Alexander Church (Zweibrücken)

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Coordinates: 49 ° 14 '50.2 "  N , 7 ° 21' 50.4"  E

Alexanderskirche in Zweibrücken, historicizing tower front from the time after the Second World War

The Alexanderskirche in Zweibrücken was a late Gothic hall church, which was rebuilt in a very simplified way after the destruction in the Second World War (loss of the vaults and the tracery windows).

history

Apse area of ​​the church
View inside the church, which was restored in a simplified manner after the Second World War

It was founded in 1489 by Prince Alexander von Pfalz-Zweibrücken on his return from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and started in 1493. Philipp Steinmetz is named as the builder. The front side of the church with the choir is in the northeast towards the market square. The church serves the Protestant community.

The construction of the oldest church in Zweibrücken is closely related to the construction schools on the Middle Rhine. The vestibule of the north portal seems inspired by the example of the Frankfurt Cathedral ; the three-sided end of the choir can be found similarly at Frankfurt's Leonhardskirche . Tracery forms, as far as they are preserved, are reminiscent of the memorial gate of the Mainz Cathedral . It houses valuable paintings by Zweibrücken painters and grave monuments. In addition to royal officials, many members of the Wittelsbach family are buried here , including Count Palatine Ruprecht von Veldenz († July 28, 1544) and Count Palatine Gustav Samuel Leopold of Pfalz-Kleeburg († September 17, 1731).

In 1676/77 the church was largely destroyed by the French, but restored in 1689. As part of the reunion policy of the Sun King , Zweibrücken was under French rule from 1680 to 1697. During this time, the Alexander Church was used simultaneously by Catholics and Protestants. The royal visitor and Catholic pastor of Zweibrücken at the time, Carl Desiderius de Royer , under whose supervision the reconstruction took place, had a verse he had written carved into the outer wall to commemorate it. It read: “A thousand six hundred and seventy seven, of this church little remained, because it was completely disturbed by war, the city was also consumed by fire. A thousand, six hundred, eighty nine they were rebuilt fine. "

View and five floor plans of a new tower for the Alexander Church in Zweibrücken, colored pen drawing, 1754, single sheet, 53.5 × 37 cm, archive of the Herzog Wolfgang Foundation, Zweibrücken

In 1758, the Nohfelden / Nahe master builder, Christian Ludwig Hautt, completed a baroque church tower that shaped the cityscape of Zweibrücken until it was destroyed in 1945.

Apse area before the destruction on March 14, 1945

From 1904 to 1911 a thorough renovation and restoration took place under the direction of Karl Doflein . The church got a new foundation, a strong, reinforced special concrete slab that now supported the outer walls. The altar was moved. As early as 1858, a rich neo-late Gothic net vault was built in instead of a flat coffered ceiling. The coffered ceiling, similar to the current ceiling from the reconstruction phase after the Second World War, was created to replace the original vault after the vault was destroyed when the church tower was blown up by the French in 1677. With the neo-late Gothic renovation of 1858 and 1904–1911, a spatial image was created that should have largely corresponded to that of the late medieval-early modern foundation building.

The church was destroyed by a bombing raid on March 14, 1945 along with the entire city center of Zweibrücken and was re-inaugurated on June 26, 1955 after a simplified reconstruction by Otto Stahl and Richard Hummel . A citizens' initiative that campaigned for the faithful reconstruction of at least the baroque tower by Christian Ludwig Hautt could not prevail. The cheaper version of the current tower, however, indicates the baroque swing of the earlier tower. The interior of the church, with its division into three naves with six bays and the narrow outer aisles divided by galleries, almost preserves the traditional spatial image. The rich, branched vaulted ceiling was replaced by the coffered ceiling, which rests on two rows of slender round pillars with chalice block capitals. The incidence of light today is shaped by the choir windows by Erhardt Klonk from Marburg. From the furnishings of the church before 1945 some epitaphs , mostly from the 16th century, have been preserved, as well as the image of Christ by Johann Christian von Mannlich . The royal crypt, which was completely destroyed by the explosion of an air mine , was not rebuilt; the few remains that have been found have been resting in the Wittelsbach memorial in the north aisle, donated by Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria , since 1955 . The last burial in the church took place in 2001: Alexander von Bayern (1923-2001), a descendant and namesake of the builder, was buried here.

Furnishing

Organs

Walcker-Steinmeyer organ (1858–1945)

Interior before the destruction on March 14, 1945, view of the organ

The former organ goes back to an instrument that was built in 1858 by the organ builder Eberhard Friedrich Walcker. The instrument originally had 36 registers on two manuals and a pedal. In 1911 the organ builder GF Steinmeyer (Öttingen) rebuilt the instrument and expanded it to 45 registers to three manuals and pedal, whereby the registers of the new third manual were largely taken from the previous works. The Walcker Steinmeyer organ was destroyed by a bomb in 1945.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Principal 16 ′
2. Principal 8th'
3. Viola di gamba 8th'
4th Tibia 8th' (S)
5. Hollow flute 8th'
6th Dulciana 8th' (S)
7th Fifth flute 5 1 ⁄ 3  ′
8th. octave 4 ′
9. Reed flute 4 ′
10. Transverse flute 4 ′
11. Super octave 2 ′
12. Mixture IV 2 ′
13. Cornett III-V 8th'
14th Trumpet 8th'
II. Manual C-g 3
15th Quintadena 16 ′ (S)
16. Principal 8th'
17th Fugara 8th' (S)
18th Double clad 8th' (S)
19th Flauto amabile 8th'
20th Dolce 8th'
21st Praestant 4 ′
22nd Transverse flute 4 ′
23. Intoxicating fifth II
24. Clarinet 8th'
III Oberwerk C – g 3
25th Bourdon 16 ′
26th Flute Principal 8th' (S)
27. Lovely Gedackt 8th'
28. Gemshorn 8th'
29 Quintadena 8th'
30th Salicional 8th'
31. Vox coelestis 8th'
32. octave 4 ′ (S)
33. Flauto dolce 4 ′
34. Piccolo 2 ′
35. Sesquialter II
Pedals C – g 3
36. Principal bass 16 ′
37. Violonbass 16 ′
38. Sub-bass 16 ′
39. Subtle bass 16 ′
40. Quint 10 2 ⁄ 3  ′
41. Octave bass 8th'
42. Violoncello 8th'
43. octave 4 ′
44. Trombone bass 16 ′
45. Bassoon bass 8th'
  • annotation
(S) = Register from Steinmeyer, 1911

Ott organ (1963)

Prospectus of the Ott organ

In 1963 a new organ was built by the organ building company Paul Ott . The thoroughly neo-baroque instrument has 47 stops on three manuals and a pedal. The key actions are mechanical, the stop actions are electrical.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Pommer 16 ′
2. Principal 8th'
3. Gemshorn 8th'
4th Dumped 8th'
5. octave 4 ′
6th Reed flute 4 ′
7th Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
8th. Super octave 2 ′
9. Mixture V-VII 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
10. Third cymbal III
11. Trumpet 16 ′
12. Trumpet 8th'
II upper structure C – g 3
13. Reed flute 8th'
14th Black viola 8th'
15th Quintad 8th'
16. Praestant 4 ′
17th Coupling flute 4 ′
18th Nasat 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
19th octave 2 '
20th Forest flute 2 '
21st third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
22nd Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
23. Seventh 1 1 ⁄ 7  ′
24. None  8 ⁄ 9 ′
25th octave 1'
26th Sharp V
27. Dulcian 16 ′
28. Trumpet 8th'
Tremulant
III Breastwork
(swellable) C – g 3
29 Dumped 8th'
30th Reed flute 4 ′
31. Principal 2 ′
32. octave 1'
33. Terzian II 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
34. Zimbel III
35. Krummhorn 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
36. Principal 16 ′
37. Sub bass 16 ′
38. Octave bass 8th'
39. Dumped 8th'
40. octave 4 ′
41. Pommer 4 ′
42. Night horn 2 ′
43. Intoxicating fifth II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ + 2 ′
44. Mixture V
45. trombone 16 ′
46. Trumpet 8th'
47. Trumpet 4 ′

Bells and tower

Six bells from the Hermann Hamm foundry from Frankenthal hang in the main tower. They were all cast in 1957 and sound with b ° -des'-f'-as'-b'-c ". At 2370 kg, the largest bell is the heaviest bell in the city of Zweibrücken. The" fox "used today as a death knell in the area of ​​the altar is the oldest bell in town.

Until it was destroyed in the war, the tower built by Christian Ludwig Hautt around 1760 with a Welscher hood was a symbol of the city. It was replaced by the simple, pointed-helmeted tower today.

literature

  • Herbert Dellwing: Alexanderskirche Zweibrücken. (slightly changed reprint of the 1st edition) Regensburg 2005.
  • Helmuth Dingler: The Alexander Church in Zweibrücken. Reminder of the reconstruction of the Alexander Church , published on the occasion of the commissioning of the bells and the completion of the tower, November 10, 1957. (published by the Protestant parish Zweibrücken-Mitte) Zweibrücken 1957.
  • Philipp Casimir Heintz (ed.): The Alexander Church in Zweybrücken. A contribution to the future chronicle of this city, published at the third Secularfest of the Reformation ... PP Hallanzy, Zweybrücken 1817. (sic!)
  • Richard B. Hudlet: 500 years of Alexanderskirche Zweibrücken 1493–1993. Reflections on the history of a church and a city. (published by the Protestant parish of Zweibrücken-Mitte) Zweibrücken 1993.
  • Richard B. Hudlet: When the Alexander Church became Gothic again. Zweibrücken 2001.
  • Viktor Meyer: Transparent message. The three windows in the choir of the Alexander Church in Zweibrücken, a work by Erhardt Klonk. (published by the Protestant Church Community in Zweibrücken-Mitte) Zweibrücken 2005.

Web links

Commons : Alexanderskirche (Zweibrücken)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Christian Joannis, Johann Philipp Crollius: Ur-Geschichte des Herzogthums Zweibrücken , Zweibrücken, 1829, p. 210; Digital scan
  2. ↑ Bernhard H. Bonkhoff: The network vault of the Alexander Church, in: The cradle of the kings, 600 years of the Duchy of Pfalz-Zweibrücken, ed. by Charlotte Glück-Christmann with the assistance of Thomas Wiercinski and Bernhard Becker, Zweibrücken 2010, p. 218.
  3. ^ Peter Fromann: A Prussian renovated crypt of the Wittelsbacher. In: Pfälzischer Merkur from May 7, 2011. Online in the text archive of the Pfälzischer Merkurs or the Saarbrücker Zeitung (accessed November 12, 2012).
  4. ↑ Bernhard H. Bonkhoff: The network vault of the Alexander Church, in: The cradle of the kings, 600 years of the Duchy of Pfalz-Zweibrücken, ed. by Charlotte Glück-Christmann with the assistance of Thomas Wiercinski and Bernhard Becker, Zweibrücken 2010, pp. 36–37.
  5. ↑ Zweibrücker Wochenblatt No. 155 of December 28, 1858.
  6. ↑ Karl Lohmeyer: Confession to the Hautt'schen Tower of the Alexander Church, in: Julius Dahl and Karl Lohmeyer (eds.): The baroque Zweibrücken and his masters, 2nd edition, Waldfischbach 1957.
  7. ↑ http://gw.geneanet.org/hwember1?lang=de&n=Alexander_1923+von+Bayern&t=PN&m=NG , accessed on July 1, 2017.
  8. ↑ More information on the Walcker organ. Archived from the original on April 12, 2013 ; accessed on December 19, 2018 .
  9. ↑ More information about the organ today
  10. ↑ Information on the Ott organ