Evangelical Church Frankenbach (Biebertal)

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Church from the west
Church from the East

The Evangelical Church in Frankenbach in the district of Giessen ( Hesse ) is a Gothic hall church with a narrow rectangular choir and mighty roof skylights from the Baroque . The wall painting in the choir and on the choir arch dates from the 15th century. The church is a Hessian cultural monument .

history

In the late Middle Ages, Frankenbach was assigned to the Krumbach district in the Archipresbyterat Wetzlar, which was subordinate to the Archdiakonat St. Lubentius Dietkirchen in the Diocese of Trier .

Possibly the right pillar of a small door made of red sandstone, in which the year 1027 was carved, originally served as the door frame of a Romanesque predecessor chapel. The gate was built into the western wall fence and disappeared after the last repair of this wall.

With the introduction of the Reformation , the parish changed to the Protestant creed. The parish of Frankenbach was connected to the parish in Krumbach; the pastor had his seat in Krumbach.

In the late Gothic period, the portal and windows on the south side were changed. In 1571 galleries were built and a flat ceiling was drawn in on three central posts. After devastation during the Thirty Years' War , the church was restored. The renewed roof structure was higher and stronger. In this context, today's hooded roof turret from the 17th century was created, which could accommodate additional bells.

The wall paintings were extensively restored in 1909 by master painter H. Demmer from Wetzlar and in 1949 by master painter Etzelmüller from Krumbach, and in 1968 they were conserved by the state curator. The church was damaged by air fire in 1945 and repaired in 1949. In 2012 the roof structure was renewed and reinforced and the roof was slated. An interior renovation followed in the same year.

architecture

South portal from the late Gothic period

The unplastered hall building made of quarry stone masonry, which is not exactly easted , but tends to the northeast, is built on the northeastern outskirts in the middle of the former cemetery.

The ship on a rectangular floor plan (8.32 × 12.32 meters) has a gable roof with a mighty, octagonal, slated roof turret that is placed in the middle. The substructure of the ridge dominates the gable roof and extends almost to the eaves. Shed roofs connect to the smaller upper floor, which serves as a bell room. There are five small arched sound holes and the clock face of the tower clock facing west. A curved hood is crowned by a tower pommel, a wrought-iron cross and a weathercock. The tips of the two triangular gables are slated. The ship is illuminated on the north side by three small right windows and on the south side by five small rectangular windows of different sizes and at different heights. The ogival south portal with a rough bevel is made of red sandstone. The slightly ogival west portal with sandstone walls has a wooden porch, which is marked on the right post with the year 1920. The slated roof is secured by three wooden pillars in the central nave.

The retracted rectangular choir is significantly lower than the nave and has a crooked roof . The beam heads are visible under the roof. A small rectangular window is let into each side. A low arch opens the choir to the ship. The choir has a groin vault over blind niches with pointed arches.

Furnishing

Pulpit with wall paintings in the background
Marbled support beam with headbands, choir arch
Choir with altar and wall paintings in the background

The relatively dark interior is closed off by a flat ceiling with three longitudinal beams . The outer beams rest on three wooden, red-marbled painted wall supports with three headbands each , the middle beam on three octagonal central posts with four headbands each. The wooden pillar construction is similar to the Margarethenkirche Krofdorf . The octagonal central posts, which are marked with the year 1500, have square bases. The white cross beams of the ceiling are painted with tendrils. The wall paintings in the nave and choir date from the end of the 15th century. The crucifixion scene is depicted on the north wall under the organ gallery. As in the choir, a curtain is painted on the lower level. On both sides of the south portal remains of hunting motifs (falcon) are preserved, which may indicate the donor. The adoration of the kings can be seen on the choir roof above the pulpit . The scene is continued on the south wall and shows two shepherds. The choir vault is painted in the keystone with the lamb holding the victory flag and on the caps with the four evangelist symbols, which are flanked by angels playing music. The lower gussets show figures of apostles. The lower area is separated by a continuous yellow band, under which a red and yellow folded curtain is painted. A frame from the Baroque period has been preserved on the southern double window. The floor of the church is covered with red sandstone slabs, while the chairs are on wooden floorboards.

The walled up altar canteen with a slab made of red sandstone over a slope dates from the Gothic period. On it stands a wooden altar cross with a crucifix of the three-nail type from the 17th century in a modern version . The six-sided late Gothic font was slightly damaged in World War II. Three twisted free pillars, one of which is no longer intact, carry the kuppa , which is decorated with a star, rose, coat of arms, tracery and stonemason's mark. A large grimace on the baptismal font was probably attributed to an apotropaic effect.

The wooden interior is largely kept in red and green tones. The three-sided gallery built in 1571 originally had square balusters , which were replaced in the 18th century by today's parapet paintings in the style of baroque peasant painting. The profiles of the greenish marbled bars are set off with red. The coffered panels and the octagonal gallery posts are painted with tendrils and floral motifs in shades of green. In the intermediate fields, geometric and floral motifs alternate. The beam heads are painted with flowers. The profiles of the gallery stand out in red. The north gallery under the organ bears an inscription, the upper line of which is half covered by a cladding: "VESPERA · IAM · VENIT · NOBISCVM · CHRISTE · MANETO" (Evening is coming. Stay with us, Christ). The bottom line reads: "EXTINGVI · LVCEM · NE · PATIARE · TVAM" (do not allow your light to be extinguished).

The wooden church stalls from the middle of the 17th century have artistically designed cheeks and painted tendrils on the back, which are reminiscent of the motifs of the gallery fields. The stalls in the Rodheim church are similar . The wooden, polygonal pulpit from 1715 stands on a square wooden post. The coffered panels of the pulpit fields are structured by twisted free columns over consoles .

organ

organ

A previous organ in the choir arch is described as missing in 1899. The community decided to build a new one, but did not agree on the implementation of the organ, so the old location remained. In 1900/1901, the Bernhard brothers built a new work with seven registers on a manual and pedal. The five-part prospectus was taken over and the rear parapet organ let into the gallery above the choir arch.

Today's organ by Gerald Woehl from 1976 has found its place as a parapet organ in the north gallery and has six registers. The wooden pedal register Subbass 16 'is set up behind. The Frankenbacher organ has the following disposition :

I Manual C – f 3
Dumped 8th'
Principal 4 ′
Reed flute 4 ′
Gemshorn 2 ′
Mixture III
Pedal C – d 1
Sub bass 16 ′

Bells

The roof turret houses a triple bell. The oldest bell from the pre-Reformation period was cast in 1498, when the first small roof turret was built. It is without lettering and is called "Das Bimbelche" by the Frankenbachers. The big bell by Johannes Henschel dates from 1714. The middle bell from 1786 is also called the “fire bell” and was cast by Friedrich Wilhelm Otto from Gießen.

No.
  		Casting year
  		Surname
  		Diameter
(mm) 		inscription
 
1 1714 Big bell 830 JOHANNES HENSEL GOS ME IN FRONT OF THE COMMON FRANKENBACH ANNO 1714
2 1786 Medium or fire bell 720 ANNO 1786 GOS ME IN GIESEN FRIEDRICH WILHELM OTTO IN FRONT OF THE COMMUNITY OF FRANKENBACH
JOHAN ADAM SCHMITT SCHULTHEIS / JOHAN LUDWICH EHLER / JOHANNES JOST BOTH VORSTEHER / JOHANNES GERTH BORGEMEISTER
3 1498 Ave bell 510

literature

  • Georg Dehio : Handbook of German art monuments , Hessen I: Administrative districts of Giessen and Kassel. Edited by Folkhard Cremer and others. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-422-03092-3 , p. 234.
  • Dünsberg Association Biebertal e. V. (Ed.): The Dünsberg and the Biebertal. 3. Edition. Brühlsche Universitätsdruckerei Gießen 1989, ISBN 3-9800654-1-3 .
  • State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (Ed.), Karlheinz Lang (Ed.): Kirchstrasse 6, Ev. Church In: Cultural monuments in Hessen. District of Giessen III. The communities of Allendorf (Lumda), Biebertal, Heuchelheim, Lollar, Staufenberg and Wettenberg. (= Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany ). Theiss, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 3-8062-2179-0 , p. 97.
  • Focko Weberling: Well-proportioned nave with a narrow rectangular choir. In: Gießener Allgemeine No. 59, March 9, 2012, p. 34.

Web links

Commons : Evangelische Kirche Frankenbach  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d e State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Cultural monuments in Hesse. 2010, p. 97.
  2. ↑ Frankenbach. Historical local dictionary for Hessen. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). Hessian State Office for Historical Cultural Studies (HLGL), accessed on November 20, 2014 .
  3. ↑ Dünsberg-Verein Biebertal e. V. (Ed.): The Dünsberg and the Biebertal. 1989, p. 293.
  4. ↑ a b c d Dünsberg-Verein Biebertal e. V. (Ed.): The Dünsberg and the Biebertal. 1989, p. 302.
  5. ↑ a b c d Dehio: Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler, Hessen I. 2008, p. 234.
  6. ↑ a b c d Weberling: Well-proportioned nave. 2012, p. 34.
  7. ^ Franz Bösken : Sources and research on the organ history of the Middle Rhine. Vol. 2: The area of ​​the former administrative district Wiesbaden (= contributions to the Middle Rhine music history 7.1. Part 1 (A – K)). Schott, Mainz 1975, ISBN 3-7957-1307-2 , p. 197.
  8. ↑ Hellmut Schliephake: Bell customer of the district of Wetzlar. In: Heimatkundliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft Lahntal e. V. 12th yearbook. 1989, ISSN  0722-1126 , pp. 5-150, here p. 135.
  9. ↑ Hellmut Schliephake: Bell customer of the district of Wetzlar. In: Heimatkundliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft Lahntal e. V. 12th yearbook. 1989, ISSN  0722-1126 , pp. 5-150, here p. 135.

Coordinates: 50 ° 40 ′ 24 "  N , 8 ° 34 ′ 28.3"  E