The Basilica of St Mary ‘in Lyskirchen’ in Cologne

On Thursday, the feast day of a Saint called Gereon, I posted pictures of the Romanesque basilica dedicated to him in Cologne, Germany. This is one of the city’s twelve major Romanesque churches, and since seven of them have their titular feasts in October or November, it seems like a good occasion to do a series covering them all. The largest and the smallest of the twelve are both dedicated to Our Lady, and are distinguished from each other by the epithets ‘im Kapitol’ and ‘in Lyskirchen’. Since today we celebrate the Saturday Office of the Virgin Mary, we will continue the series with the latter. (All images from this page of Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted.)

Image by Elke Wetzig

The founding of the church is legendarily attributed to a bishop of Cologne named Maternus, who lived in the early fourth century, but is first attested in a document of the year 948, as a small and privately owned church. The name “Lyskirchen” is believed to derive from the owner’s name, Lisolvus in Latin, or Lysolfus in German. The church is on the bank of the Rhine, and was often frequented by fisherman and dockworkers, whence its lovely Gothic statue of the Virgin (shown above, ca. 1420) is called “the Madonna of the Sailors” (Schiffermadonna). The earlier form of the church was repeatedly damaged by flooding; the current structure was begun in the very last years of the 12th century, and on a higher level than the previous one.

Image by Rolf Heirich, CC BY 3.0

Image by Johan Bakker

As is almost always the case with older churches in Europe, the building underwent numerous additions and changes, and aspects of each of these changes remain in various ways. Cologne was bombed repeatedly during the Second World War, and although the church was badly damaged, the vaults of the nave and transept were left unscathed. Subsequent restoration led to the uncovering of the vault’s original frescoes; this is the only one of the twelve in which the medieval paintings on the ceiling survive. The exterior was likewise restored to something like its original appearance.

The life of St Catherine of Alexandria, depicted in the vaults of the left transept, ca. 1280...

and of St Nicholas in the right transept, ca. 1270. (Both images by MenkinAlRite.)

Two of the vaults of the nave; the iconographic program is extremely complex, and depicts episodes from the Bible ranging from the Sacrifice of Isaac to Pentecost, along with various Saints and symbolic figures of the Virtues.

Image by Arnoldius

The 13th century baptismal font

Image by MenkinAlRite

The central nave.

Image by CEphoto Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0. Unfortunately, many historical churches in Germany were badly damaged during WW2; “restorers” of a modernizing bent were then able to take advantage of the situation to create unattractively bare sanctuaries on the specious pretext that by doing so, they were returning to a putative earlier simplicity.

A side-altar in the left nave, with a copy (1816) of a triptych of the Lamentation of Christ by the Dutch painter Joos van Cleve (1485-1540). The original was donated to the church in 1524, but was sold in 1812, and is now in a museum in Frankfurt.

Image by Raimond Spekking

Image by MenkinAlRire

The pulpit on the right side of the sanctuary.

Image by Arnoldius

The Romanesque portal.

Image by CEphoto Uwe Aranas, CC BY 3.0