Alexander Church (Marbach am Neckar)
The Alexander Church is a historic church building in Marbach am Neckar . The church, which was built in its current form in three construction phases in the second half of the 15th century, marks the oldest settlement core of Marbach. The outstanding features of the church include the late Gothic reticulated vaults with their colored console sculptures and the historic Voit organ from 1868.
history
The location of the Alexander Church marks the oldest settlement center of Marbach am Neckar. The first early church was built there in Carolingian times , which was expanded into a basilica in the Romanesque style in the 12th century and was given its current late Gothic appearance in the 15th century . The church is the only church in Württemberg that is consecrated to St. Alexander . This patronage is probably explained by the Klingenmünster monastery , which had had Alexander relics since the time of Charlemagne and owned in Marbach, which was lent to the Counts of Grüningen in the 13th century . After Hartmann III. von Grüningen had died in 1280 without a male heir, the Abbot von Klingenmünster awarded the Marbach fiefdom to Count Walram I. von Zweibrücken .
The church is located outside the city walls of Marbach, as today's old town area on a hill southwest of the older settlement around the Alexander Church was not built until the late 12th century. While the settlement around the parish church went under, they held onto the church and surrounded it with protective walls and towers. The size of the Alexander Church is probably due to the need for representation of the Counts of Württemberg, who wanted to expand Marbach into a royal seat when construction began in 1450. A Marienkapelle was built in the city in the 15th century, which became the city church after the Reformation . The old Alexander Church, robbed of its sculptures and altars in 1534, remained unused for a long time and has only been used for services again since a renovation in 1926/28.
Today's Alexander Church was built according to an inscription stone on the western tower wall in three construction phases: the choir was started in 1450, the nave in 1463, the tower in 1481. In the choir and in the attached sacristy there are master builders by Aberlin Jörg , who therefore started construction should have. In the south-west corner of the nave there is a date of 1453, so that Aberlin Jörg probably also started the nave before construction was suspended due to the change in ownership in Marbach. The resumption of the nave building in 1463, as evidenced by the tower script, coincides with the transition of the city to the Electoral Palatinate , so that the remaining stonemasons to be found in the nave were probably made by builders from the Rhineland Palatinate who completed the construction. The builder Caspar Lechler is named by name .
To the north of the Alexander Church is the cemetery. The church survived the city fire of 1693 and the Second World War without major damage. In 1879 the Backnang – Ludwigsburg railway line was built right past the church. The construction of the railway line that crosses the cemetery, the northern wall of the church and two associated towers of the fortification fell victim.
description
Choir
The walls of the east-facing choir are structured by buttresses and late Gothic tracery windows. The choir is spanned by a wide-meshed reticulated vault, the six keystones of which show the rafter coat of arms of Aberlin Jörg , Maria with the baby Jesus, the church patron Alexander , a martyr with a crown, palm and ears of wheat, the coat of arms of the Counts of Württemberg and the Marbach city coat of arms. In the north wall of the choir, an artistically studded door leads into the sacristy , which is also provided with tracery windows , and a stair tower is built into the triumphal arch , which leads to the attic above the sacristy. In the south wall of the choir there is an ornately painted niche, possibly the remains of a holy grave . Outside on the south wall is another niche that once contained a mount of olives .
On the north wall of the choir, a mural commemorates the knights Kaspar Speth and Konrad von Hohenrieth, who died on the Württemberg side in the battle of Wüstenhausen in 1460, who were shown kneeling with their coats of arms in front of Maria before the picture was painted over during the Reformation that the knights now kneel before the crucified one. Next to the picture was a "cap lobe" that had been captured in battle, which was indicated by a hook and the banner next to the fresco. In addition, the death shield and the tomb of Marbach Vogts Dieter von Angelach († 1464) are shown in the choir, along with other grave monuments .
Fresco for the Württemberg knights who fell in 1460
Tomb of Vogts Dieter von Angelach
Crucifix of the choir altar
Longhouse
Like the choir, the nave and the side aisles of the pseudo-basilica and relay hall are each covered by a mesh vault. In the second yoke of the central nave, instead of a keystone, a wreath of clouds covered with wood is incorporated. The other keystones show Mary with the baby Jesus, Anna herself , the risen Christ with wounds and St. Wolfgang. In the side aisles, the keystones show St. Urban, the Holy Three Kings and the five martyrs Sebastian, Veit, Katharina, Barbara and Leonhard.
The vault ribs are supported on a total of 27 colored console sculptures. The console sculpture above the pulpit shows Christ with the globe, the other consoles show apostles, evangelists, angels, archangels, patriarchs and prophets, as well as Moses and Elijah. The console figures were originally identified by banners, but these have only been preserved in fragments, so that only those figures with clearly assignable attributes can be identified.
The organ loft in the west of the nave shows colorful grimaces and demon heads on its consoles as well as on the west wall above that embody worry, superstition, lust for revenge, contentiousness, grief and envy.
The outer walls of the nave are only about half as high as those of the choir, so that the roof over the nave appears to be drawn low. In the north aisle there is a large fresco on the east wall showing Christophorus. In the corner to the right of it some historical figures of saints were placed. In the nave, as in the choir, there are other historical tombs and remains of the choir stalls from the 15th century.
Console figures
Sheet mask colored
Grimace on the organ gallery
Historical figures of saints
pulpit
The pulpit was built between 1480 and 1490 and rests on a foot, which is designed as a tree of knowledge with a tracery-like crown and figures of Adam and Eve. The pulpit parapet has five relief images showing the church patron Alexander and the four church fathers Gregor, Augustine, Hieronymus and Ambrosius. The sound cover of the pulpit dates from 1688 and was donated by the mayor family Wunderlich.
tower
The basement of the tower is designed as a passage hall open on three sides and forms the main entrance to the church. The floors of the tower are divided by cornices. The tower has several loopholes-like narrow window openings, only on the first floor and as sound shutters at the level of the belfry it also has tracery windows.
Bells
The belfry is a 1859 German Schiller admirers in Moscow donated Schillerglocke that the born in Marbach Friedrich Schiller recalls and is rung to its birth and death. Two more historical bells were delivered in 1917 during the First World War. In 1997 a new five-part bell was installed in the tower.
organ
The organ in the Alexander Church was built in 1868 by Louis Voit & Sons.
See main article: Organ of the Alexander Church (Marbach am Neckar) .
literature
- Judith Breuer : The Marbach Alexander Church. Interest in use and monument preservation concerns. In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg , 32nd year 2003, issue 1, pp. 83–88 ( PDF )
- Judith Breuer: On the lighting in the Alexander Church in Marbach am Neckar. In: Monument Preservation in Baden-Württemberg , 26th year 1997, issue 1, pp. 23–28. ( PDF )
- Hans Dinkelacker: Alexanderkirche Marbach am Neckar , Schnell-Kunstführer No. 2452, Regensburg 2004.
- Ulrich Gräf: Art and cultural monuments in the Ludwigsburg district , Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1986, p. 186, ISBN 3-8062-0466-7 .
- Ulrich Gräf: Evangelical Alexander Church Marbach. In the field of tension between use and conservation. In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg , 32nd year 2003, issue 1, pp. 74–82 ( PDF )
- Karl Eduard Paulus : Description of the Oberamt Marbach . Issued by the Royal Bureau of Statistics and Topography. Lindemann, Stuttgart 1866, pp. 160-120. Wikisource
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Württ. Urkundenbuch, Volume VIII, No. 3014, p. 254 WUB online with Sönke Lorenz: Von Baden zu Württemberg. Marbach - an object in the stately interplay of forces at the end of the 13th century . In: Journal for Württemberg State History (ZWLG), 72/2013, p. 40.
- ^ Markus Otto: Post-Reformation paintings in the churches of the Ludwigsburg district . In: Ludwigsburger Geschichtsblätter XVI , 1964, pp. 30–56, here p. 33.
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 56 ′ 33.4 " N , 9 ° 15 ′ 36" E