Christ Church (Mönchröden)
The core of the Evangelical Lutheran Christ Church in Mönchröden in Upper Franconia , a district of Rödental in the Coburg district , dates back to the 12th century, when the Mönchröden Benedictine monastery was founded.
history
A church was built around 1170/71 as a monastery church in the Romanesque style following the foundation of the Benedictine monastery . The church was as big as the current sanctuary. Abbot Ulrich Wochner had the largely dilapidated church rebuilt in the middle of the 15th century. The original apse was raised and designed in the late Gothic form of a choir chapel. In addition, a multi-bay nave was built .
Serious damage to the nave by fire during the Thirty Years War , Duke Ernst Friedrich arranged for a major renovation in 1788. The nave was shortened, two-story galleries were built in and the tracery of the windows was removed. In addition, a small roof turret was built in place of a bell tower . The last major renovations and the relocation of the sacristy took place between 1974 and 1976.
In 1912 Mönchröden, previously part of Einberg , became an independent parish. The four mountain villages of Brüx , Höhn , Rüttmannsdorf and Weimersdorf with the mountain church as a branch church were also assigned to the church district. The former monastery church was officially named "Christ Church" in 1971.
Building description
The late Gothic church has a recessed, 5.2 meter long and 6.7 meter wide choir with three Gothic pointed arched windows. The eastern, colorful choir window, above the 18th century pulpit and the altar, is the work of the Coburg glass painter Ernst Weitzel and commemorates the parishioners who died in the First World War . The lower part of the outer wall is round in plan. The chancel is spanned by a vault with cross ribs based on a star.
The weathered grave monuments of three abbots are on the walls of the chancel. The oldest stone shows Heinrich von Coburg, who was abbot from 1343 to 1367 . The second stone belongs to Johannes Torchauer, who was probably abbot between 1400 and 1417. The third gravestone is assigned to Ulrich Wochner, who was abbot from 1446 to 1474. The sandstone baptismal font dates from 1676 and bears the inscription “Let the little children come to me”.
The adjacent, 12.9 meters long and 7.1 meters wide nave is spanned by three cross vaults with fine ribs. The keystones show in relief the head of a Maria in a halo on the first, the lamb of God on the second and on the third a head taken from ancient tradition, overgrown by vine leaves. There are two ogival windows on each of the long sides. The west facade is structured by a grooved, flat-arched entrance door above which there is a plaque with an inscription referring to the building in 1171 and the renovation in 1788 under Duke Ernst Friedrich. An elliptical window and two flat arched windows are arranged above it.
The nave has two-story galleries on three sides that rest on wooden pillars. The organ stands on the upper gallery on the west side.
organ
The current organ was built by the Neustadt organ builder Johann Andreas Hofmann in 1788 when the church was being rebuilt. Repairs are documented for 1809, 1820, 1827 and 1839. A restoration took place after 1945. The instrument has ten stops , a manual and a pedal. The organ case consists of a five-part brochure. A raised round tower is flanked by flat fields as well as concave fields protruding on the outside and decorated with simple carvings. The instrument was restored in 2008 by Hey Orgelbau .
Bells
The largest bell with a diameter of 90 centimeters hangs in the roof of the nave. It was cast by Georg Werter from Coburg in 1642. Two bells are located in the octagonal, slated roof turret on the western roof ridge. The older one was cast in 1875 and is 70 centimeters in diameter. The third, small bell dates from 1919.
Furnishing
Of the medieval furnishings of the monastery church, eight reliefs carved from hardwood with depictions of the life of Mary have been in the art collections at Veste Coburg since 1840 . They were probably part of a carved retable on the high altar and were made in the second decade of the 16th century.
literature
- Wolfgang Schunk: Mönchröden the pearl of the Coburg country . Verlag Frankenschwelle KG, Hildburghausen 2004, ISBN 3-86180-158-2 , pp. 24-37.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Schunk: Mönchröden the pearl of the Coburg country . P. 24
- ↑ Paul Lehfeldt: Architectural and Art Monuments of Thuringia, Issue XXVIII, Duchy of Saxony-Coburg and Gotha, Landrathsamt Coburg. Jena 1902, p. 11
- ↑ Hermann Fischer, Theodor Wohnhaas: Old Orgeln im Coburger Land, Part II. Yearbook of the Coburg State Foundation 1971, p. 111f
- ↑ www.roedental-christuskirche.de: Die Orgel ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Wolfgang Schunk: Mönchröden the pearl of the Coburg country . P. 25
- ↑ Ulrike Heinrichs-Schreiber: The reliefs on the life of Mary from the Benedictine monastery church Mönchröden . In: Series of publications by the Historical Society of Coburg Volume 13, Coburg 1999, pp. 183-209.
Coordinates: 50 ° 18 ′ 2.1 ″ N , 11 ° 3 ′ 35.9 ″ E