Eilsumer Church
The Evangelical Reformed Eilsum Church is located in the East Frisian town of Eilsum in the Krummhörn . It is considered the only real choir tower church in the north German coastal area and, with a length of around 40 meters, is one of the largest sacred buildings in the Krummhörn. The Romano-Gothic building dates back to the middle third of the 13th century.
history
In the Middle Ages, Eilsum was a supraregional trading center that was connected to the sea via a bay that has silted up today. This importance is also expressed in the size of the church, which is around 40 meters long and is one of the largest in the Krummhörn. The building was erected around 1230 as a brick hall. It has not yet been clarified whether it had a predecessor made of wood. The sacred building was consecrated to Saint Peter . The right of patronage lay with the Eilsum chiefs .
In 1538 the Reformation entered Eilsum and as a result the once rich ceiling paintings were whitewashed in the 16th century and the altars and sculptures removed. The choir room was separated from the nave by a glass wall in the 1960s to save heating costs. From 1993 the church was completely renovated. The interior was extensively renovated and the outer walls secured.
description
The church is 44.5 meters long and 11.45 meters wide. Large-format bricks in the so-called monastery format were used as building material , the belt is made of sandstone.
The transverse rectangular tower rises on the slightly drawn-in choir at the eastern end of the church building. This makes the Eilsumer Church the only choir tower church in East Frisia.
The rich exterior structure of the longitudinal walls of the nave through two-storey facades with a series of blind arcades is typical of the Frisian Romano-Gothic , which has its focus in the Dutch province of Groningen . This attribution of style is also appropriate for the Eilsum church because both the longitudinal walls and the west side of the tower have both round-arched panels at the same time. The upper rows of panels are more sophisticated than the lower ones, namely slightly stepped with the use of glazed bricks for the inner step. The staggering of the heights of the panels on the upper floor on the longitudinal walls is unique in its form, increasing in small steps from both ends towards the center. This staggering can be found to a lesser extent on the long houses of the Pilsumer Kreuzkirche and the Holwierder Church . The slightly rising layer of particularly high bricks above the apex of the fascia is not quite maintained. A brick layer that rises similarly from the ends to the center is in the west wall of the tower above the arched frieze, which is not stepped .
This elaborate design makes the Eilsum church stand out from most of the village churches in the region.
The nave is divided into four almost square, vaulted yokes, whose ribbed vaults have been preserved. This is followed in the east by the equally square tower, which with its basement encloses the somewhat recessed semicircular apse .
The building is now accessed via a portal at the east end of the north side, the position of which corresponds to an old portal.
Furnishing
The late Romanesque wall paintings in the church are of particular importance in terms of art history . They were created around 1240. It is about secco painting , in which the colors were applied to dried plaster. The vault ribs are decorated with ornamental vegetal decorations. There are pictorial representations in the choir tower. In the center they show Christ enthroned in the mandorla . On his left are Mary and a saint, on his right John the Baptist and a bishop. Due to the way it was carried out, painting could be associated with Central German works that followed the Zackenststil . After the Reformation they were whitewashed for a long time and were exposed between 1969 and 1970. Defects were carefully added, but their coloring clearly stands out from the original parts. Since no external renovation was carried out during the exposure, salty moisture penetrated the building and damaged the layers of paint. This problem was solved in the 1990s by regulating the climate in the nave.
Another special feature of the church is the 500-year-old bronze funnel . The kettle of the baptismal font rests on a total of four evangelists. It was cast in 1472 by Barthold Klinghe the Elder.
The pulpit on the south wall in the middle of the grouped church stalls is richly decorated and has a hexagonal floor plan. It was made in 1738 in the Baroque style by the Groningen sculptor Casper Struiwig (baptized November 30, 1698 in Groningen).
Until 1914 there were three bells in the bell tower of the church, one of which was confiscated during World War I and another during World War II.
organ
Only the prospectus remains of the historical organ that Joachim Kayser built in 1709/10 . The interior of the organ comes from the company Karl Schuke (Berlin), which built a new building with nine registers in 1967 . The disposition is as follows:
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See also
literature
- Hans-Bernd Rödiger, Heinz Ramm: Frisian churches in Auricherland, Norderland, Brokmerland and in Krummhörn , Volume 2. Verlag CL Mettcker & Sons, Jever (2nd edition) 1983, p. 60 f.
- Hermann Haiduck: The architecture of the medieval churches in the East Frisian coastal area . 2nd Edition. Ostfriesische Landschaftliche Verlags- und Vertriebs-GmbH, Aurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-940601-05-6 , p. 32, 43, 71, 73, 75 f., 78 f., 81 ff. 90 f., 94, 155 f .
Web links
- Homepage of the parish
- Local chronicles of the East Frisian landscape : Eilsum (PDF file; 46 kB)
- Genealogy forum: Eilsum
Individual evidence
- ↑ organ on NOMINE eV , seen April 22, 2011.
Coordinates: 53 ° 28 ′ 21.2 " N , 7 ° 8 ′ 23.7" E