Burg bei Magdeburg No. 3

Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

Results: 16 records

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: the fragments of the old limestone font arranged here during the reconstruction in Daniel Priese's workshop

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image Source: digital photograph ca. 2001 by Daniel Priese

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: view of the reconstructed basin in Daniel Priese's workshop; the base is modern [cf. FontNotes]

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image Source: digital photograph ca. 2001 by Daniel Priese

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: view of the reconstructed basin in Daniel Priese's workshop; the base is modern [cf. FontNotes]

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image Source: digital photograph ca. 2001 by Daniel Priese

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: view of the reconstructed basin in Daniel Priese's workshop; the base is modern [cf. FontNotes]

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image Source: digital photograph ca. 2001 by Daniel Priese

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: view of the reconstructed basin in Daniel Priese's workshop; the base is modern [cf. FontNotes]

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image Source: digital photograph ca. 2001 by Daniel Priese

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: view of the reconstructed basin in Daniel Priese's workshop; the base is modern [cf. FontNotes]

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image Source: digital photograph ca. 2001 by Daniel Priese

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: view of the reconstructed basin in Daniel Priese's workshop; the base is modern [cf. FontNotes]

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image Source: digital photograph ca. 2001 by Daniel Priese

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: view of the reconstructed basin in Daniel Priese's workshop; the base is modern [cf. FontNotes]

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image Source: digital photograph ca. 2001 by Daniel Priese

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: view of the reconstructed basin in Daniel Priese's workshop; the base is modern [cf. FontNotes]

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image Source: digital photograph ca. 2001 by Daniel Priese

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

view of basin - elevation

Scene Description: Daniel Priese's drawing for the reconstruction of the font from the fragments [cf. FontNotes]

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image Source: digital photograph ca. 2001 by Daniel Priese

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

view of basin - elevation

Scene Description: Daniel Priese's drawing for the reconstruction of the font from the fragments [cf. FontNotes]

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image Source: digital photograph ca. 2001 by Daniel Priese

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

view of basin - fragment

Scene Description: the fragments of an old limestone baptismal font, as found

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image Source: digital photograph ca. 2001 by Daniel Priese

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

view of basin - fragment

Scene Description: the fragments of an old limestone baptismal font, organised here in an attempt to figure the font design

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image Source: digital photograph ca. 2001 by Daniel Priese

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

view of basin - fragment

Scene Description: the fragments of an old limestone baptismal font, organised here in an attempt to figure the font design

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image Source: digital photograph ca. 2001 by Daniel Priese

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

view of basin - underbowl

Scene Description: the fragments of the old limestone font arranged here during the reconstruction in Daniel Priese's workshop

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image Source: digital photograph ca. 2001 by Daniel Priese

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

view of font - plan, elevation and section

Scene Description: Daniel Priese's drawing for the reconstruction of the font from the fragments [cf. FontNotes]

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Daniel Priese, 2023

Image Source: digital photograph ca. 2001 by Daniel Priese

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Pol Herman (e-mail of 5 July 2022)

INFORMATION

FontID: 24575BUR
Church/Chapel: Evangelische Stadtkirche St. Nicolai in Burg bei Magdeburg [aka Unterkirche St. Nicolai]
Church Patron Saints: St. Nicholas of Myra
Church Location: Nicolaistraße 4, 39288 Burg (bei Magdeburg), Germany
Country Name: Germany
Location: Jerichower Land, Sachsen-Anhalt
Directions to Site: Located off (N) road 1 [aka Conrad-Tack-Ring], on the E bank of the Elbe, 25-30 km NE of Magdeburg city centre
Historical Region: Fläming / Flaeming
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Century and Period: 12th - 14th century [altered font], Medieval [altered]
Workshop/Group/Artisan: Mosan font?
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are gratefult to Daniel Priese for the plans and photographs of this font, and to Pol Herman for his help in documenting it
The entry for this church in Straße der Romanik [https://romanik-strasse-erleben.de/st-nikolai-burg-bei-magdeburg/] [accessed 24 January 2023] notes that the limestone baptismal font suffered such serious damage in the 18th century that restoration was impossible: "Der Taufstein aus Kalkstein erlitt im neunzehnten Jahrhundert schwere Schäden, woran jede Wiederherstellungsmaßnahme scheiterte". A rather odd-looking baptismal font in Burg Bei Magdeburg is noted and illustrated in Schulin (2021) as 12th-century but reconstructed after 2001: "Burg (bei Magdeburg), ST/JL, Ev. St. Nicolai (Unterkirche), A.12. Jh., 2001 ff. ergänzt und rekonstruiert". A communication from Pol Herman to BSI (e-mail of 5 July 2022) includes a series of interesting sources and details about the fragments found and the reconstruction of those into the present odd-looking font [cf. supra]. *** When reading in a book about a German region called “Fläming”, I found the mention of a Mosan baptismal font. It seems to be an odd (unique) hexagonal font, that combines Romanesque features (the decoration of the sides) and gothic features (the shape of the basin, the design of the heads). The shape of the inside bowl is very unusual. According to Jean-Claude Ghislain, it has been wrongly reconstituted on basis of too few fragments that remained. It looks like the missing fragments have been restored without knowledge about how Mosan fonts looked. It should have been a circular basin with 4 colonnettes. Daniel Priese, the stone mason who did the restoration refutes this. He says that, on basis of the fragments, he could only manage to re-create a hexagonal font. *** In 2001, the remaining fragments were assembled and completed by Daniel Priese, a stone sculptor from Halberstadt. The column and base have been recreated from comparable materials sourced from Belgium. The stone was erected on April 5, 2001, and on Easter Sunday it was consecrated. The first baptism took place on April 15, 2001. *** On the parish website, I read how the baptismal font was destroyed in 1852, the page cites the text of a letter from Pastor Aly. (Free translation) : "Reverend and esteemed superintendent: Following your honoured letter of the 23rd of this month, I have the honour to inform you hereby that the old baptismal font, which was in the Church of St. Nicolai, was of such a size that they greatly cluttered the space of the niche in which they were, and at the same time had emblems engraved on them were not Christians at all - they were a kind of centaurs - so the church council, in agreement with us clergymen decided to have the old baptismal font removed from the church during the reconstruction of the church and put in its place a smaller, more appropriate one. Regardless of this, they wanted to keep the old baptismal fonts as a keepsake, and they were very careful in removing them from the church, as my colleague, preacher Dr. Hagemann, who was present, testified. The piece of furniture was made up of several pieces held together by an iron ring and staples. Fortunately, the stone was removed from the church in one piece, but when it was about to be set aside and turned over, the clasps and iron ring around it came loose, and it fell into several large pieces, which were carried away and are kept in a room under the towers. The workers did not intentionally break the old baptismal font, as Your Reverend has been falsely informed. I cannot deny that one evening, after the workmen had left the site, an infamous hand cut some fragments from the big pieces. With all respect" ***some excerpts from the book Kirchen im Ländlichem Raum, Band 5, Mittelälterliche Kirchen im westlichem Fläming und Vorfläming, Matthias Friske, Lukasverlag Berlin, 2007 [Free translation]: Baptismal basin (around 1170) in limestone, destroyed in 1852, rebuilt in 2001 with the original fragments. It is assumed that the 12th century baptismal font was a gift from a Flemish immigrant. These limestone baptismal fonts come from Belgium. In 1852 this was removed from the church of St. Nicolai / Unterburg and destroyed. The baptismal font in Burg, which stems from the export success of Tournai and Namur, proves that there were of course also connections to the former settlement area via the new settlers. In addition to written sources and place names, this is another clear proof of the origin of some of the settlers in the region, which contemporaries called "Flanders". But for churches and their furniture, it is also the only reliable proof.

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.268611, 11.851111
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 16′ 7″ N, 11° 51′ 4″ E
UTM: 32U 694537 5794744

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, limestone
Font Shape: [cf. FontNotes]
Basin Interior Shape: [cf. FontNotes]
Basin Exterior Shape: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

Schulin, Bertram, Taufbecken in Deutschland: Form und Ikonographie, 2021