Vilkyškiai Evangelical Lutheran Church
Vilkyškiai Evangelical Lutheran Church (Vilkyškių evangelikų liuteronų bažnyčia) |
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 The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Vilkyškiai (Willkischken) in 2007 |
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| Construction year: | 1895-1898 |
| Inauguration: | 1898 |
| Style elements : | Brick construction , neo-Romanesque |
| Client: | Evangelical parish of Willkischken ( Church Province of East Prussia , Church of the Old Prussian Union ) |
| Tower height: |
45 m |
| Location: | 55 ° 7 '0.8 " N , 22 ° 7' 43.9" E |
| Address: | Šereikos gatvė Vilkyškiai Tauragė , Lithuania |
| Purpose: | Evangelical Lutheran Parish Church |
| Parish: | Vilkyškių Parapija |
| Regional Church : | Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lithuania |
| Website: | liuteronai.lt/Parapijos/Vilkyskiu-parapija |
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Vilkyškiai ( lithuanian Vilkyškių evangelikų liuteronų bažnyčia ) is of two churches in a Lithuanian (Lithuanian: miestelis) town Vilkyškiai ( German Willkischken ) capable of pagėgiai municipality (Pogegen) in tauragė county (Tauroggen) belongs.
Geographical location
Vilkyškiai is located in the southwest of Lithuania on the KK 141 national road between Pagėgiai (Pogegen) and Jurbarkas (Georgenburg) in the middle of the hills of the former Willkischk ridge . A rail link does not exist.
Church building
Building history
A first church was built in Willkischken before 1560. It was a small wooden church with an altar , pulpit and also a changing room. She already had a bell. In the following years it was frequently repaired and was finally so dilapidated that a major overhaul was necessary between 1615 and 1621. The outer walls were preserved, but the entire interior with doors and windows had to be renovated. The thatched roof was replaced by a shingle roof. Around 1623 the peal was supplemented by a second bell. The clashes in the Thirty Years' War also caused great damage to the church, so that in 1638 the building threatened to collapse. Eight new support beams were installed and the walls were held together with iron anchors.
A new church became necessary. Around 1650 work began on a new building made of wood and masonry, and the church was completed in 1652. It had twelve windows with four panes each, the roof was covered with 10,240 shingles. In 1664, extensive repairs were necessary after the two bells, interior fittings such as the font, candlesticks and pews were destroyed or stolen during the Swedish-Polish War (1655 to 1660). The Seven Years War (1756 to 1763) with the Russian invasion in 1757 brought the end of this church. Like almost the entire place, it was cremated.
A new church was built between 1770 and 1771. It was a rectangular building made of bricks and shingles without a tower. It received a bell cast in 1772, supplemented in 1814 by a second bell made by the metal and bell caster Christian Copinus in Königsberg (Prussia) . The church fell into disrepair and was finally demolished in 1895.
A new church was built over the next three years. It was a neo - Romanesque three - nave brick building with a 45 meter high, pointed tower . The interior was kept simple and covered with a wooden roof. The altar was made in the Gothic style. The organ was the work of August Terletzki in Elbing . The bells from the previous church served as the peal. They were preserved in the First World War , but had to be delivered for melting down for ammunition purposes in the Second World War .
After the war the church was used as a granary and mill during the Soviet era . The building was badly affected by external use, especially since corrosive artificial fertilizers were collected in the sacristy , the windows were knocked out and the pointed spire of the church tower was torn down. Thanks to the initiative of individual former residents and friends of the Wilkkischkens parish from Germany, a fundraising collection was set in motion in 1989, which made it possible to renovate the building. The roof was completely overhauled and the new spire was inaugurated in 1995. Bricked up windows were cleared and new glass windows were installed. It was also possible to purchase a new organ and a bell and the church interior was equipped with an altar, pulpit, a large cross and benches. The design was based on the earlier appearance of the church. Today the church serves its original purpose again with regular church services. It is also used for cultural events.
organ
The congregation of the Evangelical Martin Luther Church in Detmold (Germany) donated its organ to the congregation in Vilkyškiai , which was installed here in 2008. It was a work made by organ builder Paul Ott in 1953 with 29 registers on two manuals with pedal . The action is mechanical. The organ has the following disposition :
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- Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
Parish
Already before 1560, at the instigation of Duke Albrechts of Prussia, Willkischken became a church village. A large parish with 19 villages, towns and places to live belonged to it. The parish, whose pastoral position was occupied continuously from 1561 to 1945, belonged to the Tilsit Church District (Russian: Sowetsk) until 1922 , then to the Pogegen Church District (now Lithuanian: Pagėgiai) with its own consistory for the Memelland . In 1925 the parish of Willkischken had 4117 parishioners. The flight and expulsion of the local population as a result of the war ruined church life in Willkischken. The church building fell into disrepair due to external use.
Today the fundamentally restored church is once again used as a place of worship for Protestant Christians. You now live in a Catholic diaspora . Their church members use their own St. Anne's Church ( Lithuanian Šv. Onos bažnyžia ) as a place of worship . The neighboring villages of Jurbarkas (Georgenburg) , Skirsnemunė (Christmemel) and Smalininkai (Schmalleningken) also belong to the now Evangelical Lutheran parish . It is now incorporated into the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lithuania .
Parish locations (until 1945)
In addition to the parish, 18 villages belonged to the evangelical parish of Willkischken until 1945:
| German name | Lithuanian name |
|---|---|
| * Stoning | Opstainys |
| * Cash redeemers | Barzūnai |
| Birches | |
| Dallnitz | |
| * Gillandwirs | Gilandviršiai |
| Gintscheiten | Ginšaičiai |
| Jettschen | Ječiškės |
| Jogauden | Jogaudai |
| Callwalks | Kalvaičiai |
| * Cellar taverns | Keleriškiai |
| Kerkutwethen | Kerkutviečiai |
| Maszurmaten | Mažrimaičiai |
| Neppertlauken | Nepertlaukiai |
| Polompen | Palumpiai |
| * Schreitlauken | Šereitlaukis |
| * Tendon tendons | Sodėnai |
| Wahlenthal | Pempynė |
| Wartulischken | Vartūliškiai |
Pastor (until 1945)
At the Protestant church in Willkischken officiated as pastors between 1561 and 1945:
- Johann Schneeweiß, from 1561
- Lothar Krause, 1590
- Friedrich Löbel, 1590
- Johann Krause, 1592
- Georg Rasch
- Thomas Schult, 1631
- Jacob Woywod, 1643/1651
- Marcus Naunien d. Ä., Until 1671
- Johann Christ. Gettkandt d. Ä., From 1674
- Johann Christ. Gettkandt d. J., 1690-1718
- Johann Friedrich Heydemann, 1718–1751
- Johann Friedrich Schwenner, 1751–1757
- Peter Hirschfeldt, 1758–1780
- Georg Michael Glaser, 1780–1799
- Johann Samuel Traugott Berg, 1800–1825
- Ernst Christian Packhäuser, 1826–1842
- Friedrich August Prellwitz, 1842–1861
- Hermann Jacob Theodor Krüger,
1851–1855 - Carl Ludwig Holder, 1861–1874
- Robert Friedrich Th. Böttcher, 1874–1892
- Otto Richard Hugo Prellwitz, 1893–1901
- Viktor Br. P. Stadie, 1902-1930
- Emil Fr. Leidereiter, 1930–1945
Web links
literature
- Otto Schwarzien, Pictures from the Past of the Willkischken Parish , 1927
- Otto Schwarzien, The Willkischken Church, its pastors and organists , 1934
- Werner Boes: On the church history of the community Willkischken. no year
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Vilkyskiai - Willkischken
- ^ Willkischken, History of the Church
- ↑ Walther Hubatsch , History of the Evangelical Church of East Prussia , Vol. 2: Pictures of East Prussian Churches , Göttingen, 1968, p. 108, Fig. 477
- ↑ View of the organ
- ↑ View of the altar
- ↑ View of the church stalls
- ↑ An organ for the Lutheran Church Vilkyškiai / Willkischken - Lithuania (Memelland). Project description ( Memento of the original from October 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Walther Hubatsch, History of the Evangelical Church of East Prussia , Volume 3: Documents , Göttingen, 1968, p. 513
- ↑ The * marks a school location
- ↑ Friedwald Moeller, Old Prussian Protestant Pastor's Book from the Reformation to the Expulsion in 1945 , Hamburg, 1968, p. 150
- ↑ Holder († 1874) was a member of the Corps Littuania .
