Sankt Emmeran Church

St. Emmeran is under the patronage of Saint Emmeran of Regensburg (also: Emmeram, † 625), which is rare outside of Bavaria. This fact, along with excavation findings, points to a church foundation in the 9th century, a time when more churches and monasteries were founded in Carolingian Mainz. The church was built on the Roman main road from the 1st century, which connected the legionary camp on the Kästrich with the Rhine bridge (today Emmeransstraße).

In a document by Archbishop Siegfried II of Eppstein in 1220, the church is first mentioned under its then-used name "St. Heimerammi". In 1245, a priest of this church is already commemorated.

Nothing of the pre-Romanesque building fabric has survived above ground. From the Romanesque construction phase, the church's main tower from the end of the 12th century has survived to this day. The tower is five-storied and structured into larger corner and narrower central pilaster strips. Further structuring elements are strong string courses in conjunction with partially two-layered arcaded friezes. Originally, the lower two floors were only provided with narrow loopholes. From the third floor upwards, there are two coupled double windows with a central column on each side.

From 1300, the predecessor building was replaced by a Gothic structure, incorporating the Romanesque tower. It was a freestanding three-aisled basilica, divided into five bays and a choir bay. North of the choir bay, the tower with an adjoining Severus Chapel was attached. The building was executed simply and plainly under the influence of the Dominican mendicant order as a so-called mendicant order church.

A charnel house lamp from around 1400 is located on the southeast side of the choir. The choir itself has a five-eighths closure, the northeast side of which is covered by the staircase leading to the Romanesque tower.

Further minor alterations and additions took place in the following centuries. For example, additional annexes were built in the first third of the 16th century. In the years 1671/1672, a representative expansion of the churchyard and its surrounding walls took place. Parts of the wall and the round-arched portal with the founder's coat of arms from 1671 are still preserved today. During the Baroque period, in 1700–1701, the original diamond roof was supplemented by an additional bell floor with a hood and lantern. Further tower superstructures were also added to the Romanesque church tower, and changes were made to the side aisle windows of the basilica for the last time.

In 1762, the church was renovated.

The Gothic furnishings of Emmeran included a wall tabernacle behind the high altar. A three-part epitaph by the painter A. Brück, completed in 1623, served as the high altar retable from 1633 to 1680. The central painting showed a crucifixion scene, the left wing Anna Selbdritt, the right a Eustachius. In the predella, a Last Supper scene was depicted, featuring members of the Frankenstein-Brendel founding family.

Outstanding artworks originated from the Baroque and Rococo periods. The Baroque high altar came from the Altmünster Abbey, dissolved in 1782, and was acquired by Emmeran in 1810. Also from Altmünster came the reliquary altar, which was located in the northern side aisle. It housed the relics of Bilhildis of Altmünster, a sudarium, and a Valentinus relic, which is said to have come to Altmünster from the Calixtus Catacomb in 1738. In 1810, the sculptor Bittrich created two saint figures, those of St. Emmeran and Bonifatius, as well as the angels on the choir stalls.

From the Rococo period came the choir stalls and the carved furniture covering all sides of the sacristy (around 1770), a painting above the baptismal font, the confessionals, the windbreaks in the north and south aisles including the inlaid door leaves, and the pulpit with the four Evangelists.

Like many other valuable ecclesiastical and secular buildings in Mainz, St. Emmeran was severely damaged during the air raids on Mainz on February 27, 1945. Most of the vault collapsed, and only the outer walls of the entire structure remained standing. The choir stalls, church pews, baptismal font, organ, as well as the high altar canopy and sacristy furniture burned. However, Fritz Arens, the municipal conservator during the war, was able to save the Rococo pulpit and the 5x3 meter painting "Assumption of Mary" by Franz Anton Maulbertsch before their destruction and relocate them to the crypt of Mainz Cathedral.

After the war, the pulpit was restored and is now in St. Quintin. The Beatrix bell also survived. Cast in 1493, it is the third oldest bell in the city of Mainz and is located in St. Stephan. It bears the inscription:

" + Anno + domini + m + cccc + xciii + jar + sant + beadrix + glocke + heis + ich + peter + zur + glocken + zu + spier + gos + mich + "

Three other bells could not be saved. These originated from different periods from Mainz workshops and were dated 1379 (27 hundredweight), 1809 (16 hundredweight), and without a year (9 hundredweight).

In 1682, Johann Peter Geissel built an organ, whose casing came from J. Antz. The organ was renewed in 1903 by Schlimbach from Würzburg and comprised 26 registers. The casing had already been restored by Bittrich in 1810.

Only after more than 20 years did the restoration of the church begin. The preserved tower was freed in 1966 from its superstructures added 200 years earlier and completed with a simple pyramid roof. In 1978, the choir was restored. The nave itself was secured between 1978 and 1981 by a self-supporting concrete and aluminum scaffolding structure, which safely supports the ruined interior. St. Emmeran now serves as a community center for the Italian church community in Mainz.