Bartholomäus Church (Ilsfeld)
The Bartholomäuskirche is a Protestant parish church in Ilsfeld in the Heilbronn district in northern Baden-Württemberg . The church is of medieval origin, but was only built in its current form in 1906 after the devastating fire of the Ilsfeld town center in Art Nouveau style.
history
Old Ilsfeld Church
A church on the Spreuerberg in Ilsfeld was first mentioned in 1300 when it came from Württemberg to the Order of St. John , which subsequently exercised the right of patronage . The church is likely to have been much older, especially since the town of Ilsfeld as the Frankish royal court had a central function after the Frankish conquest, which probably affected not only the secular but also the spiritual organization of the area. Presumably in the 11th century Romanesque fortified church , whose steeple originally keep the Ilsfelder Fronhofs was. Later the church and tower were connected, with a tower choir in the basement of the tower, which was converted into a sacristy after the Gothic expansion of the church in 1451 . In 1568 the church came back to Württemberg and was later redesigned frequently through further modifications. The cemetery was located directly around the church until 1596, after which it was moved to the north outside the village fortifications in the farm fields .
The young Johann Geyling preached at the Ilsfeld Church from 1520 to around 1523/24 , who was one of the first Lutheran clergymen in Württemberg.
There is a lot of news about the old Ilsfeld church. In the Thirty Years' War the woodwork of the church was burned by the imperial troops billeted in the winter of 1638/39. When French troops invaded the Palatinate War of Succession , the French took Ilsfeld to their headquarters in 1694, and the church was looted and devastated. From the following years we learned about repairs: in 1695 the organ was repaired, in 1699 the church received new bells. The church roof and the church tower were renovated by 1760. In 1778 and 1779 the church tower was damaged again by lightning, the church roof was severely damaged by hail in 1812 and 1818.
Among the pastors of the 19th century, pastor Johann Jakob Steinbeis († 1829) stood out from 1811. He brought his mother-in-law Friederike Louise Kerner († 1817), the mother of Justinus Kerner , who was buried in Ilsfeld. The son Ferdinand von Steinbeis (1807-1893), who grew up in Ilsfeld , later became an important promoter of the economy.
The description of the Oberamt Besigheim from 1853 reports on the appearance and furnishings of the old church. The authors identify three different construction periods. The oldest components were therefore the western gable end and a Romanesque arched window with clover leaf filling inside. The choir with its Gothic pointed arched windows and the tower base originated in a more recent period. As the most recent construction phase, the long sides of the ship were viewed. About the interior of the church it says: “The interior of the church is flatly covered and darkened by badly painted galleries; on the wall facing the choir there are several consoles with coats of arms, etc., which reveal the former canopies. […] A pointed triumphal arch leads into the flat-roofed choir, which is raised by four steps and in which there are still old choir stalls, beautifully kept in Germanic taste. A knight's tombstone is walled up on the northern inner wall. In the sacristy, which is on the lower floor of the tower, there is an inscription on Johannes Gayling, who was born at Ilsfeld and who became famous in the history of the Reformation of Württemberg. ”In 1853 there were also three bells, the largest of which was from Georg Peter Becker in Stuttgart in 1769, the middle one by Johann Georg Rohr zu Heilbronn in 1704 and the smallest by CG Neubert in Ludwigsburg in 1800.
In 1869 the old church was completely renovated.
On August 4, 1904, the church was a victim of the devastating Ilsfeld fire, in which the entire town center was destroyed.
Reconstruction after the fire of 1904
After the fire, the parish had an emergency church donated by Robert Vollmöller , so that the reconstruction of the church was placed behind the reconstruction of the school and town hall. The architects of the church as well as the other surrounding public buildings were Paul Schmohl and Georg Stähelin . The topping-out ceremony was celebrated on May 19, 1906. The inauguration of the church took place in the presence of the Württemberg King Wilhelm II and his wife Charlotte on December 6, 1906 and at the same time marked the official conclusion of the entire reconstruction work.
In the 1930s, the first renovation work on the rebuilt church took place. At that time the lighting was electrified and the tower roof was renewed. In the final days of World War II , the roof of the church was set on fire on April 14, 1945 by advancing American troops. Residents managed to put out the fire and prevent major damage. The damage to the roof was repaired in autumn 1945, the partially damaged windows were replaced by 1948.
Various small renovations were carried out in the 1950s. In 1956 the heating system was rebuilt and the organ replaced. In 1957 the interior of the church was repainted, with Rudolf Yelin the Younger creating four murals on the east wall of the nave. A comprehensive renovation of the outside of the church took place in 1983, followed by a comprehensive interior renovation in 1993 under the direction of the Ilsfeld architect Hans Schäfer.
description
The church was built in Swabian-rural shapes with style elements of Art Nouveau on the foundation walls of the burnt down old church. The east-facing choir has been restored to its old late Gothic form, and parts of the tower and the west gable have been preserved.
The church was designed as a brightly plastered solid building with a base made of rustic stone and frames in brownish-yellow sandstone . A transept was added to the north in order to achieve the necessary increase in the number of seats during the reconstruction, without changing the original proportions of the building to the south-facing location, as several of the designs submitted in 1905 had planned. Three portals lead into the interior, the main portal is on the west gable side, the side portals on the south wall and on the north transept. The relief work on the portals was created by the Stuttgart sculptor Josef Zeitler .
Inside, the church is bright and simple. In the west of the nave and in the north transept there is a gallery , the parapet of which, as well as the coffered ceiling spanning the nave, is decorated with decorative paintings. On the front of the choir is a representation of the Transfiguration of Christ by the Stuttgart painter Schön. The Gothic vault of the choir was decorated with painted tendrils.
The baptismal font of the church dates back to the 15th century and bears the coat of arms of the Würzburg prince-bishop Rudolf II von Scherenberg , who officiated during the construction of the church in the late 15th century, as well as various figurative representations. Due to their attributes, the saints Leonhard, Jakobus d. Ä. and Katharina as well as Bishop Wolfgang von Regensburg and the abbess Clara of Assisi. Another relief portrait without attribute is interpreted as a church builder or sculptor.
The grave slab of the young knight Caspar Nothaft, who died in 1492, also dates from the 15th century .
Individual evidence
- ^ In the OAB of 1853 Rohr is erroneously named Johann Georg Roth.
- ↑ FS 1993, pp. 23-26.
- ↑ FS 1993, pp. 5-8.
- ↑ FS 1993, pp. 27/28.
literature
- Description of the Oberamt Besigheim , Stuttgart 1853, pp. 211/12.
- Wolfgang Ott: The relief organization after the fire and the reconstruction of Ilsfeld in the years 1904–1906 . In: Ilsfeld in past and present. A home book for Ilsfeld, Auenstein and Schozach . Ilsfeld municipality, Ilsfeld 1989
- Evangelical parish of Ilsfeld: The Bartholomäuskirche in Ilsfeld. 1451 - 1906 - 1981. Ilsfeld 1981
- Evangelical parish of Ilsfeld: Evangelical Bartholomäuskirche Ilsfeld. Festschrift on the occasion of the interior renovation. Re-inauguration on December 12, 1993. Ilsfeld 1993
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 3 ′ 19.6 " N , 9 ° 14 ′ 43.2" E