The Maria im Weingarten (Mary in the Vineyard) is a Catholic pilgrimage church situated above the Franconian wine town of Volkach on the in the district of Kitzingen, Lower Franconia. The Late Gothic church is located in the midst of the vineyards of the Franconian wine region on the Volkach (Church Hill). It houses a significant work of art by the woodcarver Tilman Riemenschneider.
History
As the oldest parish in the Mainschleife region, the pilgrimage church of Maria im Weingarten has a rich history. Threatened by wars and destruction over the centuries, it became particularly well known due to a spectacular art theft in the 1960s.
Proto-parish and Beguine Hermitage (to the 15th Century) The origins are unknown, but it is assumed that the church on the hill served as the original parish church for the settlements on the in the 10th and 11th centuries. This is supported by findings of a Carolingian-Ottonian church beneath the current structure. The villages of Volkach, Obervolkach, , , Gaibach, Krautheim, as well as Stammheim and Fahr belonged to the Kirchberg parish. A different church stood on the site of the current one at that time; it was dedicated to Saint Bartholomew and was first mentioned in 1245 as the church "de monte kyrhberc prope volka" (Lat. from the mountain Kirchberg near Volkach).
The 14th century brought a decisive change when a Beguine hermitage was established on the hill near the town. The lay religious women came from the dissolved Beguinage at St. John's Church in Großbirkach near Ebrach and reached Volkach in 1332. Until 1442, they cared for the sick and poor on the hill. During this time, the new church of was built in the town itself, which soon took over the parish duties of the Kirchberg. Concurrently, an image of the Pietà created around 1370 gave rise to a pilgrimage directed towards the Volkach Kirchberg.
New Construction and Pilgrimage Church (to the 19th Century)
The pilgrimage was supported by a Marian brotherhood founded around the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg . In addition to the Bishop, it consisted of nobles such as the Counts of , the Lords of Seinsheim, and the family, as well as citizens of Volkach. In 1442, they dissolved the Beguine house and pushed for the prompt construction of a new church. In 1447, the building was dedicated to Saint Mary. The Würzburg builder Kilian Reuter was recruited for the task; he completed the choir . The 1451 consecration was performed by the Auxiliary Bishop Wichman of Bersabee.
The construction of the nave followed until 1457, again executed by master Kilian Reuter. He planned the building as a three-aisled hall church. However, the installation of a flat ceiling and its painting in 1499 by Master Ulrich resulted in a single-aisled hall structure. With the turn of the 16th century, the pilgrimage church lost its importance to in Dettelbach, and fewer pilgrims visited the church.
In 1521, those responsible attempted to attract more pilgrims with the Madonna of the Rosary by Tilman Riemenschneider; this failed initially. Prince-Bishop Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn had the church repainted in 1610 and visited the site. In 1628, there were plans to establish a monastery on the Kirchberg, but the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War ended these efforts. However, the horrors of the subsequent war years revived the pilgrimage to the Kirchberg.
After the war, six monks again cared for the pilgrims, coming from the Franciscans, the Penitents, and the Capuchins. The Baroque redesign of the pilgrimage church began in 1664. These renovations concluded in 1724 with the Baroque altar, purchased for 120 fl. from the Abbey Church of Münsterschwarzach. In 1880, the church was altered when Neo-Gothic fittings were added to the interior. These were removed during a renovation in 1954/1955.
The "Madonna Robbery" and Art Pilgrimage (to Present) On the night of August 6–7, 1962, thieves stole the Madonna of the Rosary and two other valuable pieces of the church's furnishings. In the process, they damaged the Madonna. A plea for help from Volkach notables was answered by Henri Nannen, editor-in-chief of the magazine Stern. He offered a ransom of 100,000 DM and promised the thieves that the police would not be involved. This promise brought him mixed reactions in the press; Die Zeit asked, "Does reverence for art sanctify a word of honor to crooks?", while the artist Oskar Kokoschka supported the action. Henri Nannen himself saw both the charitable aspect and the PR success for his publishing house.
The appeal in Stern on August 21, 1962 ("Give the Madonna back to the people of Volkach") was not answered by the thieves until two months later. In late October, a tip was received regarding the location of part of the loot; in return, the first half of the ransom was deposited. In early November, a tip followed regarding the location of the most valuable pieces, including the Madonna, near a country road by , and the second half of the ransom was deposited. The artworks were restored and returned to Volkach in 1963. Police investigations were eventually successful, and the thieves were arrested in 1968.
The pilgrimage church underwent extensive exterior restoration in 1976/77. In 2002, Cathedral Chapter led a renovation of the church, restoring both the interior and the façade. The most recent renovation took place in 2010. The Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation lists the church building as an architectural monument under the number D-6-75-174-73. The church is part of the .
Architecture
The church is oriented towards the east and presents itself as a single-aisled hall church from the Late Gothic period. A high saddle roof towers over the nave, while the choir is capped by a much lower hipped roof. A Baroque ridge turret from 1750 is mounted on the roof of the choir.
Choir The choir is articulated by six windows and seven buttresses. It has a . The pillars display rich ornamentation. Figure consoles and canopies indicate a planned program of statues that was never implemented. The windows are bordered by lancet-like pointed arches and decorated with tracery. Each window is individually decorated, distinguishing circles, mouchette (fish-bladder) ornamentation, as well as trefoil and quatrefoil windows. The interior of the choir features net vaulting.
The oldest part of the pilgrimage church is a Romanesque square tower stump, planned in the 13th or 14th century but never completed. It is located to the south of the choir and serves today as the sacristy. To its east is a stair tower. It is round and crowned by a squat dome. The tower can be reached via a staircase on the outside of the choir.
Nave
The nave is articulated by two windows on each side. Like the choir, buttresses were attached, with consoles and canopies pointing to an unexecuted ensemble of figures. The north side of the church is very plain. Here, one window is placed centrally, while the other is shifted far to the east. Four buttresses interrupt the side. Two others project transversely at the sides.
In the west of the complex is one of the two portals. It is centrally located and framed only by two buttresses. The entrance is crowned by pinnacles and originally featured a statue showing Christ as the Savior of the World. The south portal is the main entrance of the church, indicated by a porch and a gable crowned by a finial. A small window with tracery surmounts the portal, which lies centrally in the south of the complex.
The doors are decorated with Late Gothic ironwork featuring lime leaf ornamentation and have door knockers. The eight horseshoes embedded in the south portal point to the tradition of the horse ride, during which the diseases of ungulates were supposed to be cured.
Fittings The medieval furnishings have largely been preserved in the pilgrimage church. These include, in particular, the famous sculptures of the Pietà and the Rosary Madonna by Tilman Riemenschneider. Epitaphs and tomb monuments testify that the house of God was also a burial place.
Pietà
The figure group of the Pietà, the Sorrowful Mother of God, was the primary destination of pilgrims in the past. The wooden sculpture stands above the left side altar. The miraculous image was created around 1370 and can be assigned to the Late Gothic period; a frame around the figure is of more recent date. In 1955, the group was restored, and the original coloring—specifically the blue dress and white mantle—was reinstated. This was the original goal of pilgrimage.
It depicts the suffering Mother Mary holding her dead son in her lap. The stigmata of Christ are also visible. The realistic depiction of the death of Jesus is contrasted with the youthful Mary. Her representation belongs to the type of the so-called "Beautiful Vesper Image" (Schönes Vesperbild). She raises her hands, folded in prayer, to her chest; the rich drapery of her dress spills out from under the deceased.
Anna Selbdritt Above the right side altar stands an "Anna Selbdritt" group (Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child). It is also surrounded by a newer enclosure. The wooden sculpture was created around 1500 and was modeled after a stone original from the workshop of Tilman Riemenschneider, which is now in the Mainfränkisches Museum in Würzburg.Cf.: After the theft of the work in 1962, the figure group underwent comprehensive renovation.
The seated Saint Anne is depicted wearing a late medieval garment and a bonnet. Figures of Mary and the Christ Child accompany her. Mary sits on Saint Anne's left knee, while the naked boy Jesus stands on her right knee. Although Mary is depicted as a young woman with a long dress, she is reduced to the size of a child. In her hands, she holds an open book.
Riemenschneider Madonna The church's most significant treasure is the suspended Madonna of the Rosary (also "Riemenschneider Madonna" or "Rosary Madonna") by Tilman Riemenschneider, created between 1521 and 1524.
History
The limewood carving hanging below the chancel arch was Riemenschneider's last Marian image before he was prevented from further work by the German Peasants' War and his own involvement in it. The image quickly became the second goal of pilgrims in the church and was also the occasion for the founding of a Rosary Brotherhood in 1642.
The figure underwent several changes over time. During the Baroque period, the figure was painted, as evidenced by a copperplate engraving from 1849. In 1874, this overpainting was renewed, and a crown was later added. A colored replica of the Rosary Madonna is located in the church of (Eifel).
Only with a comprehensive restoration in 1954 did the Rosary Madonna regain its original, simple wooden version. In addition to the coloring, the location where the figure was mounted also changed over time. After initially hanging freely in the choir, it was moved to the north wall of the nave in the 19th century, before being hung above one of the side altars in 1954. After the robbery in 1962, the Madonna was returned to its original location above the choir.
The drapery is simpler than in other works by Riemenschneider. Art historians therefore assume that some parts were executed by journeymen of the workshop. Only the delicate right hand can be clearly attributed to the author. The model for the Volkach work is an earlier Madonna by Riemenschneider, now in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection in Washington, D.C. For individual scenes, Riemenschneider drew inspiration from works by Martin Schongauer and the Master E. S.. A particular model was the Angelic Salutation by Veit Stoss in the Church of St. Lorenz in Nuremberg, executed a few years earlier.
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