Salvatorkirche
St. Salvator, also called Salvator Church (Salvatorkirche), is the former cemetery church of Frauenkirche (Cathedral of Our Blessed Lady (Dom zu unserer lieben Frau)). Since 1829 the church is used by Greek Orthodox and is now the headquarter of the Metropolitan of Germany and Exarch of Central Europe. It is called "Transfiguration of the Savoir" by the Greek Orthodox community.
After the cemetry of the parish of St. Peter was moved to the Hackerviertel in 1478 and the All Saints Church on the cross was dedicated as a cemetry church in 1485, Duke Albrecht IV led relocate the cemetry around the Frauenkirche. The builder is not survived, probably it is Luke Rottaler, Jörg von Halsbach's student and his successor at the site of the Frauenkirche. In April 1493 the shell was probably finished. St. Salvator was opened on August 15th, 1494.
In the 17 Century, probably in the first quarter, the church received a loft. The Gothic spire was damaged by lightning on July 24th in 1767. The damaged part was removed and end up as a baroque tower in the form of an onion. In 1774 the church was renovated, where the colored glass panes were replaced by bright panes true to the former spirit of the times. As a result of abandonment, the north side door was walled up, which led directly to the cemetry.
In the course of secularization on April 20th in 1803 and the evacuation of about a year leater, the domilition of the church was decided on May 25th in 1804. The demolition was prevented, because the church was now in possession of the crown: they used the church as a depot, for which no compensation was available. King Max I. gave St. Salvator to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Munich on December 21st in 1806. But the Evangelical Lutheran community could not use the church, due to the fact that it was still used as storage room and coach house. With the start of construction of St. Matthew in the vicinity of Stachus, St. Salvator was again property of the Crown.
During the period of the so-called "Greece adventure", as Bavaria had hoped to established the Wittelsbach dynasty in Greece by Otto, King Ludwig I. agreed with the 30 Greeks in Munich to have a worship space. His election met St. Salvator, which he left the Orthodox Greeks to celebrate their religious services - decided by its majesty on September 22nd and 30th in 1828. The church itself remained in the possession of the crown and remains the property of the Free State of Bavaria, which is the legal successor of the Wittelsbach possessions, too. After Leo von Klenze has rebuild the church for worship according to Orthodox rite, the church was consecrated on Greek Orthodox rite on December 18th, 1829.
In the summer of 1869 the tower was restored and re-Gothicised. Since then, the baroque spire was removed and the helmet adjusted to the original Gothic state. At the same time, the twelve apostles were replaced by icons. in 1903, the glass windows were repaired and secured. These were removed in 1916 and reinstated in 1928. The church was renovated again in 1934. The late Gothic glass windows were removed in 1941. During the National Socialism the famous mathematician Constantin Caratheodory was church council.
The church has survived largely unscathed after the bombings of Munich during the Second World War. The glass windows went lost due to air strikes, although they were outsourced to be protected. After the war, surviving remnants were incorporated into the choir windows of the Frauenkirche. In 1970, the iconostasis was restored and thus the chancel was reduced. Vestry and tower were re-covered in 1982 and the exterior was repaired in 1992/93. In the nineties, a box with a large amount of fragments of the late Gothic stained glass window was discovered on the church choir and reassembled by the workshops of the Mayer'schen Hofkunstanstalt. Four glass windows were restored to the Salvatorkirche in 2000. In 2008 the tower was renovated. In 2009, the church receives a new gate.
The dispute about the usage rights
In the mid-1970s the Greek church Munich and Bavaria eV claimed, that King Ludwig I. have left St. Salvator the full power of disposal to this club. The association deduced that special autonomy from that, which liberate them from the Orthodox Church's jurisdiction. This means that the association had the sole right to choose bishops and priests. Thus in fact means the Greek church in Munich left the Greek Orthodox Metropolis.
The Free State of Bavaria, which is the legal successor of the founder, did not share this view and demanded the surrender of the church, which was denied by the Greek church in Munich. Thus began a struggle to the Salvator Church, where Greece, especially the Greek Parliament and the Greek Orthodox Church participated. Through the following legal dispute the church was not available for either side. The Second Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court rejected the constitutional complaint of the Greek church in Munich (2 BvR 1275/96) on October 13th, 1998. On June 27th in 1999 St. Salvator was handed over to the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Germany.
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