Wendish-German double church
The Wendish-German double church ( Lower Sorbian Serbsko-nimska dwójna cerkwja we Wětošowje ) is a double church in Vetschau / Spreewald . The evangelical church has in common tower and sacristy , two side by side built naves .
history
Previous construction
The first church building at this point was probably built at the end of the 13th century in the course of the Christianization of the Sorbs (Wends) living here . This Wendish church was built from field and lawn iron stones. In the course of the Reformation , the church became Protestant in 1540, following the religion of the castle rule of those of Schlieben . The church burned down in a town fire in 1619. Further damage was caused by a fire in 1642. Only the tower base, which still forms the lower part of the church tower today, remained.
Construction of the Wendish Church
On the old foundations, probably after the end of the Thirty Years War around 1650, a new, simple, rectangular brick church with a flat ceiling, visible crossbeams and high pointed arched windows was built. The west tower was initially not rebuilt. A castle chapel was built on the northern side of this village church. This chapel served as a space for the services of the German lords of the castle. For these and a few Germans, preaching was done in German as required .
The actual church, later called Wendish , is referred to as the main church in a register from 1673/1674. It was used primarily for church services in Lower Sorbian (Wendish) for ten neighboring villages. But it was also preached in German. On the German side, however, there were efforts to assign the status of the main church to the German chapel.
Construction of the German Church
In the city of Vetschau, the proportion of the German population increased, while the surrounding area continued to be characterized by Wendish. The German bourgeoisie strove to stand out from the Wendish rural population also in church matters. The number of visitors to the German-language church service increased, so that the chapel, presumably without a pulpit and only poorly repaired after a fire, no longer met the requirements. The order was then given to tear down the castle chapel and replace it with a proper church for the growing German-speaking community. The local pastors are said to have opposed the new building.
In 1689 the castle chapel was demolished and on March 31, 1690 the foundation stone was laid for the German church , which was completed in 1693 after three years of construction. This late Baroque nave, built of bricks, also has a rectangular floor plan and connects to the north of the Wendish nave over its full length. It has two or three-part arched windows. Stepped buttresses were built on the north side and corners . There is a four-sided hipped roof on the ship . The ceiling was designed as a wooden, plastered barrel vault. Two-storey galleries run along the south and west walls and partly on the north wall , in which the stately boxes are located. The access to the galleries was created in the northwest corner and the west side. The portal to the German nave was laid out in the central axis of the north wall. On January 30, 1694, the general superintendent Daniel Römer from Lübben inaugurated the new building. There were now two naves, wall to wall. Both a Wendish and a German congregation existed independently of one another. The Wendish church remained the main church, the more splendid German church functioned as a subsidiary church with an archdeacon in office there . A sacristy in front of the common east gable connected the two churches. The sacristy, which is equipped with a groined vault with two bays, was probably built at the same time as the German church was built. In addition to the sacristy, the church tower in front of the Wendish church was used by both churches.
Conversions
The church tower was initially only in ruins. Reconstruction began in 1704 and was completed in 1709. This year, an octagonal, brick-faced structure in half-timbered construction was built on the preserved square tower stump . The top of the tower is a Welsche dome with a lantern and top. A wooden belfry was in use until the tower was completed . In 1715 all the bells were repaired or cast again. A raised star of Bethlehem over a crescent moon crowned the tower, with which the builders expressed their joy at the averted advance of the Turks .
In 1847 and 1849 strong lightning strikes hit the church.
In the middle of the 19th century, after 1853, the Wendish church underwent a fundamental renovation. In order to gain more space, two-story galleries were built on the north and south sides. A wooden barrel vault replaced the previous flat ceiling, which was a hindrance for the galleries. Since too little light would have entered the church through the galleries, a large semicircular window was inserted behind the current altar. At the same time, a new organ from the Kaltschmidt company from Stettin was installed. The old pulpit , which is said to have resembled a barrel, gave way to a pulpit altar crowned by a cross . Biblical sayings originally placed in the predelas on both sides of the pulpit were later painted over.
The German church was painted in neo-Gothic style during this time , whereby the original, splendid late baroque color scheme disappeared. At the end of the 19th century, around 1890, the western porch of the German church was rebuilt. While retaining the roof structure, the original half-timbered structure was replaced by a brick building in the neo-Gothic style. In 1899 a new organ was installed in this nave. At the same time, new windows were created. In 1935, the western gallery was pulled forward to be bulbous.
Fall of the Wendish Church
In 1910 the two parishes were united to form a parish . At the time, the German authorities tried to push back the Sorbian culture and language in favor of German. With the end of Wendish school lessons at the beginning of the 20th century, the Wendish language lost a lot of its importance and support. The number of visitors to the Wendish church service fell sharply; the last one took place in 1932. It is speculated that possibly in anticipatory obedience to the National Socialists ruling from 1933 onwards, no more Wendish services were offered.
Until 1977, however, both naves were still in use as rooms for regular church services. The Wendish church was now called the country church , the German one as the city church . From 1977 the Wendish church was only used as a storage room. Parts of the village church of Pritzen were stored, which had to give way to an open- cast brown coal mine . In 1990 the organ in the German church was restored.
Use as a cultural church
In 1995 the Wendish Church began to be used as a cultural church , for which the Wendish Church eV , founded on October 10, 1995, campaigned. Both churches were restored in 2000 and 2001. The German church continues to serve as the area of the parish. The Wendish church was taken over by the city of Vetschau as a cultural church by means of a license agreement. Concerts and exhibitions take place regularly. An exhibition commemorates the churches destroyed in the region by open-cast lignite mining.
Since May 28, 1995, a service in Wendish, i.e. Lower Sorbian , has been held in Wendish Church on the day of the open monument .
Furnishing
In addition to the objects already mentioned, two tombstones still in existence in the Wendish church are remarkable. A tombstone for Eustachius von Schlieben, who died in 1686, is located in the northern half of the east gable and is surrounded by an acanthus frame in which his vita is listed. Another tombstone dates from the beginning of the 18th century and is located in the southern half of the east gable. The organ prospect is designed in the neo-Gothic style.
The equipment of the German church comes largely from the time it was built. However, the originally baroque color scheme has been changed. The altarpiece in the church is said to be the work of Abraham Jäger from Doberlug . The panel painting of the essay shows the empty tomb of Jesus on Easter morning. The wooden polygonal pulpit on the north wall of the church is closed off by a sound cover designed as a crown , which is crowned by a trumpet angel . The entrance to the pulpit is from the choir.
To the left of the altar is a late Gothic font from the 13th century, which comes from the Schönfeld village church that fell victim to lignite mining . The corresponding baptismal bowl is in Kittlitz . To the right of the altar is the so-called royal box . The name comes from a coat of arms on the box , which is provided with a prince's crown .
Also noteworthy is a sacrificial box with the year 1645 in the vestibule of the German church. A plaque on the church tower commemorates the Lower Sorbian poet Johannes Bock , who was born in Vetschau in 1569.
Organs
The existing in the German church and 1,899 within five months from the company Schlag & Sons from Schweidnitz ( Silesia ) built organ is her Abstromverfahren the pneumatic control is a technical monument.
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- Fixed combinations: Piano / Mezzoforte / Forte
- Wind indicator, calcant
The purely mechanical slider chests -instrument in the Wendish church was created in 1859 by the organ builder Friedrich Schmidt cold. It has 24 stops on two manuals and a pedal .
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- Coupling : manual coupler, pedal coupler
- Playing aids : vocator (with bell), evacuant (motor switch)
Vetschau double church in literature
In his book Die Lebensuhr des Gottlieb Grambauer, Ehm Welk reproduces an incident that his father Gottfried told him and which takes place around 1866 at the double church:
- The Wendish pastor had two beautiful white benches in front of his door. We often sat up there. Sometimes with girls too, but with all due respect. Then he chased us away. “You'd better sit down on a bench in the church,” he said, “but I can't see you there!”. Since we now had two churches wall to wall - namely the Wendish and the German - I asked: "In which of the two should we sit down?" He was probably amazed, but then he said: "Our Lord doesn't care!" Well, I thought, then I stopped and said: "If God doesn't care, why does it have to be two?" Then he scolded something about "cheeky brats" and came after us.
literature
- Hans-Joachim Beeskow : Guide through the Protestant churches of the parish of Lübben . Lübben 1998, ISBN 3-929600-14-5 , pages 222-227
- Jens Eschrich in Dehio, Handbook of German Art Monuments , Brandenburg , Deutscher Kunstverlag Munich Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-422-03054-9 , page 1074 f.
- The Wendish-German double church. Leaflet from the city of Vetschau, 2006
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans-Joachim Beeskow : Guide through the Protestant churches of the parish of Lübben . Lübben 1998, ISBN 3-929600-14-5 , page 223, 2nd paragraph
- ↑ Eschrich, Dehio, page 1075
- ^ Leaflet of the city of Vetschau 2006, page 3, 1st paragraph
- ^ Leaflet of the City of Vetschau 2006, page 3, 2nd paragraph
- ↑ Eschrich, Dehio, page 1075; Beeskow, page 225 gives the year of death as 1668
- ↑ Information about the organ ( Memento from September 6, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ Information about the organ ( Memento from December 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
Coordinates: 51 ° 47 ′ 1.8 ″ N , 14 ° 4 ′ 21.2 ″ E
