Augustinerkirche Zürich

Augustinerkirche was once one of the five main churches in the old town of Zürich, Switzerland, together with Fraumünster, Grossmünster, Predigern and St. Peter's. First built around 1270 as a Romanesque church belonging to the Augustinian abbey, on occasion of the Reformation in Zürich worship in the church was discontinued. The present Christian Catholic Church community of Zürich planned to rebuild the building to commemorate the old Augustinian church, and for the same reason, Augustinerkirche is still their Parish church, that was rebuilt in 1843/44 by Ferdinand Stadler. In the late 1950s, the church was rebuilt in accordance with the plans for the original structure. Today the building is one of the three medieval churches in the Lindenhof district of the city of Zürich.

Situated at the southwest of the Münzplatz square on Augustinergasse, west of St. Peterhofstatt square near the present Bahnhofstrasse, Augustinerkirche is named after the former Augustinian monastery, simply meaning "Augustinian Church". In the high European Middle Ages, the abbey was part of the fortifications of Zürich, situated on the lower slope the Lindenhof hill, near the small Kecinstürlin gate over the moat known as Fröschengraben or Augustinertor. The inner moat was protected by the 16th-century Schanzengraben. Of great archeological significance are the remains of the 1st-century BC La Tène culture. Archaeological excavations and aerial surveys revealed the Celtic-Helvetii oppidum of Lindenhof. The remains were discovered in archaeological digs in 1989, 1997, 2004 and 2007 on Lindenhof, Münsterhof and Rennweg, and close to the Celtic-Roman Turicum around the Lindenhof and Sihlbühl and the Münsterhof plaza.

The first Augustinian monks settled at the present location, then at the western ring of the town wall around 1270 AD. The monastery consisted of a Romanesque church on today's site as well as the monastic buildings built around the cloister to the north. Like the Predigerkloster monks before them, the monks were allowed to establish a cemetery at Zähringerstrasse for "prayer" (used for Dominican friars, the 'blackfriars') abbey, and repealed in 1843. The order in later years supported the Brun regime of the Guilds of Zürich. The order purchased houses in the late 13th and early 14th century, and was in close contact with the nobility and landed gentry in Zürich and the surrounding area, among them the Bilgeri family (Grimmenturm) and the House of Rapperswil, that had after their expulsion around 1345 found asylum in Rapperswil. Memorial measurements had to be held until the 14th century at Grossmünster, because thus the most income was achieved. Until the Reformation in Zürich, all income obtained with the funerals had also to be delivered to the Grossmünster abbey. Within the city, as the other mendicant orders, the Augustinians were reduced to the function of area pastors. The convent was abolished in 1524, worship in the church was discontinued, and the buildings and income of the monastery were assigned to the Augustiner Amt, then a bailiwick or administrative entity of the city of Zürich. In 1841 the Roman Catholic community of Zürich planned to build a church to commemorate the old Augustinian church. But, as the majority of the Catholic community rejected the decisions of the First Vatican Council of 1870, the whole community was excommunicated from the Catholic church, becoming the Christkatholische Kirche der Schweiz. For the same reason, Augustinerkirche is still their parish church.

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).