Evangelical Church Bromskirchen

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Front view of the church from the west

The Protestant parish church is a listed church building in Bromskirchen , a municipality in the Waldeck-Frankenberg district ( Hesse ). Together with the Bromskirchen town hall , the church square forms the core of the village.

Bromskirchen town hall and church

The church is located in the middle of a churchyard wall on the highest point of the village, immediately east of the main road. An original fortification of the churchyard is likely.

Luthmer IV-025-Bromskirchen Parish Church.jpg

History and architecture

Although the place was first mentioned as "Fromolskerken" in 1238 in a document about an extensive sale of goods by the Lords of Battenberg, the location of the church and the St. Martin's patronage point to an early foundation in the 8th or 9th century. From the proper name "Fromold" one has concluded a foundation as a separate church, a castle in Bromskirchen has not yet been proven. Bromskirchen was the sending court for six places in the Mainz diocesan register.

The core of the church building, which has been preserved and is known from excavations, dates from the 12th century, after Esterhues already from the second quarter, but at the latest from the period around 1180. In 1292 the pastor Konrad von Girkhausen is named. Four years later, Archbishop Gerhard von Mainz issued an indulgence for the repair of the church, which was connected with a local pilgrimage.

The dean's office Bromskirchen was part of the archdeaconate of St. Stephan in Mainz. The patronage of the Waldecker von Girkhausen family passed after their extinction in 1354 (verifiable not until 1473) to the Winter family (bourgeois feudal people of Count von Wittgenstein in Züschen, died out in 1764) and finally to the princes of Waldeck.

After the Reformation in 1527/28 the place grew by abandoning several villages in the area, but at the same time the church fell into disrepair. Pastor Daniel Cranauge initiated the conversion to a Protestant sermon church in 1574 by demolishing the side aisles, but only after the collapse of a side aisle wall at the end of 1582, the work was intensified and completed in 1585.

The originally Romanesque , three-aisled pillar basilica of the bound system with two main bays was built in the third quarter of the twelfth century. It was dedicated to St. Martin . From 1574 to 1585 it was converted into a Protestant preaching church. With the collapse of a side aisle wall at the end of 1582, the work was intensified and completed in 1585. The side aisles with the small eastern apses were demolished and the arcades were walled up. In 1644 the west tower was demolished and the roof turret was built, which is a slated roof tower with a pointed helmet .

Between 1699 and 1705 the Romanesque apse was replaced by a three-sided closed choir and a small half-timbered hall was added on the west side . The colorful interior is one of the most picturesque examples of Protestant, Hessian country churches. The curtain windows of the upper storey are from the renovation in the 16th century. At the same time, the galleries above the ship were painted and the coffered wooden ceiling was painted.

Description of the church

Originally a three-aisled pillar basilica with a length of two bays in a bound system without a transept and without a structurally separate choir; all the ships ended in apses. In the main nave, wall shields drawn through to the pillars and box templates refer at least to a planned, possibly also implemented vaulting in the main nave, the slightly shortened aisles in the west were certainly vaulted according to the protruding transom plates preserved in the outer wall.

The ornaments on the bevels of the fighter plates, each lined up with the same pattern, refer to the time the church was built: Vegetable tendrils, stylized lying palmettes, connected by a ridge, standing palmette leaves and "stacked" rows of small, standing, concentric pointed arches; the fighter slopes on the south wall are scaled like a chessboard.

The tower, possibly built at the same time as the church, is unknown in terms of dimensions and appearance; the central nave, which originally protruded slightly towards the west towards the aisles, could indicate that there was a similarly powerful tower as in Rengershausen and Viermünden. The church belongs to a group with Adorf and Twiste.

After the introduction of the Reformation, the side aisles were demolished and the passages walled up with windows. The coffered wooden ceiling probably dates from 1574/85 and is suspended in the roof structure with a longitudinal girder; in front of the choir it flows into a mighty transom. Its vegetal tendrils correspond to the tendril paintings on the walls, which cautiously frame the Romanesque shield arches and the curtain windows of the former upper aisle, enlarged in 1626.

West portal of the vestibule with dew band and a bas-relief of a griffin, inscribed "1585" on the top, associated door leaf. The three-sided choir (cf. Laisa), with windows to the east, south and north and a small portal to the northeast, is covered with a barrel (Rabbitz vault since 1934).

Vault painting with two hovering angels holding garlands above the high altar and a shining star with Christ's monogram in the wreath of clouds. The small west porch with an old brick floor. Large, tower-like, slate roof turret over the western part of the church with a square floor plan and an eight-sided pointed hood.

The only medieval piece of equipment is the altar cross from around 1430. The stepped galleries on both side walls are dated 1580 and thus part of the new concept through the renovation of the Romanesque church. The pulpit with its scenically painted and richly inscribed coffers and the sweeping, ornamented canopy dates from 1652 with inscriptions, it was revised at the beginning of the 18th century. The lower crossbeam in front of the choir, which visually defines the space, holds a mighty wooden stand that allows the pulpit to be attached further towards the center of the church.

After the new choir was built around 1700, the sacristy chapel (with integrated access to the pulpit), the two-storey high altar probably from the workshop of Josias Wolrad Brützel and the St.Peter, dated 1704 on a panel, clamped in mighty wooden stands and played by paintings of the organ. Cäcilia and an organ prospect flanked by a limestone (with reversed breastwork pipes) as well as the extension of the lower nave galleries all around into the choir ("Hallenberger stage").

The preserved exterior doors also date from this period. In 1893 the original altar panel in the main altar area was replaced by the inviting Christ by Alfred Diehte from Dresden with the establishment of the Last Supper. The organ was made by Johannes Eifert in 1913, the windows by Billa Mogk from Oberhausen in 1961.

Special equipment

annotation

During the renovation of the church in 1934, the vault and the stage in the choir were renewed and the interior was painted by Otto Kienzle from Eberstadt near Darmstadt. Excavations to the south and north of the church were carried out in 1947 by Friedrich Johannes Esterhues, Bonn. Another renovation in 1961 was u. a. the removal of the external plaster.

literature

Web links

Commons : Evangelical Church Bromskirchen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Hesse (ed.): Bromskirchen, complete system of historical town center In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse

Coordinates: 51 ° 5 ′ 41 ″  N , 8 ° 37 ′ 29 ″  E