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8.7
Marienkirche
Pirna
52
Peter Ulrich (Peter von Pirna)
Built between 1504–1546
The Marienkirche is one of the largest and most sophisticated
of the Saxon hall churches. The nave is closed with
fine net vaults flanked the star vaults of the aisles. In the
choir, superfluous flying ribs emerge from the walls which
can only be virtuoso architectural humour.
Jan Białostocki gave the Marienkirche pride of place beside
St.-Annen-Kirche, describing them as “the last brilliant
illumination of the German Gothic” and lamenting
that “with them the Gothic forces were extinguished.” 66
the choir vault. In addition to these features, there
are flying ribs rising from the corners of the choir
and running into the meshes of the vault, and these
ribs are formed like tree-trunks from which all the
branches have been cut off except one, which winds
spirally up the stem. In this church one can truly say
that all the stops are out. 67
Scope of survey: Keystone levels, VR panoramas
Frankl describes the church thusly:
In the parish church at Pirna, built between 1504 and
1546, the architect formed an aisled hall with piers
with eight concave sides, and a close net-vault creates
a continuous stream of movement from west
to east, while each bay in the aisles is centred by
the form of the star-vault, thus producing a series
of lateral currents crossing the main, longitudinal
one. The nave and aisles form a visual unity in which
the arches of the arcade seem to have become ribs;
the liernes in the nave and those in the aisles meet
on these arches, and emphasize the continuity of
the crossings streams of movement. The choir has
double-curved ribs. Throughout the church, the section
of the ribs forms two shallow hollows on each
side, and the concave forms of the piers and of the
ribs are stylistically analogous with the mouchettes
in the tracery and with the double-curved ribs of
61 (Previous page) Nave vaults
62 (Next page, top) Wide angle photograph of the interior
63 (Next page, bottom) Decorative ribs in a choir vault
Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarships Journal Series