The St. Simeon’s Collegiate Church () was a

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, near the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

city gate of the

Porta Nigra The Porta Nigra (Latin language, Latin for ''black gate''), referred to by locals as Porta, is a large Roman Empire, Roman city gate in Trier, Germany. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The name ''Porta Nigra'' originated in the Middle Ages d ...

(Latin for 'Black Gate'). Named after the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

monk, St. Simeon of Trier, it is now a city museum in the former collegiate church’s buildings under the name, ('City Museum of the Simeonstift'). The church was created in 1037. In 1028 Simeon of Trier settled at the Porta Nigra as a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

. He was supposed to have walled himself up there at the gate’s east tower. After his death on 1 June 1035, he was buried in his room on the ground floor. In the same year, probably for Christmas, he was canonized by

Pope Benedict IX Pope Benedict IX (; ), born Theophylactus of Tusculum in Rome, was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States for three periods between October 1032 and July 1048 (1032–1044; 1045; 1047–1048). Aged about 20 when first elected, he may h ...

, in one of the first

canonization Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christianity, Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon ca ...

s ever made by a Pope. In honor of the new saint, they built the and converted the former tower to a ('twin church'). The Archbishop of Trier at that time, Poppo von Babenberg, personally had known the hermit and travelled with him. But a certificate of incorporation of the ''Simeonstift'' could not be obtained from him and it was probably never given. However, recent research showed that the church was founded soon after the canonization of Simeon. The was a two-story cloister in four wings with a dormitory in the north wing and a refectory in the west wing. According to the dendrochronological findings, the north wing dates from 1040. The first reliable documentation is a document of 1048, which proves the existence of a provost’s office and therefore the existence of a collegiate church’s charter.

Emperor Henry IV Henry IV (; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the son of Henry III, Holy ...

in 1098 confirmed all his possessions to the and granted, namely, more than sixty properties and privileges to it.(de) Heinrich Beyer
''Mittelrheinisches Urkundenbuch''
ook of the Middle Rhine Records Volume 1, page 452, Document No. 397 The conversion of the Porta Nigra was reversed more than 750 years later, in 1804, by the order of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

. Since then, the city gate has reverted almost to its original Gallo-Roman condition. Only the Romanesque east side of the

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 ...

still testifies from the outside to the fact that the Porta Nigra was once an imposing church.

References

External links

* (de, fr
Official website of the Museum Simeonstift Trier
* {{coord, 49, 45, 35, N, 6, 38, 36, E, region:DE-RP_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Buildings and structures in Trier Museums in Trier Religion in Trier