For the feast of Our Lady’s Presentation, we continue our series on the twelve great Romanesque basilicas of Cologne, Germany, with the largest one of them, which is dedicated to Her. It is nicknamed ‘im Kapitol – in the Capitol’, to distinguish it from the smallest, ‘in Lyskirchen’, which is also Hers. This title refers to a large Roman temple which was built on the site in the first century AD, when Cologne became a Roman colony. (Its name derives from the Latin word “colonia”.) This temple was dedicated to the Capitoline triad, the gods Jupiter, Juno and Minerva; the nave of the church stands on its original foundations. (All images from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted.)
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| A 13th century wooden sculpture of the Virgin and Child, which stands at the front of the rood screen, known as “the Limburg Madonna.” (by Triptychon) |
Even though Sankta Maria im Kapitol was terribly damaged during World War II (as were all of the churches of Cologne), it nevertheless preserves enough artistic treasures and objects of interest that they merit a separate post. This article will therefore cover just the architectural structure, and some of its major features. (One of the twelve churches is dedicated to St Cecilia, whose feast is tomorrow, so we will cover that one first, and then come back here next week.) The church also has a wooden door made at the time of its original construction, ca. 1060, which is in an astonishingly good state of conservation, even retaining some of its original paint, despite the fact that it was not brought inside for preservation until the 1930s. (It is now installed at the end of the south aisle.) The two parts have 26 panels with scenes from the life of Christ, the Nativity cycle on the left, and the Passion and Resurrection cycle on the right. This object is rare and beautiful enough to merit its own article, which I will post during Advent.
Sankta Maria im Kapitol is traditionally said to have been originally founded by a Frankish noblewoman named Plectrude (died 718), the wife of Pepin of Herstal, during their long residence in Cologne. (After World War II, her sarcophagus was found in the middle of the bombed-out church). The construction of the current building began in the 11th century, following the plan of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, with three apses of equal size grouped around the crossing. It then became the custom for the archbishop of Cologne to celebrate the first Mass of Christmas here.
In 1170,
the westwork was expanded with three large towers, modelled on those of the nearby abbey of Brauweiler, but the central one collapsed in 1637, and the other two are not much higher than the façade. Thus, although Sankta Maria im Kapitol is the largest of the twelve basilicas in terms of its footprint on the ground, it is not as visually impressive as the others on the outside.
The square chapels between the apses were added in the second half of the 15th century.
The central nave viewed from the back of the church.
The nave is separated from the crossing by a large rood screen, built from 1517-23. When it was commissioned by five of the city’s noble families from artists in the city of Mechelen (roughly 120 miles to the west of Cologne, in modern Belgium), the commission inexplicably forgot to take into account regional differences in the measurement of a foot, and the screen wound up being much larger than intended.
The structure is made of a kind of black marble which abounds in Belgium; the white sculptural decorations are made of limestone. The medallions depict scenes of the youth of Christ, and other scenes from the Old and New Testaments, while the statues represent various prophets and saints.
The ambulatory around the eastern apse is separated from it by a very beautiful carved marble screen.
The southern apse seen from the northern one, which is basically identical to it.
The internal gallery of the westwork seems to have been inspired by the galleries of Charlemagne’s famous Palatine chapel in Aachen, about 44 miles to the west-southwest of Cologne.
