Village church Klein Schwechten
The Protestant village church of St. Laurentius is a late Romanesque stone church in the Klein Schwechten district of Rochau in the Stendal district in Saxony-Anhalt . It belongs to the parish of Klein Schwechten in the Stendal parish of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany .
History and architecture
The village church Klein Schwechten is a stately late Romanesque field stone building from the end of the 12th century, which consists of a monumental west transverse tower, a rectangular hall and the recessed choir with a semicircular apse . Most of the windows were enlarged during a restoration in the years 1857–1865, some of the original arched windows can still be seen. In front of the south portal there is a vestibule with a late Gothic facing gable made of brick.
The lower floor of the west tower is arched and opens up to the ship via a double arcade. The west tower has been redesigned into a double-towered structure with two wooden pointed helmets from the 15th century, similar to that of the Marienkirche in Stendal .
Inside the church is flat-roofed. In the apse there are late Romanesque wall paintings that were uncovered in 1932. In the half-dome, Christ as judge of the world is depicted in the mandorla, surrounded by the evangelist symbols, Sol and Luna, and Mary and John the Baptist as intercessors, framed by a palmette and tendril frieze. The paintings in the base zone date from the same period, around 1220, of which three arcade arches are partially preserved, depicting the martyrdom of St. Lawrence and an angel belonging to another scene.
Above, at the height of the apse windows, remains of paintings from the second half of the 14th century depicting a female saint with a banner, which were restored 1963–1965. A horseshoe-shaped gallery from the 19th century is built into the nave.
Furnishing
The main piece of equipment is a baroque pulpit altar from 1717, which consists of a richly carved structure with a painting of the Last Supper in the predella and the Crucifixion in the top as well as side passages. A baptismal font also comes from the Baroque period. The block-like, massive baptism in the late Romanesque style comes from the 12th century.
Finally, several epitaphs should be mentioned. An epitaph is for the children of the heir Christoffel von Lützendorf († 1570) Friedrich, Judith, Maria and Ingeborg with a bas-relief in sandstone on which a crucifix with three kneeling children and a young woman is depicted under a flat arched arcade in Renaissance form. Another epitaph is for Christof von Rochow († 1577) with a painting of the deceased praying before the crucified with the city of Jerusalem in the background. A third early baroque coat of arms epitaph for Christof von Bülow († 1681) is decorated with rich trophy decorations.
A medieval atonement cross is set into the cemetery wall.
literature
- Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments. Saxony Anhalt I. District of Magdeburg. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-422-03069-7 , pp. 480–481.
- Horst Scholke: Silent Beauty. Romanesque stone churches in the Altmark. Dr. Ziethen Verlag, Oschersleben 1993, ISBN 3-928703-16-1 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thomas Hartwig: All Altmark churches from A to Z . Elbe-Havel-Verlag, Havelberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-9814039-5-4 , p. 263 .
- ↑ Information on the Klein Schwechten church. Retrieved April 12, 2018 .
Coordinates: 52 ° 42 ′ 29.4 ″ N , 11 ° 50 ′ 19 ″ E