Old Belgians

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Old Belgians on an original table sheet from 1847

Altbelgern is part of the municipality of the small town of Mühlberg / Elbe in the Elbe-Elster district in southern Brandenburg . The place is located immediately to the right of the Elbe and about one kilometer west of Martinskirchen .

history

Origin and Parish Altbelgern

Altbelgern has its origin in a Wendish settlement. The place is one of the oldest church locations in the Elbe-Elster region . As early as 1251, a church was mentioned here, which was consecrated in 1253 by Bishop Konrad I of Meissen . The Altbelgern parish was comparatively large. The parish comprised a large part of the western Altkreis Bad Liebenwerda . Places such as today's cities of Uebigau and Falkenberg / Elster and the communities of Schmerkendorf , Blumberg , Grassau, Koßdorf , Saxdorf , Bönitz and Lönnewitz were originally parish to Altbelgern or their branch churches. Besides Mühlberg, probably the most important place in the region between the Elbe and the Schwarzer Elster at that time, the old Belgians soon lost their importance.

In the 15th century the village and church were destroyed by the Hussites . Rebuilt in the following years, the place was completely cremated in the course of the Thirty Years War . In the years 1626 and 1633 the plague also raged in the place. Church and place were rebuilt. The new construction of the church was probably completed around 1656, but initially without a tower. Its construction was only completed in 1756.

Old Belgians in the 18th and 19th centuries

There was a fiefdom in Altbelgern. In the middle of the 18th century, Friedrich Wilhelm von Brühl was the owner and also the church patron . In 1738, with the help of his brother, he had acquired the rule of Martinskirchen , who later became famous Prime Minister Heinrich von Brühl .

The writing Erdbeschreibung der elfürstlich- und Ducal-Saxon Lands by the writer and economist Friedrich Gottlob Leonhardi , published in 1803, lists 2 hofners, 2 gardeners and 20 cottagers as residents for the village and manor Altbelgern in that year . The place is said to have become written in 1739. The Vorwerk Langenrieth and the village of Brottewitz, with which it had a total of 262 inhabitants, also belonged to the old Belgians. Volume 1 of the Complete State, Post and Newspaper Lexicon of Saxony by August Schumann , published in 1814, took over these dates again. Volume 14 of the same work, published in 1827, then records that Altbelgern alone has 25 houses and 121 inhabitants.

In the course of the wars of liberation , a fire again destroyed part of the village and the old Belgian church in 1813. Cossacks quartered in Altbelgern had prepared an open fire in the vicarage that got out of control and finally set a barn on fire. The fire then spread to the church, the rectory and other buildings. Five years later, in 1817, the church was rebuilt in its current form.

According to the regulations of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Altbelgern came from the Kingdom of Saxony to the administrative district of Merseburg of the Prussian province of Saxony and in 1816 the Liebenwerda district was created , in which a large part of the Mühlberg office, the Liebenwerda office and parts of the Großenhain office were absorbed. An "Overview of the population and the cattle class" for the year 1835, published in the local history publication series Schwarze Elster , reported that Altbelgern together with the Vorwerk Langenrieth owned 29 houses and 154 inhabitants at that time. The main livestock were sheep (350) and cattle (116).

Recent past

Altbelgern eventually became a part of the neighboring community of Martinskirchen. The village belonged to Martin Churches from 1874 to the then newly created District Fichtenberg the circle Liebenwerda , whose head was then the Martin Kirchener Rittergutsbesitzer Stephann. In the official gazette of the government of Merseburg that was published that year, however, Altbelgern is still listed as an independent municipality. The Vorwerk Langenrieth is now run as part of Martinskirchen.

Altbelgern was incorporated into the city of Mühlberg / Elbe on August 31, 2001 together with Martinskirchen.

Culture and sights

Altbelgern village church
Post mill Altbelgern (2013)

Buildings and monuments

Today's Altbelgerner church is a plastered hall building with a three-sided east end from 1817. West of the nave is a square tower with a tent roof . The interior of the church is characterized by a flat plastered ceiling and a horseshoe gallery. There is a small organ on the gallery and two patronage chairs on the north and south sides to the east. It also has a simple pulpit altar from the period of construction. The building is now a listed building .

In the cemetery surrounding the church there is also a memorial stone made of polished granite with an inscription for the villagers who fell in World War II , which was once donated by their relatives.

Another historical building in the village, which is also under monument protection, is the Old Belgerner post mill . The historic post mill dates from 1834 and has been owned by the Nitzsche family for five generations. In the present, the partly functional technical monument is used sporadically as a foam mill.

Tourist connection and club life

Altbelgern is also connected to tourism via the Elbe cycle path .

Since the Altbelgerner church is now in need of renovation, the Friends of the Church of Altbelgern was founded in April 2015 , which, among other things, pursues the goal of initiating and organizing necessary repair work. Furthermore, one would like to involve the church more in public life with cultural events and to connect it to tourism.

Literature (selection)

  • From the visitation protocol of the Altbelgern church in 1575 . In: The Black Magpie . No. 420 , 1931.
  • Lange: Old Belgians once . In: The Black Magpie . No. 424 , 1931.

Web links

Commons : Altbelgern  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e The Altbelgerner Dorfkirche on the homepage of the Evangelical Parish Mühlberg / Elbe and Koßdorf , accessed on November 2, 2016
  2. ↑ a b c Internet presence of the Förderverein Kirche zu Altbelgern , accessed on November 27, 2016
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Lange: Old Belgians once . In: The Black Magpie . No. 424 , 1931 (free local history supplement to the Liebenwerdaer Kreisblatt ).
  4. ↑ a b c August Schumann : Complete State, Post and Newspaper Lexicon of Saxony . tape 14 . Zwickau 1827.
  5. ^ Friedrich Gottlob Leonhardi : Earth description of the electoral and ducal Saxon lands . tape 2 . Leipzig 1803.
  6. ↑ August Schumann : Complete State, Post and Newspaper Lexicon of Saxony . tape 1 . Zwickau 1814.
  7. ↑ a b c Georg Dehio: Handbook of German art monuments - Brandenburg . 2nd Edition. 2012, ISBN 978-3-422-03123-4 , pp. 4 .
  8. ↑ a b c d e The Altbelgerner Kirche on www.altekirchen.de , accessed on November 27, 2016
  9. ^ "Overview of the population and the cattle stock in 1835" in "The Black Elster - Our home in words and pictures" . No. 596 . Bad Liebenwerda 1985, p. 8 to 10 .
  10. ^ Official Journal of the Government of Merseburg: 1874 . S. 13 .
  11. ↑ Historical municipality register of the state of Brandenburg 1875 to 2005. Elbe-Elster district . P. 35
  12. ^ Database of the Brandenburg State Office for Monument Preservation and the State Archaeological Museum , accessed on October 22, 2016.
  13. ↑ Online project Memorial Monuments , accessed on November 2, 2016
  14. ^ Database of the Brandenburg State Office for Monument Preservation and the State Archaeological Museum , accessed on September 27, 2016.
  15. ↑ Manfred Woitzik: "First come - first serve" a cultural history of mills in the Elbe-Elster district . Ed .: Cultural Office of the Elbe-Elster District. Herzberg, S. 127 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 28 '50.2 "  N , 13 ° 11' 38.3"  E