The cathedral of the Ascension of the Virgin, also the cathedral, or the pilgrim church of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary, is the town parish church of the South Tyrolean capital of Bolzano and the episcopal church of the Roman Catholic diocese of Bolzano-Brixen. While the bishop resided in Bolzano since 1964, his cathedra and cathedral chapter remained in Brixen; The Ascension of the Ascension thus functions alongside the Brixner Cathedral as a concubine.
The first parish church Maria Himmelfahrt from Bolzano was consecrated in 1180 according to the "Bozner Chronik", an annalistic record of the 14th century, and was built in Romanesque style. According to the legend, a Bozner Fuhrmann found a miraculous image of the mother god at this point. This love-woman of the moss is said to have been situated in the ice-land of the ice-pack, whose riverbed was then much closer to the present cathedral. The statue, which dates back to the 12th century, is now located in the tasting baroque chapel of the Chapel behind the high altar of the church. The medieval church was built on the remains of an early Christian basilica from the 6th century.
In 1195 - on the occasion of a goods exchange between the upper Bavarian imperial monastery of Tegernsee and the episcopal church of Trent - the Rudolf mentioned as priest of Bolzano in 1181 is described as a pastor (Pleban) of Bolzano, when the Marienkirche was raised to the parish church Due to the sparse source situation is not clear.
One hundred years later the church was built in late Gothic style. This new building was completed in 1519 with the erection of the late-Gothic tower according to the plans of the Augsburger Dombaumeister Burkhard Engelberg and by Hans Lutz von Schussenried. At the same time, the late-Gothic pulpit of sandstone with the reliefs of the four church fathers and the four evangelist symbols, which was partially destroyed during the bomb attacks of the Allies in 1943/44 and rebuilt in 1949.
In 1717 a prince's bishop, Johann Michael von Spaur, was established, who had been headed by an engaged prophet since 1723. On solemn occasions, he bore the Infel, the ring, and the staff of an abbot. The last (ineded) prophet of Bolzano was Monsignor Josef Kalser, the most famous canon is Michael Gamper. The collegiate chapter was lastly staffed in 1951. The dean and pastor of Bolzano, appointed in 1967, Josef Rier (until 1989) was appointed honorary canon in the 1980s. The parish church, the St. Nicholas Church, which was directly south, and the parsonage (Propsteigebäude) were heavily hit by Allied air raids on the operational zone of the Alpine foothills in 1943/44. While only the foundation walls of the St. Nicholas church still exist, the parish church was restored. In today's cathedral, however, many frescoes, the color windows and the altarbild have been lost.
During the reconstruction work, the remains of the already-mentioned early Christian Church have also been encountered.
The church tower had survived the bomb attacks without damage, but had to be restored from the middle of the 1970er-Jahren. The work cost more than EUR 1.03 million and was completed in 1986.
In December 2008 some of the colored glazed roof tiles were solved. In the spring of 2009, a working group was set up to finance the roofing renovation (about 850,000 euros), which could be completed in 2010. The state of South Tyrol and the foundation of the Südtiroler Sparkasse supported the work.
On the south side of the parish church an exact copy of the building inscription made by local sandstone by master builder Hans Lutz von Schussenried is given. The original is located in the openwork tower of the church. The written form corresponds to a late-Gothic minuscule.
The earliest German text of the six-line inscription reads: "Anno domini 1501 beginning / paws on the 18th day winne / monet by maister hanns / lutz stainmetz of schusenriet / volent of the 16th day autumn / monet anno domini 1519".
Translated into today's German: "This building was begun in the year of the Lord in 1501, on 18 May, by Steinmetzmeister Hans Lutz von Schussenried and completed on 16 November 1519" (according to the Franconian month names: Winnemonat = May, autumn month = November).
The city parish church was provided by the citizens of the city with numerous contributions and therefore belongs to the churches with the most seats in the Alpine area.
In addition to the already described bell tower and the pulpit there are two organs in the parish church, a Pietà from the time of the turnout, as well as various late Gothic frescoes and neo-gothic side altars, which escaped the destruction of the Second World War.
The two organs are both from Metzler Orgelbau (Dietikon / CH). The main organ with 41 registers was built in 1964, the Chororgel with 17 registers in 1997.
In the cathedral is also the tomb plate of Wilhelms III, not far from the altar. Of Henneberg-Schleusingen. He died in Salurn in 1480, when he was on his way back to Rome. His body was buried here until his conversion to the grave of the counts of the Counts of Vassra in 1482. The Bozen epitaph was made in 1490 by the sculptor Erasmus Forster in Gardolo near Trento and erected in the church in 1495/96.
In the cathedral of Bolzano, the historical image of the Sacred Heart is preserved by Johann Josef Karl Henrici, who has been especially revered since 1795, and in 1796 the Tyrolean provinces animated the Sacred Sacred Heart. Today, a copy of the image is carried through the city during the annual Sacred Heart procession.
In addition to various medieval relics, the relics of the Bozner's selves, Heinrich von Bozen and Johann Nepomuk von Tschiderer, who was baptized in the parish church, are kept in the church.
The altar area was enlarged in the 1970s, in order to be better adapted to the new tasks as bishop's church. In addition, Sculptor Michael Höllrigl from Lana built a folk tale made of several slightly pink marble blocks. The strongly criticized reconstruction work was concluded in 1992 with the construction of an ambulance, priest seats and cathedra adapted to the altar. On the occasion of the dedication of the altar in 1992, a relic of Saint Vigilius of Trent was admitted to the altar.
A separate exhibition room (Dommuseum) has been erected on the ground floor of the Propstei since 2007 for a large part of the cathedral treasure, consisting of numerous chalices, monstrances and measuring robes. The legacy of the parish church, which according to inventories of the late fifteenth century contained almost 40 liturgical manuscripts and texts of the Holy Scriptures, is largely lost. The extensive book stock with over 10,000 works from the 15th to the 19th century, however, has been preserved. Numerous early prints of the stock against the Bavarian humanist Erasmus Fend (Fendt, Vendius) back.
The parish church of Bolzano was also an important center of music care in the 15th century.
Source: (
visit link)