Christ Church (Hildburghausen)
The Evangelical Lutheran Christ Church is the city church in Hildburghausen ( Thuringia ). The former residential church was built from 1781 to 1785 according to plans by Albrecht Friedrich von Kesslau with a large inner dome. With almost 1000 seats, it is the largest church in southern Thuringia and the most important sacred building in the former duchy of Saxony-Hildburghausen .
history
On August 19, 1779, a large city fire destroyed, among other things, the Laurentiuskirche, Hildburghausen's city church. All over Germany was collected for the construction of a new church. A total of 20,375 guilders was donated to the state main church. In the spring of 1781, the new construction of the city church began based on a design by Albrecht Friedrich von Kesslau. At the end of 1781 the shell was finished. On November 24th, 1785 was the solemn inauguration of the church.
In 1898, the Coburg court painter Wang carried out an interior renovation. Colorful art glass windows from the Naumburg Institute for Glass Painting and Art Glazing Wilhelm Franke, donated by citizens of Hildburghausen, were installed.
In 1921 the church received new bells and the name Christ Church.
Towards the end of the Second World War , the church suffered damage from artillery fire, particularly on the roof, which was repaired in the 1950s. In the early 1970s, doors and many windows of the church were willfully damaged or completely destroyed, so that the church had to be closed. After renovation work in the 1970s, the Christ Church was extensively restored and renovated from 1991 to 1993. The dome, which was cracked in some areas, was secured. The church roof was renewed and the organ was restored in the 1990s. In the 2000s, the west facade was repaired and the windows were renewed. In 2009, areas in the chancel had to be renovated due to dry rot.
The Christ Church was the baptismal place of Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen , the wife of King Ludwig I of Bavaria . Organist was among others Johann Peter Heuschkel . One of the preachers was Ludwig Nonne .
architecture
The Christ Church, located on the south-eastern edge of the old town above the city wall, above the former castle garden, was built in the late Baroque , partly Rococo , early Classicist style. Except for the north entrance and the entrance to the sacristy, the church is symmetrically structured. The main decoration of the simple, plastered facade is the main portal on the north side with its two-storey porch, consisting of classicist columns, architraves and a crowning flat arched gable. A gold-plated Christ medallion hangs above the entrance, which reminds of the naming as Christ Church in 1921 and refers to the Savior. The north-western lower corner stone bears the Saxon diamond coat of arms on the north side . A plate-like, narrow cornice strip above the lower windows and a strong main cornice strip under the eaves as well as slightly protruding wall pilasters made of ashlar masonry in the creases of the floor plan structure the facade. An additional strip of masonry between the second and third marks the interior division of the room and maintains the symmetry for the position of the portals. The door and window frames are made of hewn sandstone. The arched windows are tall and narrow and have a keystone at the top. There are 14 large and two small windows in the basement. The top 16 windows are two meters lower. The massive, 50 meter high church tower on the east side houses the sacristy and is characterized by a slanted, segmented, baroque dome roof with a cross at the top. The tower button with a cross is about 1.5 meters high and 2.0 meters wide.
The Christ Church is a central dome with a nave to the east . The interior is 36.5 meters long and a maximum of 22.5 meters wide. It is characterized by stucco decorations and fittings that are kept exclusively in white and gold. The wooden dome, which cannot be seen from the outside, is supported by four pillars and spans the community room. The corner pillars of the dome are decorated with pilasters on high plinths with Corinthian capitals. The connections between the supports form high arches with an angel's head as a keystone. The dome is 22 meters high, has a diameter of 13 meters and is integrated into the two-storey roof beams. It has a rosette at the top, in which the trinity triangle can be found between clouds and angel heads. In the lower part of the dome, broken by four circular windows, the four evangelists are depicted as Greco-Roman scholars. The brass chandelier hanging in the dome is from the construction period.
The dome room opens to the east to the altar hall, on the other three sides there are double lofts . Their parapets show simple, carved decorative lines and leaf rosettes. The west gallery is the former ducal booth, which was closed off with glass windows and now houses a library that houses cradle prints from the early days of book printing as treasures. The 17 meter long and up to 16 meter high nave serves as an altar hall with an organ choir. On the east side are the principal pieces, the altar, the balcony-like pulpit and the organ. They are arranged centrally one above the other. The organ gallery is slightly higher than the side galleries and protrudes somewhat in the middle part. It is supported by two smooth Corinthian columns with marble painting. The pulpit has a basket shape and is decorated with floral threads and angel heads in a neo-classical style. Relief heads and urns adorn the edge of the sound cover. A boy with a cross stands on top of a pedestal. The organ is carved with ornaments and music-making angels resting on the side baroque arches.
The church can accommodate more than 2000 people, with almost 1000 seats. This makes it the largest church in southern Thuringia .
Furnishing
Originally four bronze bells hung in the church tower, three of which were melted down during World War I. They were replaced by three cast steel bells in 1921. There are the Christ bell with a diameter of 1.88 meters and the tone B, the memorial bell in Des with a diameter of 1.57 meters and the Luther bell with the tone E and 1.39 meters in diameter.
The font dates from 1685. It was originally in the previous church. It shows decorations in strongly protruding relief work, lion heads on the shaft, the diamond coat of arms and lion heads in the wider upper part and bears the inscription: "Let the children come to me and do not defend them ..." ( Lk 18.16 EU ).
The organ is a late baroque work that Johann Georg Henne from Hildburghausen built in 1781 according to the organist Hummel. In 1865, the organ builder Michael Schmidt from Schmiedefeld carried out a comprehensive renovation that corresponded to a new building. Only the prospectus , the former upper works drawer and some wooden pipes were taken over. From 1999 to 2001 the organ building company Rösel & Hercher from Saalfeld extensively renovated the three-manual organ with 33 registers. In 2013, another repair of the organ with its around 2300 pipes was planned for around 30,000 euros, this time by the organ builders Hoffmann and Schindler .
literature
- Joachim Neubert, Günter Stammberger, Bernhard Grossmann, Martin Hoffmann: The churches in the district Hildburghausen ... none other than the house of God - the gate of heaven ... . Verlag Frankenschwelle, Hildburghausen 2006, ISBN 3-86180-174-4 , p. 141.
- Marie Fischer: The Christ Church in Hildburghausen 1785 - 1935 . FW Gadow & Sohn, Hildburghausen 1935
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Waltraud Nagel: Where the Sing-Lotte appeared for the people . In: insuedthueringen.de, March 20, 2010
- ^ Thuringia »Hildburghausen Christ Church ( Memento from April 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Marie Fischer: The Christ Church in Hildburghausen 1785 - 1935 . P. 11
- ^ Official Journal of the Hildburghausen district, October 5, 2013
Coordinates: 50 ° 25 ′ 29.1 ″ N , 10 ° 43 ′ 52 ″ E