Bernbach village church
The Protestant village church in Bernbach , a district of Bad Herrenalb , is a baroque structure that was built in 1782 by the church council builder Wilhelm Friedrich Goez from Ludwigsburg. The church with its furnishings (crucifix, organ, pulpit, etc.) is a cultural monument of particular importance according to Section 28 of the Monument Protection Act (DSchG).
The prayer chapel from before 1585
There is evidence of a chapel in Bernbach as early as 1585. This Bernbach prayer chapel - probably built in Catholic times - became Protestant in the 16th century. It was about 6.3 meters long, 4.6 meters wide and about 2 meters high inside.
It can be assumed that the chapel faced an east-west direction, so that the entrance to the chapel was on the west and the altar on the east.
The prayer chapel must have been in very poor condition around 1700. The population had also grown significantly, so that the chapel had become much too small for Bernbach.
The first church from 1720
After several petitions to the Duke in Stuttgart, the first Bernbacher church was built in 1720. It was built mainly from field stones and was 8.9 meters wide and 12.0 meters long.
In 2020 it will be 300 years that Bernbach owns a church.
In order to keep the cost of building the church to a minimum, the west wall of the prayer chapel was not torn down, but instead transferred to the new church. The entrance to the prayer chapel was used as a side entrance to the new church. That is why the new church faces north-south.
The new church was built quite simply and had only one open roof turret with a bell. Inside, the loosely placed benches for the women stood on the unpaved church floor. There was a small gallery for the men. There was the altar , the font and the hexagonal pulpit with the also hexagonal pulpit cover . Several biblical passages are written on this and 1720 as the year of completion.
After about 50 years, this first church in Bernbach had all kinds of damage - the roof was leaking. There was not enough space in the church either.
The church from 1782
After lengthy negotiations with the authorities, renovation and expansion began in 1782. The church council builder Goez from Ludwigsburg extended the church by 5.2 meters to the north, so that it is 8.9 meters wide, 17.2 meters long and offers around 200 seats. Two plots of land had to be purchased to extend the church.
The church was built as a so-called chorus-less preaching hall church and equipped so that evangelical services could be held in the manner customary at the time.
On the south side of the new roof structure is the clock and bell tower with a clapboard onion and a weather vane. This octagonal roof tower is supported inside the church with two oak support columns. A sacristy was added to the church on the north side.
The side entrance, which comes from the prayer chapel, was walled up and replaced by a new, enlarged side entrance at a more convenient location.
The gallery for the men and the choir benches, which are arranged on both sides of the altar and are intended for the church convent , were newly created . The altar, the baptismal font and the hexagonal pulpit with pulpit cover from the church from 1720 were taken over into the extended church. The pulpit has now been installed at the height of the gallery and is only accessible from the sacristy via a staircase. The extended church was consecrated on the Sunday before the first Advent, on November 23, 1783.
The purchase of the organ in 1803
From the Catholic parish of Ettlingenweier (Baden) the Protestant parish of Bernbach bought an organ that was no longer needed there. It was made by Johann Caspar Fohmann in Pforzheim before 1735. The ornate prospectus of the single-manual organ has 29 sounding pipes.
The church renovation from 1906
At the construction show, the following repair work was decided and carried out in 1906:
Installation of a coffered ceiling. Walls, gallery and all benches have been repainted in a contemporary style. Since the organ had become decrepit, a new pneumatic organ from the Walcker Ludwigsburg company was bought and installed in the gallery so far back that there was space for two additional rows of benches for the community elders in front of the organ. The gallery was expanded for this purpose. Only the valuable organ prospectus with the 29 prospectus pipes from the Fohmann organ from Ettlingenweier was used for the new organ .
The parish priest, responsible for Herrenalb and Bernbach, undertook to procure four glass picture windows with depictions of reformers and apostles by the Karlsruhe glass painter Hans Drinneberg for the village church in Bernbach . They were financed with foundation funds.
The Bernbacher crucifix
In 1934 a wooden crucifix was found in the attic of the church . A furniture specialist living in Bernbach recognized its artistic and historical value and had the crucifix completed and restored in his Karlsruhe workshops at his own expense.
On the 4th Advent 1935, the finished crucifix was placed at the altar in an evening celebration and given to the community. The origin of the Bernbacher crucifix is unknown, there is speculation about an origin from the abandoned Herrenalb monastery .
In the course of the church renovation in 1962, the crucifix was replaced by Dr. Ingenhoff, Tübingen expertly assessed and the color adapted to the presumed origin around 300 years ago.
The praying chapel entrance
When the plastering was renewed in 1934, a bricked-up pointed arch entrance came to light in the east wall. From old Bernbach documents it was concluded that the entrance comes from the Bernbach prayer chapel, which was built before 1585. This pointed arch entrance is therefore the oldest surviving Bernbach building, but unfortunately it is still hidden behind the plaster.
The church tower fire of 1945
On April 10, 1945, the onion of the Bernbach church tower covered with wooden shingles burned during the war. It was possible to prevent the fire from spreading to the church. There was water damage to the bell chair, clock and organ. The tower was covered with an emergency roof.
In 1948 the church tower was rebuilt. The new tower bulb made of sheet steel - replaced by copper in 1975 - carries a fixed 1.5 meter high tower cross. The bell cage, the clockwork with its three dials and the organ were gradually repaired.
The church renovation from 1962
In 1962 and 1963 new benches, a largely new gallery, a new wooden ceiling and new floors were installed. Altar, baptismal font (both from 1720) and the choir pews (from 1782) have been removed. To the right of the new altar is the new baptismal font.
The four glass picture windows donated in 1906 by the Karlsruhe glass painter Hans Drinneberg were removed. Antique glass was built into all eight windows of the church.
The pulpit, the sound cover (both from 1720) and the crucifix have been restored. The organ from 1906 was reinstalled in the same place and provided with an electric wind generator.
The organ was bought in 1985
Mönch und Prachtel Überlingen built a new organ for the village church in Bernbach. A donation made this purchase possible. The organ with mechanical action has eight registers for manual and pedal and is on the balustrade of the gallery.
The valuable organ prospectus with the 29 prospectus pipes from the Fohmann organ from Ettlingenweier was used for the new organ . The richly decorated organ front has been professionally restored, the 29 front pipes form the main sounding register of the new organ.
The bells
In the world wars one of the bells was melted down . At the end of the Second World War, only the small bell from 1921 was left on the tower. She is called "Hosanna". In 1952 a surplus bell was bought from the evangelical parish of Herrenalb and taken over as a middle bell in the tower. It is labeled “Soli Deo Gloria”.
In 1997 a third bell was purchased. This big bell bears the inscription "Thy kingdom come". The bell cage was expanded for this purpose.
literature
- Konrad Herm and Karl Gröner: Bernbacher Dorfgeschichte, based on a manuscript by Heinrich Langenbach . Ettlingen 2000.
- Christiane Högerle, Sabine Zoller: Bad Herrenalb. From monastery to health resort. The history. Verlag Bernhard Gengenbach, Bad Liebenzell 1990, ISBN 3-921841-35-6 .
- Willi vom Steeg: Bernbach. Chronicle of a village over 9 centuries . Solingen 1995.
- Eberhard Mannschreck: Bernbach - serious, cheerful, unknown, unbelievable from 250 years of history. 2018, ISBN 978-3-7469-2853-1 , pp. 33, 42–44, 46–48, 50.
- Eberhard Mannschreck: The Bernbacher Church, history in text and picture . 2015, ISBN 978-3-7323-4779-7 .
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 49 '24 " N , 8 ° 24' 57.6" E