Evangelical Church (Elversberg)

The Protestant Church in Elversberg

View inside the church

View to the organ gallery

The Evangelical Church Elversberg is a church of the Protestant parish Elversberg Spiesen-Heinitz- in Saarland Elversberg , in the municipality of Schiffweiler . The parish is assigned to the Saar-Ost parish of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland . In the list of monuments of the Saarland, the church is a single monument listed.

history

Elversberg Spiesen and today the city Neunkirchen belonging Heinitz grew in the second half of the 19th century by the rise of mining in the region rapidly. Initially, there was no Protestant congregation in the three places or no longer. In the 16th century there was a Protestant community in Spiesen, which however disappeared again after a short time under the pressure of the Counter-Reformation . Not until the founding of the Heinitz mine in 1846 and the construction of a miners' colony near the Elversberg forester's house , from which today's Elversberg emerged, did a significant influx of Protestant Christians. For these, but also for the Spies Protestants , services were set up in private homes by the Neunkirchen evangelical community from 1863 . Finally, in 1867, the Heinitzer Grube made a 400-person prayer room in the old dormitory available. In 1868, the Protestants of the places Elversberg, Spiesen and Heinitz, who were initially assigned to the newly founded parish Friedrichsthal , took place. The establishment of an independent parish in Elversberg , to which the towns of Spiesen and Heinitz also belonged, took place on March 19, 1873.

Instead of the previous prayer room, which had become too small in the meantime and also had structural damage, a parish church was now to be built, for the planning of which the architect and former district builder of Saarlouis , Carl Friedrich Müller ( Bad Hersfeld ), was contacted directly in 1887 . The evangelical church in Altenkessel , now part of Saarbrücken , which was completed shortly before according to Müller's plans , was apparently the trigger for contacting Müller. Müller presented two concepts, one of which envisaged the construction of a three-aisled hall as in Altenkessel, the other the construction of a cruciform church, i.e. a complex that reproduces the cross in plan . In the end, it was decided to build a three-aisled hall without adding a transept . The foundation stone was laid shortly after Müller's death on June 20, 1889. The consecration of the church took place on December 8, 1890.

Since then, the church has undergone four major restorations .

architecture

The stone church built in the neo-Gothic style , the exterior architecture of which has largely been preserved, is a slightly enlarged image of the Luther Church in Altenkessel. The core of the church building is a five-bay long house , to which a bell tower flanked by two recessed staircases is placed in front on the narrow western side in the central axis . The narrow eastern side is closed off by a five-sided polygonal choir with a sacristy attached to the northern corner .

The interior is subdivided into three naves, a central nave and two aisles , by pillars supporting a vaulted ceiling . The altar , to which a central aisle leads from the main portal in the west tower, is located in a choir apse raised by three steps and also vaulted . A pulpit stands in front of the northern side of the triumphal arch , which separates the choir from the nave . In the western part of the nave there is a gallery on which the organ is placed. The possibility of installing additional galleries along the side walls of the nave was taken into account when planning the building, but was not implemented.

Furnishing

The equipment of the church, which dates back to the time it was built, includes the neo-Gothic organ prospect , the pulpit made of yellow sandstone , as well as the baptismal font with an inscribed baptismal bowl and a silver baptismal jug.

The original mouse-gray painting was replaced in the course of a restoration in the 1970s with floral motifs with cheerful plant painting with flowers, which also appear in the Bible. Biblical miniatures by church restorer Margit Mrziglod-Leiß ( Tholey ) are hidden in the flower decorations of the painting .

The side windows with rosettes from 1912 were restored in 1990 and equipped with symbols while largely using the original glass. The symbols show the Diakonie crown cross , the Luther rose , the symbol for justice, peace and the integrity of creation and the community seal. The choir windows were designed by glass painter Eugen Keller in 1971 and show biblical motifs from the Old and New Testament . There is a tracery window above the portal in the tower .

In the choir there is a stone altar from 1950 and a wood-carved Christ cross.

organ

The first organ in the church was built in 1890 by the Oberlinger company ( Windesheim ) and was in use until 1977. Due to the dry summer of 1976, many wooden parts of the Oberlinger organ suffered severe damage, so that after a long decision-making process, the presbytery decided to commission the construction of a new organ. The French organ building company Manufacture d'Orgues Muhleisen ( Strasbourg ), which received the order, took over the neo-Gothic oak case , as well as several pipes from the previous instrument. A Rückpositiv was built from scratch and integrated into the balustrade of the gallery . On Reformation Day 1980 Muhleisen organ was put into service.

The abrasive loading instrument that is 1240 whistle has, possesses 19 register divided in 2 manuals and pedal . The playing and stop action is mechanical. The disposition is as follows:

I Rückpositiv C – g ³
1.	Metal dacked	8th'
2.	Principal	4 ′
3.	flute	4 ′
4th	Nasard	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
5.	Octave	2 ′
6th	Tierce	1 ³ ⁄ ₅  ′
7th	Scharff III
8th.	oboe	8th'
	Tremulant

II Hauptwerk C – g ³
9.	Drone	16 ′
10.	Principal	8th'
11.	Coupling flute	8th'
12.	Octave	4 ′
13.	Duplicate	2 ′
14th	Mixture IV
15th	Trumpet	8th'

Pedal C – f ¹
16.	Sub bass	16 ′
17th	Octavbass	8th'
18th	Choral bass	4 ′
19th	trombone	16 ′

Coupling : I / II, I / P, II / P

literature

Franzen, Werner: Places of worship in change: Protestant church building in the Rhineland 1860–1914 . Diss. Düsseldorf 2002
Marschall, Kristine: Sacred buildings of classicism and historicism in Saarland . Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, Saarbrücken 2002, ISBN 978-3-923877-40-9 , p. 666 .