Nave - Franziskanerkirche - Rothenburg ob der Tauber - Germany 2017

The Franciscan Friary of Rothenburg ob der Tauber (german: Franziskanerkloster Rothenburg o.d. Tauber) is a former friary of the

Conventual Franciscans The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (OFM Conv) is a male religious fraternity in the Roman Catholic Church that is a branch of the Franciscans. The friars in OFM CONV are also known as Conventual Franciscans, or Minorites. Dating back to ...

in the town of

Rothenburg ob der Tauber Rothenburg ob der Tauber () is a town in the district of Ansbach of Mittelfranken (Middle Franconia), the Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. It is well known for its well-preserved medieval old town, a destination for tourists from around the ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

in the

diocese of Bamberg The Archdiocese of Bamberg (lat. ''Archidioecesis Bambergensis'') is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Bavaria and is one of 27 Roman Catholic dioceses in Germany. In 2015, 32.9% of the population identified as Catholic, and 15.6% of tho ...

. Nowadays the former Franciscan church is an

Evangelical Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

parish church.

History

The friary, dedicated to the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

, was founded in 1281''Rothenburg o.d. Tauber, Franziskaner''
at www.datenmatrix.de. Accessed on 26 Jul 2011. by Hermann von Hornburg, '' Schultheiß'' of Rothenburg, and others, but was not consecrated until 1309.''A Tour of the Churches through Rothenburg ob der Tauber''
Accessed on 26 Nov 2019. It was wound up in 1548 in the wake of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. The buildings of the friary, vacated voluntarily, were used initially for the establishment of a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

, later as a home for the widows of priests. In 1805 the building became, among other things, a salt store. Parts of the premises (cloisters, refectory, etc.) were demolished; many of the contents were destroyed or sold, including the Wiblinger Altar by

Tilman Riemenschneider Tilman Riemenschneider (c. 1460 – 7 July 1531) was a German sculptor and woodcarver active in Würzburg from 1483. He was one of the most prolific and versatile sculptors of the transition period between late Gothic and Renaissance, a master ...

. In spite of the losses and damages of the past the church today is a significant example of the church of a mendicant order, with a rood screen and important art treasures.

Graves and Tombs

Following the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...

, Rothenburg was struck by a plague that killed more than two thousand people in three months. ''Rothenburg in Bavaria''. Many of those that died were buried in the friary's graveyard. Many families owned tombs at the friary. Some of these families were the Berlichingens, Beulndorfs, Brettheims, Hornburgs, and Kreglings. The tomb of Swedish officer Perkhöffer is also located here.''Rothenburg on the Tauber Guide''
Accessed on 26 Nov 2019. These names and others can be found on the many epithets on the friary walls.

Miscellaneous Information

*The altarpiece ''Passion'' by Riemenschneider was likely originally meant to be the high altar of the friary. Certain sculptural details indicate that Martin Schwartz, the guardian of the friary (1485-1506), helped to create ''Passion''.''Two groups from Riemenschneider's early Passion altarpiece''
Accessed on 26 Nov 2019. *The friary is Rothenburg's oldest church.''Objects and Facts of Interest''
Accessed on 26 Nov 2019. *The friary was built in the early

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths ** Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken ...

. *The Franciscan Friary is also known as the Franciscan Church, Franciscan Monastery, and Franziskanerkirche. *Late 19th century journalist Katharine S. Macquoid described the friary as beautiful despite its disrepair, while considering the nearby St. Jacob's Church to be bland and uninteresting. ''Rothenburg on the Tauber''.

References

External links

Klöster in Bayern: Franziskanerkloster Rothenburg o. d. Tauber (Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte)
* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Franciscan Friary Rothenburg ob der Tauber Buildings and structures in Rothenburg ob der Tauber Rothenburg Franciscan Rothenburg Franciscan Rothenburg Franciscan