Evangelical Church (Prichsenstadt)

The church in Prichsenstadt

The Evangelical Church (also St. Sixtus ) in the heart of the Lower Franconian Prichsenstadt is one of the sights of the small town. It is located on Schmiedgasse in the middle of the old town and is now part of the Castell dean's office .

history

The history of a church in Prichsenstadt can only be ascertained from sources in 1353. At that time, the parish in the village separated from its original parish in Stadelschwarzach . The reason for this was the rich furnishings with which the Fuchs von Dornheim had supplied the church. It is not clear where the original church building, the new parish church, stood. In the late 14th century, the new building was built on the site of today's church.

With the rise of the village to a city under the protection of Emperor Charles IV from 1367, the church was also upgraded. The church with its free-standing campanile was included in the new fortification. Loopholes in today's tower still bear witness to its use as a defensive tower. In 1416, the rule of the Luxembourgers in the place ended again. From then on, the Nuremberg burgraves, and later the margraves of Brandenburg, ruled the village.

In the course of this new acquisition, the city was destroyed in the Margrave War on July 23, 1462 . The church was also affected. The margraves promoted the Reformation in their domain from 1527 onwards . Soon pastors and hospital priests followed the new teaching. In 1530 the city sent its church treasures to Bayreuth, and in 1533 the new Lutheran church order was adopted .

After the Reformation, the church was extensively renovated, so that a hall church was created. In 1542 the cemetery was first moved in front of the city walls. It was originally in the churchyard and had become too small. In 1586 the community received 29 new members: They had fled from the Catholic Gerolzhofen to the Lutheran Prichsenstadt.

The Thirty Years' War did not spare Prichsenstadt either. When the imperial army conquered and burned the city, the pastor, who had gone to the church for protection, was fatally wounded. The church itself was damaged. After the war, the building could be rebuilt in the first half of the 18th century. For this purpose, a new bell tower was built in 1710 and connected to the nave until 1725 .

Major changes to the building stock were no longer made. There were only a few updates to the equipment. The first extensive renovation of the building took place in 1861. In the years 1970 to 1975, an electric bell was installed as part of a further renovation. The Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation runs the church as a monument. The underground remains of the previous buildings are classified as a ground monument . The church is part of the Old Town Prichsenstadt ensemble.

description

The hall church has a polygonal choir . It is geosted and on its west side is the bell tower. This was created in its current form in the early 18th century and cites the forms of the Baroque. It has three floors, which can be recognized from the outside through cornices. Long arched windows are installed in the upper tower free floor. There is a clock on the west side. The Welsche hood is made as a double dome and carries a lantern.

Like the tower, the nave was largely built in the Baroque period. This is made clear by the pilaster strips that connect the nave and the tower. Five arched windows on each side illuminate the church. The church is entered via two portals in the south and north. The polygon choir with round arched windows of different lengths was built as early as the Gothic period . The oldest element is the sacristy extension from the 14th century.

Furnishing

The altar and the organ in the choir of the church

Inside the church, the margrave style is particularly emphasized. The altar and organ in the choir form a stacked unit reminiscent of the church in nearby Rüdenhausen.

High altar

The high altar in the choir was built in 1675 and thus comes from the Baroque era. It has four columns with golden round columns. In keeping with the baroque concept of staging, they are placed tapering towards the altar panel and taper slightly towards the top. There is a gold inscription below the sheet. The altar appears wider to the left and right, as acanthus work is attached there as a stucco decoration.

The leaf forms the center of the altar. It shows the resurrection of Jesus Christ with the floating Savior in the center and was created by an unknown artist. Above, a projecting cornice leads to the pull-out. Unlike in Rüdenhausen, for example, it is formed by a bourgeois alliance coat of arms. Two putti, seated on broad volutes, frame the simple extract.

organ

It is unclear when the first organ got into the church. What is certain, however, is that the instrument was destroyed in the turmoil of the Thirty Years' War. As early as 1660 the church received a new instrument as a small organ. It was donated by Johann von Goetz and Schwanenfließ, at the time mayor, council president and imperial chamberlain of Breslau and a former citizen of Prichsenstadt. His coat of arms, a swan, was increased after the ennoblement (1660) and is placed above the organ. In 1668/1669 a new, large organ was installed in the nave for 600 thalers. The executive master was Matthias Tretzscher from Kulmbach .

The pulpit on the choir arch

In the course of the baroque church renovation, the organ was moved to its current location in the choir room in 1726 by the organ builder Voit from Schweinfurt . In 1912, the Link brothers had to renew the plant. The last new construction of the plant took place in 1975 by the Walker company from Ludwigsburg . The organ has two manuals with five registers and a pedal with three registers.

Further equipment

The stone pulpit was built in 1620 in the Renaissance style. It has a cube-shaped body and shows the conversion of Saul to Paul on its front . Sayings are attached to both sides of the body. The hexagonal sound cover closes at the top with a risen Christ standing on volute arches. The ascent takes place through the choir.

The oldest piece of equipment is a pewter Gothic baptismal font , which was built in 1597. An engraving shows the baptism of Jesus . The associated font was only created in the 19th century. In the nave there is an epitaph of a priest and a simple, wooden crucifix with a delicate body. There are double galleries on three walls.

literature

City administration Prichsenstadt (Ed.): Prichsenstadt. Commemorative publication on the occasion of the city's 600th anniversary 1367–1967 . Gerolzhofen 1967.
Hans Bauer: District of Kitzingen. An art and culture guide . Market wide 1993.
Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments. Bavaria I: Franconia . Munich and Berlin 1999.
Rudolf Kniewasser (Ed.): Castell-Grafschaft and Dean's Office . Erlangen 1991.
Karl Treutwein : From Abtswind to Zeilitzheim. History, sights, traditions . Volkach 1987.