Wusterwitz village church
The Wusterwitz village church is a hall church in the municipality of Wusterwitz in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district in Brandenburg . The classic cruciform church has no name. It belongs to the Evangelical Church District Elbe-Fläming of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany .
Building
Building history
The village of Wusterwitz was first mentioned in a document in 1159. The main construction phase of the church is to be set until around the year 1200. It was originally built as a fortified church made of field stones with a cruciform floor plan in the Romanesque style. In 1554 the previously Catholic community became Protestant in the course of the Reformation . The low church tower was raised in the 18th century by a square half-timbered tower with a hood . In the 1970s, deficiencies in the area of the roof of the church caused weather-related damage to the church. For example, the organ was so badly damaged that it is still inoperable today. From 1983 renovation work was then carried out on the roof of the church. Further renovation measures were carried out. Between 1985 and 1986 the lattice tower was re-plastered. During construction work on the wooden floor under the west gallery, graves from the time the church was built and around 1700 were discovered. In 1994 and 1995 the roof structure of the church tower was renewed.
Exterior fittings
The Wusterwitz village church with west tower, nave , transept and choir with apse was made of gray field stones combined with lime mortar . The tower, which is rectangular in plan, consists of field stones up to about halfway up. The arched west portal is simple. There is only a simple gradation there. In the area of the arch it was renewed with bricks . The rectangular double wing door is made of wood painted black. The only decorative element are branching iron fittings. There is a six-part skylight above the door. There is also a small window opening on the south and north side of the Romanesque lower part of the tower and there is a small oval window above the portal . About halfway up the massive field stone tower, a few layers of bricks were first built up and the half-timbered attachment was then placed on top of them. Initially, the tower tapers to a square floor plan. For this purpose, the sides were drawn in like a desk . The half-timbering can be seen on the north, east and south sides. This was completely plastered to the west. The plaster parts are white all around, while the wood parts have been painted a brown tone. To the north, east and south there are segment-arched sound openings closed with shutters . The sound opening to the west has no shops and is covered with boards on the inside. On the top there is a tower dome in which a tower clock pointing in all directions has been incorporated. The tower hood has a small roof turret , which in turn has a tower hood. Finally, on the top of the church tower there is a tower ball and a weather vane .
What is striking about the nave of the church is that it is significantly shorter and flatter, but wider than the transept. On the north side there are two non-original segment arch windows and one basket arch window . The windows have flasks made of light-colored plaster. On the south side there is a fourth round-arched window in addition to three windows that are the same as on the north side. This seems to have served as a portal in the past and was later added in the lower part. The arch was subsequently built with bricks, the edges of the field stone masonry extend to the ground.
The transept has a round arched south portal with a double wing door decorated with iron fittings. Above it is an unadorned cornice , which forms the lower edge for two segmented arched windows. Two identical windows with cornices can also be found on the north side under the gable of the transept. Above the windows there is a semicircular tympanum on both sides with a cross that is profiled by a slight setback and three circular niches above. In the eastern outer walls of the two wings of the transept there are apses with small segmented arched windows. These apses are smaller than those of the choir.
To the north and south, the choir has a segment arch window that was later modified and a small, probably original, arched window. A glare portal can be seen on the south side. Possibly another south portal was located here, which was later blocked with field stones. The choir is closed off to the east by a semicircular apse. In the apse there are two small arched windows with wrought-iron window bars. The roof has the shape of half a cone. A small cross-shaped niche has been incorporated into the east wall of the choir above the apse.
Tower and west portal
West portal
Church dome
South side of the nave
South portal in the transept
Apse of the transept, blind portal, apse choir
Choir and apse from the east
Interior
Behind the west portal in the anteroom of the church on the right is the ascent to the belfry and the stairs to the west gallery . The belfry dates from the 13th century, and the oldest rafters are said to date from around 1180. Three bronze bells hang in the church tower, the largest of which was cast by Johannes von Halberstadt around 1350. This bell has a rich relief decoration and has a diameter of 1.16 meters. The other two bells have diameters of 90 and 70 centimeters, respectively. On the left in the anteroom below the tower there is a relief plaque depicting Christof von Britzke . It is a slab that originally covered his grave. It was set up in 1997. Above the door to the nave, Lord, I love the place of your house and the place where your honor dwells ( Ps 26.8 LU ) was painted in ornate script .
On the west gallery is an organ built in 1904 by Hugo Mantel with 17 stops on two manuals and a pedal . Due to weather damage, it is now so badly damaged that it is inoperable and cannot be played. The octagonal Gothic font of the church has stood in the crossing since 1903 . This dates from the 15th century and is made of sandstone. There is also a richly decorated wooden pulpit from around 1600 in the crossing towards the choir. A second gallery is located in the south wing of the transept. In the arch between the crossing and the choir, a large crucifix from 1909 by an artist from Magdeburg named Herrmann Koch was installed on an ornate crossbeam . This was given to the church by the Britzke family. The lead glass windows in the church are kept rather simple. The wooden ceilings of the church are in the nave and transept with floral ornaments and date from the Renaissance . The ceiling in the choir is decorated with colored late Gothic stencil paintings.
Relief panel
Psalm about passage to the ship
West gallery and organ
Window in the ship
Window in the transept
Ceiling decoration in the ship
Ceiling decoration in the transept
Ceiling painting in the choir
Baptismal font
Gallery in the transept
pulpit
crucifix
altar
literature
- Municipality of Wusterwitz (ed.): Festschrift for the 850th anniversary of the village of Wusterwitz: A local history from before 1159 to 2009 . Wusterwitz 2009
Individual evidence
- ↑ Leaflet Die Dorfkirche Wusterwitz from Evangelisches Kirchspiel Wusterwitz-Bensdorf, Hauptstraße 30, 14789 Wusterwitz
- ↑ Information about the organ on orgbase.nl
Web links
- Entry in the monument database of the State of Brandenburg
- Romanesque routes in Berlin and Brandenburg - Wusterwitz village church
Coordinates: 52 ° 22 '18.8 " N , 12 ° 23' 2.7" E