Evangelical Church (Marienhagen)
The Evangelical Church Marienhagen ( Oberbergischer Kreis ) is called dialect , even if it belongs to the " Colorful Kerken ", not "Kerke", but "Colorful Church" (also called "Johanniter Church"). It is located in the center of the village and, despite its simple design, is one of the medieval buildings in the Bergisches Land ; the massive west tower dates from the 13th century. It was founded around 1300 by the Coming of the Johanniter at Burg Castle . With its dimensions of 17 m in length and 5.70 m in width, it is not one of the large church buildings in the Bergisches Land, but thanks to the balanced proportions it offers the characteristic image of a Bergisch church. As part of the “Open Church” project, it is open to visitors every day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Building history
Two construction periods defined the face of the Marienhagen church. While the heavy and well-fortified west tower in its almost undivided form must be added to the group of Romanesque , plastered quarry stone towers of the Oberbergisches Land, the nave, on the other hand, is of a different type, unusual for the Bergisches Land. One can assume that there is a structural relationship to the city Cologne there. The tradition of the Order of St. John and the relationship between the Marienhagen branch of the order and that of St. Johann and Cordula in Cologne were probably important. The interior was rebuilt in 1907 by the Düsseldorf architect Moritz Korn to make better use of the space. These galleries and fixtures were removed during a later restoration.
Painting
The Marienhagen church is famous not for its structural shape, but for the richly painted choir with a cycle of paintings from the early Gothic period . In the course of a thorough renovation of the entire church interior in recent years, these paintings have been subjected to a careful examination, exposure and removal of counterfeit ingredients. Apart from a few small remains in the western part of the room, the paintings are mostly in the choir of the church. Here the Cologne church painter Anton Bardenhewer, who worked from the spirit of his time and worked as a restorer, found the paintings in order to make them visible in his sense from 1907–1908, to restore them and to renew them heavily in destroyed places. The new excavation carried out in the summer of 1959 under the supervision of the specialist restorer Wolfhart Glaise from the monument office in Bonn, pursued the sole aim of providing evidence of the medieval images; they also had to reckon with a refreshment of the paintings carried out in 1933 and a partial overpainting of glue paint .
There is also evidence of the technique in which the paintings are executed. Most of the paintings are al fresco , only the pictures in the nave of the church are al fresco. What emerged as the original inventory after the cleaning and conservation was completed in 1959 shows the following picture today: The coronation of Mary is depicted in the vault of the choir closure. The symbols of the evangelists appear in the neighboring choir vaults, of which only remains are left (on the far left the symbol of Mark and on the far right that of John).
Grave slabs
In the church of Marienhagen there are three grave slabs from the 16th and 17th centuries. Century, which refer to the former lords of Bieberstein Castle : Gerlach von Karthusen, Albert von Lixfelt and Jost Lixfelt.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 50 ″ N , 7 ° 34 ′ 50 ″ E