Confessional Church (Weppersdorf)
The Evangelical Lutheran Confessional Church stands on a hillside above the main road in the southeast of the market town of Weppersdorf in the Oberpullendorf district in Burgenland . The church belongs to the Superintendentur AB Burgenland and is a listed building .
history
1530 - only 13 years after Martin Luther's theses were posted in Wittenberg, 800 kilometers away - Reformation ideas spread in Weppersdorf under the protection of the local aristocratic Weisspriach family ( aristocratic family who moved from Salzburg's Lungau and had a seat in Kobersdorf). At that time, Deutschkreutz was an evangelical center - until 1630 Paul Nadasdy died, who was a strong supporter of the evangelicals. Georg Milperger became the first evangelical preacher in Weppersdorf in 1564. He was followed in 1589 by Blasius Rieder, Melchior Volmar (1593), Tobias Riedl and Georg Textoris. The latter was expelled in 1640 by the landlord Johann Kéry, who had become Catholic, and Abraham Gigelmar was appointed in his place. He should not be the last to be expelled - Hieronymus Foman, who was appointed in 1657, had to leave because of Kéry.
The growing denominational tensions and the low point in Protestant church history during the so-called decade of mourning from 1671 to 1681 were preceded by a heyday of Protestantism. This is also the case in Weppersdorf, where Pastor Wenzel Weingartner had himself immortalized in the Our Father's Bell , which was cast in 1645 and is still in use today : Pastor Wenzel Weingartner let me be brought to Weppersdorf, Anno 1646 . In the midst of this heyday, the General Synod for what was then German West Hungary took place in Weppersdorf in 1650, under the direction of Bishop Gregor v. Musay instead.
1661 - 10 years before the general ban on evangelical life (1671–81 - the so-called decade of mourning due to the failed magnate conspiracy in which, for example, the aristocratic house of the evangelical Nadasdys was involved) the evangelical church building is expropriated. On August 16, 1661 the old Gothic church is taken over by the Catholic Church. From then on the Protestants had to celebrate house services . A few months later the church burns down.
In 1781 Joseph II's patent of tolerance made it possible to practice religion freely in the Habsburg lands. A Protestant church is first operated in Kobersdorf . From 1795 Weppersdorf is a daughter community of Kobersdorf.
In 1836 the (still existing) old school was built - it served as a school and prayer house. As a school, it fulfilled its function until 1959 - when the state - public primary school was opened in Weppersdorf. Today it is a community center and event center.
In 1906 the parish of Weppersdorf becomes independent. Prepared by the curator and judge Johann Berghöfer, numerous grounds for building a church and rectory are purchased. A rectory is built and a church building fund is established, which quickly reaches a volume of 60,000 crowns. Construction was to begin on the 400th anniversary of the Reformation (1917). But the war bonds of the First World War (1914-18) destroyed all cash and the existing bells were melted down in 1916. You had to start over.
The foundation stone for the Confessional Church could not be laid until July 20, 1930. It was inaugurated on August 30, 1931.
The church was built according to the plans of the architect Clemens M. Kattner from Vienna.
architecture
Castle-like building from 1930/31. According to the plans of architect Clemens M. Kattner from Vienna, a student of Friedrich v. Schmidts, built. Construction management was in the hands of master bricklayer Koth from Kobersdorf.
Furnishing
The so -called Our Father Bell
A particularly valuable bell hangs in the bell tower of the Protestant church in Weppersdorf and is still reliably in service today. This is one of the oldest functioning bells in Burgenland, which is still hanging in a bell tower, namely the "Our Father Bell". This was cast in the middle of the 17th century and still rings today, along with other occasions, in every Lord's Prayer service , hence the name of the bell.
The Lord's Prayer Bell, or occasionally called the Reformation bell in local residents' parlance , is also one of the few Protestant testimonies from the time before Emperor Joseph II's tolerance patent that has been preserved in Burgenland to this day. In addition, this bell is the oldest sonic evidence of Protestant faith in Burgenland.
The bell was cast by Leonhard Löw in Vienna in 1645.
The cast bronze bell weighs around 180 kg, is 60 cm high and has a diameter of 62 cm.
It bears the following inscriptions:
- ME.FECIT.LEONARDVS.LÖW.VIENAE.ANNO.1645.
This inscription (I was poured by Leonhard Löw from Vienna in 1645) is on the so-called bell neck, in the upper third of the bell. It is written in Latin capital letters, so-called Latin capitals, and is framed above and below by decorative strips and lace friezes. Small square tangs at half the letter height act as word separators in the inscription.
- AVF.WEPPERSDORF.LIES.MICH.BRINGEN.HER / MR.PARRER.WENZEL.WEINGARTNER / ANNO.1646.
The second inscription is much smaller and written in German. It is located in the lower third of the bell jacket, near the so-called impact ring. The German inscription was engraved in contrast to the Latin, the font is Antiqua, and the font size is approximately 1–2 cm.
Two more steel bells hang in the church tower together with this bell, they both date from 1931.
In addition, the church has a high-quality choir painting from 1937, this comes from the Viennese painter Franz Zimmermann and depicts the Ascension of Christ. Zimmermann (born Linz 1864 - died Vienna 1956) was a student of Leopold Carl Müller at the Vienna Academy and initially worked as a genre and history painter. For some Wilhelminian-style churches he carried out wall paintings (Jubilee Church and Herz Jesu Church in Vienna), but also altar paintings (Breitenfelderkirche, Vienna). In painting in Weppersdorf, the training of the 19th century is predominant and only a marginal influence of classical modernism can be seen. The successful combination of the unconventional scenic composition with the central wooden pulpit altar deserves attention.
The choir area, together with the pulpit altar, is crowned by the banner painted on the wall: "See I am with you every day until the end of the world" (Mt 28:20).
The organ of the church from 1931 comes from the Huber company from Eisenstadt. The font was donated by the Lautner family.
literature
- The art monuments of Austria. Dehio Burgenland 1976 . Weppersdorf, Evang. Parish Church AB, p. 317.
- David Piniel: The Our Father Bell from Weppersdorf. In: Burgenland homeland sheets . 2017, Issue 3–4, pp. 105–117, PDF on ZOBODAT
- Foundation stone certificate of the Evangelical Confession Church in Weppersdorf from July 20, 1930.
- Bundesdenkmalamt: Monument of the month May 2005, accessed on May 24, 2005 ( http://www.bda.at/dm/_2005/01/default.htm ).
Web links
Coordinates: 47 ° 34 ′ 35.7 " N , 16 ° 25 ′ 50.3" E