Evangelical town church (Bad Reichenhall)

Evangelical town church Bad Reichenhall

The Evangelical City Church in Bad Reichenhall was built from 1877 to 1881 as the first Evangelical Lutheran church in the city according to plans by the architect Ludwig Hoffstadt in the neo-Gothic - neoclassical style. It is a listed building and is the only church in the Evangelical Lutheran parish of Bad Reichenhall, Traunstein deanery . The parish includes the city of Bad Reichenhall and the political communities Bayerisch Gmain , Schneizlreuth , Piding and Anger .

history

The edicts of King Maximilian I Joseph of 1808 and 1809 and the associated establishment of an Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria guaranteed Protestantism the same rights as the Catholic Church for the first time. In Bad Reichenhall, however, a Protestant church was not built until a good 70 years later.
→ Compare to this paragraph: the section Bavaria from the Reformation to the Thirty Years War in the history of Bavaria .

After Bad Reichenhall became a spa and bathing resort from 1846 , many Protestant spa guests came to the city, as did Protestant officials and workers. From 1860 onwards, preachers held evangelical services in the summer months in a converted storage room in today's old salt works , which is still used as a prayer room today.

1875 was constituted from about 30 based in Bad Reichenhall evangelical Christian church council , the "stubborn" a "spiritual care through a permanent pastor" urged. In 1878 Reichenhall became an exposed vicariate and instead of changing spa preachers, he was looked after by a vicar assigned to him . All over Germany, spa guests “eagerly” collected donations for a church building, the cornerstone of which was laid in 1877.

Under the direction of the Munich architect Ludwig Hoffstadt , construction began on the Evangelical City Church in 1877, which was inaugurated in 1881 after four years of construction. The eye-catcher of the simple hall building was an altar painting by Ludwig Thiersch until 1959 .

After completion and inauguration of the town church, Reichenhall was finally able to become an independent parish in 1886 with the acquisition of a rectory . At the time, the parish area comprised the judicial districts of Reichenhall , Berchtesgaden , Laufen and Traunstein . But little by little, independent Evangelical Lutheran parishes formed in this area: in Traunstein in 1893, in Berchtesgaden in 1920 and in Freilassing and Laufen in 1948. Today, the district of the "Evangelical Lutheran Church Community Bad Reichenhall" includes the city of Bad Reichenhall, the political communities Anger , Bayerisch Gmain , Piding and Schneizlreuth .

In 1954 the parish received a second and in 1976 a third pastor and in 1967 a full-time cantor.

In 1959 the church was renovated and almost all of the furnishings except for the characteristic pews were modernized.

In 1981, another interior renovation by Franz Lichtblau on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the church included moving the altar to an island in front of the apse. Since then, the choir wall has been adorned with a fresco by Hubert Distler on topics from the Revelation of John and in front of it a hanging altar cross by Friedrich Koller.

In 1994 the church was extended by a pavilion extension by Franz Lichtblau, which offers two community rooms, a kitchen, sanitary facilities and storage rooms. In addition, the pavilion was equipped with the picture cycle “Creation and Desert” by Hubert Distler.

In 1995 Karlheinz Hoffmann created a tympanum for the outside of the entrance portal depicting the "storm calming".

In 1998 a "water lily fountain" by Bruno Karbacher was installed between the church and the pavilion.

In 2006 for the 125th anniversary, the bell was completely renovated and two bells were added to a five- bell ring .

In 2011 the Beckerath organ was extended by a third manual and a swell mechanism with 12 registers was added. The organ thus has 36 registers.

In 2018 the Beckerath organ received two new pedal stops (as an extract from the existing sub-bass). The organ thus has 38 registers and is the largest in the city of Bad Reichenhall .

Furnishing

Choir fresco, cross and altar

Since the last interior renovation in 1981 for the centenary of the town church, the entire choir wall has been equipped with a fresco by Hubert Distler based on the Revelation of John . The twelve gates of Jerusalem are arranged around a centrally placed “large brown disk”. Above it the “crowd of the redeemed”, some with angel wings. The fresco is crowned by the “ Lamb of God ” and the book with seven seals . Some blue colored areas for "heavenly" stand out from the predominant "earthly brown". Crossed bars in the lower part of the fresco refer, on the one hand, to the idea “We have to carry many a cross in life” and their arrangement reminds at the same time of the manger and “that God came to people as a human child in order to redeem them.”

In front of the centrally placed “large brown disk” of the fresco and at the same time above the altar hangs a “permeable, three-dimensional cross” created in 1981 by the Laufen artist Friedrich Koller.

Organs

The current main organ, the Beckerath organ, is the second in the history of this church.

Steinmeyer organ

In 1882, one year after the inauguration of the church, the congregation received a small one-manual organ from the Steinmeyer house . It was built as opus 213. This instrument met the requirements of the community for about 80 years. Now it is in the Evangelical Church in Elixhausen north of Salzburg .

Beckerath organ

The current main organ of the church originally came from the Hamburg organ building company Rudolf von Beckerath from 1963. It was built completely mechanically with a main organ , a Rückpositiv and a pedal mechanism. In 2011 Hans-Ulrich Erbslöh (Hamburg) expanded the organ with a swellable III. Manual work (electrically controlled), in 2018 he added a saucer and a Gedackt from the sub-bass. The instrument has 38 registers (2607 pipes) on three manuals and a pedal . The play and Registertrakturen are mechanically with the exception of the third manual.

Chest organ

In 2005 a movable chest organ with 3½ registers from the company Christoph Kaps from Munich was purchased, which is mainly used for cantatas and oratorios performances by the motet choir of the city church, but is also occasionally used at the weekly organ concerts between May and October (organ at five). The instrument has split loops (between b ° and h °) and a transposition device one semitone higher or lower.

Bells

The ringing of the Evangelical City Church consists of five bells. The three large ones were cast by Karl Czudnochowsky in Erding in 1958 , the two smaller ones were made in 2006 at the Perner bell foundry (Passau) for the 125th anniversary of the city church. The bells sound in the notes f ¹ - a flat ¹ - b ¹ - c ² - es ² .

No.	Liturgical Office	Casting year	Foundry, casting location	Weight (kg)	Diameter (cm)	Nominal	inscription
1	Sunday bell	1958	Karl Czudnochowsky, Erding	680	107	f 1 +4	"Yours is the kingdom"
2	Our Father Bell	1958	Karl Czudnochowsky, Erding	390	90	as 1 +7	"Yours is the power"
3	Peace bell	1958	Karl Czudnochowsky, Erding	290	80	b 1 +7	"Yours is the glory forever"
4th	Baptismal bell	2006	Rudolf Perner, Passau	230	76	c 2 +6	"Blessed be your name"
5	Eternity bell	2006	Rudolf Perner, Passau	140	64	it 2 +8	"Your will will happen"

Clock strikes on bells 2 (1/4) and 1 (1/1). A detailed ringing order can be found on the parish homepage (see under web links ).

Web links

Commons : Evangelical City Church  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Evangelical parish Bad Reichenhall

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Brief community history , online at bad-reichenhall-evangelisch.de
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Church guide Evangelical City Church Bad Reichenhall , Evang.-Luth. Pfarramt Bad Reichenhall, 2nd edition 2011, 4-page leaflet as a PDF file with 304 kB

Coordinates: 47 ° 43 '37 "  N , 12 ° 52' 45"  E