Evangelical-Lutheran Parish Church Großheirath
The Evangelical Lutheran parish Großheirath in Upper Franconia Großheirath in Coburg dates in its present form from the early 18th century.
history
Originally there was probably a larger chapel at the intersection of the long-distance trade route running north-south through Großheirath from Erfurt via Coburg to Nuremberg with the east-west side road from Altenbanz to Seßlach . The construction of a late Gothic church began according to a building inscription in Latin on a plaque above the southern entrance portal in 1463 on Wednesday after St. George , April 27th. The choir in the two-story tower substructure and large parts of the nave and the sacristy date from this time . The parish then belonged to the original parish of Altenbanz, around seven kilometers away .
The Reformation was introduced in the 1520s . In the spring of 1529 the first Protestant church visitation from Electoral Saxony followed, and then a clergyman was sent to a large marriage. On August 6, 1540, the large marriage was assigned to the parish of the newly established parish in Scherneck .
After the Thirty Years War , Großheirath and Buchenrod became an independent parish in 1652. The first pastor was Johann Schulthesius until the end of 1652. In 1656 the community had the choir painted. In 1705/06 the nave was rebuilt and enlarged. Among other things, new galleries were installed and the gable roof renewed , probably under the direction of the Coburg bricklayer and master builder family Weinlein . The new construction of the tower in 1721 was preceded by long negotiations between the community, the high princely consistory and the village rulers under the heir Dietrich von Könitz. The master builder Johann Georg Salb from Sesslach added a new octagonal floor to the rectangular church tower base, followed by an elaborate wooden dome design.
In 1840 the parish had an extensive renovation and repairs carried out. The interior was painted white. In 1878 the Rossach branch church was reorganized from the Schernecker Kirchensprengel to Großheirath. At the beginning of the 1970s, the pictures in the choir room that had been whitewashed in 1840 were exposed again, and the interior was given a new color.
Building description
The choir tower church with its mighty tower shapes the townscape and is a landmark. It stands in the Itzgrund in the center of Großheirath and not, like the churches in the neighboring villages, on an elevation.
The tower substructure with the 5.1 meter long and 6.0 meter wide chancel, spanned by a ribbed vault with grooved ribs that protrude directly from the walls, comes from the late Gothic predecessor church . The cross vault is decorated with pictures of the four evangelists with their symbols. Two pointed arched windows with tracery on the east and south sides of the choir also date from the 15th century . On the rectangular tower substructure , structured by cornices, with columns of light on three sides, as well as an ogival window on the third floor, there is an octagonal, solid floor with large, round-arched windows and the belfry, on top of which there is a two-story sloping dome with an arcade and another dome a button at the top. The sacristy added to the north of the church tower is 3.8 meters long and 2.7 meters wide and has a barrel vault .
The nave of the hall church is 11.6 meters long and 9.3 meters wide. It is partly late Gothic on the north and south sides below the cornice, like the panel above the south entrance door, flat-arched with a keystone and rectangularly surrounded by a few profile lines, with the old Gothic building inscription and a pointed-arched window on the north side. Above the cornice, the facade is slated and there are three ordinary rectangular windows evenly arranged on each side. The west gable side has an entrance door with a skylight. Otherwise it is designed similar to the south door. Above this there is a larger, rectangular window on the right and left.
The nave is connected to the chancel by a pointed, right-angled triumphal arch . The right triumphal arch pillar bears a fresco of the crucified in the baroque style. The interior of the nave is spanned by a wooden flat ceiling. There is a three-storey gallery on the long sides and a two-storey gallery on the transverse side. The galleries rest on wooden columns that extend from the third gallery to the ceiling.
Furnishing
The wooden pulpit on the southern triumphal arch pillar probably dates from the beginning of the 18th century. It rests on a Corinthian central column. The underside of the sound cover is decorated with a dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit . Christ is written on the cover. The four evangelists sit around him with books in their hands. The baptismal font , decorated with angel heads, is dated to 1579. A lecture cross from 1808 in the interior shows the crucified Jesus on one side and the risen Jesus on the other.
organ
Even before the galleries were installed in 1705, there was an organ in the church. In 1750, the Coburg organ builder Wolf Heinrich Daum built a new organ with 18 stops , a manual , positive and pedal . In 1871 the organ builder Holland from Schmiedefeld carried out a major repair. The current organ dates from 1909 and is the work of GF Steinmeyer & Co. from Oettingen . The instrument with pneumatic action has two manuals and pedal as well as ten registers.
The case comes from the organ from 1750. The organ prospectus consists of five parts and the middle zone protrudes into the wooden barrel vault. The central round tower is flanked by two-storey pointed towers and these smaller round towers. An openwork carved ribbon and acanthus form the veil and ears. The console originally arranged in the play cupboard is now free in front of the organ.
Parish
The parish includes the neighboring town of Buchenrod in addition to the large marriage. There is a branch church in Rossach.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Gerhard Welz: Großheirath and Rossach . In: Evangelical parishes in the Coburg region. Verlag der Ev.-Luth. Mission Erlangen, Erlangen 1984, ISBN 3-87214-202-X , p. 192f
- ^ Rainer Axmann: Großheirath, Rossach, Watzendorf. Church history and history of their churches . In: Helmut Schöttner: Community of Großheirath - from past and present . Großheirath 2013, ISBN 978-3-00-042206-5 , pp. 211f
- ^ A b Lothar Hofmann: Monuments Region Coburg - Neustadt - Sonneberg: Places of contemplation and prayer. Historical sacred buildings. A guide through the churches in the districts of Coburg and Sonneberg . Verlag Gerätemuseum des Coburger Land, Ahorn 2007, ISBN 3-930531-04-6 , p. 49
- ^ A b c Rainer Axmann: Großheirath, Rossach, Watzendorf. Church history and history of their churches . In: Helmut Schöttner: Community of Großheirath - from past and present . Großheirath 2013, ISBN 978-3-00-042206-5 , pp. 218, 219
- ↑ a b c Paul Lehfeldt : Architectural and Art Monuments of Thuringia, Booklet XXXII. Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Jena 1906, p. 412f
- ^ Hermann Fischer, Theodor Wohnhaas: Alte Orgeln im Coburger Land, Part II. Yearbook of the Coburg Landesstiftung 1970, p. 192f
Coordinates: 50 ° 10 ′ 39 ″ N , 10 ° 56 ′ 56.1 ″ E