Kerkow village church
The Protestant village church of Kerkow is a stone church from the middle of the 13th century in Kerkow , a district of the city of Angermünde in the Uckermark district in the state of Brandenburg . The church belongs to the parish district Uckermark the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Oberlausitz .
location
The federal highway 198 leads as Greiffenberger Straße in north-south direction as a central connection axis through the place. In the historic center of the village, the Bauernweg branches off to the west from the B 198. The church stands northwest of this intersection on a plot of land with a church cemetery , which is enclosed with a wall made of unhewn and non-layered field stones .
history
The building was built around the middle of the 13th century. The choir received a star vault in the 15th century . At a later time the windows were enlarged “ baroque ” and the number of openings was reduced. In 1781 the parish had a tower superstructure made of brick with a wooden lantern . On July 6, 1974, lightning struck the tower and destroyed the wooden structure. The volunteer fire brigade was able to prevent the fire from spreading to the nave and saved the bell. Craftsmen replaced the damage with a simple tent roof , but did not wall up the tower to its original height. In the first quarter of the 20th century, a church painter painted the exposed wooden beams in the nave with rich ornamentation.
Since the end of the 1990s, the Friends of the Kerkow Church have been looking after the building. With the help of donations, the organ was renovated, a heater installed and the first steps taken to restore the bell, which was also damaged. In addition to the installation of new lighting, the restoration of the old crowning was one of the tasks. This could be presented to the public on June 14, 2019 with a solemn service. In this context, the Förderkreis Alte Kirchen Berlin-Brandenburg reported that pastor Uwe Eisentraut, in addition to some documents and coins, also placed a pacifier from a four-month-old Kerkow baby in the tower ball .
Building description
The structure was essentially built from field stones, which were relatively carefully hewn and layered in layers. The choir has a rectangular floor plan and is retracted. On its east side is an arched window, which does not, however, date from the construction period. Repair work can be seen on the reveal , which was then plastered . There is an arched window on the north and south sides. Here the repair work was carried out with reddish brick . Originally there were probably two windows on each of the long walls. The lead glass windows are a foundation of the von Redern family , who held the church patronage . At the western end of the north wall is a blocked priest's gate .
This is followed by the nave . It also has a rectangular floor plan and three windows enlarged in Baroque style on both sides of the nave and a gate on the south wall. The choir and nave have a simple gable roof .
The transverse rectangular church tower takes up the full width of the ship. It can be entered from the west through a stepped portal. Above it is an ox-eye from the construction period . The upper floor tapers off and is made from plastered bricks. On each of the four sides there is a pressed-segment arch -shaped sound arcade and a tower clock. The structure ends with a simple tent roof with a weather vane and star.
Furnishing
The altar was made of colored sandstone in 1596. A three-story structure in the Renaissance style was placed on top. It shows the Lord's Supper in a classic sequence in the predella . In the altar sheet, the crucifixion group is depicted between Hermen pilasters , above the Ascension and finally in the altar extract a bust of God with a young man as a crowning. The four evangelists are placed to the side. On the back of the altar remains of a naively painted crucifixion can be seen.
The pulpit was built in the second half of the 17th century, to which the pastor's stalls are attached. Other church furnishings include a wooden fifth from 1707 with an equally wooden baptismal font, which was made in the form of a richly decorated crown. The foot is no longer original and has been replaced by a wooden base. On the south wall is a patron s box , on the west wall there is a gallery with an organ . It comes from the Sauer company , which built the instrument with two manuals in 1887 .
In the second half of the 15th century , the choir received a two- bay star vault, which shows two rosettes in the form of a wheel at the apex of the yokes on the vault caps. In the east wall there is a late Gothic sacrament niche with a door and a painted frame from the first half of the 16th century. It was restored at the beginning of the 20th century. An epitaph commemorates the patron saint Wilhelm Heinrich Graf von Redern, who died in 1757. The inside of the building is provided with an exposed wooden ceiling, which is decorated with rich ornamentation.
literature
- Georg Dehio (arr. Gerhard Vinken et al.): Handbook of German Art Monuments - Brandenburg. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-422-03123-4 .
- Old Churches Berlin-Brandenburg Association V. (Ed.): Village Church of the Month September 2019 - Kerkow (Uckermark). Info letter 09/19 - September 1, 2019, p. 4
Web links
- Entry in the monument database of the State of Brandenburg
- Dorfkirche Kerkow , website of the evangelical parish of St. Marien Angermünde, accessed on October 11, 2019.
Coordinates: 53 ° 2 ′ 21.8 ″ N , 13 ° 59 ′ 18.6 ″ E