Church of the Redeemer (Bad Kissingen)
The Erlöserkirche is the only Evangelical Lutheran church in the Bavarian state spa in Bad Kissingen . It has stood in the (present-day) city center on Prinzregentenstrasse, corner of Martin-Luther-Strasse, since 1847.
Building history
Foundation of the Protestant community
In 1840, the Bavarian King Ludwig I granted the “highest approval” for the appointment of a “bathing preacher ” during the summer months, after the number of mainly Protestant spa and summer guests rose from only 800 to 4,000 people in the years 1830 to 1839 was. This ensured that Protestant services could be held in Catholic Bad Kissingen. On Sunday Cantata of the year 1840 (May 17th) the first Protestant service took place with Pastor Höfer from Schweinfurt in the hall of the royal court. After money collections had already been approved in the following years, the community tried in 1844 in an official petition for the construction of its first church building.
First church from 1847
King Ludwig I, who was married to the evangelical princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen , then left a small Protestant prayer house in the style of the present-day location from his court building officer Friedrich von Gärtner in "state fatherly care" in 1845/1846 from his own funds Italian early renaissance building. The construction costs amounted to 40,000 guilders . The ceremonial inauguration of a by organ builder Carl Friedrich Geyer ( Bamberg -made) organ took place on June 6, 1847. By a right granted to March 1, 1850 permanent Vicariate that the parish used Schweinfurt was assigned to the new church was also in the winter months become. Generous donations made it possible to build a Protestant parsonage in Von-Hessing-Strasse in 1858, which also housed the new Protestant elementary school.
After the number of spa guests had risen to 7,000 in 1863 - the local Protestant congregation, however, only had 250 members - the congregation, which was greatly enlarged in the summer months, wanted its own parish. A corresponding request to King Ludwig II , who was in Kissingen on June 28, 1864, found its "most gracious grant" only a few months later on September 15 when the previous vicariate was elevated to a parish .
New organ from 1885
When the first organ from 1847 no longer met the demands of church music, a new organ financed by donations was purchased at the suggestion of Pastor Hermann Beck (tenure from 1884 to 1891, later dean in Würzburg ). The organ made by the " Königlich-Bayerischen Hof-Orgel- und Harmonium-Fabrik GF Steinmeyer " in Oettingen was inaugurated in 1885 (Opus 276). Before that, on Saturday, July 18, 1885, Mr. Meyer, cantor from Ansbach , and Paul Hohmann (Bad Kissingen) had checked the new organ as experts and approved it as "excellent" .
Current church from 1891
After the number of spa guests had exceeded 12,000 in 1882 and the church had become too small in the meantime, Pastor Beck succeeded in obtaining approval for the necessary church expansion. The construction costs of 98,000 marks could be covered by "most gracious donations from royal coffers" , thanks to a subsidy from the Bavarian state parliament and large donations from parishioners up to 24,000 marks, for which the now 600-member parish itself had to pay, so that in 1890 the building expansion could begin according to the plans of Professor August Thiersch ( Munich ) and the Schweinfurt architect Bruno Specht . The church was consecrated on October 25, 1891. Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria visited the new church on June 2, 1894 during his stay in Kissingen.
After the old apse was demolished , the nave was extended and an 18-meter-deep choir was created in a neo-Romanesque style. The rows of benches could be expanded to 800 seats. The 40-meter-high bell tower , in which three bells were housed, rises above the dome ; two of them were delivered to be melted down during the First World War . The two towers at the front of the church protrude 16 meters above the church roof. The interior of the church received a prince's status, a stone pulpit and a baptismal font , made by the Bad Kissingen sculptor Valentin Weidner . The interior painting was done by C. Gavde jun. executed.
In 1952, the church was renovated for the first time, painted uniformly light and changed the previously painted chancel. It was only after the second renovation in 1980 that the church was given its current official name “Church of the Redeemer”. There is currently no money for a third urgently needed renovation, which is estimated at around three million euros .
Organ remodeling from 1910
The Steinmeyer organ from 1885 also retained its old place in the expanded church. From a 1904 report by music professor Richard Bartmuß ( Dessau ) it emerged, however, that this organ did not have the voluminous tone required for the new church size, that the housing was inadequate and the pneumatics had to be rearranged, which is why a new organ with the function of a Concert organ is required. In 1908, the Steinmeyer organ building company agreed with this judgment. Thereupon the parish set up an organ building fund (purchase of Pfandbriefe and municipal bonds ) in the hope of renewed willingness to donate . Thanks to large donations and state subsidies, it was possible for Pastor Kadner to sign a contract with GF Steinmeyer on January 8, 1910 for the renovation of the existing organ. Due to an “ influenza epidemic” among the employees, the organ building company was only able to start work on the Tuesday after Easter 1910 (April 21) and successfully complete it in the same year (Opus 1045). The remaining amount of the construction costs, which was still missing, was to be brought in through a festive church concert on May 25, 1914, organized by the Protestant parish, at which the "Wiener-Konzertvereins-Orchester" (forerunner of the Wiener Symphoniker ), "notable singers" and their own church choir were involved. Soloist on the organ was the then main teacher of the Protestant elementary school, Valentin Horn , who was also the organist of the church for many years .
New organ from 1979
In 1975 the plans for a new organ were concretized, although 15 years earlier the need for a new organ had been recognized, but had been postponed in favor of the construction of two parsonages and the parish hall. Two years later, the organ building company GF Steinmeyer received the official order in 1977 and built a new organ as Opus 2341 using old pipes. This organ, which still exists today, was officially inaugurated on May 6, 1979. It was last re- voiced in 1993 by Bad Kissingen organ builders Michael Stumpf and Jean-Paul Edouard . The instrument has mechanical abrasive loading , mechanical coupling and electro-pneumatic register contractures .
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- Coupling: II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
- Playing aids : Tutti, 128-fold setting system , crescendo roller .
Views
Front view
Chancel (2010)
with a stone pulpit
Chancel (around 1910)
View into the house of prayer (1847)
literature
- The Protestant town church Bad Kissingen and its organ , accompanying document to the fundraising for the new organ, Evangelical Luth. Parish office Bad Kissingen (ed.), Bad Kissingen 1976
- Georg Dehio : Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler: Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler, Bavaria I: Franconia: The administrative districts of Upper Franconia, Middle Franconia and Lower Franconia: BD I , Deutscher Kunstverlag Munich Berlin, 2nd, revised and supplemented edition, 1999, p. 68
- Marion Page: The faith communities in Bad Kissingen , in: Thomas Ahnert, Peter Weidisch (eds.): 1200 years Bad Kissingen, 801–2001, facets of a city's history , commemorative publication for the anniversary year and volume accompanying the exhibition of the same name, p. 303, special publication by the city archive Bad Kissingen, Verlag TA Schachenmayer, Bad Kissingen 2001, ISBN 3-929278-16-2
Web links
- The Erlöserkirche on the Bad Kissinger homepage
- History of the Church of the Redeemer
- The history of the organ
- Brief description with photos
Individual evidence
- ^ Hermann Fischer , Theodor Wohnhaas : Historische Orgeln in Oberfranken , 1985, p. 35 ( excerpt )
- ^ Saale-Zeitung of July 28, 1885
Coordinates: 50 ° 11 ′ 54 ″ N , 10 ° 4 ′ 45 ″ E