St. Markus (Brensbach)
The Evangelical Parish Church of St. Markus in Brensbach , a community in the Odenwaldkreis in Hesse , is a listed church building from the 16th century.
history
Given the location of the church on a small hill, its origin is probably in a medieval fortified church , which is also supported by structural findings of the old cemetery wall, which was once significantly higher than it is today.
A parish in Brensbach was first mentioned in 1387, but it should have been established some time earlier by the Erbach taverns , whose successors still have patronage rights to this day . The taverns were owned by the fiefdom of the Fulda diocese , which was acquired by Count Palatine Ruprecht in 1390. After the Palatinate-Bavarian War of Succession in 1504, Hesse held half of the feudal sovereignty in Amt and Zent Umbach, the other half belonged to the Erbach Counts.
At that time the renovation of the medieval church began, of which only remains of the foundations can be traced. Towards the end of the 15th century, the foundation stone must have been laid for today's church tower, which, according to its dating, was completed in 1503. A few years later the new nave and choir were built. The pulpit is dated 1526, the choir arch 1527. Karl Wernher from Erbach worked as a stonemason at the church, who left his stonemason mark on the pulpit. The pulpit also documents the early Reformation sentiments in Hesse, as the Reformation abbreviation VDMIAE (verbum dominum manet in aeternum) is found in the Hessian coat of arms . Nevertheless, the church was built in the pre-Reformation tradition to accommodate side altars in the aisles. Corresponding sacrament niches were later walled up and only exposed again in the 20th century.
At the beginning of the 17th century, invoices that have been preserved show the installation of stalls and a bork church ( gallery ). The early fixtures and fittings in the church were lost in the Thirty Years War when the church was devastated. The restoration dragged on into the early 18th century. A cup of communion was donated in 1680. The first organ was procured in 1700 and placed in an organ gallery in the choir. In 1703 and / or 1714 the wall paintings of the church were created. Because of the population growth after the end of the war, various galleries had to be erected or changed, most recently the west gallery from 1834.
In essence, the church has served its purpose since the restoration in the early 18th century, so that no major changes took place, but at the same time no renovations were made for a long time. In 1855 the Reinheim deanery reprimanded the unworthy condition of the interior of the church, which made a truly depressing impression . At the urgent request of the district builder Kraus, the church was then thoroughly restored and repaired. The old organ loft in the choir was renewed in 1858, the existing windows were renewed and two more, modeled on the previous windows, were broken into the ship. The northern entrance to the church was walled up, the south portal was given a new, stylistically inappropriate cladding. The sacristy received a floor and two windows for the first time. The altar, previously just a sandstone slab placed on the baptismal font, has been renewed. The old font was also replaced by a neo-Gothic new font, while the old one came into the collection of the Counts of Erbach.
In 1934 the church received its two Gothic-looking candlesticks in the side aisles and stained glass by Otto Linnemann from Frankfurt. For cost reasons only one choir window was completely painted, while the remaining windows are only partially painted.
During restorations in the 1970s, two old sacrament niches were uncovered. In addition, the old baptismal font was brought back to the church and the Count of Erbach was given the new baptismal font in exchange.
description
architecture
The church is a late Gothic pseudo-basilica , to whose almost square, three-aisled and three-bay nave the tower adjoins to the west and the choir to the east. The sacristy was built into the corner between the choir and the nave .
Structural features of the tower show that the tower, dated 1503, was completed a few years before the start of construction of the nave and choir (dated 1526/27).
The nave and choir as well as the sacristy seem to have been built in one go due to their proportions and design. The central nave is higher than the side aisles, but does not have its own windows as in a real basilica. The two-and-a-half bay choir with a 5/8 end has the width of the central nave and similar bays with matching star vaults . The design of the sacristy corresponds to a yoke of the south aisle, again with an identical vault. The design of all yokes with star vaults is unique for an Odenwald village church. The vaults of the central nave are supported by octagonal pillars without capitals with two lateral circular services , the yokes of the aisle flow into similar circular services on the outer walls, only in the sacristy do the vault ribs merge seamlessly into the wall.
The nave is covered by a simple towing roof, to which the choir roof is attached at the same height. The three-storey tower has an octagonal pointed helmet that is often found in the Gersprenz valley .
The window shapes of the windows in the nave and choir, which were renewed in 1858, are probably based on the old windows and show different shapes such as round arches, quatrefoils, heart shapes and fish bladders. The arched windows of the sacristy were their first windows and have no historical models.
In the choir there is a 160 cm high sacrament house, in the choir and in the south aisle there are further sacrament niches.
Furnishing
The font from the 15th century still comes from the previous building. Its round pillar is flanked by three sculptures (lion, dog and human head), the cup is octagonal. The baptismal font also served as a support for the altar plate. In terms of style, the baptismal font, 101 cm high and 93 cm in diameter, stands between the Upper Hessian cup type and the late Gothic cup type.
The pulpit is the most important piece of equipment in the church. It is from the construction period, was made of red sandstone and has an octagonal body that rests on a square column and a wide base. The fields of the body are decorated with relief-like branches, in which there are three coats of arms: that of the Landgraves of Hesse , that of the Counts of Erbach and that of the builder Karl Wernher . The year 1526 and the Reformation motto VDMIAE are carved under the Hessian coat of arms.
In the north aisle on the east wall is the epitaph of Pastor Erasmus Golch († 1580) as a sandstone-set rectangular slate with an inscription and two coats of arms in a semicircular gable. On the west wall of the ship is the grave slab of the pastor's wife Margarethe Mayer († 1708), which shows the bust of a young woman with child, surrounded by putti and palm fronds. Another epitaph was found in the south aisle in 1934, but only the frame remained, which today contains a brief church history.
The wooden crucifix above the font dates from the 16th or 17th century. The right arm of the crucified is a supplement for a missing part, the cross could also be of a more recent date and does not look very appropriate.
The shield walls of the central nave are decorated with apostle paintings from 1703 and / or 1714, each showing the apostles in groups of two. Although the paintings were created in the Baroque period , the awkward hand of the rural painter creates a Gothic impression, which means that the paintings - probably unintentionally - fit well into the surrounding architecture.
The three bells of the church were cast from the material of broken older bells by Johann Peter Bach in Windecken in 1770. The bells have a diameter of 92, 78 and 68 cm and all bear the year of the casting and the name of the founder, the largest bell also has the inscription of a peace bell.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Monument topography Odenwaldkreis 1998, p. 166.
literature
- M. Herchendörfer: The art monuments of the district of Dieburg , Darmstadt 1940, p. 43ff.
- Thomas Steinmetz: The Protestant parish church of St. Markus zu Brensbach , Brensbach 1983
- State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (Ed.): Monument topography of the Federal Republic of Germany. Cultural monuments in Hessen. Odenwaldkreis. Wiesbaden 1998, pp. 165-167.
Web links
- State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (Ed.): Evangelical Church (formerly St. Markus) In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hessen
- brensbach-evangelisch.ekhn.org
Coordinates: 49 ° 46 ′ 21.8 " N , 8 ° 52 ′ 43.7" E