Evangelical Church (Niederbrombach)
The Evangelical Church is a listed church building in Niederbrombach , a place in the Birkenfeld district ( Rhineland-Palatinate ). It is the oldest church on the upper Nahe and has been Protestant since 1557.
location
The church is located on a mountain spur of the Heidkopf above the junction from the Schwollbach valley to Kronweiler . Together with the new and still used old rectory and the former parish barn, which is now used as a parish hall, it forms a listed ensemble .
history
A wooden chapel is mentioned as early as 630 and is believed to be at the same location. The church in Niederbrombach is mentioned in a document from Archbishop Egbert of Trier from 981, which, however, was processed in connection with the Egbert forgery from 1207 and the original no longer exists. In this not fully secured document, the church is referred to as the foundation of Bishop Liutwin , who died in Reims around 717 .
The construction history of the current building is not fully understood. The building has Romanesque and Gothic parts. The apse and the preserved arcade wall of the north aisle are remains of a three-aisled Romanesque basilica , which was probably built in the 12th century . The tracery of the tower , the south aisle and the choir date from the 14th century . The 15th century that can vault and the wide, divided into two naves nave are assigned. A previously existing flat ceiling of the central nave could be proven by wall paintings in the spandrels of the vaults of the southern and northern walls of the nave .
The high medieval building remained almost unchanged until the beginning of the 20th century . At the end of the 19th century , the building fabric was so poor that demolition and subsequent construction were considered.
Due to a lack of money, the decision was made to carry out a thorough restoration under the direction of August Senz from the building department of the Evangelical Church of the Rhine Province , which was completed in 1911. The entrance originally located in the front of the west bay of the south aisle was relocated to the west side and a new entrance was created on the east side of the north aisle. Three-arched windows in the form of spherical triangles were broken into the nave walls, which were supplied with daylight via dormer windows as light shafts on the gables of the north and south outer walls. The structure of the north side was adapted to the south side by adding appropriate buttresses as well as a window in the western yoke and also gable above the two existing north windows.
In 1963 and 1964, another renovation took place under the direction of the building councilor Heinrich Otto Vogel , during which a new entrance was created on the south side of the tower. A sacristy was built between the north nave and the choir , a gallery was removed and the pulpit was moved to the south side of the choir arch. Remnants of figurative paintings from the 14th century were uncovered in the choir.
From July 2000 to the end of 2003, an external renovation with extensive renovation work to remove structural damage to the roof and masonry was carried out. The interior renovation of the main nave and side aisles and the organ took place in 2005.
architecture
The west tower on a square floor plan with a retracted pointed helmet has three storeys separated by water hammer cornices. On the third floor there are sound openings with tracery from the 14th century. The main entrance with a terrace in front has been located on the south side of the tower since 1964.
The nave has four aisles with ribbed vaults and stands on a slightly warped, rectangular floor plan with three bays. The inner aisles are higher than the two aisles. They are opened to the south by three ogival arcades and to the somewhat narrower north aisle by three arched arcades cut into the wall and a late Gothic arcade. The vault is supported in the middle on two round supports and at the east end on the wedge of the round western choir arch. On the side walls, the vault rests partially on round services , while the three vaulted yokes on the north nave wall are distributed over the wall divided into four arcades. The choir is a yoke deep and also has a ribbed vault on stable polygonal services. The separation of the choir from the nave is unusual: a pressed Romanesque round arch on the nave side connects directly to a Gothic pointed arch on the choir side. The windows are fitted into grooved walls with two-lane tracery in three to five passes . The nave is under a gable roof covered with slate tiles . Above the aisles, small gables protruding from the outer wall cut into the roof surface. Simple buttresses with a watertight cornice support the choir and the long sides .
Furnishing
A late Gothic polygonal sandstone pulpit rests on a low round support.
Werner Bosch built the organ from 1963/64 with ten stops on two manuals and a pedal (Opus 12802). The case of this organ was redesigned in 2005 and the sound of the instrument was modified. Gustav Stumm's predecessor instrument from 1893 was removed and lost. This single manual organ had ten parts and was the first organ in the church.
A lavabo as part of the Roman rite is set into the south wall of the choir.
Three bells from 1954 hang in the tower. Two of the three original bells from 1658 were delivered to the war industry for arms production in 1917. The triple bell, newly acquired in 1925, had to be handed over to the armaments industry for material extraction as early as 1943.
Other furnishings include the altar and wooden benches.
Others
Inside the church there are six grave slabs made of sandstone on the walls . Five of these panels are arcade-framed tablets of writing. They show two angels holding a crown over a cross.
The presence of a church tower clock was first documented in 1590 in connection with a renovation of the clockwork.
During the restoration work up to 1911 and 1963 and 1964, seven coffins made of sandstone and conglomerate were found on the south wall of the church . They are dated to the 11th to 12th centuries. The coffins are only roughly worked and only show cross decorations on the lids. One of these coffins has remained in its original position under the southernmost pillar of the choir, the other coffins are on the old cemetery wall behind the church.
So far, the question of the builder remains unsettled. The basilica, which is unusual for the area in terms of shape and effort, with the stone coffins, which were probably occupied close to the time of its creation, indicates intensive support from the aristocracy. The patrons were originally the Counts of Veldenz , who had to bear the construction burden. One of the keystones in the central nave, however, shows a coat of arms that suggests that the vaulting was done by the dukes of Palatinate-Simmern and the margraves of Baden , who from 1437 as joint heirs of the Counts of Sponheim had to bear the building load.
From 1481 Johannes Lichtenberger , the court astrologist of Emperor Friedrich III. , holds the parish office in Niederbrombach.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Ulrike Weber-Karge, Maria Wenzel (edit.): Kreis Birkenfeld (= cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany . Volume 11 ). Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1993, ISBN 3-88462-099-1 .
- ^ The Archdiocese of Trier, Volume I. The St. Paulin Abbey in front of Trier. Edited by Franz Josef Heyen, Publisher: De Gruyter, Berlin (1972)
- ↑ Description of the building and renovation report by the architectural firm Alwin Bertram
- ↑ a b Description of the work by Werner Bosch Orgelbau GmbH. Retrieved June 5, 2015
- ↑ Franz Bösken , Hermann Fischer , Matthias Thömmes: Sources and research on the organ history of the Middle Rhine. Vol. 4: Koblenz and Trier administrative districts, Altenkirchen and Neuwied districts. Schott, Mainz 2005, ISBN 978-3-7957-1342-3 , p. 753 (Contributions to the Middle Rhine Music History 40).
Coordinates: 49 ° 41 ′ 14.4 " N , 7 ° 14 ′ 45.1" E