Evangelical Church Neckarsteinach
The Evangelical Church of Neckarsteinach is a late Gothic Evangelical church in Neckarsteinach in the Bergstrasse district in southern Hesse . The current church goes back to the original church of the place, was rebuilt in 1483 in the late Gothic style and expanded in 1777/78. The church was used from 1662 to 1908 as a simultaneous church for up to three denominations. Numerous epitaphs of the Landschad von Steinach have been preserved in the church.
history
The first church in Neckarsteinach probably comes from the 9th or 10th century. This small Romanesque church was first mentioned in 1142 in connection with the founding of the Cistercian monastery Schönau . The church was St. Cäcilia and belonged to the Wimpfen monastery , which in turn was subordinate to the diocese of Worms . The location of the church is on a hill below the Neckarsteinacher Vorderburg and marks (apart from the castle hill) the highest elevation of the place. Around the church there was once the cemetery, the massive walling of which indicates the importance of the church as a fortified church .
In 1483 the church was rebuilt by Blicker XIV. Landschad von Steinach. The church patroness Cäcilia as well as the affiliation to the Wimpfen monastery were retained in the new building. The new late Gothic building was larger than the previous church. A building inscription on a buttress on the south side of the church dates the year of construction and names the builder. The keystones in the choir vault show the coat of arms of the builder and that of his wife Mia von Helmstatt, which are also buried on the church wall. The new building essentially gave the church its present form. There were still five altars in the newly built church in the late 15th century.
As early as 1493, Jodocus Gallus was a reform-minded pastor in Neckarsteinach. In 1522 Neckarsteinach was by Hans III. Landschad reformed , he also called the Lutheran pastor Jakob Otter , who had been expelled from Breisgau, to Neckarsteinach, who carried out the Reformation in full. Around 1550 the interior was adapted to the Lutheran doctrine, a new high altar was erected and old side altars demolished. A large number of tombstones from the 14th to the early 17th century in the commemorates the Landschad von Steinach gentlemen, who were probably buried here instead of the Schönau monastery since Neckarsteinach was expanded into a town in the middle of the 14th century Church.
After the Landschad von Steinach died out, the castle and town came to the Catholic Wolf Heinrich von Metternich, who encouraged the influx of Catholics after the Thirty Years' War and from 1662 had the church used as a simultaneous church for Protestants and Catholics. In 1682 the pulpit was erected to the right of the triumphal arch. After numerous Huguenots had moved here in 1685 , the church even served three denominations, which repeatedly gave rise to disputes. The Catholics in particular procured ornate baroque furnishings such as side altars and figures. The reformed congregation failed around 1719 with plans to build its own church. In 1723 the Protestant high altar was destroyed by the Catholics. Even after the Metternich family died out in 1753 and Neckarsteinach passed to Hesse in 1803, the church continued to be a Simultaneum.
In 1772 a dilapidated ossuary near the church was demolished. In 1777, the increased number of inhabitants made it necessary to enlarge the church. The nave was extended to the west and the roof structure was renewed. The old Gothic entrance portal was moved to the new west gable and has since served as access to the gallery, whereas a new baroque portal was built as the entrance to the church. The Huguenots did not participate in the construction costs and in future had to hold their services first in a private house and later in the town hall until the Evangelical Union in 1821.
In 1908 a new Catholic church was built in the immediate vicinity. The main altar for this neo-baroque building was acquired by the Catholics in Mainz-Gonsenheim from the local church of St. Stephan, the two former side altars of the Neckarsteinach church, consecrated to Our Lady (1771) and St. Joseph (1779), a large ray monstrance and a wooden sculpture of St. Nepomuk the Catholics took with them when they moved. The departure of the Catholics created the possibility of a restoration of the church, during which the tomb of the founder and his wife was also moved inside the church.
In 1936 fragments of historical glass windows of the choir from 1483 were sold to the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt. In 1958 the choir received new stained glass windows with modern motifs by Hans Joachim Burgert. In 1961 and 2002 to 2004 the church was again extensively renovated.
description
Church window
One of the important art treasures of the church is the replica of the window motifs from 1483 with depictions of St. Georg , Count Palatine Philip the Sincere, Otto von Hirschhorn with Margarete von Handschuhsheim and the Mother of God. The original windows have been in the Hessian State Museum in Darmstadt since 1936, which donated the modern windows in the choir in 1958.
Choir window from 1958
Replica of the window from 1483
Landschad epitaphs
The oldest epitaph shows Ulrich V. Landschad von Steinach († 1369) and is one of the earliest figurative tombs on the Upper Rhine. The knight is shown in full armor, his head resting on a pillow held by angels. The harp coat of arms and the crowned head of David used as the crest of the coat of arms can be seen at his feet. The tomb has been preserved in its original color. The tomb for Hennel Landschad († 1377) and his wife Mia von Sickingen is no less colorful . The sandstone tomb for Blicker XIV. Landschad von Steinach and his wife Mia von Helmstatt is already badly weathered, as it stood on the outside wall of the church for centuries and was only moved inside during the renovation in 1906. Other memorial plaques mostly date from the 16th century, the one of the reformer Hans III is particularly worth mentioning. Landschad von Steinach, which his grandson Hans Ulrich I († 1619) wrote in rhyming form.
Ulrich V. Landschad von Steinach († 1369)
Hennel Landschad von Steinach († 1377)
Blicker XIV. Landschad von Steinach († 1499)
Hans III. Landschad von Steinach († 1531)
Appolonia, b. Bock von Gerstheim († 1542)
Christoph II. Landschad von Steinach († 1582)
Hans Pleickard I. Landschad von Steinach († 1583)
Eberhard II Landschad von Steinach († 1584)
Anna Elisabeth, b. from Helmstatt († 1590)
Hans Friedrich Landschad von Steinach († 1592)
Hans Philipp Landschad von Steinach († 1592)
Hans Ulrich Landschad von Steinach († 1619)
Bells
The church has three historical bells. The smallest (69 cm high) was cast in 1498, the middle death knell (71 cm high) dates from the 13th or 14th century and the largest (82 cm high) dates from 1556.
literature
- Walther Möller and Karl Krauss: Neckarsteinach - his lords, the city and the castles (Starkenburg in his past, vol. 4), Mainz 1928
Web links
- More information about the Protestant church Neckarsteinach at www.ev-kirche-neckarsteinach.de
- Elisabeth Hinz: Information on the history and furnishings of the Protestant church at www.neckarsteinach.de , accessed on November 18, 2010
Coordinates: 49 ° 24 ′ 31.2 ″ N , 8 ° 50 ′ 13 ″ E