CONCEPTUAL AFFINITIES WITH
COLOGNE CATHEDRAL
With its emphasis on the monastery as a general cultural
institution[160]
and its generous allotment of space provided
for the reception of secular dignitaries[161]
the layout of the
Plan of St. Gall displays a largesse d'esprit that appears
more akin to the educational and administrative policies
promoted by Charlemagne and his advisors than to the
constrictive atmosphere prevalent in monastic life at the
time of Louis the Pious.
Nowhere is this boldness of approach more clearly
disclosed than in the exuberant dimensions of the Church
of the Plan. Prior to 1948 the idea that an exemplary
Carolingian monastery church could attain a length of 300
feet appeared doubtful to many. The Abbey Church of
Fulda, 321 feet long and 100 feet wide, had always been
considered exceptional, and the rebellion of the monks of
Fulda against its inordinate size appeared to confirm this
view.[162]
But Otto Doppelfeld's excavation of the foundations
of the Carolingian church of Cologne brought to
light under the pavement of the present Cathedral the
remains of a church that corresponded to the Church of
the Plan of St. Gall not only in size but also in the essentials
of its layout (figs. 14-16).[163]
A late but trustworthy tradition
ascribes the construction of this edifice to Archbishop
Hildebold of Cologne (787-818),[164]
a relative of Charlemagne
and one of his most trusted councilors.[165]
Like the Church of the Plan of St. Gall, the church of
Hildebold was about 300 feet long and about 80 feet wide.
As in the former, the nave in the latter had a width of about
40 feet, and the aisles half of that, about 20 feet. In both
churches the transept arms and the fore choir repeat the
dimensions of the crossing square. Both churches had
apses at either end, a semicircular paradise with a covered
walk in the west and an uncovered paradise in the east.
The similarities are very close and so striking, Doppelfeld
concluded, that one must have served as model for the
other. In the plan of the church of Cologne, he believed,
he had found the prototype for the layout of the Church
of the Plan of St. Gall.[166]
