St. Peter and Paul (Leerstetten)

St. Peter and Paul and War Memorial (2018)

St. Peter and Paul in the townscape, view from the east (2017)

St. Peter and Paul is an Evangelical Lutheran church in Leerstetten , Bavaria, in Central Franconia .

history

The Church of St. Peter and Paul was built in the 13th century. It probably built over the previous building of a small pilgrimage chapel from the 12th century, which was first mentioned in 1194. At that time Pope Cölestin V certified a donation to the hospital of the Schottenkloster in "Larensteten". In connection with the payment of tithes to the Ebrach monastery , the church was first recorded in writing in 1313. As a branch church of the Schwabach parish for the three villages of Leerstetten, Großschwarzenlohe and Furth , it was appointed an "eternal priest" by the Eichstätter Bishop Raban in 1372 . In the following years, the church is likely to have received its choir tower , the oldest bell of which was cast in 1398.

The tower was partially renewed in 1586. In the 16th century, again considerable parts were demolished and rebuilt. The nave was expanded to almost double its size in 1732, although it is not entirely clear whether and how much of the church building from 1372 was preserved. The first organ was installed in 1738 and the first tower clock in 1749 .

St. Peter and Paul received their current neo-Gothic character and the new Bittner organ during the renovation between 1835 and 1843 under the direction of the architect and curator Carl Alexander Heideloff . The west gable was provided with turrets and arabesques and rebuilt, the windows pulled down lower, a new sacristy built and the barrel vault drawn in. The altar, the pulpit, the baptismal font and the roof stalls were also renewed during this time and another gallery was added. In 1857 the tower clock was renewed.

graveyard

Until the 16th century there was a small church field to the north and east of the church , but it was abandoned and is now a small green area. The massive enclosure wall made of uncut field stones and some tombs are still preserved on the south side (see pictures below). To the north there is the war memorial to commemorate the dead of the two world wars . The southern cemetery, founded in 1607, is protected as a building and ground monument , as is the church itself. Two sandstone walls of the enclosure from the early 17th century, a recumbent tombstone from the 17th century and some graves from the late 19th century have been preserved. In the early 2000s, this cemetery was considerably expanded and today shows, in addition to the funeral hall, an additional striking quarter circle that opens to the west towards the setting sun.

Bells

In the pews of the 47 m high church tower hang three bells. As bells for 1/4 hour strike hear the little bell on the hour striking the big one. In the Second World War , the bells had to be removed because they were to serve as raw material for the war industry. Although they were replaced in 1943 by the brake drum of a railway car as an emergency bell, they were not picked up after the start of the air raids on Nuremberg and the turmoil that followed. They were therefore spared melting down.

inscription	Casting year	Caster	Diameter (mm)	Mass (kg)	Chime
AVE MARIA GRACIA PLENA DOMINVS TECVM BENEDICTA TV IN MVLIERIBVS ET	1494	unknown	960	550	h ¹
ANNO DOMINI MILESIMO CCC LXXXXVIII AVE MARIA GRACIA PLENA DOMINVS TC	1398	unknown	750	250	d ²
AVE MARIA GRACIA PLENA DOMINVS TECVM	1494	unknown	640	150	fis ″
Note: A railway brake drum served as an emergency bell in World War II	approx. 1940 (installation)	-	about 800