Village church Ladeburg (Brandenburg)

Ladeburg village church

The Protestant village church of Ladeburg is a stone block building from the 13th century with a four-fold staggered floor plan, the apse , retracted choir , nave and tower. However, the tower is made of brick and was only added in 1853 as part of a comprehensive remodeling, as was the sacristy-like extension on the south side of the choir. The church is located on the triangular village green next to the village pool in the middle of the cross-shaped village complex.

particularities

The village church of Ladeburg is of particular interest for village church research, for three reasons:

The village church of Ladeburg originally had a similar appearance to the choir tower church of Grünow near Angermünde.

The apse is not semicircular, as usual, but five-sided and thus unique on the Barnim . Since the apse was raised with similar looking stone masonry during the renovation, the suspicion that it was not built until 1853 would have been suggested. However, since a five-sided apse (which no longer exists today) can also be found in the nearby Zepernick , it is evidently original in its five-sided form.

The church was originally a choir tower church , the only one on the Barnim and with the village church Grünow (near Angermünde ) the only two buildings of this type of floor plan east of the Elbe. In contrast to the usual practice, the tower of the choir tower church is not located to the west of the nave, but - more or less opposite - on the walls of the choir . Because of this completely unfamiliar appearance, the village still bore the name "Verkehrt Ladeburg" (as well as "Verkehrt Grünow") in the 19th century. The tower floors above the choir were removed during the renovation in 1853; instead, the brick tower was built on the usual west side (perhaps also to get rid of the discriminatory village name “Verkehrt Ladeburg”).

These two peculiarities raise the question of the reasons for their uniqueness. The question arises as to whether they reveal anything about the origins of the builders, which they could possibly have brought with them as models. The place name is undisputedly taken over from Ladeburg Kr. Anhalt-Zerbst (approx. 3 km north of Leitzkau ), which is an obvious relationship. There is no other place with the same name in Germany today. Both Ladeburgs are located in the principally choir tower-free area east of the Elbe.

In view of 13 possible floor plan types, the question arises again and again as to what reasons may have induced the builders to choose this type of floor plan for their village . In Ladeburg, due to the uniqueness of the transfer of the place name and the rarity of the layout type, there would be a "unique" opportunity to prove that, as is often claimed, the origin of the builder (builder, settler , locator or landlord ) actually played a role. However, the village church of Ladeburg near Leitzkau was originally a seven-axis house and quarry stone hall building with a west transverse tower, which thus had neither a retracted choir nor apse (and which on the Barnim would most likely have parallels to Beiersdorf , Neuenhagen and Batzlow ). The origin of the builders cannot have played the role that is often ascribed to it. At least it can be assumed that in this case they came from the area between the Harz Mountains, the Thuringian Forest and the Ore Mountains, where the choir tower church is the most common type of floor plan.

Original building an "Ascanian defense tower"?

In the village church of Ladeburg, exhibitions have repeatedly been shown that highlighted the fact that the church was built as an extension to an older "Ascanian defense tower ". In the absence of written reports, this hypothesis can only be based on the accurate observation that the choir walls have unusually thick masonry (to support an originally existing tower).

Obviously in ignorance of the extremely rare floor plan type " Chorturmkirche " east of the Elbe , the originator of the hypothesis could not think of anything more obvious than to claim a "defensive tower" from the early Ascanian settlement phase. The traditional ideas of the Ascanian settlement history, formerly " Eastern colonization ", today called "high medieval country development in the Germania Slavica " have contributed to this (see problematic local history ideas about village churches ). Examples:

Willy Hoppe (1925): “At the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries, the Teltow was still a Slavic area (...) Gradually the German invaded the country. Of course he had to be on his guard and, as we did with our African colonies , secure himself militarily. (...) Therefore, a building in the middle of the village was also used for military purposes: the church. "

Against this background Werner Gley (1926) claimed a “stage road” from Berlin via Blumberg , Werneuchen , Beiersdorf , Heckelberg and Hohenfinow to Oderberg , where the Ascanians first made their presence felt on the Barnim with the construction of a castle in 1214 . Hans Mundt (1932) has relativized the term “stage road” (in the sense of supply road), but explains: “If you are looking for a connection that serves military purposes, it can only have gone from Spandau via Bernau to Oderberg. "

This would then have to go from Bernau via Heckelberg and Hohenfinow. Although Ladeburg is too far north of this street, the hypothesis of the “stage road” apparently contributed to the hypothesis of the “Ascanian defense tower” as a security for a road connection, even if not already in the 30s, but only in the 80s, when clearly different ideas from the less militarily determined history of the settlement.

The most serious objection to the hypothesis of a "defensive tower" is the fact that there is not a single comparative example for a square stone tower with a square floor plan:

The first known stone buildings on the Barnim are the (field stone) churches, which were built between 1250 and 1280. These are not only village churches , but also urban parish churches ( Bernau , Biesenthal , Strausberg etc.). Only in Altlandsberg were dendrodata from 1241 and 1249 found. An "Ascanian defense tower" to secure a road connection in the early phase of the Ascanian settlement (from 1214) would have to be older than 1240.
The first known stone defense towers are in Berlin-Spandau ( Juliusturm , 1st half of the 13th century according to Dehio ) and Stolpe near Angermünde (" Grützpott ", "probably 13th century" according to Dehio). However, these towers are round, with a much larger diameter.
In the case of towers on a square floor plan with a defensive function, one could only think of aristocratic residential towers as they are known from archaeological finds in Berlin-Tempelhof (14th century) and Berlin-Rosenthal (2nd half of the 13th century). According to the researched comparative examples, only the basement of them was made of field stone, the upper floors, however, of half-timbering.

Finally: There is no indication of a subsequent addition of the apse and nave to the tower: the masonry is of the same type and construction seams are not visible.

literature

Otto Koch: From the history of the cathedral villages Zepernick and Ladeburg. Schönow 1936.

Web links

Commons : Dorfkirche (Ladeburg in Brandenburg) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

^ Matthias Friske : The medieval churches on the Barnim. Berlin 2001, p. 219. (Ladeburg and Zepernick belonged as "Domdörfer" to the Cöllner Domstift in the late Middle Ages .)
^ Matthias Friske: The medieval churches on the Barnim. Berlin 2001, p. 220.
^ Ulrich Waack: Building types of medieval village churches in Berlin and the Mittelmark . In: Bernd Janowski and Dirk Schumann (eds.): Dorfkirchen. Contributions to architecture, furnishings and monument preservation. Berlin 2004, pp. 121-138.
↑ In the Altmark , too , there are seven such “wrong” churches.
↑ Willy Hoppe: " Wehrkirchen " on the Teltow . In: Teltower district calendar. Volume 22, 1925, p. 4.
↑ Werner Gley: The settlement of the Mittelmark from the Slavic immigration to 1624. Stuttgart 1926.
↑ Hans Mundt: The army and trade routes of the Mark Brandenburg from the era of East German colonization to the end of the 18th century. Berlin 1932.
↑ In the meantime, Schich has again invalidated the idea of a “stage road”: Winfried Schich : Oppida , church buildings and long-distance trade route between Berlin and Oderberg in the 13th century . In: Franz Felten et al. (Ed.): A filled welcome. Aachen 2002, pp. 143-171.
^ Matthias Friske: The medieval churches on the Barnim. Berlin 2001, p. 156.

52.702083333333 13.58775Coordinates: 52 ° 42 ′ 7.5 ″ N , 13 ° 35 ′ 15.9 ″ E

[1] Matthias Friske : The medieval churches on the Barnim. Berlin 2001, p. 219. (Ladeburg and Zepernick belonged as "Domdörfer" to the Cöllner Domstift in the late Middle Ages .)

[2] Matthias Friske: The medieval churches on the Barnim. Berlin 2001, p. 220.

[3] Ulrich Waack: Building types of medieval village churches in Berlin and the Mittelmark . In: Bernd Janowski and Dirk Schumann (eds.): Dorfkirchen. Contributions to architecture, furnishings and monument preservation. Berlin 2004, pp. 121-138.

[4] In the Altmark , too , there are seven such “wrong” churches.

[5] Willy Hoppe: " Wehrkirchen " on the Teltow . In: Teltower district calendar. Volume 22, 1925, p. 4.

[6] Werner Gley: The settlement of the Mittelmark from the Slavic immigration to 1624. Stuttgart 1926.

[7] Hans Mundt: The army and trade routes of the Mark Brandenburg from the era of East German colonization to the end of the 18th century. Berlin 1932.

[8] In the meantime, Schich has again invalidated the idea of a “stage road”: Winfried Schich : Oppida , church buildings and long-distance trade route between Berlin and Oderberg in the 13th century . In: Franz Felten et al. (Ed.): A filled welcome. Aachen 2002, pp. 143-171.

[9] Matthias Friske: The medieval churches on the Barnim. Berlin 2001, p. 156.