Cäcilien- and Margarethenkirche (Leerhafe)

Cäcilien- and Margarethenkirche (south side)

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Cecilia and Margaret is in Leerhafe , a district of the East Frisian town of Wittmund . Patron saints are Cecilia and Margarethe .

history

Church and bell tower (west side)

Church with a walled-up north entrance

The area around Leerhafe is one of the early (probably in the 10th or early 11th century) Christianized regions of East Frisia. Influences from the nearby Reepsholt Monastery are assumed . The first Christian services in Leerhafe are scheduled around the year 1000, initially outdoors, but soon soon in a simple wooden church.

In the storm surge vulnerable area one was for the church mound piled up, which is about three meters high, 75 meters long and 50 meters wide. According to archaeological studies, the present church had at least three previous wooden buildings, the first of which was erected shortly after the year 1000. The terp has already been laid out for these buildings and increased a little with each new building until it reached today's level. A trapezoidal tombstone from the 12th century has been preserved from the time of the wooden churches. In the 13th century a granite square church was finally built, which was badly dilapidated and torn around 1500. In the subsequent construction of today's church, remains of granite blocks from the previous building were reused. A late Gothic hall church with a polygonal brick choir was built in Leerhafe . The former entrance on the north wall is now walled up, but easy to see.

In 1640 the church was badly damaged by fire and was repaired in 1655-1660. The west portal was broken into in 1861. During the Second World War , the church was badly damaged and poorly repaired in 1953. In October 1981 there was an acute danger of collapse for the church, after which a five-year restoration took place. The church is a listed building .

Building description

The Cäcilien- und Margarethenkirche is a late Gothic hall church with a polygonal brick choir. The lower part of the nave has reused granite blocks, while the upper part is made of bricks. Originally the ship had buttresses outside, which have been removed over time. The north wall is structured by high-seated, arched windows and a walled-up portal, the pointed arch of which is decorated with tracery. In the south wall there are four wider, ogival windows. The choir consists of four sides of a polygon with a buttress in the central axis. The church interior is closed off at the top by a beamed ceiling. The Leerhafer Church has never had a special church tower, only the somewhat secluded bell tower of the closed type. It was built between 1300 and 1350 west of the church.

Furnishing

Rohlfs-Führer organ

The oldest piece of equipment in the church is a trapezoidal tombstone made of Bentheim sandstone with a club cross between bars.

In the north of the building there is a late Gothic sacrament niche . It is possible that the niche also served in the Easter liturgy to represent the Holy Sepulcher .

The baroque style wooden altar structure with a column frame was probably made in the middle of the 17th century by a student of the Esenser master Jacob Cröpelin . Since 1889 there has been a new altar painting in its center, which is a copy of the Descent from the Cross by Peter Paul Rubens . The picture was donated to the community by Rinste Maria Betten from the neighboring village of Möns. In 1987 the altar was completed with a painting by the artist Edward Malinowski, which shows the resurrection of Christ. During the church renovation in 1981, the original color of the altar was restored. The time of the Rococo entstamme ends kneeling benches in front of the altar were made around 1760th

The simple pulpit dates from 1655.

The lead-glazed windows in the choir were installed in 1986. They were made according to designs by Wilhelm Buschulte from Unna in the Derix workshops in Taunusstein .

A first organ was installed in 1797 in the east above the choir by Hinrich Just Müller from Wittmund. The community generated the necessary funds from the sale of the church stalls. Between 1860 and 1861 the north and west galleries were built into the church, the latter of which was to house the organ in the future. Here Arnold Rohlfs from Esens installed a new instrument in 1863, on whose neo-Romanesque prospectus he attached the decorations of the organ from 1797. This instrument also had to be replaced after it had become dilapidated in 1957. Since then, behind the preserved prospectus, there has been a mechanical slider organ by the organ builder Alfred Führer from Wilhelmshaven in the church , which consists of a main work, Rückpositiv and pedal and has 15 stops with 930 organ pipes . The main works prospectus and old pipes from Rohlfs have been preserved in four registers; the Rückpositiv and pedal are from 1956–1958.

Other items of equipment include a goblet from 1811, the baptismal bowl donated in 1840, a pewter jug without a sign, a pewter tin from the pewter Ronstadt from Leer and a sick goblet donated in 1878.

literature

Kirchengemeinde Leerhafe (ed.): Church and ecclesiastical life in Leerhafe. On the rededication of the Cäcilien- and Margarethenkirche , issue 2 in the series Leerhafe-Hovel in the past and present , Leerhafe / Wittmund 1986
Hermann Haiduck: The architecture of the medieval churches in the East Frisian coastal area . 2nd Edition. Ostfriesische Landschaftliche Verlags- und Vertriebs-GmbH, Aurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-940601-05-6 , p. 191.197 .
Julia Dittmann: About wars and crucifixes . In: Jeversches Wochenblatt . August 15, 2020, p. 9 .

Web links

Commons : Cäcilien- und Margarethenkirche Leerhafe - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Church district Harlingerland: Cäcilien- and Margarethenkirche Leerhafe
Karl-Heinz de Wall (local chronicle of the East Frisian landscape ): Leerhafe, city of Wittmund, district of Wittmund (PDF file; 77 kB)
Genealogy forum: Leerhafe
Monika van Lengen: Cäcilien- and Margarethen-Kirche in Leerhafe

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Karl-Heinz de Wall (local chronicle of the East Frisian landscape ): Leerhafe, city of Wittmund, district of Wittmund (PDF file; 77 kB), viewed on May 15, 2011.
↑ ^a ^b Harlingerland Church District: Cäcilien- und Margarethenkirche Leerhafe , viewed on September 20, 2010.
^ ^A ^b Gottfried Kiesow : Architectural Guide East Friesland . Verlag Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz , Bonn 2010, ISBN 978-3-86795-021-3 , p. 351 .
↑ Justin Kroesen, Regnerus Steensma: Churches in East Friesland and their medieval furnishings . Michael Imhof, Petersberg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86568-159-1 , p. 146 .

53.529276 7.78332Coordinates: 53 ° 31 ′ 45.4 ″ N , 7 ° 47 ′ 0 ″ E

[obio-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Karl-Heinz de Wall (local chronicle of the East Frisian landscape ): Leerhafe, city of Wittmund, district of Wittmund (PDF file; 77 kB), viewed on May 15, 2011.

[harlinger-2] Harlingerland Church District: Cäcilien- und Margarethenkirche Leerhafe , viewed on September 20, 2010.

[Kiesow-3] A ^b Gottfried Kiesow : Architectural Guide East Friesland . Verlag Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz , Bonn 2010, ISBN 978-3-86795-021-3 , p. 351 .

[4] Justin Kroesen, Regnerus Steensma: Churches in East Friesland and their medieval furnishings . Michael Imhof, Petersberg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86568-159-1 , p. 146 .