Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Triumphkreuz

With a victory in the Battle of Lenzen in 929, the Saxens made a significant advance into the dominion of the Slavic tribes. Shortly thereafter, the area around Havelberg was conquered and a castle complex was built on the ridge. Otto I continued the conquest of eastern Elbe areas and founded the bishopric of Havelberg as a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Magdeburg. The settlement of a bishopric in Havelberg suggests that the place represented a regional center as early as the 10th century and possibly before. As early as 983, a rebellion broke out among Slavic groups, during which the bishopric of Havelberg was conquered. It was not until 1130 that King Lothar III succeeded. to recapture the place. The city was built in the middle of the 12th century, spatially separate from the cathedral district, on a promontory in a bend in the Havel River, that was made to an island for strategic reasons. The first construction work on the church must have taken place in the middle of the 10th century. A chronicler reports that the church was destroyed during the uprising in 983. Around 1150, under the influence of the local Bishop, a cathedral was built. The basilica was consecrated in 1170. The church was about 70 meters long and 20 meters wide. The Romanesque building consisted of two tower-like crossbars with a three-aisled nave in between. A large triumphal arch visually separated the chancel from the nave. The chancel itself was rectangular and ended in a semi-circular apse. The westwork, appearing defensively closed from the outside, had five round-arched portals to the naves on the inside. A fire in 1279 destroyed significant parts of the cathedral. Using the existing Romanesque components, the basilica was rebuilt in a Gothic style with bricks. The entire conversion was probably not completed until 1330 when the high altar was consecrated. After the Reformation, the cathedral chapter converted to Protestantism in 1561. The bishopric of Havelberg itself was dissolved in 1598 by Elector Joachim Friedrich of Brandenburg. Structural changes then came in the course of the restorations of the 19th century. The appearance of some portals and windows was changed, the floor was renewed and the interior color scheme was changed several times. Finally, between 1907 and 1909, a neo-Romanesque portal was built into the tower and a brick story was added. The triumphal cross was created around 1300. It was colored in 1885.

Louis the Pious founded the bishopric of Hildesheim in 815. The settlement developed into a town and was granted market rights by King Otto III in 983. Craftsmen and merchants were attracted and the city developed into an important community. By 1167, Hildesheim was an almost completely walled market settlement. At the beginning of the 13th century, Hildesheim had about 5,000 inhabitants, and when Hildesheim received its city charter in 1249, it was one of the largest cities in northern Germany. The clergy ruled Hildesheim for four centuries before a town hall was built and the citizens gained influence and independence. In 1367, Hildesheim became a member of the Hanseatic League. But what is now called Hildesheim was various small "suburbs". After centuries of (sometimes armed) disputes, it was not until the end of the 16th century that a union was created and subsequently at least the inner wall was taken down Old and New Town. During the Thirty Years' War, Hildesheim was besieged and occupied several times. In 1813, after the Napoleonic Wars, the town became part of the Kingdom of Hanover, which was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia as a province after the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. The air raids on Hildesheim in 1944/45 destroyed large parts of the city. Of the 1500 half-timbered houses, only 200 remained. 90 percent of the historic old town was destroyed in the firestorm. - Tradition knows that Bishop Hezilo (1054-1079) turned "a house of war into a house of peace" with the Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche. The core of the building was probably a gate that protected the still unreinforced cathedral area to the east. At the sides, wall beginnings have been excavated, which probably belonged to a fortification wall. The side aisles themselves date from later times. The southern one, together with the side chapels, belongs to a Gothic rebuilding phase. The northern baroque nave was built after 1700, when this side of the building became dilapidated due to ground subsidence. The west facade in the Italian style of 1712 with a front flight of steps. During the bombing of Hildesheim in March 1945, the Kreuzkirche was also severely damaged. However, the art treasures had been moved out and remained intact. Reconstruction began in 1948 and by 1958 the pre-war state had been largely restored. Triumphal Cross

A legend attributes Kraków's founding to the mythical ruler Krakus, who built it above a cave occupied by a dragon, Smok Wawelski. The first written record dates to 965, when Kraków was described as a notable commercial center captured by a Bohemian duke Boleslaus I in 955. The first ruler of Poland, Mieszko I, took Kraków from the Bohemians. In 1038, Kraków became the seat of the Polish government. By the end of the 10th century, the city was a center of trade. Brick buildings were constructed, including the Royal Wawel Castle. The city was sacked and burned during the Mongol invasion of 1241. It was rebuilt and incorporated in 1257 by Bolesław V the Chaste who introduced city rights. In 1259, the city was again ravaged by the Mongols. The third attack in 1287 was repelled thanks in part to the newly built fortifications. The city rose to prominence in 1364, when Casimir III founded the University of Kraków, the second oldest university in central Europe. But after Casimir´s death in 1370 the campus did not get completed. As the capital of the Kingdom of Poland and a member of the Hanseatic League, the city attracted craftsmen from abroad, guilds as science and the arts began to flourish. The 15th and 16th centuries are known as Poland's "Złoty Wiek" (Golden Age). After childless King Sigismund II had died in 1572, the Polish throne passed to Henry III of France and then to other foreign-based rulers in rapid succession, causing a decline in the city's importance that was worsened by pillaging during the Swedish invasion and by an outbreak of bubonic plague that left 20,000 of the city's residents dead. In 1596, Sigismund III of the House of Vasa moved the capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from Kraków to Warsaw. - In the place of a Romanesque church, that got destroyed during the Mongol invasion, the early Gothic Church of St. Mary was built on the northeast corner of the market square at the end of the 13th century. It got consecrated in 1320. The church was completely rebuilt during the reign of Casimir III the Great between 1355 and 1365. The main body of the church was completed in 1395–97 with the new vault constructed by master Nicholas Wernher from Prague. In the 18th century, the interior was rebuilt in the late Baroque style. In the years 1887–1891, the neo-Gothic design was introduced into the Basilica. The triumphal cross

After the defeat by Henry the Lion in the Battle of Verchen in 1164, Obotrite Prince Pribislaw submitted in 1167 and was baptised. One of Henry's conditions was the obligation to spread Christianity in the country by building monasteries. The Doberan Abbey was the first monastery founded in Mecklenburg, in 1171, as a daughter house of the cistercian Amelungsborn Abbey. The first community was massacred in 1179 in the unrest following the death of Pribislaw, and the abbey was re-founded in 1186. It became a political, social and spiritual centre in the region. The Romanesque monastery church, consecrated in 1232, was replaced after the fire of 1291 by a High Gothic church, the construction of which was probably begun in 1295. The new Gothic building was consecrated in 1368. The church was the most important burial place of the sovereign princes in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, the monastery was dissolluted and the properties passed to the sovereign in 1552. The relics were removed from the monastery church and the monastery facilities were partially destroyed. Duke Ulrich of Mecklenburg-Güstrow wanted to preserve the church as the burial place of the princely house and so a first restoration of the monastery church began. The buildings were were looted and damaged in 1637 during the Thirty Years' War, and the church was used as a warehouse. During the French occupation of Mecklenburg by Napoleon from 1806 to 1813, the remaining buildings suffered further damage, and the monastery church was again used as a warehouse. Restorations took place from 1883 to 1896 and from 1962 to 1976. The Cistercians had good relations with France, from where the architecture of the former monastery church was strongly influenced. The vaulted nave is 76 metres long, 11 metres wide and 26 metres high. The double sided cross altar divided the monks`choir pews in the eastern part from the lay brothers' seating in the western part. The winged altar with and the monumental triumphal (attributed the "Meister der lübeckischen Triumphkruzifixe") cross above date from around 1360/70. It was probably largely completed by the time of the church's final consecration in 1368. It is the most monumental work of its kind and time in Europe. Both works are closely connected with the art of the north German Master "Bertram von Minden". The western side of the crossaltar.

After the defeat by Henry the Lion in the Battle of Verchen in 1164, Obotrite Prince Pribislaw submitted in 1167 and was baptised. One of Henry's conditions was the obligation to spread Christianity in the country by building monasteries. The Doberan Abbey was the first monastery founded in Mecklenburg, in 1171, as a daughter house of the cistercian Amelungsborn Abbey. The first community was massacred in 1179 in the unrest following the death of Pribislaw, and the abbey was re-founded in 1186. It became a political, social and spiritual centre in the region. The Romanesque monastery church, consecrated in 1232, was replaced after the fire of 1291 by a High Gothic church, the construction of which was probably begun in 1295. The new Gothic building was consecrated in 1368. The church was the most important burial place of the sovereign princes in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, the monastery was dissolluted and the properties passed to the sovereign in 1552. The relics were removed from the monastery church and the monastery facilities were partially destroyed. Duke Ulrich of Mecklenburg-Güstrow wanted to preserve the church as the burial place of the princely house and so a first restoration of the monastery church began. The buildings were were looted and damaged in 1637 during the Thirty Years' War, and the church was used as a warehouse. During the French occupation of Mecklenburg by Napoleon from 1806 to 1813, the remaining buildings suffered further damage, and the monastery church was again used as a warehouse. Restorations took place from 1883 to 1896 and from 1962 to 1976. The Cistercians had good relations with France, from where the architecture of the former monastery church was strongly influenced. The vaulted nave is 76 metres long, 11 metres wide and 26 metres high. The double sided cross altar divided the monks`choir pews in the eastern part from the lay brothers' seating in the western part. The winged altar with and the monumental triumphal (attributed the "Meister der lübeckischen Triumphkruzifixe") cross above date from around 1360/70. It was probably largely completed by the time of the church's final consecration in 1368. It is the most monumental work of its kind and time in Europe. Both works are closely connected with the art of the north German Master "Bertram von Minden". The eastern side of the crossaltar.

After the defeat by Henry the Lion in the Battle of Verchen in 1164, Obotrite Prince Pribislaw submitted in 1167 and was baptised. One of Henry's conditions was the obligation to spread Christianity in the country by building monasteries. The Doberan Abbey was the first monastery founded in Mecklenburg, in 1171, as a daughter house of the cistercian Amelungsborn Abbey. The first community was massacred in 1179 in the unrest following the death of Pribislaw, and the abbey was re-founded in 1186. It became a political, social and spiritual centre in the region. The Romanesque monastery church, consecrated in 1232, was replaced after the fire of 1291 by a High Gothic church, the construction of which was probably begun in 1295. The new Gothic building was consecrated in 1368. The church was the most important burial place of the sovereign princes in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, the monastery was dissolluted and the properties passed to the sovereign in 1552. The relics were removed from the monastery church and the monastery facilities were partially destroyed. Duke Ulrich of Mecklenburg-Güstrow wanted to preserve the church as the burial place of the princely house and so a first restoration of the monastery church began. The buildings were were looted and damaged in 1637 during the Thirty Years' War, and the church was used as a warehouse. During the French occupation of Mecklenburg by Napoleon from 1806 to 1813, the remaining buildings suffered further damage, and the monastery church was again used as a warehouse. Restorations took place from 1883 to 1896 and from 1962 to 1976. The Cistercians had good relations with France, from where the architecture of the former monastery church was strongly influenced. The vaulted nave is 76 metres long, 11 metres wide and 26 metres high. The double sided cross altar divided the monks`choir pews in the eastern part from the lay brothers' seating in the western part. The winged altar with and the monumental triumphal (attributed the "Meister der lübeckischen Triumphkruzifixe") cross above date from around 1360/70. It was probably largely completed by the time of the church's final consecration in 1368. It is the most monumental work of its kind and time in Europe. Both works are closely connected with the art of the north German Master "Bertram von Minden".

After the defeat by Henry the Lion in the Battle of Verchen in 1164, Obotrite Prince Pribislaw submitted in 1167 and was baptised. One of Henry's conditions was the obligation to spread Christianity in the country by building monasteries. The Doberan Abbey was the first monastery founded in Mecklenburg, in 1171, as a daughter house of the cistercian Amelungsborn Abbey. The first community was massacred in 1179 in the unrest following the death of Pribislaw, and the abbey was re-founded in 1186. It became a political, social and spiritual centre in the region. The Romanesque monastery church, consecrated in 1232, was replaced after the fire of 1291 by a High Gothic church, the construction of which was probably begun in 1295. The new Gothic building was consecrated in 1368. The church was the most important burial place of the sovereign princes in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, the monastery was dissolluted and the properties passed to the sovereign in 1552. The relics were removed from the monastery church and the monastery facilities were partially destroyed. Duke Ulrich of Mecklenburg-Güstrow wanted to preserve the church as the burial place of the princely house and so a first restoration of the monastery church began. The buildings were were looted and damaged in 1637 during the Thirty Years' War, and the church was used as a warehouse. During the French occupation of Mecklenburg by Napoleon from 1806 to 1813, the remaining buildings suffered further damage, and the monastery church was again used as a warehouse. Restorations took place from 1883 to 1896 and from 1962 to 1976. The Cistercians had good relations with France, from where the architecture of the former monastery church was strongly influenced. The vaulted nave is 76 metres long, 11 metres wide and 26 metres high. The 15-metre high monumental triumphal cross dates from around 1360/70.

Slavic Obodrites lived in the area, where Wismar is now, until the end of the 12th century. The exact date of the city's foundation is not clear, it had civic rights already in 1229 when migrants from Holstein and Westphalia settled here. The "Lübsches Stadtrecht" (town law) was confirmed in 1266. In 1259 Wismar joined a defensive agreement with Lübeck and Rostock, in order to counter the numerous Baltic pirates. Subsequently, more cities would agree to cooperate as commerce and trade were increasingly coordinated and regulated. These policies would provide the basis for the development of the "Hanseatic League". By the 13th and 14th centuries, Wismar had grown into a flourishing Hanseatic trading hub. In 1632, during the Thirty Years' War, Sweden conquered the city, and the Swedish Crown received in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 after the end of the Thirty Years' War. Swedish rule over Wismar ended de facto in 1803 when Sweden pledged the city to the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin for 99 years. Formally, Wismar reverted to Germany in 1903 and Sweden waived its right to redeem the pledge. Wismar is a typical representative of the Hanseatic League with its city-wide Brick Gothic structures and gabled patrician houses and has alongside the historical old town of Stralsund been declared the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Historic Centres of Stralsund and Wismar". The Nicolaikirche (Church St. Nicholas) was built from 1381 until 1487 as a church for sailors and fishermen. St. Nicholas is a fine testaments to mediaeval brick architecture in northern Germany. In 1381, the city council commissioned the master mason Heinrich von Bremen to complete the choir. The consecration of the high altar is documented for 1403. Heinrich von Bremen continued to work until 1415. In 1434 work was carried out on the north aisle and later the south aisle. Under the direction of Peter Stolp and Hermann von Münster in 1459, the work was completed to such an extent that the church could be consecrated. From 1485 to 1487, Hans Mertens built the two upper storeys of the tower, and the spire was added in 1508. In December 1703, a storm destroyed the spire. Its parts smashed through the roof and the vaults of the nave. Many pieces of the interior furnishings were destroyed. Afterwards, the tower received a transverse gable roof and the nave a flat ceiling. The renovation of the furnishings lasted until the second half of the 18th century. It was not until 1867 that a vault was erected again. The air raids during the Second World War caused only minor damage to the church. After the Second World War, the Nikolaikirche was the least damaged of all the large churches in Wismar. Many works of art had been stored away and thus survived the war, but the churches lay in ruins and the important Marienkirche was later blown up. So the Nikolaikirche became home to many objects from other churches. There are even works of art that were brought here after secularisation, such as this medieval triumphal cross group from the 15th century. It comes from the secularised Dominican monastery church in Wismar.

Adelby, once an old parish just east of Flensburg, is meanwhile a part of the city of Flensburg. This makes the Johanniskirche in Adelsby to Flensburg´s oldest church. The first church here was built around 1080. About a century later a Romanesque fieldstone church got erected. In the 15th or 16th century, the porch was added in front of the main entrance. In the 18th century, an extensive reconstruction took place. In 1726, the wooden tower was replaced by the present Baroque tower. Then the nave was raised with bricks and extended to the east as well as to the west up to the church tower. By 1780, the present hall church with a wide box choir was thus created. The triumphal cross

Bad Segeberg owes its existence to the "Kalkberg", a gypsum rock, that was about 120m high in the middle ages. This was the borderland between Saxons and Slavs, so Knud Lavard, Danish prince and Jarl (Earl) of Schleswig, unsuccessfully tried to build a castle here. Vizelin, the missionary of the Varrians and Abotrites, drew the attention of Emperor Lothair III to the strategic importance of the Kalkberg, whereupon the first castle was built on it in 1134. This was named "Siegesburg" (hence Segeberg). After Emperor Lothar III had died, Slavic chief Pribislav of Wagria rebelled against the Holy Roman Empire by destroying the new castle of Segeberg. Vicelin had founded a monastery around 1134 what was given destroyed together with the castle during Slavic raids. The monks had fled, but they did return and the foundation stone of a huge three-nave cruciform basilica with an adjoining monastery was laid around 1156/57. In 1199, the monastery church was named "eccl. S. Maria" in a Papal document, indicating that it had been consecrated in the meantime. The later addition of a tower and a portal to the west of the church is dated to the 13th century. The Reformation found early acceptance in Segeberg. As early as the 1520s, the first Lutheran pastors preached here. Until the dissolution of the canonry in 1564/66 the interior of the church was divided into two separate areas - for the remaining canons (in the Gothic east choir) and the Lutheran parish (in the west nave). The east choir, unused since 1564, was no longer maintained and was left to decay. The entire nave was under renovation and closed off with large wooden panels. We could only enter the transept. The triumphal cross from 1500.

The Slavic Abodrites settled eastern Holstein since the 7th/8th century A.D. and built a castle on an island in the "Grossen Eutiner See" (Great Eutin Lake). After the Wendish Crusade, in the course of the German settlement in the East, German and Dutch settlers migrated since the 12th century. In 1156 Eutin became a residence of the (prince) bishops of Lübeck. It received the city rights in 1257. St. Michaelis was built in the 12th century in Romanesque style as a 40m long basilica. Due to the rise of the Lübeck Hanseatic bourgeoisie in the 13th century, disputes arose between the representatives of the bourgeois and the clerical power. Thus, Lübeck's bishop Burkhard von Serkem fled several times from Lübeck to his residence in Eutin and founded here in 1309 the collegiate chapter, which promoted the reconstruction of St. Michaelis from Romanesque to Gothic style. So at that time the choir and apse were replaced by the Gothic choir, which still exists today. The Reformation in Eutin did not progress for a long time. For many years Catholic services were celebrated in the choir room (behind a rood screen) and Protestant services in the nave. The triumphal cross is said to be from the 13th century, I think it is younger and belongs to the gothic era

The area around Lübeck, today a large city with a population of more than 200,000, had been settled by Slavs since the 7th century. Slavs had a settlement north of the present city called "Liubice", which was razed by the pagan Rani tribe in 1128. 15 years later Adolf II, Count of Schauenburg and Holstein, founded the modern town as a German settlement on the river island of Bucu. He built a new castle, first mentioned as existing in 1147. Adolf II had to cede the castle to the Duke of Saxony, Henry the Lion, in 1158. After Henry's fall from power in 1181, the town became an Imperial city. Emperor Barbarossa ordained that the city should have a ruling council of 20 members. With the council dominated by merchants, trade interests shaped Lübeck's politics for centuries. In the 14th century, Lübeck became the "Queen of the Hanseatic League", being by far the largest and most powerful member of that medieval trade organization. In 1375, Emperor Charles IV named Lübeck one of the five "Glories of the Empire", a title shared with Venice, Rome, Pisa, and Florence. Conflicts about trading privileges resulted in fighting between Lübeck (with the Hanseatic League) and Denmark and Norway – with varying outcome. While Lübeck and the Hanseatic League prevailed in conflicts in 1435 and 1512, Lübeck lost when it became involved in a civil war that raged in Denmark from 1534 to 1536. From then on Lübeck's power slowly declined. The city remained neutral in the Thirty Years' War, but the devastation from the decades-long war and the new transatlantic orientation of European trade caused the Hanseatic League – and thus Lübeck with it – to decline in importance. However, Lübeck still remained an important trading town on the Baltic Sea. In 1160 Henry the Lion moved the bishopric of Oldenburg to Lübeck and endowed a cathedral chapter. In 1163 a wooden church was built, however, at the beginning of the 13th century, it was no longer sufficient to meet the representative demands of the self-confident burghers. St. Marien was built between 1250 and 1350. It has always been a symbol of the power and prosperity of the old Hanseatic city. It situated at the highest point of the island that forms the old town. Gothic cathedrals in France and Flanders made of natural stone were the models for the new construction of Lübeck's three-nave basilica. St. Marien epitomizes North German "Brick Gothic" and set the standard for many churches in the Baltic region. The church embodied the towering style of Gothic architecture using brick. The incentive for the City Council to undertake such an enormous project was rooted in the bitter dispute with the Lübeck bishopric. As a symbol of the long-distance merchants' desire for freedom and the secular power of the city, which had been free of the Empire since 1226, the church building in the immediate vicinity of Lübeck's city hall and the market square was intended to clearly and uncatchably surpass in size the city's bishop's church, Lübeck Cathedral. In March 1942, St. Marien (as well as the Cathedral and St. Peter) was almost completely burned out during the air raid on Lübeck, which destroyed one-fifth of the city centre. Reconstruction of the church began in 1947 and was essentially completed.