Melkow village church
The Protestant village church Melkow is a Romanesque brick church in the Melkow district of the municipality of Wust-Fischbeck in the Stendal district in Saxony-Anhalt . It belongs to the parish of Melkow in the Wulkow-Wust parish in the Stendal parish of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany . It is a stop on the Romanesque Road .
History and architecture
The village church of Melkow is a stately brick building that was built according to dendrochronological dating in 1202 (± 10d). It is under the influence of the church of the Jerichow monastery and is closely related to the village church of Schönhausen (Elbe) . In contrast to these churches, however, it is not a basilica, but a hall church . The exterior is remarkably carefully made of brick masonry, but shows damage caused by settlement , which, given the age and the technology used in the construction, can hardly be avoided. What is striking is the position of the tower, which does not appear as an independent structure, but as if it were placed on the western part of the ship, but was built in one move with the ship based on the findings.
The church consists of an elongated, rectangular nave with a mighty transverse rectangular west building, which is closed by a hipped roof, and a recessed choir with a semicircular apse. The exterior is structured by corner pilasters and corner friezes on consoles. On the apse there are decorations with a crossed frieze and a German ribbon . The same decorations can also be found over the slender, arched sound openings of the tower. In contrast to numerous other Romanesque churches, the windows have been preserved in their original state, with the exception of the apse. There are grooves and pits on all parts of the exterior .
In the north, west and south, arched portals are incorporated into rectangular wall templates. The portals in the north and south are walled up. The flat-roofed nave is separated from the choir by the stepped triumphal arch and from the west building by a broad, unstepped arch. A walled-up opening in the northeast corner probably led to a sacristy that has not been preserved. The choir is closed by a domed groin vault and the apse with a semi-dome. A restoration took place around 1960.
Furnishing
On the altar there is a wooden crucifix from the beginning of the 14th century. Also worth mentioning is an octagonal sandstone baptism from the beginning of the 13th century with figures at the corners, three of which have been preserved. On the upper edge of the cup there are vine leaf ornaments with grapes. A silver communion chalice with a paten survived the plundering of the church in the Thirty Years War , was found again by chance in 1682 (buried in the parish garden) and was loaned to the Jerichow monastery.
In the tower there are two bells from the 14th and 15th centuries.
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 , p. 635.
Web links
- Website of the Jerichow parish area
- Website of the history circle and marionette stage
- The village church of Melkow in 64 pictures
- Romanesque routes in Berlin and Brandenburg - Melkow village church
Individual evidence
- ^ Damian Kaufmann: The Romanesque brick village churches in the Altmark and in the Jerichower Land. Verlag Ludwig, Kiel 2010, ISBN 978-3-86935-018-9 , pp. 400-402.
- ↑ a b Website of the Jerichow parish area. Retrieved September 7, 2017 .
- ↑ Thomas Hartwig: All Altmark churches from A to Z . Elbe-Havel-Verlag, Havelberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-9814039-5-4 , p. 318 .
Coordinates: 52 ° 31 '58.7 " N , 12 ° 6' 36.3" E