Ruins of St Christoph Church in Mainz is a photograph by Sarah Loft which was uploaded on November 8th, 2016.
Ruins of St Christoph Church in Mainz
This beautiful old church is where Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press, was baptized.... more
by Sarah Loft
Title
Ruins of St Christoph Church in Mainz
Artist
Sarah Loft
Medium
Photograph
Description
This beautiful old church is where Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press, was baptized.
Per Wikipedia: Mainz is the capital of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. It was the capital of the Electorate of Mainz at the time of the Holy Roman Empire. In antiquity Mainz was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire; it was founded as a military post by the Romans in the late 1st century BC and became the provincial capital of Germania Superior. The city is located on the river Rhine at its confluence with the Main opposite Wiesbaden, in the western part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main; in the modern age, Frankfurt shares much of its regional importance.
The city is famous as the home of the invention of the movable-type printing press, as the first books printed using movable type were manufactured in Mainz by Gutenberg in the early 1450s. Until the twentieth century, Mainz was usually referred to in English as Mayence.
Per Wikipedia: The church of St. Christoph in Mainz, known in German as St. Christoph zu Mainz, is an example of early gothic architecture. St. Christoph was originally built between 1240 and 1330. The church is known as the Parish Church and Baptistry of Johannes Gutenberg.
It had been erected in Christofstrasse in the historic city centre of Mainz and adjacent to the Karmeliterplatz. Its ruins are one of several war memorials in the city of Mainz, in memory of the victims and the destruction of the city in World War II.
The former parish church was mentioned for the first time in documents of 893.
Except for its Romanesque tower with pairings of two arched windows, dating from around 1240, the present building dates from the decades around 1280 until the 1330. In the 17th and 18th century, the church was renovated and redesigned in Baroque architecture.
During World War II it was razed except for the external walls. During the great air raid on Mainz on 12 and 13 August 1942 St. Christopher burned down, whereas a renewed bombing on 27 February 1945 with tactical demolition bombs brought the vaults to collapse. The outer walls have been restored and protected on the north side by concrete columns. The new buttresses have been provided with a relief by the Mainz sculptor Heinz Hemrich carrying symbolic representations of the city's history. The church now is designed as a war memorial. A commemorative plaque in the floor has the embedded text ″Den Toten zum Gedenken/ Den Lebenden zur Mahnung″ ″In memory of the dead / as a reminder for the Living".
Note: The watermark will not appear in the print you purchase.
Featured in the Christian Theme Artwork group, November 2016.
Featured in the Lady Photographers and Artists group, November 2016.
Featured in the Churches group, October 2018.
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November 8th, 2016
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