest in Frankfurt, although its collections were later transferred to the city library. In 1462 the Jewish residents of Frankfurt were forced to relocated to the

Frankfurter Judengasse The Frankfurter Judengasse () was the Jewish ghetto of Frankfurt and one of the earliest ghettos in Germany. It existed from 1462 until 1811 and was home to Germany's largest Jewish community in early modern times. At the end of the 19th centu ...

to the east of the monastery, on the opposite side of the Staufenmauer. The close proximity between the Dominicans and Jews became a source of tension, and conflicts between the two groups frequently arose.

Decline

The heyday of the monastery ended with the introduction of the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

in Frankfurt in 1533. The city council initially forbade the Dominicans from public preaching; it also planned to subject the property of the church to public use, and to inventory and regulate its donations. In response, the provincial chapter of the Order brought a lawsuit against the city before the

Imperial Chamber Court The ; ; ) was one of the two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, the other one being the Aulic Council in Vienna. It was founded in 1495 by the Imperial Diet in Worms. All legal proceedings in the Holy Roman Empire could be ...

, and the council eventually put its plans aside so as to not come into open conflict with the Emperor. The monastery remained a Catholic enclave in the

-dominated city until its secularization in 1803. The buildings were then acquired by the city of Frankfurt. During this time, the church underwent only minor changes, the most notable being the building of a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

extension on the western facade in circa 1680. In the 18th century the monastery served as the venue for most of the assemblies of both the Electoral Rhenish and the

Upper Rhenish Circle The Upper Rhenish Circle () was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1500 on the territory of the former Duchy of Upper Lorraine and large parts of Rhenish Franconia including the Swabian Alsace region and the Burgundi ...

s of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1790 the

archbishop of Mainz The Elector of Mainz was one of the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. As both the Archbishop of Mainz and the ruling prince of the Electorate of Mainz, the Elector of Mainz held a powerful position during the Middle Ages. The Archb ...

dissolved the Dominican monastery and converted it into a new association, the ''Congregatio ad Sanctum Fridericum''.

Secularization

Frankfurt Am Main-Peter Becker-BAAF-032-Aussicht vom Steinernen Haus in der Judengasse nach Westen-1872

With the ''

Reichsdeputationshauptschluss The ' (formally the ', or "Principal Conclusion of the Extraordinary Imperial Delegation"), sometimes referred to in English as the Final Recess or the Imperial Recess of 1803, was a resolution passed by the ' (Imperial Diet) of the Holy Roman Em ...

'' of 1803 the monastery fell to the

Free Imperial City of Frankfurt Frankfurt was a major city of the Holy Roman Empire, being the seat of imperial elections since 885 and the city for imperial coronations from 1562 (previously in Free Imperial City of Aachen) until 1792. Frankfurt was declared an Imperial F ...

. During the 19th century the monastery was used for several purposes, such as a storehouse for property taken by the city during secularization, a goods store and, after 1815, a barracks for the ''Linienbataillons'', the military of the Free City. In 1809 eighty-two of the monastery's paintings, including works by

Hans von Aachen Hans von Aachen (1552 – 4 March 1615) was a German painter who was one of the leading representatives of Northern Mannerism. Hans von Aachen was a versatile and productive artist who worked in many genres. He was successful as a painter of p ...

and

Philipp Uffenbach Philipp Uffenbach (15 January 1566 – 6 April 1636) was a German painter and Etching, etcher. He was born in Frankfurt, and trained under Hans Grimmer. One of his pupils was Adam Elsheimer. His interests included mechanics, geometry alchem ...

, were purchased and donated to the Frankfurt

Museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

; most of these pieces are now at the

Historical Museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...

or on permanent loan at the

Städel The Städel, officially the ''Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie'', is an art museum in Frankfurt, with one of the most important collections in Germany. The museum is located at the Museumsufer on the Sachsenhausen bank of t ...

. Plans to demolish the church were drafted in 1875, but were stopped due to the intervention of the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n ''Generalkonservator''

Ferdinand von Quast Alexander Ferdinand Ludolf von Quast (18 October 1850 – 27 March 1939) was a Prussian military officer, participant in the Franco-Prussian War and a general in the First World War. He commanded the German 6th Army during the Battle of the Lys o ...

. Another demolition attempt in 1884 was also prevented, but renovation work was undertaken in 1885–1889 and a wall dividing the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

of the church was built. The eastern half, together with the choir, was used as a gymnasium for the Arnsburger School, which was itself housed in the monastic buildings, while the western side received the addition of an organ

matroneum A triforium is an interior gallery, opening onto the tall central space of a building at an upper level. In a church, it opens onto the nave from above the side aisles; it may occur at the level of the clerestory windows, or it may be locate ...

and several side rooms and was used as a public hall. In the 1920s these additions were removed as part of a restoration of the church.

National Socialists, destruction and rebuilding

Prior to the Second World War, the monastery was home to the Museum of Prehistory and Early History (now the

Archaeological Museum An archaeology museum is a museum that specializes in the display of archaeological artifacts. Many archaeology museum are in the open-air museum, open air, such as the Ancient Agora of Athens and the Roman Forum.David Watkin. ''The Roman Forum ...

). According to some sources, the church also served as a storage facility for works of art confiscated from deported Jews. On 18 March 1944 the then secularised church was destroyed during the Allied bombing of Frankfurt. Its ruins were removed in the postwar period, except for the remnants of the choir and north wall. With the adoption of the Lutheran

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

by the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt in 1533 the city had unilaterally appropriated all religious buildings within its jurisdiction, later added those which fell under its jurisdiction in 1803, such as the Dominican Convent. The status of the churches being city property but used by Lutherans (or Catholics) was statutorily fixed in 1830 by the ''deeds of dotation''. One of the Lutheran congregation held usufruct of the , likewise destroyed in 1944. After the city had decided not to reconstruct that church, in 1953 the Lutheran congregation and the city concluded to exchange the congregation's usufruct to the destroyed Weißfrauenkirche for that of the to-be-rebuilt former convent with its former abbey. The city commissioned the architect for the project. The former Dominican abbey was rebuilt and on the second Sunday of

Advent Advent is a season observed in most Christian denominations as a time of waiting and preparation for both the celebration of Jesus's birth at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Chri ...

, 1961, the completed building was inaugurated as the new Lutheran ''Holy Spirit Church''. It is now one of the city's dotation churches left for eternal usage by a Lutheran congregation. The Lutheran congregation enjoying usufruct of the Holy Spirit Church building is a member of the

, comprising Lutheran, Reformed and United Protestant congregations.

The monastery today

The monastery is now the seat of the Protestant Regional Association of Frankfurt, which provides administrative and other support to the congregations and deaneries of the city. The Synod of the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau, usually held biannually, also takes place at the monastery.

Architecture

Heilig-geist-kirche-2011-dominikaner-kloster-ffm-055-a

The old church was a three-aisled early Gothic hall without a

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

, measuring 53.60 meters long and 15.60 meters wide.Unsere Stadtkirchen im Zentrum: Die Dotationskirchen der Stadt Frankfurt am Main – Auf einen Blick
/ref> It was built mainly from

rubble stone Rubble masonry or rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Some medieval cathedral walls have outer shells of ashlar wit ...

, with parts of

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

also present. The nave was eight

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

long; the westernmost bay featured an ornate stellar

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosur ...

, while the remaining bays had simple

rib vault A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic a ...

s. The vaults of the southern and slightly narrower north aisles of the nave were about one to two meters lower than the 11.60 meter central aisle. The vaults were supported by seven pairs of simple circular pillars featuring base plates and unadorned, cup-shaped

capitals Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

. Above the eastern pair of pillars of the nave was an octagonal Gothic

flèche Flèche or Fleche may refer to: * Flèche (architecture), a type of church spire * Flèche (cycling), a team cycling competition * Flèche (fencing), an aggressive offensive fencing technique * Flèche (fortification), a defensive work *, ships of ...

. During the bombing of 18 March 1944, the nave and several of the side aisle bays were destroyed and the inside of the church was burned. The

chancel arch In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

, a large portion of the pillars and several vaults of the nave initially survived, but these collapsed in 1954 before the start of rebuilding.G. Edelmann, ''Zur Baugeschichte der Dominikanerkirche in Frankfurt am Main''. in: Schriften des Historischen Museums XI, Frankfurt am Main 1958, S. 46 Of the original church today only the outer walls of the nave choir, consisting of a bay with ribbed vaults, a five-eighths polygonal

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

and the

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support th ...

of three of the five stained glass windows have been preserved. Of the monastery, the former

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christianity, Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is us ...

(which now serves as a

refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monastery, monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminary, seminaries. The name ...

) and the

chapter house A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...

were preserved to an extent that their remains could be integrated into the new structure. The new building of the Church of the Holy Spirit was based on the austere aesthetics of the reconstruction period. Only the choir was restored to its old model. The new nave was again divided into three aisles by two rows of pillars. The existing foundations were retained, but the load distribution has been changed so that the supporting pillars accommodate a higher load than the previous building, while the exterior walls were relieved. The new building is also more than 10 meters shorter than the old monastery church. The church today can accommodate around 700 visitors.

References

External links

City Walk: Downtown Churches of Frankfurt

Frankfurt Protestant Regional Association

Harald-Reportagen: Photos of the ruins of the Dominican Monastery in the 1950s
{{Authority control 1230s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1233 establishments in Europe Buildings and structures in Frankfurt HolySpirit Frankfurt-Altstadt