65 Scholars have often discussed doctrinal reasons for the design of the chapel in Schloss Hartenfels, its consequent adaptation elsewhere, and its similarity with other Protestant churches. But religious concerns are not separable from political ones in Lutheran theology and practice. The present paper stresses socio-political considerations instead of religious factors, with which it demonstrates they are nevertheless interwoven.2 This essay situates the Torgau Castle Chapel in a longer sequence of court chapels that emphasize the importance of the prince. istorians have, to be sure, already discerned such features in Evangelical palace chapels stemming from Torgau, especially the increasing emphasis on princely ambitions revealed by their iconography.3 What has not been stressed is the continuing significance of some of the most conspicuous formal features of the chapel in Schloss Hartenfels that were not only subsequently imitated but already conveyed by predecessors from which Torgau likely drew that also glorified the ruler. A brief review of some of the salient features of the chapel at Schloss Hartenfels introduces this interpretation. The chapel consists of several stories. It has tribunes supported on piers that carry rounded arches that run around the sides and back of the sanctuary and in its front, where an organ loft is located. This orientation is determined by the altar, which constitutes one focus on the main, longitudinal axis of the church. Another focus is set on the axis opposite the altar. Winding tracery on the ceiling of the second level at this end along with a highly decorated console and historiated parapet on the third level stress its significance. (The effect has been increased by a seventeenth-century parapet installed at this end in the 1930s.) Another relevant detail is the use of ribbed folded vaults that divide the main ceiling of the church. While the layout of the church has been related to Lutheran liturgy—columns, pillars, and pilasters are absent in the central space, and views of the altar, and pulpit, are thus not blocked—Martin Luther did not himself specify what the formal design of Evangelical chapels should be. At the same time passages in the sermon he delivered in Schloss Hartenfels on October 5, 1544 at the dedication of the chapel point directly to its social and political situation. In one place Luther says that chapels should be constructed for “ordinary meetings of the burghers; assemblies of the faithful.” He says that at Torgau a chapel should be “built and arranged for those who find themselves in the castle and attending court, or who otherwise wish to enter it.” He adds that “as then also happens in the secular government, where something concerns the meetings of burghers, much more should it happen here, where one should hear the Word of God.” 4 While Luther did not thereby prescribe a specific structure for the Torgau chapel, similar words, if not exactly these, have provided the basis for a comprehensive interpretation of its architecture. Using Luther’s words “Oben und Unten,” whose choice clearly relates to the subject of the homily he delivered at Torgau in 1544, Reinhold Wex suggested that the tripartite organization of the elevation, organization, and ground plan of the chapel at Schloss Hartenfels exemplify ideas of division, layering, and hierarchy. According to Wex the tribunes and the separation of special parts and zones in the church embody social order and authority. Wex argued that this division does not however result from notions of order and subordination: according to Wex in Luther’s thought the prince may sit on his throne, yet all are equal in the eyes of God.5 While scholars have also deployed other Lutheran liturgical and theological explanations to interpret the chapel at Schloss Hartenfels,6 their arguments do not, however account for the unusual placement of the altar in the Torgau chapel. For the altar is placed towards the western end of the sanctuary, which moreover lacks a chancel, an apse, and thus a complete east end. The chapel is oriented westwards, contrary to expectations and usual Christian practices. Lutheran liturgical expectations do not adequately explain either the chapel’s orientation, or the ruler’s elevation above ground. Architectural details and documentary sources relate this orientation to one of the places where Elector Johann Friedrich, the chapel’s patron, sat from 1544 to 1547. In addition to having a special pew on the ground floor opposite the pulpit, he would have sat on the first story above ground in the tribune at the east end of the church.7 The placement of the seat in the tribune is especially noteworthy, because it was both located in the The connection of church and state along with the role of Luther supplies another claim made for inclusion in the UNESCO-World Heritage List. Schlosskapelle Torgau, Blick auf die Ostwand gegenüber dem Altar Castle Chapel, Torgau view of the eastern side opposite the altar
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