Heinsheim mountain church
The mountain church in Heinsheim (today part of Bad Rappenau ) in the district of Heilbronn in northern Baden-Württemberg is a sacred building first mentioned in the 10th century, which is visible from afar on a ridge above the village in the Neckar valley and near Ehrenberg Castle . In the church there are several historical grave monuments of the Lords of Ehrenberg .
history
The Heinsheimer Bergkirche was first mentioned in the Cartularium Wormatiense , an early listing of the possessions of the diocese of Worms , in a document that was created between 950 and 973, with which Bishop Hanno transferred ten farms and the church in Heinsheim to Burgrave Burghard. The church consecrated to St. Hilary , however, was probably built in the 7th or 8th century, making it one of the oldest country churches in southwest Germany. Archaeological finds (remains of inscription stones and shards) attest to the use of the Kirchberg as early as the Roman era and then again from the 7th / 8th centuries. Century.
The Bishop of Worms Crudolfus was a missionary active on the lower Neckar around the year 600. The monastery of St. Peter in Bad Wimpfen is said to go back to him, which received from the king an immunity district extending between Wimpfen, Neckarmühlbach , Helmstadt and Kirchardt , which was confirmed in the Wimpfen immunity document of 856. Heinsheim, which goes back to an old Franconian settlement, is located within this immunity district and received in the course of the Franconian proselytizing in the 7th or 8th century on the Kirchberg, where a baptismal a. A cheap spring arises, probably a first wooden chapel. Later, a low, single-nave stone building with a flat ceiling and narrow slit-shaped windows was built, which was enlarged and glazed when the window glass was introduced in the Neckar area around 1300. The tower was built in its current form in 1250 and windows were added later. The nave was redesigned or partially rebuilt in 1374.
The church above the settlement was surrounded by massive defensive walls. Loopholes in the walls and the massive defensive design of the church tower characterize the complex as a former fortified church .
From the high Middle Ages to the extinction of the Lords of Ehrenberg in 1647, the church was the main church and burial place of this lower noble family, some of which are also buried in the church, as evidenced by numerous historical grave slabs and tombs. Around the church was the original Heinsheim cemetery, which was abandoned in 1777 in favor of a more easily accessible new cemetery on the outskirts in the valley.
In the 18th and 19th centuries the church was renovated and redesigned several times. The current wooden ceiling dates from around 1800. In 1957, the wall and ceiling frescoes in the choir, some of which date from the time the tower was built around 1250, were exposed. During a further interior renovation in 1963, the fresco on the north wall was discovered and uncovered. The outer facade was last renovated in 1988.
The church is used by the Protestant parish in alternation with the castle chapel in Heinsheim for services.
description
Architecture and equipment
The mountain church is a choir tower church . The single nave nave faces east towards the choir on the base of the tower . The triumphal arch to the choir and its vault ribs date from the early Gothic period. The ceiling paintings from around 1250 show the traditional four evangelist symbols , the side walls show (partly destroyed by multiple reconstructions of the window niches) depictions of the Last Judgment as well as a Christ with a protective cloak and figures of the apostles around 1300. The back wall was provided around 1500 with depictions of St. Hilary and Maximus in bishop's costume, which are surrounded by smaller depictions of Ehrenberg knights kneeling on their coats of arms and banners. There is a sacrament house on the north wall of the choir . The altar is a simple stone altar with a wooden crucifix above it.
Painting of the eastern choir wall with Ehrenberg knights
Sacrament house in the tower choir
Frescoes on the south wall of the choir
To the left of the choir is an ornate Gothic baptistery with two hand-carved Christ heads made of basalt and an old baptismal font . This baptistery, which is covered by its own vault, is said to have once contained a St. John's altar.
The large fresco on the north wall of the nave shows St. Christophorus and was created around 1280; it was only rediscovered and uncovered in 1963.
Basalt head of Christ on the baptistery
Fresco on the east wall of the baptistery
Christophorus fresco on the north wall
On the south wall there is a large, stone grave monument rich in figures for Johann Heinrich von Ehrenberg († 1584), which he and his wife Margarethe nee. Echter von Mespelbrunn († 1611), who donated the tomb, and shows eight children kneeling in front of the crucified Jesus. Further historical grave monuments are placed in the tower choir.
On the comparatively new, one-story wooden gallery , which is drawn in on the western gable side, there is an old organ case from 1889, into which a new organ was installed in 1979 .
Tomb of Johann Heinrich von Ehrenberg with his wife and eight children
Johann Heinrich von Ehrenberg, detail
Grave slab in the tower choir
Bells
The mountain church has had a three-part bell since the late 18th century. The oldest bell in the church was cast by Hans Pfeffer from Nuremberg in 1621. It has the striking note of the '', a diameter of 78.5 cm and a weight of 270 kg. The bronze bell bears the inscription HANNES PFEFFER IN NVRNBERG GOS MICH ANNO MDCXXI. There is documentary evidence of two bells from the 18th century, which had to be delivered for armament purposes during the First World War . A 658 kg bronze bell was cast by Johann Daniel Rohr in Heilbronn in 1724 . The metal of an older cracked evangelist bell had already flowed into this bell. The second bell delivered during World War I was cast in 1794 by Neubert in Ludwigsburg. She had a weight of 175 kg.
To replace the two delivered bells, two new bronze bells were cast at the Bachert bell foundry in Kochendorf ( Bad Friedrichshall ) in 1922 . The larger one had the strike note as', a diameter of 100 cm and a weight of 570 kg. The smaller one had the strike note `` es '', a diameter of 65 cm and a weight of 160 kg. These two bells had to be delivered in the Second World War.
The remaining historical bell from 1622 was supplemented by the purchase of a historical bell in 1951. The bell, cast by Lucas Speck in Heidelberg in 1805, with the strike note b ', a diameter of 74.5 cm and a weight of 250 kg, was previously in Aglasterhausen - Michelbach . In 1962 the bell was finally supplemented again with a new casting to form a triad. The most recently purchased bell was cast by Bachert in Bad Friedrichshall, has the strike note as', a diameter of 103.7 cm and a weight of 696 kg. It bears the names of the four evangelists as an inscription and is decorated with a Christ monogram.
Outdoor facilities
The mountain church, together with the neighboring fountain house, which was renovated in 1898, the historical burial place of the Barons of Racknitz behind the church , the dry stone walls of the entrance area, some of which are made of old tombstones, and the neighboring historical rectory, form a striking ensemble that is visible from a great distance in the Neckar valley due to its mountain location.
Racknitz burial place
Well house from 1898 at the mountain church
literature
- Gustav Neuwirth: History of the City of Bad Rappenau . City of Bad Rappenau, Bad Rappenau 1978
- Hans-Heinz Hartmann: The Heinsheimer Bergkirche - From the cult place to the fortified church. In: Bad Rappenauer Heimatbote , 19th year 2009, no.20.
- Norbert Jung: Immaculata - A contribution to the history of bells in Bad Rappenau , in connection with the Bad Rappenau town archive, ed. by Norbert Jung, Heilbronn 2010, pp. 46–48.
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 15 ′ 38.5 " N , 9 ° 8 ′ 45.7" E