Qualla: Doppelkirche Schwarzrheindorf

Doppelkirche Schwarzrheindorf: Introduction

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Wolkenkratzer, CC BY-SA 3.0. Two churches occupy the same building at Schwarzrheindorf, one above the other. The lower church, dedicated to Pope Clement I, is where the commoners attended Mass. The upper church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was reached only from an external staircase and was reserved for the noble members of the religious community - the count's family, and later the noble canonesses. Inside the upper chapel, Arnold of Wied, the archbishop who built the place, and his sister Hadwig are painted on a wall lying face down on the ground, beneath Christ in Majesty. A nobleman who could afford to commission an entire double church chose to be depicted prostrate.

Image: Wolkenkratzer | CC BY-SA 3.0

Doppelkirche Schwarzrheindorf: Arnold's Chapel

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tohma (talk), CC BY-SA 4.0. Arnold of Wied was provost of three of the most important churches in the Rhineland - Limburg Cathedral, Cologne Cathedral, and the Basilica of Saint Servatius at Maastricht in what is now the Netherlands. He came from the Wied family, who owned a castle adjacent to the church si...

Image: Tohma (talk) | CC BY-SA 4.0

Doppelkirche Schwarzrheindorf: The Architecture

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Detlef Huhn, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Doppelkirche was originally designed as a Zentralbau - a centrally planned building without a nave - following the example of the Palatine Chapel at Aachen, which Charlemagne had built around 800 and which set the architectural template for German imperial chapels for the nex...

Image: Detlef Huhn | CC BY-SA 4.0

Doppelkirche Schwarzrheindorf: The Class System Built In Stone

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dguendel, CC BY 4.0. The upper church was the gallery. The noble residents of the religious community - originally Arnold's family, later the female canonesses who replaced the Benedictine nuns in the centuries after - could attend Mass without ever mixing with the local population. They came up the ...

Image: Dguendel | CC BY 4.0

Doppelkirche Schwarzrheindorf: The Hidden Frescos

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The most extraordinary feature of the building is that it still has its original interior. The twelfth-century frescos covering the walls of both churches are largely intact. They were hidden under a layer of white plaster for a few decades in the early nineteenth century and red...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain