Die Theatralisierung des Heiligen Grabes. Beispiele aus der Schweiz

The Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is the most important place of worship in Christianity. Since its popularisation in the era of Constantine the Great in the fourth century, pilgrims visit the presumed burial site in order to commemorate the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord and to gain indulgence. Ritual acts around the Holy Sepulchre were at all times connected with power politics. This is also the case for replicas of the tomb erected in sacred spaces as well as temporarily positioned sarcophagi during Easter week or in the context of performances of Passion plays. This article focuses on the dramatization of the Holy Sepulchre in Lucerne and Zurich in the Middle Ages. While the Visitatio Sepulchri staged in the context of the Latin Easter liturgy served to emphasize the exceptional position of ecclesiastical centers and their clergy, vernacular resurrection plays performed on municipal main squares bear witness to church-internal struggles and the growing influence of the bourgeoisie. In Lucerne the secular priest, backed by patricians, introduced the staging of vernacular plays (Donaueschingen Passion Play) in order to break the predominance of the abbey ‘im Hof’. In Zürich the dramatization of the Holy Sepulchre was the preserve of the ‘Grossmünster’ clergy, the preferred church of the burghers. With the staging of the vernacular Easter play (Osterspiel von Muri) on the most significant ‘Lindenhof’, the ‘Grossmünster’ clergy tried to undermine the ‘Fraumünster’ and establish spiritual leadership