Evangelical parish church in Weißbriach
The Protestant church in Weißbriach stands on a hill on the eastern edge of the village.
history
After the Lutheran Reformation , the majority of the population, especially the miners living in the Gailtal Alps, became Protestant in the 16th century. Since the Gitschtal was not visited by the Counter-Reformation Religious Reformation Commission of Bishop Martin Brenner , in contrast to other parts of Carinthia, no forced resettlements to other parts of the Holy Roman Empire took place in this area. Another reason for the large number of secret Protestants in Weißbriach was the fact that the Catholic rectory remained vacant for a long time.
According to the tolerance patent of Emperor Joseph II , around 90% of the population professed the Protestant faith. After the establishment of a Protestant congregation, the first pastor, Johann Gottfried Gotthardt, held the first service at the end of September 1782. First the services were held in a barn, in 1783 a stone prayer house, the first in Carinthia, was built. The parsonage was built between 1785 and 1786. A Protestant schoolhouse was built in 1860 after regular classes from 1782 onwards.
With the Protestant patent of Emperor Franz Joseph I from 1861 and the relative equality with the Roman Catholic Church, Protestants were also allowed to build churches.
The church was built from 1882 to 1886 by the master builder Giovanni Colombo based on plans by Johann Steinwender. The exterior was restored between 1982 and 1983.
Building
The neo-Gothic hall church consists of a 4-bay nave and a single-bay, slightly retracted choir with a 3/8 end. The west tower is presented. The side surfaces of the facades are completely undivided.
The altar and pulpit were created by Carl Zunder based on plans by Theophil Frey. The picture of the richly carved altar shows the Ascension of Christ and was painted by Alfred Diethe from Dresden before 1887 in the Nazarene style. The wooden gallery with straight parapets extends over a yoke. There are three banners above the triumphal arch. The organ dates from 1996.
literature
- Dehio manual. The art monuments of Austria. Carinthia . Anton Schroll, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-7031-0712-X , p. 1057.
- Alexander Hanisch-Wolfram: In the footsteps of the Protestants in Carinthia. Verlag Johannes Heyn, Klagenfurt 2010, ISBN 978-3-7084-0392-2 , p. 160 f.
Web links
- Website of the Evangelical Church Community AB Weißbriach-Weißensee
- Evangelical Church on the website of the Gitschtal community
Coordinates: 46 ° 41 '17.4 " N , 13 ° 15' 27.4" E