Castle Church (Ingelheim)

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Castle Church of Malakoff tower of
With fortifications from the east

The castle church in Ingelheim in the district of Mainz-Bingen , Rhineland-Palatinate , formerly called St. Wigbert, is a late Gothic fortified church . It was completed in various stages up to the first half of the 15th century. It replaced a Romanesque single-nave previous building from the 12th century. It is surrounded by a medieval fortification and is therefore one of the best-preserved fortified church buildings in southern and western Germany.

In the Middle Ages, the church served the population of Ober-Ingelheim as a retreat in the event of enemy attacks, a case that never occurred. For a long time it served as a burial place for the nobles of Ingelheim , whose epitaphs are still preserved. The Ingelheimer Oberhof used the ground floor of the church tower as an archive. It was last restored inside and outside from 1998 to 2006, and the valuable Marian window from the Middle Ages in the choir was also restored. Today it is a listed building.

Location and surroundings

The building is located on the eastern edge of the village, on a slope that climbs to the Mainzer Berg and is the highest point in Ober-Ingelheim . Surrounding it is of a with a kennel increased and crenellated defense wall , the part of the former Ortsbefestigung is. The walls are up to two meters thick and up to eight meters high in places. In the churchyard to the west of the church there is a war memorial with the names of those who died in the First and Second World Wars ; Another memorial stands in the little rose garden to the southwest and commemorates the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871; it stood on Ober-Ingelheim's market square until the middle of the 20th century . The Zwinger now only spans the southern side of the church. Originally, the church could only be reached from the town center through the western archway. The defensive wall for the eastern archway, which leads from the church to today's red wine festival site and into the vineyards, was only broken through later. The church can be reached from the market square in Ober-Ingelheim via the street An der Burgkirche .

history

prehistory

General view from the west with the war memorial

In the 7th century a chapel, which belonged to a Franconian cemetery, was built on the site of today's church . This chapel, presumably a branch of the Church of St. Remigius in Nieder-Ingelheim , gave Charlemagne to the monastery in Bad Hersfeld , which also received the Fronhof and tithe rights .

Church building and late Gothic expansion

In the 12th century, a single-nave Romanesque new building with a flat ceiling followed, of which only the tower can be seen today. The castle church fortifications were built in the middle of the 12th century. Since 1051 it was consecrated to Saint Wigbert , the patron saint of the monastery in Bad Hersfeld . Around 1296 the patronage was sold to the Mainz cathedral chapter. The first pastor was installed in 1326. Starting in 1400, citizens from Frei-Weinheim marched in procession to the castle church at Easter to pray with a candle donation for good fishing and for a blessing for their ships and boats.

At the beginning of the 15th century, the late Gothic expansion of the church began. In 1404 the new choir was completed east of the tower. The previous Romanesque building was largely built over; it is only partially under the present masonry. On a document about the expansion of the church from 1406 the pastor Craff von Eteuil and the builders Dilman Dinckel and Michel Berdir are named, Johann von (Ober) Diebach was the master craftsman. Then the expansion of the eastern nave began, which was completed around 1431. The remaining arched windows on the south side of the central nave refer to the original plan for a basilica , which, however, was discarded around 1434 in favor of a staggered hall .

Under the direction of Peter Arnold from Bingen, the construction of the western nave was completed between 1450 and 1462 . A carpenter named Nikolaus Holzhauser installed a gable roof that spanned all three ships. In 1476 the interior of the church was painted. Hen Scherer glazed the windows in 1485, completing the expansion. In 1576 the tower was renovated.

Reformation time

Even during the Reformation , the Mainz cathedral chapter still had patronage rights and swore in the evangelical pastors. On a Sunday in July 1577, Elector Ludwig von der Pfalz attended a service in the church. Then he was on July 16, 1577 with 180 horses and riders to receive a homage in the church. In the following period the church was the place of homage for the respective new sovereign.

In 1674, lightning struck the bell tower and it burned out completely. Only one bell from 1384 was spared. From 1690 the church was used by Catholics and Protestants simultaneously until it was announced on March 29, 1707 that the church was to be vacated by the Catholics by May 31, 1707, so it was finally awarded to the Reformed. A large part of the Catholic facility was also removed. From then on it was called the Evangelical Church .

After being handed over to the Reformed, it was renovated for the first time in 1726. The first floor of the tower served as an archive for the Ingelheim courts in Ingelheimer Grund . Files, documents, court records and rag books (litigation files ) were stored there. The documents about the privileges of the Ober-Ingelheim population were also located there.

Modern times

Ober-Ingelheim, in the middle the castle church, on an engraving by Merian in 1645

During the Thirty Years War , Spanish , French and Imperial troops used the church as their quarters. Most of the tombs of the nobles of Ingelheim were desecrated, figures stolen and the coats of arms knocked off because they were a symbol of feudal power, and the stalls were also lost. Goethe described the state of the church after the Napoleonic Wars , which did not stop at the Ingelheim church:

“At the top is an old, thoroughly dilapidated, spacious castle, in whose district a still used but poorly preserved church. During the revolution, the coats of arms were chiseled from the knight's graves. Ancient panes of glass gradually collapse by themselves. The church is Protestant. A wonderful use was noted. On the heads of the stone knight colossi one saw brightly colored, light crowns made of wire, paper and ribbon, woven together like a tower. There were similar things on cornices, with large written paper hearts hanging on them. We learned that it was in memory of deceased unmarried people. These memories of the dead were the building's only decoration. "

- Goethe : on the occasion of his visit to Ober-Ingelheim on September 5, 1814

The last tribute took place in the church in 1830, when on April 27 and April 28, in a state act, a commissar accepted the oath of tribute from all officials of the canton at that time to the Grand Duke of Hesse, Ludwig II . The bell from 1384, which had been the oldest bell in Rheinhessen until then, burst when the funeral bells.

World War II and post-war period

As it was in the middle of the 20th century, before the first extensive post-war renovation

The name Burgkirche has been used since 1939, when Ingelheim became a town, to distinguish it from the other Protestant churches in the town. The church survived the Second World War with minor damage. As the Marienwindow had been removed to be on the safe side, it escaped destruction. The three other choir windows were lost in bombs in the immediate vicinity.

The current good condition of the church is due to the renovations in the years 1950 to 1960, during which the three destroyed choir windows were replaced and the Mary window was reinstalled. From 1998 to 2006 the 15th century paintings in the choir vault and the plant ornaments in the nave were restored. In addition, the interior and exterior of the church were restored to their original 15th-century colors.

architecture

Floor plan of the castle church

The three-aisled church is a non-uniform, late Gothic sacred building in an exposed location. It is a staggered hall without a transept with a 5/8 choir and a tower placed in the side aisle, the length of which is 42.44 meters outside, around 40 meters inside and 17.75 meters wide. The fact that the various extensions can be seen from a distance is mainly due to the different roof heights. The highest roof is supported by the choir, the eastern nave is again a smaller one, and another clings to the tower as a monopitch roof. The western nave has a slightly larger roof again. The church is mostly covered with white lime plaster, sandstone elements can also be seen. The pilaster strips and the arched fries as well as parts of the battlements rim of the tower are maintained in yellowish ocher. The roofs of the church are covered with slate .

The three-story Romanesque tower dates from the 12th century. It was originally the ship's flank tower of the previous Romanesque building and was built next to it. It consists of five floors, is 4 × 6.35 meters wide and decorated with a round arch frieze , corner pilasters and acoustic arcades . The second and third floors have Romanesque twin windows, while the bell floor has Romanesque triple windows. The tower is crowned by a fortified crenellated wreath and an oriel tower, which were added in the 15th century. The tower roofs are in the Gothic style. The height up to the battlements is 28 meters, the height of the large spire 14 meters. The spire is completed by a cross with a golden weathercock . In the Middle Ages the tower could only be climbed with a ladder; today there is a staircase. Inside, a Romanesque lintel (walled in in 1950) with notch cuts has been preserved on a turmarkade; underneath there is an iron-studded door leaf. The barrel-vaulted tower ground floor was originally opened with a round arch in the south, towards the nave, until it was converted into an archive in the 15th century. Since then, the tower has been accessible from the northern chapel.

West facade with pointed towers

The eastern nave originally had cliff windows that were covered by a saddle roof that extended over all three aisles when the roof was built. The central nave is raised as a basilica. The 10.55 meter high western nave and its western facade with a steep shield gable, two characteristic pointed towers, of which the southern one has a protruding spiral staircase, and large tracery windows with fish bubble motifs were completed in 1462. A gable cross closes the west facade. On the north aisle there is a late Gothic main portal with fish bubble ornaments , the south portal is rather simple, a west portal is missing. On the north wall, just before the transition to the tower, there is a Gothic death lamp. The tracery windows on the aisles are also equipped with fish bubble ornaments.

The eight meter wide and twelve meter high choir , which replaced the smaller Romanesque predecessor building, was the first construction phase to be completed. The coniferous roof beams of the previous building are still present under the upper roof of the new choir, the ends of which are embedded in the still existing Romanesque masonry, as the new building was simply built over the old one for reasons of cost. There are three tracery windows behind the altar, and another is set into the south wall of the choir. The original Romanesque arcades that were open to the side chapels are clearly recognizable. On the north side of the choir there is a chapel with two bays and ribbed vaults (originally the Nikolauskapelle), the foundation walls of which existed before the expansion; To the south, the sacristy was added in place of a Gothic side chapel in the 19th century.

Summary of dimensions

Overall length outside 42.44 m
Overall width outside 17.75 m
Choir width 8 m
Choir height 12 m
Nave height East 10.60 m, west 12 m
West facade height 10.55 m
Tower height 42 m
Tower width (ground floor) 4 × 6.35 m
North aisle height 7.50 m
North aisle width 5.71 m
South aisle height 6.45 m
South aisle width 4.45 m

Furnishing

Much of the equipment was lost in wars and vandalism. Thanks to extensive restorations, much has been preserved. Particularly noteworthy are the epitaphs of the Ober-Ingelheim nobility and the valuable St. Mary's window.

Interior

The interior of the church was not completed until 1521. The six altars (Liebfrauen-, Johannes-, Nikolaus-, Katharinen-, Peter and Paul- and Heiligkreuz altars), which were already lost in the Thirty Years' War, are no longer available. Today's altar, on which the Last Supper is depicted, and the baptismal font date from 1960. The stalls, most of the figures and the Gothic pulpit from the pre-Reformation period are no longer there.

In the choir with its large tracery windows there is the Mary window with the motif of the Adoration of the Magi. It is the only existing original from the Middle Ages . The other choir windows were replaced by modern ones in 1960 by Heinz Hindorf, showing scenes from the Old and New Testament. On the north choir wall is a Gothic tabernacle from 1488, on the south a Levite's chair ; both are keel-arched. An Easter lamp has been preserved next to the sacrament house. Before the Reformation, an olearium, which is now walled up, was used to store the holy oils for Confirmation , the ordination of priests and the anointing of the sick .

During the interior restoration in 2006, the plant ornaments on the vaults in the central nave and the rosette paintings in the choir from the 15th century were restored. The church was given a uniform red sandstone floor. The interior is dominated by late Gothic ribs and octagonal columns in yellowish ocher, in the choir area the vaulted ribs are in oxide red. Inside, too, the construction phases can be seen from the different ceiling heights. The arches of the two western columns are each supported on three fools' heads. The central nave and the choir have a cross vault , the western area has a mesh vault . The vaults are closed off by magnificent keystones .

In the central nave, the cross of the nobles of Ingelheim is depicted on the keystones, in the northern nave Saint Catherine with a wheel, the imperial eagle of Ingelheim and Saint Veronica with a handkerchief are depicted. In the southern nave, the cross and blessing hand, the head of Christ with a cross nimbus , a rose and a crescent moon with a face are painted on the keystones. The stone west gallery, on which the organ was erected, dates from the 16th century and has a tracery parapet that is strikingly decorated with fish-bubble ornaments. Above the west gallery you can see the knight Wilhelm von Ockenheim's angle hook and a simple cross in the shield. On the inside of the tower there is a lintel walled up as a spoil with the image of a sun wheel with six spokes, which comes from one of the previous buildings.

In 1960 the sculptor Gustav Nonnenmacher decorated the eastern wall of the northern chapel with a relief of the Last Judgment with the inscription: “THE HOUR COMES IN WHICH ALL WHO ARE IN THE TOMES WILL HEAR HIS VOICE AND WILL HAVE DONE GOOD THINGS TO RISE OF LIFE THAT HAVE DONE EVIL TO RESURREACH THE JUDGMENT. "

  • Interior with a view of the choir

  • Vault paintings in the choir

  • Altar of the castle church

Mary's window

The Mary's window dates from 1406 and is the only surviving medieval choir window in the church. During the Second World War it was packed in straw and stored in the neighboring parish hall to save it from destruction. In summer 2002 it was restored by the company Peter from Paderborn . The protective shields were also provided with safety glass.

The window passes from the earthly into the heavenly; The starting point is the lowest section with the representation of Mary and the baby Jesus in the middle. The three representatives of the kings of this world symbolically bring the earthly possessions. The eldest of them kneels before Mary and the Christ child and holds a goblet filled with gold in his hand. The dark-skinned prince, with his hand raised, carries in his left an ointment vessel with myrrh . The third, a priest-king, who enters the room from the right, carries a magnificent vessel with Asian incense . On the left, Joseph ponders the scene behind a pure white veil.

Above this scene, crowned by a heavenly gate similar to a Roman triumphal arch, one looks at the heavenly Jerusalem , accompanied by two angel figures on the right and left in a heavenly throne room with a coronation of Mary . On the right you can see Christ who, as the eternal ruler of the world, holds an orb in his left hand. With his right hand he blesses Mary, who sits on the throne to his right. She wears a white robe and raises her hands in prayer. The two are flanked on the left by Peter with a key and on the right by St. Wigbert with a crosier. The scene is completed by towers and windows as symbols of the heavenly Jerusalem as in Gothic cathedrals, flanked by two Old Testament prophets with banners. Dean Seyerle, however, interprets them as secular donors. Since he did not tolerate such representations in a Protestant church, the original writings were replaced by writings from the New Testament during the Restoration in 1956. On the left band you can read: Justus ex fide vivit (“The just lives by faith”, ( Rom 1.17  EU )). In the case of the left prophet at the right end of the volume, a word from the original text that is illegible today has been preserved. On the right band: Fides per caritatem operatur (“Faith works through charity”, ( Gal 5,6  EU )). The window is closed by a rosette with five petals, in the middle a Christ head, flanked by demons.

  • General view of the Marienwindow

  • Lower window display

  • Medium window display

Epitaphs

South aisle with some epitaphs

With the growing prosperity of the Ober-Ingelheim nobility in the late Middle Ages, the need for representation increased, which was expressed in the tombs and also had an impact on the expansion of the church. The epitaphs stand or hang today all after various regroupings in the aisles.

The most important are the epitaphs of Philipp von Ingelheim, a knight who fell in the Battle of Bulgnéville in 1431, Hans von Ingelheim († 1480), an Ingelheim lay judge and lord of the castle at Klopp near Bingen, Wilhelm von Ockenheim († 1465), a fellow judge from Ingelheim and Mayor. All three wear plate armor, Hans and Wilhelm are armed with battle axes and ungirded swords. Philipp only carries one sword. Everyone likes lions or dogs.

There are also epitaphs of Meygen Werberg von Lindenfels († 1442), the daughter of Count Palatine Ludwig III's closest confidante, Henne Werberg, and the Villanova family (Friedrich von Villanova, Martin Ferdinand, Ammelia Elisabetha); they fell victim to the plague in Ober-Ingelheim in 1666. The oldest surviving epitaph is that of a family member of the Geispitzheimer († 1317). The baroque epitaph from Koppenstein dates from the 17th century .

organ

The first organ dates from 1467 and was built by organ master Heynrich von Bingen. At that time it cost 220 guilders. Today's baroque organ on a gallery at the end of the western nave was built by the Stumm brothers in 1755. The organ builder Schlad zu Wald-Laubersheim added two side wings when the church interior was restored in 1876–1877. In 1913 it was expanded again and received an electric fan. The prospect pipes had to be handed in during the First World War. Around 1950 registers were exchanged to restore the baroque sound. In 1963, the Emanuel Kemper company replaced the pipework behind the historic Stumm case. Today's disposition is:

The Kemper organ behind the historical prospectus (1755) on the west gallery
I Hauptwerk C – g 3
Tolerated 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Reed flute 8th'
Viol 8th'
octave 4 ′
recorder 4 ′
Nasat 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
Flat flute 2 ′
Rauschpfeife III
Mixture VI – VII
Trumpet 8th'
II Seitenwerk (swellable) C – g 3
Covered 8th'
Quintad 8th'
Gernter principle 4 ′
Line flute 4 ′
Coarse flute 4 ′
octave 2 ′
Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Sesquialtera III
Scharff IV
Dulcian 16 ′
oboe 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
Principal 16 ′
Sub bass 16 ′
Octave bass 8th'
Dacked bass 8th'
Choral bass 4 ′
Double flute II
Mixture VI
trombone 16 ′

Bells

Full bells of the castle church

Today's three-part bell sounds in the tones b ° -des'-es'. The first bell was cast in 1384; it shattered when the bell rang on January 16, 1916. At the top it was decorated with a band of inscriptions in Gothic minuscule letters and the imperial eagle from Ober-Ingelheim. The inscription read: Eccito stertentes, ad templum convoco gentes: cum tonitru pestis in cedit fulmen et hostis . (I wake the sleeping people, I call the congregation together in the church when the plague and lightning and the enemy go along with thunder). This bell was also a chiming bell that indicated the hours. The clockwork is still in the tower but is no longer used.

In addition to this bell there was another one that, according to a document, was destroyed by lightning in 1674. In 1733, the third, still preserved, smaller bell with a diameter of 1.30 meters was cast from it. Its inscription reads: Come, let us go up the mountain of the Lord to the house of the god Jacob, which he teaches us his ways and we walk on his path. Essaian on the 2nd verse 3. It is also adorned with the Ingelheim imperial eagle. Above the inscription it is decorated with a decorative strip, on the lower edge with two ring lines, in between with oblique leaves. The Ingelheim Imperial Eagle can also be seen. This bell was the only one between 1916 and 1921, until two new steel bells with the tones b and des were added in 1921. The newer bells were cast by the Bochum Association . The big bell bears the following inscription in memory of those who fell in World War I : We know that we came from death into life; because we love the brothers. He who does not love the brother remains in death. The smaller bell reads: God is our confidence and strength, a help in the great needs that have hit us.

Todays use

The evangelical congregation, which has around 2200 members, celebrates its services in the castle church . The community is part of the Evangelical Church of Hessen-Nassau . Every two months, the castle church discussion takes place in the church with social issues, in which the former Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Kurt Beck took part. The church can be visited regularly.

graveyard

In the cemetery north of the castle church there are many tombs of important personalities:

Tomb of Dr. Martin Mohr
  • Persons of the Ober-Ingelheimer nobility
  • Martin Mohr († May 7, 1865), former president of the Hessian state parliament and member of the Paulskirche parliament

Many of the original grave enclosures are still preserved. A two-story chapel (St. Michael) with two altars and an ossuary once stood on this cemetery. It was first mentioned in a document in 1390. It was located immediately north of today's choir of the castle church. From the end of 2012 it should be possible for parishioners of the castle church to be buried with an urn in the cemetery north of the church.

literature

in alphabetical order by authors / editors

  • Association for the preservation of the castle church in Ingelheim (ed.): Image and cost documentation for exterior and interior renovation. Ober-Ingelheim 2004.
  • Association for the preservation of the castle church in Ingelheim (ed.): The Marienfenster of the castle church in Ingelheim. Eckoldt, Ingelheim 2003, ISBN 3-9809365-0-3 .
  • Philipp Krämer: The castle church to Ober-Ingelheim. Ober-Ingelheim 1960.
  • Hartmut Geißler: Noble families in Ingelheim and their tombs in the castle church. Ingelheim 2011, without ISBN.
  • Hauke ​​Horn: The building history of the castle church in Ingelheim . In: INSITU , 2018/2, pp. 195–210.
  • Alexander Krey, Barbara Timm: The bells of the Ober-Ingelheimer Burgkirche = small writings - Ingelheimer historical themes 8 . Historical Association Ingelheim, Ingelheim 2013, ISBN 978-3-924124-21-2 .
  • Dieter Krienke: District of Mainz-Bingen. The cities of Bingen and Ingelheim, the municipality of Budenheim, the municipalities of Gau-Algesheim, Heidesheim, Rhein-Nahe and Sprendlingen-Gensingen = monument topography of the Federal Republic of Germany . Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate 18.1. Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 2007, ISBN 978-3-88462-231-5 .
  • Ursula Pechloff: Ober-Ingelheim. Evangelical castle church = Peda-Kunstführer 155. Kunstverlag Peda, Passau 2000, ISBN 3-89643-161-7 .

Web links

Commons : Burgkirche Ingelheim  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany District Mainz-Bingen p. 396.
  2. ↑ Heinrich Herbert: Ingelheimer reading book. P. 85.
  3. ↑ Philipp Krämer: The castle church in Ingelheim. P. 10.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g monument topography Federal Republic of Germany, Mainz-Bingen district. P. 400.
  5. ↑ Philipp Krämer: The castle church in Ingelheim. P. 16.
  6. ↑ Philipp Krämer: The castle church in Ingelheim. P. 18.
  7. ↑ Philipp Krämer: The castle church in Ingelheim. P. 18.
  8. ↑ Heinrich Herbert: Ingelheimer reading book. P. 84.
  9. ↑ Heinrich Herbert: Ingelheimer reading book. P. 87.
  10. ↑ Philipp Krämer: The castle church in Ingelheim. P. 19.
  11. ↑ Philipp Krämer: The castle church in Ingelheim. P. 19.
  12. ↑ Institute for Historical Regional Studies at the University of Mainz e. V .: Explanation of the Ingelheimer Haderbüücher.
  13. ↑ Hartmut Geißler: Ingelheim history: 1. The "Burgkirche", until the Reformation "St. Wigbert ”. Historischer Verein Ingelheim, September 21, 2008, archived from the original on September 25, 2008 ; accessed on January 19, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Philipp Krämer: The castle church in Ingelheim. P. 21.
  15. ^ Heinrich Hebert: Ingelheimer reading book p. 86.
  16. ↑ Philipp Krämer: The castle church in Ingelheim. P. 32.
  17. ↑ Dehio p. 328 section: Interior
  18. ↑ a b c d Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany District Mainz-Bingen p. 398.
  19. ↑ Philipp Krämer: The castle church in Ingelheim. P. 29.
  20. ↑ Philipp Krämer: The castle church in Ingelheim. P. 31.
  21. ↑ Guide through the castle church in Ober-Ingelheim. P. 4.
  22. ^ Association for the preservation of the castle church in Ingelheim: The Marienfenster of the castle church in Ingelheim. Pp. 8-9.
  23. ^ Association for the preservation of the castle church in Ingelheim: The Marienfenster of the castle church in Ingelheim. P. 10.
  24. ^ Association for the preservation of the castle church in Ingelheim: The Marienfenster of the castle church in Ingelheim. P. 10.
  25. ^ Association for the preservation of the castle church in Ingelheim: The Marienfenster of the castle church in Ingelheim. P. 11.
  26. ^ Association for the preservation of the castle church in Ingelheim: The Marienfenster of the castle church in Ingelheim. P. 23.
  27. ^ Association for the preservation of the castle church in Ingelheim: The Marienfenster of the castle church in Ingelheim. P. 24.
  28. ^ Association for the preservation of the castle church in Ingelheim: The Marienfenster of the castle church in Ingelheim. P. 11.
  29. ↑ Philipp Krämer: The castle church in Ingelheim. P. 12.
  30. ↑ Guide through the castle church in Ober-Ingelheim, p. 7.
  31. ↑ Philipp Krämer: The castle church in Ingelheim. P. 20.
  32. ↑ Disposition of the organ , seen October 29, 2010.
  33. ↑ Philipp Krämer: The castle church in Ingelheim. P. 34.
  34. ↑ Philipp Krämer: The castle church in Ingelheim. P. 34.
  35. ↑ Philipp Krämer: The castle church in Ingelheim. P. 34.
  36. ↑ Figures on the castle parish
  37. ^ Kurt Beck at the castle church talk

Coordinates: 49 ° 57 '48.7 "  N , 8 ° 3' 48.9"  E