Evangelical town church Besigheim
The Evangelical City Church Besigheim is a Gothic church building in Besigheim , the oldest part of which, the choir, is dated 1369 and which goes back to an older predecessor building. The church, consecrated to Saint Cyriacus , has been rebuilt several times over the years. The most important art monument of the church is the carved high altar from the 16th century.
history
The single-nave Gothic Protestant town church is located at the upper end of the Besigheim old town, right behind the Schochenturm. Presumably there was a Romanesque town chapel at the same place before. A church in Besigheim was first mentioned in a document in 1279. The choir of today's church was consecrated in 1383. In 1448 the nave was completed. In 1484 at the latest the church was consecrated to Saint Cyriacus . Between 1520 and 1529, the 13 meter high high altar , which has been preserved to this day, was installed in the church.
As early as 1524, a Lutheran pastor in Besigheim is said to have been ousted from the pulpit by order of the Waldburg trustee. In the course of the Reformation in the margraviate of Baden between 1555 and 1557, the church was reformed into a Protestant place of worship.
The church building has been renovated and redesigned many times over the centuries. The entrance to the Käppele dates back to 1545, the nave is said to have been re-roofed in 1570. In 1601 the organ was renewed, at that time the ceiling is said to have been paneled in white. In 1612 a new pulpit cover was purchased. The choir is said to have been adorned with standing and lying grave monuments until the 19th century, but these fell victim to various redesigns. In 1685 access to the sacristy was created.
The church was devastated by the French during the Palatinate War of Succession in 1693, with all wooden furnishings (altars, pulpit, stalls), with the exception of the high altar, being burned, but subsequently being recovered (organ 1699, stalls until 1703).
In 1749 the church was repaired again, and in 1791 the side entrances were built on the west side. In 1795 the church tower, a choir side tower, was raised. Instead of a pointed roof, it received its domed roof. The tower had to be raised because it was said that a hundred years earlier the bells could not be heard in the city or in the fields. Even after this elevation, the tower is noticeably low in relation to the church.
In 1847 the church was raised and the organ moved from the choir to the west side, galleries were drawn in and a new altar and a new baptismal font were placed. In 1875 the stalls in the lower nave were renewed and the rood screen across in front of the choir was removed. In 1913 a new organ with 32 registers and 1786 pipes was purchased from the Walker Organ Builders in Ludwigsburg, with the old organ case from 1699 being partially reused.
description
building
The Protestant town church is a church building with an east-facing choir in the Gothic style, to which the single-nave nave adjoins to the west . A tower is added to the north of the choir. The choir has slender tracery windows and a stone ribbed vault with paintings. The nave has a drawn-in saddle-shaped wooden ceiling. On the south wall and on the west gable of the nave there is a wooden gallery , which can be reached via a spiral staircase in the south-west corner. While the gallery on the south wall has only one storey, it has two storeys on the west gable, with the organ on the upper one. In the north wall of the nave there is a small late Gothic chapel, the so-called Käpelle . The Gothic vaulted ceiling of this side chapel shows ornamental historical paintings.
In addition to the historical high altar, there is also a simple modern altar in the choir. A modern pulpit is located on the northern choir arch.
organ
The organ of the town church was built in 1967 by the organ builder Richard Rensch (Lauffen / N.). The slider chests -instrument has 30 registers on three manuals and pedal . The Spieltrakturen are mechanically, the Registertrakturen electrically.
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- Coupling : I / II, III / II, III / I, I / P, II / P, III / P
- Playing aids : 2048 electronic typesetting system
Side chapel
Vaulted ceiling of the side chapel
High altar
A special gem of the church is the high altar carved from linden wood in the choir, one of the largest and most artistically significant carved altars of this type. It was erected between 1520 and 1529 and is around 13 meters high, its width is four meters when the doors are closed and four meters when the doors are open Doors 7 meters. It already shows clear style elements of the Renaissance , but is still assigned to the late Gothic period. Based on style comparisons, it is attributed to the artist Christoph von Urach and his workshop.
In its center, the altar shows the legend of Saint Cyriacus, who heals Artemia, the daughter of Emperor Diocletian , from obsession. This scene is surrounded by lush and finely designed leaf tendrils. The four saints Rochus , Martin , Georg and Dorothea can be seen above. Above them perched in conversation Enge Christ the Judge, at his side Mary and John the Baptist. On their own pedestals on both sides of the central picture, figures show John the Evangelist and again John the Baptist. In the predella , the lower part, we find the third of Saint Anne herself . Next to her are King David and opposite him his lover Bathsheba , above the group we find King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba . The Christmas story, from the Annunciation to Mary to the Flight into Egypt, can be seen in the two side wings of the altar. The back of the altar wings are not designed.
For a long time, the view from the nave to the high altar was partially covered by the organ and rood screen. The altar itself was damaged in many ways; it was not restored until 1887 by the wood sculptor Edmund Kiefer under the direction of the building inspector Heinrich Dolmetsch . In 1900 the pointed arch windows of the choir were covered with stained glass so that the high altar can be seen better.
Historical picture decoration
On the north side of the choir remains of colorful Gothic frescoes from around 1380 can be seen. They show the life and passion of Jesus Christ as well as various saints. An angel figure was uncovered near the sacrament niche .
In the nave south of the choir arch, the rest of the painting of a former altar canopy, a crucifixion group, was preserved. The missing spot in the left half of the picture marks the spot where a pulpit was located until 1966.
In addition to the figurative representations, seven of the original twelve consecration crosses have been preserved in the church . Several historical epitaphs can also be seen in the church .
Medieval painting in the nave
Sacrament niche with fresco
epitaph
epitaph
literature
- Friedrich Breining: Alt-Besigheim in good and bad days . Besigheim 1926
- Theobald Nebel, Theo Schlatter: Evangelical town church Besigheim . ISBN 3-7954-5238-4
- Markus Otto: 650 years of church art in the Ludwigsburg district . In: Ludwigsburg history sheets , 41/1988
- Ulrich Gräf: Art and cultural monuments in the Ludwigsburg district . Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-8062-0466-7 , pp. 47-49
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information on the organ of the city church ( Memento of the original from January 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Coordinates: 48 ° 59 ′ 54.4 " N , 9 ° 8 ′ 37.6" E