Evangelical Church Bonfeld
The Protestant church in Bonfeld (today part of Bad Rappenau ) is a church building in the style of the late Baroque , which was built around 1775 in place of a previous building in the 15th century. The original furnishings of the church as well as the ceiling paintings from 1907 were largely destroyed during later renovations.
history
Late medieval Margarethenkirche
The oldest references to a church in Bonfeld go back to 1301. A tombstone of the medieval lord Friedrich von Bonfeld , dated this year, is said to have been in the church. The local rulers had their funeral in the church. The church was first mentioned in 1413 when it was consecrated to St. Margaret . The parish was sold to the Wimpfen monastery in 1430 . In 1496 the church was the mother church of chapels in the neighboring villages of Fürfeld and Treschklingen . Already at the end of the 15th century the influence of the Wimpfener Stift was declining, in particular due to protracted disputes over the building loads on the church building. Bonfeld had meanwhile come to the Lords of Gemmingen by purchase in 1476 and was reformed , together with other places, under Dietrich von Gemmingen († 1526) in the first half of the 16th century. The first Protestant pastor in Bonfeld officiated before 1532. With a contract dated August 25, 1569, the right of patronage was also formally transferred from the Wimpfen monastery to the landlords.
The old Margarethenkirche suffered from the wars and times of need of the 17th century. It was used by passing Catholic and Protestant troops for mass, in 1693 the bell was taken away by passing French. In the same year the church was also badly damaged by a storm. The roof was repaired several times in the first half of the 18th century, then completely removed in 1756 and boarded up. In 1770 the building threatened to collapse, so that master builder Romlinger from Grombach advised demolition and a subsequent new building.
Around the time of the new building, a new cemetery was laid out in Bonfeld towards the end of the 18th century, which ended the burial of the local lords in the church. During later renovations, remains of graves were found in the church floor. The names of some nobles buried in the old church have been preserved in the church records, including Philipp von Gemmingen († 1571), his wife Katharina von Gemmingen-Michelfeld († 1583), their son Weirich von Gemmingen († 1574), and Dietrich von Gemmingen († 1686), Helene Margarethe von Gemmingen b. Capler von Oedheim called Bautz († 1708) and Anna Sibylla von Gemmingen born. Greckin von und zu Kochendorf († 1771). The latter was the last noblewoman to be buried in the old church. Later members of the local rule were buried in the Bonfeld cemetery , which was built at the same time as the new church was built .
18th century baroque church
In 1772 the tower of the church was torn down and replaced the following year, with three new bells hung in the belfry of the almost 30-meter-high tower. Then the was with the choir east-facing nave of the church rebuilt. In 1775 the work continued. The new church, the two castles built between 1748 and 1787 and the rectory from 1758 thus formed an impressive ensemble at the height of the architectural taste of the time in Bonfeld's heyday in the late 18th century.
The nave has three portals: the main portal with the ornate Gemmingen coat of arms in the west and the side portals to the south and north, with the south portal showing the year when the foundation stone was laid in 1774. The new church, which due to the Reformation faith of the patron saints was no longer a saint, but "consecrated to the triune supreme God" ("Deo TOM Sacrum"), received an ornate baroque two-story gallery above the altar area for the organ from the previous building , which received a new baroque prospectus . To the left and right of the organ gallery were boxes for the local lords; left for the line of the upper lock, right for that of the lower lock. The two-story gallery on the west side of the church was intended for the worshipers: men sat on the first gallery and children on the second, while women had their seats on the entrance level. In 1867 the church received a cast iron stove, in 1873 Maria Magdalena von Gemmingen donated the baptismal font that is still preserved today.
In 1907, at the suggestion of Pastor Julius Kauffmann, the painter Theodor Kronenberger painted the church with ceiling paintings based on biblical motifs: the middle panel of the ceiling surface showed a scene of the Sermon on the Mount, the side panels depicting the baptism of Jesus and the Lord's Supper. Evangelists and animal symbols could be seen in the grooves. In 1925, for the 150th anniversary of the building of the church, the old organ was exchanged for a used organ from the Lichtenstern institution while retaining the baroque organ front.
20th century renovations
A renovation carried out in 1957/58 corresponded to the simple style of the time, but is now considered a major mistake, as the ceiling paintings from 1907 were removed and a large part of the baroque furnishings, especially the side boxes in the organ gallery, were irretrievably destroyed. Only the middle part of the altar area was preserved.
During further renovations, a new organ was procured in 1965, the church tower clock was renewed in 1967 and the stalls that originally formed a central aisle in the rear were replaced by continuous benches. The altar space, which has been very simple since 1957/58, was provided in 1974 with the serigraph Kosmisches Layout by Jul Schönau (* February 5, 1933 in Bonfeld), which was later removed again, and in 1998 with two modern oil paintings by Bad Rappenau artist Holger Schlesinger (* 1959) to compensate for the lack of other church decorations. A historic lectern that survived the renovation in 1957/58 was recently found and is now occasionally used again.
Security measures have been taken in the roof of the church in recent years. Several cracks on the walls of the nave have been monitored structurally since 2002. The threatening progression of these cracks indicates a need for further rehabilitation. The church tower was renovated from the outside in spring 2007.
Bells
The oldest known bell in Bonfeld is the bronze bell, stolen by the French in 1693, which weighed around 200 kg. The following year, Veit Conrad Thor cast a 94 kg replacement bronze bell in Heilbronn. When the church was renovated in 1773, three new bells were purchased. Two of the bells were financed by the manor, the third by the community. The bells were cast by Samuel Mezger in Heilbronn. In 1817, a bell was cast for Bonfeld at CG Neubert in Ludwigsburg, which was probably the casting of one of the three Mezger bells from 1773.
During the First World War, the two smaller bells had to be delivered for armament purposes. What remained was the largest Mezger bell with the strike sound as', a diameter of 90 cm and a weight of 420 kg. The bronze bell bears the inscription BONFELDER GEMEIND BELLS 1773 SOLI DEO GLORIA ME FECIT SAMUEL MEZGER HEILBRONNENSIS . The bell is decorated with a kneeling man, the coat of arms of the barons of Gemmingen and a decorative frieze. In 1920 two new bronze bells were cast at the Bachert bell foundry in Kochendorf. The larger one had the strike note h ', a diameter of 77 cm and a weight of 280 kg. It bore the inscription JESUS CHRIST YESTERDAY AND TODAY AND THE SAME IN ETERNITY. IN HIM IS PEACE, IN HIM IS JOY, HE IS OUR CONSOLE IN ETERNITY. THE WOMEN HOME TO MEMORY IN DIFFICULT TIMES 1914–1919. The smaller bell from 1920 had a c sharp '' strike, a diameter of 59 cm and a weight of 126 kg. Its inscription read REFUGE FROM THE OLD GOD AND UNDER THE ETERNAL POOR MOSE 33:27 THE COMING TO THE LEGACY FROM A GREAT TIME 1914-1919.
During the Second World War, the two largest of the three bells had to be dropped. In 1949, two bells were cast by Bachert in Heilbronn. The larger of the two was the death knell with the strike sound f (is) 'and a weight of 1000 kg, the smaller is the baptismal bell with the strike sound h', a diameter of 81.5 cm and a weight of 295 kg. It bears the inscription WHO BELIEVES AND WILL BE BAPTIZED, WILL BE BLESSED. YOU CREATED ME IN DIFFICULT TIMES, I CALL YOU TO ETERNITY. A VICTIM OF THE BONFELD MUNICIPALITY IN THE POST WAR 1949.
Surprisingly, the Mezger bell from 1773 also returned to Bonfeld in the post-war period. In 1953 the community sold it to the Church of St. Agapitus in Friolzheim . At the same time, they were not satisfied with the existing bells, so two new large bronze bells were created by casting and re-casting, which today form the bells of the church with the baptismal bell from 1949. The largest bell was cast by Bachert in Heilbronn in 1953, has the strike tone f sharp ', a diameter of 107.5 cm and a weight of 704 kg. It bears the inscription JESUS CHRIST YESTERDAY AND TODAY AND THE SAME ALSO IN ETERNITY. THE WOMAN TO THE MEMORY, THE COMING TO THE LEGACY. THE COMMUNITY OF BONFELD ANNO DOMINI 1953. The middle bell was also cast by Bachert in Heilbronn in 1952, has the strike note a ', a diameter of 94.5 cm and a weight of 492 kg. Its inscription reads: PEACE BE WITH ALL WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS. THE COMMUNITY OF BONFELD IN THE MEMORY OF ITS FALLEN AND MISSED 1939–45. 1952 AB
literature
- Eckhard Rudolph: Church in Bonfeld . In Bonfeld. Local history contributions from the past and present of a former imperial knighthood village. City of Bad Rappenau, Bad Rappenau 2000, ISBN 3-929295-62-8
- Anne and Helmut Schüßler: The resting places of the noble von Gemmingen-Guttenberg family in the Bonfeld cemetery . In: Bad Rappenauer Heimatbote No. 19, Bad Rappenau 2008
- Matthias Driver (ed.): The Protestant churches in the Heilbronn church district. Evangelical Church District Heilbronn, Heilbronn 2005
- Norbert Jung: Immaculata - A contribution to the history of bells in Bad Rappenau , in connection with the Bad Rappenau town archive, ed. by Norbert Jung, Heilbronn 2010, pp. 18-25.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jung 2010, p. 18, the description of the Oberamt Heilbronn from 1903, however, still mentions Johann Konrad Dohr as the founder.
- ↑ Jung 2010, p. 19; Rudolph 2000, however, erroneously claims that the bell is still in Bonfeld.
Coordinates: 49 ° 12 ′ 47 " N , 9 ° 5 ′ 37" E