Michaelsberg Abbey, Bamberg

Michaelsberg Abbey or Michelsberg Abbey, also St. Michael's Abbey, Bamberg (

The abbey gave its name to the Michaelsberg, one of the hills of Bamberg, overlooking the town. With Bamberg Cathedral and the monasteries of St. Stephan and St. Gangolf it formed part of a T-shaped cross in Bamberg's topography.^[1]

The hill is the most prominent spur of the Steigerwald in the municipal area and with its steep eastern decline towards the Regnitz is significantly higher than the Domberg. This contributes to the dominant effect of the abbey buildings.^[2]: 2–3

History

Establishment of the abbey

The hill was inhabited before the abbey was founded. Excavations have uncovered massive walls and a moat from the 10th century.^[2]: 3

After the creation of the

A decline set in around 1420, resulting in reform attempts. In 1430, the Hussites sacked the abbey. In 1435, the abbey came into conflict with the townspeople of Bamberg and was plundered. In 1446 the abbey's debt had grown so large, that the bishop, Anton von Rotenhan (1431–59) deposed the abbot Johannes I. Fuchs and took control of the abbey directly. A thorough reform only came under bishop Georg I. von Schaumberg (1459–75), who appointed Eberhard von Venlo (died 1475) as abbot in 1463. He had come with some other monks from the monastery of St. Jakob near Mainz, a member of the Bursfelde Congregation. Michaelsberg joined this reform movement in 1467. Building activity surged: the guest house was built and the dormitory expanded. Changes were also made to the church. Abbot Andreas Lang (died 1503) had an inventory of all the abbey's possessions created and the abbey flourished under his rule. The abbey once again suffered during the German Peasants' War of 1525, and during the Franconian Margrave War (Markgräflerkrieg) in 1553. A period of recovery followed under abbot Veit I. Finger (died 1585).^{[1][2]: 5–7}

In the Thirty Years' War the abbey was occupied for several years by the Swedish army. In the 17th and 18th centuries the abbey recovered, and enjoyed a new period of prosperity in the early 18th century, notably under abbot Christoph Ernst von Guttenberg (died 1725). He managed to restore the abbey to sound financial health, laying the groundwork for the building that followed. Michaelsberg was in competition with both other abbeys that were being rebuilt in Baroque style (Langheim Abbey from 1681, Ebrach Abbey from 1687 and Banz Abbey from 1697) and the bishop who in 1695 had begun to expand his residence on the opposite hill.^{[1][2]: 7–8}

The agricultural buildings (Wirtschaftsgebäude) were added in several waves: after 1696 by Leonhard Dientzenhofer and from 1708 by his brother Johann. These significantly increased the size of the abbey and gave it its fortress-like look.^[1]

Abbot Anselm Geisendorfer came into confrontation with his bishop, Friedrich Karl von Schönborn and after additional conflict with his monks left the abbey in June 1740. In 1743 he was deposed. However, besides his work on the church (see below), Anselm was able to start a rebuilding of the Wirtschaftsgebäude, to which Balthasar Neumann contributed after 1742 and which his successor as abbot, Ludwig Dietz (died 1759), finished in 1744. In terms of construction, Ludwig and his successor, Gallus Brockard (died 1799), mostly focused on the park created on the terraces around the abbey. In the latter half of the 18th century, the financial situation of the abbey had deteriorated significantly as a result of mismanagement, the Seven Years' War and then the French Revolutionary Wars. Attempts at reform by the final abbot, Cajetan Rost (died 1804), were cut short by the abbey's dissolution.^[2]: 8

Dissolution of the abbey

By the time of the

Even before that seizure, in September 1802, the Bavarian government followed a suggestion by Friedrich Adalbert Marcus, the head of the hospital Vereinigtes Katharinen- und Elisabethenspital (St. Katharina and St. Elisabeth), to transfer the institution to the hill from the town centre, preventing the abbey buildings from being demolished.^[2]: 8–9

On 13 April 1803 the abbey was dissolved. The 21 monks then resident were obliged to leave. In 1808, the hospital became the formal owner of the buildings, but in 1817 the town took over. The abbey still houses the municipal retirement home Bürgerspital. From 1880 until 2002, facility management of the hospital was assigned to the

Due to its exposed location on top of the hill, the former abbey buildings are visible from many places in Bamberg. The structures enhance the impact on the viewer by their bulk. The Wirtschaftsgebäude and living quarters built during the Baroque period from massive sandstone surround the substantial two-spired church. In turn they are enveloped by the terrace gardens which surround the abbey on three sides. The palace-like three-storied main wing faces north, towards the Main.^[2]: 2–3

Abbey church

The first church on the site, dedicated to

After his death Bishop Otto was buried on 3 July 1139 in a tomb in the nave, in front of the altar dedicated to St. Michael. In 1287/8 a polychrome sculpture was created as a tomb figure, showing Otto with pallium, mitre, staff and book. Today it stands against the wall of the crypt. The current tomb was made (also polychrome) around 1435/40.[2]^: 25

On 27 April 1610, work on the roof resulted in a fire which destroyed all the roofs and the nave, but the tomb of Otto was virtually unaffected. Under abbot Johann V. Müller (died 1627) the rebuilding in Renaissance style started immediately. By October, the choir had a new roof and by 1614 the westworks with the two repaired towers had been finished. Reconstruction of the nave followed, and its ceiling was painted with the Garden of Heaven; bells, organ and choir stalls were bought. The new church was consecrated in 1617.^{[1][2]: 7, 25}

The still-extant organ-loft was also constructed very soon after the fire, in 1610, and is a significant work of German late

In 1833, the colorful painting of façade and statuary on the stair was removed and in 1837 on the orders of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, ten gravestones and memorials of the bishops of Bamberg from the 16th to the 18th century were removed from Bamberg Cathedral and set up in the Michaelskirche,^[1][2]: 9 as described in a guidebook of 1912:^[3]

"An entirely alien component of the church furnishings consists of those episcopal gravestones which Ludwig I ordered to be removed from the cathedral during its restoration, as stylistically inappropriate, and which were set up in the Michelskirche instead."^[4]

In 1886,

In 1952, the interior of the church was renovated. Work on the towers followed in 1985-7 and on the Holy Sepulchre 1985–96. In 2002, repair work on all the church roofs was completed.[2]^: 9

Today

The former abbey church of Saint Michael is now an ancillary church to the cathedral. Since 1993, the area has been part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The church, gardens and areas not used by the Spital used to be open to the public. However, due to structural integrity issues, the church has been closed since 2012. Work on what is expected to be a €50 million restoration began in the spring of 2016. This is expected to be finished in 2021 at the earliest.^[5]

See also

• Historical Museum Bamberg

Notes and references

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michaelsberg Abbey.

• Klöster in Bayern: Kloster Michelsberg, Bamberg (in German)

Further reading

• Braun, Rainer: Das Benediktinerkloster Michelsberg 1015-1525. Eine Untersuchung zur Gründung, Rechtsstellung und Wirtschaftsgeschichte (Die Plassenburg Bd. 39), Kulmbach 1977 (German)
• Hemmerle, Josef: Die Benediktinerklöster in Bayern, München 1970 (Germania Benedictina, Bd. 2 Bayern), p. 152-157 [with bibliography through 1969] (German)
• Hofmann, Anja: Sakrale Emblematik in St. Michael zu Bamberg. Verlag Harrassowitz (2002),
  ISBN 3-447-04413-6
  .
• Mayer, Heinrich: St. Michael zu Bamberg. Grabkirche des hl. Otto (Schnell und Steiner Kleine Kunstführer Nr. 366), München 1978 (German)
• Schneidmüller, Bernd: Die einzigartig geliebte Stadt - Heinrich II. und Bamberg, in: Kaiser Heinrich II. 1002-1024. Katalog zur Bayerischen Landesausstellung 2002 (= Veröffentlichungen zur Bayerischen Geschichte und Kultur Band 44/ 2002), ed. by Josef Kirmeier, Bernd Schneidmüller, Stefan Weinfurter and Evamaria Brockhoff, Augsburg 2002, p. 30-51 (German)
• Schwarzmann, Peter: Die ehemalige Benediktinerklosterkirche St. Michael in Bamberg (Historischer Verein für die Pflege der Geschichte des Ehemaligen Fürstbistums Bamberg Beiheft 27), Lichtenfels/ Main 1992 (German).