Evangelical Church Alt-Weil

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The Evangelical Church from the tower side, the floor plan walls of the church from 1323 can be seen in the foreground

The Evangelical Church of Alt-Weil in Weil am Rhein in southern Baden was first mentioned in a document in 786. The oldest church in the city has been rebuilt and rebuilt several times and now serves the Protestant community as a parish church. The church is located in the original village center of Weil, which is known as "Alt-Weil". The main part of the church was built between 1789 and 1791. The bell tower retained from the second church building was raised in 1825. Inside and outside the church there are several epitaphs and grave slabs, including one by Gustave Fecht, a friend of the local poet Johann Peter Hebel .

history

First and Second Church

The first documented mention of the church comes from a deed of donation from a certain Ercanbert, who bequeathed his possessions - including the hamlet church - to the St. Gallen monastery . The first priest for Weil that can be verified in writing was named in 1275: "plebanus in Wiler". The church, which is probably made entirely of wood, belonged to the monastery until the 14th century. From the document of May 7, 1323, the consecration of the high altar by the vicar of Bishop Rudolf III. von Montfort in honor of Saints Gallus , Blasius , Aegidius and a side altar in honor of Mary , Saints Catherine , Margareta and Barbara . It is not certain whether the consecration was preceded by a thorough renovation or even a new building. The foundation of an altar deficit in honor of St. Stephen was added before 1493. The patronage rights and building rights of the hamlet church were transferred from St. Gallen to the Basel cathedral monastery in 1360.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the church was repeatedly affected by wars. In 1633 imperial troops burned the city down and the church also suffered severe damage. In 1688 the billeted Croatians used the church as a horse stable and this happened in 1702 for the battle of Friedlingen . To restore it, the cathedral monastery in Arlesheim donated a crucifix , which was placed in the church on February 11, 1717.

In the first half of the 18th century, the church was increasingly visited by churchgoers from the neighboring border areas, which worsened the space available for the local parishioners. The pastor Brodhag described the situation on October 5, 1755 to the Margrave of Baden as follows:

“The Weiler Church is a border church to which, in addition to the Protestant community in Basel, many of our Lutheran co-religionists from Mulhouse , Solothurn , Bern and Burgundy adhere. Since the local citizens occupy the church prematurely, the foreigners have to stay outside in large numbers in wind and weather. Among these are distinguished and respected people from Hüningen Fortress , merchants, barons and nobles of both sexes. On the feast days, 300–400 strangers often come to Communion, so every time the Lord's Supper has to be canceled for the hamlet citizens. "

Since the church was not only too small, but the building had become dilapidated, the pastor applied for a completely new building in 1783. Before the construction of the new church could begin, new land had to be acquired. In 1787 the community exchanged the land on which the old rectory was located east of the church tower with the cathedral monastery of Basel. Another piece of land north of it was bought for 800 pounds.

Third Church

The construction of the third and current church began in 1789; State master builder Wilhelm Jeremias Müller made the plans for this . The church tower was retained and the new choir and nave were built east of it . A special bridge was built over the meadow above the Riehener Steg to transport material . Surrounding communities took care of the stone transport as slave labor . In order to reduce the load on the bridge, the quarry stones were hewn on the Riehen storage area. The stone transports were carried out on Bennen wagons - one load could hold around two cubic meters of material. Around 240 loads were necessary to build the church. Trees that had been felled in the Dossenbach forest between Schopfheim and Dossenbach were used as construction timber . A total of 59 logs of large wood, 192 logs of medium wood and 81 logs of small wood were used for trusses, frets, beams and struts. The hamlet community itself found use for the log after it was initially proposed to auction the log in Dosenbach. The communities of Fahrnau , Hausen im Wiesental and Raitbach also took over the transport of wood as compulsory labor . After two years of construction, the church was consecrated in September 1791.

Since the old tower next to the new nave was only marginally higher and in 1825 the request was made to add a third bell, the district building inspection proposed an increase in the church tower in the same year. Plans for this envisaged the installation of a classical bell house with double arcades, surrounding railings, round corner pillars and a pyramid roof as a finishing touch on the old tower . The cost estimate for these measures was calculated at 3,154 guilders. Since a third bell would weigh about 6 to 8 quintals, there were concerns about whether the old foundations would support the significantly heavier tower. For this reason, a completely new tower was planned, which, however, failed in the vote in July 1828 due to the required two-thirds majority . This put the plans to raise the tower aside for the time being. It was not until 1905 that a letter was sent from the Protestant Church Building Inspectorate in Karlsruhe to the Grand Ducal District Building Inspectorate in Lörrach, which asked for suggestions for raising the tower. After new plans no longer had any static concerns, the rough work could begin in December. The Gothic proportions were used for the increase. A gable roof was added to the tower to make the proportions appear as if the church had been built in one with the tower.

In 1939, during the renovation, the sacristy was moved from the north side of the choir to the center of the choir and separated from the church interior by a curtain. The sandstone altar and baptismal font regained its original shape, and dividing walls between the nave and the galleries were built under the west gallery. This was reversed in 1978 in the course of further renovation work as well as the relocation of the sacristy. A colored window created by the Basel painter Hans Studer was installed in the tower.

description

Location and church building

The church of the Alt-Weil settlement stands in the center of the village and is now east of the center of the city of Weil am Rhein. The museum on Lindenplatz is located in the western neighborhood.

The nave of the church, covered with a gable roof , consists of a rectangular hall and the bell tower to the northwest, the gable roof of which is perpendicular to the nave. The roof is hipped over the choir . The main building has four high, semicircular closing windows on each of the long sides and a side portal with a small window above. Further entrances are on the side of the choir and on the west facade of the tower. All portals are protected with a pent roof . The bell tower has semicircular acoustic arcades on each of the four sides and a dial on each of the gable ends. The church is bordered by a small park to the north and west. On the area to the west of the bell tower, a small wall can be seen on the ground, which marks the floor plan of the church from 1323.

Interior and equipment

The bright interior is drawn in with a flat ceiling, which is decorated with a toothed frieze and profile bars. There are galleries on the western gable end, partly on the nave walls and in the choir ; the organ was installed in the latter.

The baptismal font and the baroque pulpit with sound cover date from 1323. The carved wooden crucifix, which the church received from the cathedral monastery in Arlesheim in 1717, shows a remarkable detail on the left foot of the crucified Jesus : the artist gave the figure six toes. It is assumed that this was not an oversight, but rather symbolically indicates that Christ “stands in the spirit of God”, since the load of the heart rests on the supporting leg.

Bells and organ

The Alt-Weiler church has a four-part bell. The small c ′ bell from 1920 comes from an unknown foundry, the three larger bronze bells were cast by Bachert from Karlsruhe in 1950 and tuned to the notes f ′, a a ′ and b ′.

The original organ was created by Philipp Schäfer from Ötlingen in the years 1790 to 1803 . GF Steinmeyer & Co. installed a new movement with a sliding drawer in the instrument in 1967 and since then has three manuals , a pedal and 24 stops . A Rückpositiv was built in 1979, which includes seven additional registers.

Epitaphs

Gustave Fencing's grave tablet

In the nave there are epitaphs on the north wall in a baroque frame. They remember Joh. Christoff von Berenfels († 1629), his wife Clementia Waldnerin von Freudstein († 1644), their two sons Adelberg von Berenfels († 1642) and Hannibal von Berenfels († 1679). Underneath there is a plaque that recalls the name and date of death of the daughter as the founder: Maria Elisabetha von Berenfels († May 3, 1684). Another plaque commemorates two soldiers who are buried in Dole : A. Ludin († February 15, 1871) and W. Marx († February 17, 1871).

The gravestones of the following people are attached to the south facade of the nave from west to east: Joh. Laurenzius Rheinberger, pastor († July 1, 1754), Nicolaus Scheerer, Vogt († 1712) and Fridlin Schneider, staff holder and Vogt († November 8th 1649). On the outside of the choir hangs a grave slab by Gustave Fecht († April 23, 1828), who was a friend of the dialect poet Johann Peter Hebel .

literature

  • Johannes Helm : Churches and chapels in the Markgräflerland , Müllheim / Baden 1989, ISBN 3-921709-16-4 , pp. 419-421.
  • Manfred Ulbrich: Because on the Rhine. Church Alt-Weil - Johanneskirche - Friedenskirche , (Art Guide No. 1332), Verlag Schnell & Steiner 1982, ISBN 978-3-7954-5039-7 .

Web links

Commons : Evangelical Church (Alt-Weil)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ W. Haidt: Liber decimationis cleri Constanciensis per Papa de anno 1275 in: FDA1 , 1865, p. 212
  2. ↑ a b c Ludwig Keller: History of the City of Weil am Rhein , Rombach 1961, p. 88 ff.
  3. ^ Andreas Lehmann: The development of the patronage relationships in Archidiakonat Breisgau in: FDA44 , 1916, p. 119
  4. ↑ District Church Council (ed.): Church and Home 1556–1956 , 1956, pp. 133–136
  5. ↑ Ulbrich: Because on the Rhine. Church Alt-Weil - Johanneskirche - Friedenskirche , p. 4
  6. ^ Helm: Churches and chapels in the Markgräflerland , p. 5
  7. ^ Helm: Churches and chapels in the Markgräflerland , p. 420
  8. ^ Helm: Churches and chapels in the Markgräflerland , p. 421

Coordinates: 47 ° 35 '40.4 "  N , 7 ° 37' 53.9"  E