Die Gewölbekomposition der Kirche in Luggenhusen/Lüganuse

Abstract

Most of the parish churches built in North-Estonia during the 14th centuryare simple rectangular buildings without vaults and sanctuary. This was probably an expression of Dominican ideology. These churches weresubsequently vaulted in the 15th century by Tallinn’s master builders.The story of the Lüganuse Church’s development is similar. Due to thewidth of the nave, it was built into a double-nave church. In the 17thcentury, the vaults were destroyed and today only a small fragment ofthe transverse arch survives on the western wall.When the vaults were built in the church, buttresses were also built.On the eastern side, at first glance, their placement seems strange – thereare none on the corners of the building. The buttresses were builtwhere the lateral pressure was the greatest. It is possible that the vaultcomposition in Lüganuse was identical to the one in the Keila Church(vaulted in 1489), where a triangular bay was constructed in front of thesanctuary in the eastern part of the nave. This composition would havesignificantly reduced the load on the chancel arch. Current literature datesthe vaulting of the Lüganuse Church back to the first quarter of the15th century. But apparently, the reconstruction of the church startedconsiderably later – possibly not until the last decades of the 15th century.