The History of St. Michael’s Church

The Structure

A generously dimensioned, fixed building of hewn stone rises in a majestic gesture on the hill just north of the former cathedral district. As a monumental mass construction with its crystalline characteristic style, St. Michael’s monastery church uses a wide variety of different forms: cubes, cylinders, pyramids, cones and prisms are the predominant elements used in the low geometry. A lot of thought was given to positioning the different structures to give the building an overall sense of unity.

The opposition of the two choirs on the basis of a dual Latin cross forms a clearly defined polarity between east and west. A resting structure of dual symmetry presents itself as a three-aisled basilica with transepts of equal size. The center aisle is situated between the two crossing towers crowned by the pyramidal roofs. The extremities of the cross-aisles are terminated with octagonal stair towers that are cylindrical in the upper third and topped with conical roofs.

Looked at from a different perspective, St. Michael’s Church can be considered as a combination of two central buildings, each with a crossing tower crowned by the pyramidal roof. The connecting link is the central square. A nave connects two centralized spatial structures. This is where a special feature of the German Romanesque comes into play. Towards the east, the three naves join to form the axially configured apses, in which the centre apse is displaced towards the east by an intermediate bay and is slightly lower in terms of height. next site ...

Isometrie St. Michaelis

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