Evangelical town church Laubach

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Evangelical town church of Laubach

The Evangelical City Church (former St. Maria) in Laubach consists of a Romano-Gothic east building from the 13th century and a baroque nave from 1702. It houses furnishings of supraregional art historical importance and is a Hessian cultural monument .

history

View to the east

References to a Laubach parish go back to 1021. A church was first mentioned in a document in 1057. She was St. Maria ordained and ordered in pre-Reformation times over four altars of Our Lady , St. Catherine , St. Nicholas and St. Sebastian were consecrated. In the 15th century, Laubach belonged to the Archdeaconate of St. Johann in the Archdiocese of Mainz . With the introduction of the Reformation by Count Friedrich Magnus I of Solms-Laubach in 1544, the parish changed to the Protestant creed. The first Lutheran pastor was Lucas Geyerberg.

The older eastern part of today's church dates back to the 12th and 13th centuries. The original, narrow Romanesque nave is no longer preserved. It was replaced by the current nave in the baroque style from 1700 to 1702 . With the help of the new building project, Count Johann Friedrich and his wife Benigna were able to pacify the warring parties of Lutheran Orthodoxy and Pietism in the parish. The inventory in the choir room was redesigned in 1735, the epitaphs removed and the chair for the Count's Councilor from Schütz removed. Since the crypt under the transept was occupied in the 18th century, Count Christian August had another crypt built under the central aisle of the nave in 1775. In 1868 the sacristy on the north side was demolished and a stair tower was created at this point in 1869. The church was "restored" in 1871/72, which meant that some art objects were lost. In 1909 a renovation was carried out taking into account the preservation of historical monuments, during which the wall paintings in the choir were exposed. Fritz Geiges designed the colorful glass windows. In 1962 the inside of the church was restored again. In 1984 the outer wall of the eastern choir wall was exposed, in which two sculptures in the Romanesque style came to light. The extensive renovation in the years 2008 to 2011 included the renovation of the roof structure and the interior renovation of the nave, during which the original paintwork from 1702 and the coffered ceiling were restored.

Building description

Crossing and choir
Baroque nave
Crowned Madonna in the south side of the transept

The town church is located on the so-called church square, a circular area to the west of the castle, where most of the houses date from the 18th century. Two different architectural styles can be recognized on the church. The choir , the tower and the transept are Romanesque or early Gothic , the nave is baroque .

The oldest building from the 12th century is the crossing tower with the transept made of quarry stone masonry with irregular corner blocks . The slated, wooden diamond roof with four gables over a wooden cornice shows the influence of the Rhenish. The vault inside the choir dates from the construction time. In the tower it sits on capitals and in the choir the cross vault sits on consoles . The late Romanesque choir with a 5/8 end was created under the influence of the Arnsburger Bauhütte in the second quarter of the 13th century. Outside there are corner pilaster strips that merge into a pointed arch frieze . The wall has irregular cuboids, some of which are made of basalt lava and some of basalt lava. With the exception of one window in the north choir wall and one in the north transverse arm from the second quarter of the 13th century, the other windows date from the late Gothic period and have tracery .

In the outer walls of the eastern part, six small late Romanesque stone sculptures are placed in niches, which were uncovered in 1983/1984. It is possible that they were embedded in the walls as spoilage under the influence of the Arnsburger Bauhütte from the remains of older buildings . According to another interpretation, they were originally created for the walls of the old Laubach church, after its demolition they were embedded in the outer walls of the eastern part and probably plastered in 1872. On the south side they show a crowned Madonna and Child and a teaching Jesus with a Bible. The two unidentified figures in the direction of the castle are probably two rulers or donors. Two bishops are depicted on the north and west sides. While one figure is badly weathered, behind the other, who wears a golden tiara and raises a hand in a blessing, Saint Wigbert , to whom a bell was dedicated, is suspected.

The nave is designed in a decidedly high baroque shape with a French- Classicist character. It is related to the church of Gambach and was built between 1700 and 1702. At the end of the 17th century the old ship began to decay and was demolished in 1700. The new nave created a typical Protestant sermon church from around 1700. The nave consists of a large building with an almost square floor plan with strong pilaster structures on the walls. Inside, the continuous gallery supports carry a coffered wooden barrel in the middle and divide the room into three naves. Galleries and pillars have a yellow frame with light marbling, while the profiles are set off with brown. The window arrangement is two-story. The arched windows are the first in this area. In the west the nave has a five-sided end. The roof is a mansard roof . The west portal with gables and pilasters is dated to 1700 in the gable field. A covered half-timbered corridor, the so-called "Grafengang", was built around 1750 and serves as a connection between the Heddrichsbaus from the castle and the east wall of the church.

Under the central aisle of the nave and under the transept are two elongated crypts for members of the count's family, facing north-south. The first to be buried here was Agnes von Hessen in 1602 and the last Elisabeth Charlotte zu Solms-Laubach in 1829. In the years 1886 and 1983 the crypts, which are not open to the public, were opened and the coffins were documented. In the crypt under the aisle there are two lead coffins, three zinc coffins, two of which are richly decorated, a collective coffin and two wooden coffins as well as a total of nine children's coffins made of metal or wood.

Furnishing

Murals

Wall paintings in the choir room

In the choir there is a mural from the 14th century with St. George , the Madonna in protective cloak and figures of angels. In the northern transverse arm, simple Passion pictures are painted on the east side, showing the flagellation, mockery, carrying the cross and crucifixion of Christ. On the north side there are murals of three apostles , all of which date from the 14th century. Clearly identifiable are Peter and Philip. The rest were destroyed by window openings. In the eastern arch of the northern transept there is a Vesper picture in a rosary held by two angels, above it a St. Anne's three and tendrils, all of which were created around 1500. On the vault of this cross arm and in the reveals of the northern window there is fine grotesque painting, which was probably created at the same time as the tomb of Count Friedrich Magnus in 1563 and shows signs of the Renaissance .

Funerary monuments

Tomb for Count Friedrich Magnus (1563)

There are grave monuments of the Counts of Solms in the church. In the northern transverse arm is the alabaster tomb of Count Friedrich Magnus I (* October 5, 1521; † January 13, 1561), who introduced the Reformation in Laubach in 1544. On the sarcophagus, Friedrich Magnus kneels in front of the crucifix as a free plastic, white knight figure by Jordanus Brekevelt (Brechfeld), which, according to the inscription, was made in 1562/63. Right in front of the triumphal arch (originally in the choir) is the tomb of Count Johann Friedrich zu Solms-Wildenfels (born February 19, 1625 - December 10, 1696) and his wife Benigna (* March 24, 1648 - † 9th ) made of red sandstone . November 1702), which promoted the construction of the new church. On the sarcophagus there is an obelisk between the allegorical figures of virtue and piety, which carry relief portraits of the deceased on oval shields. The tomb was made in 1714 by Johann Friedrich Sommer from Marburg based on a design by JP Meyer.

Also in the south aisle is a painted epitaph by Clemens Beuteler, which shows the count's family, Albrecht Otto I. zu Solms-Laubach (born December 9, 1576; fallen on March 2, 1610) with his wife Anna von Hessen-Darmstadt ( * March 3, 1583; † September 13, 1631), her seven daughters and the only son. The resurrection scene in the background shows the vision of the dead bones from Ez 37,1-14  LUT . Behind it is a view of Laubach in 1616, the oldest view of the city. The smaller, upper picture shows how Judas Maccabeus dies in battle ( 1 Maqk 9,6-21  EU ). In the north aisle, an alabaster tomb commemorates Johann Georg I, which Balthasar Büttner designed in 1600/1601 with rich architecture. The grave slab in the walled-up door niche of the northern choir wall was originally located in the middle of the choir and could have been made according to the coat of arms for Mechthild von Hessen (14th century).

organ

Organ from 1750

The magnificent organ with a prospect of seven axes was built between 1747 and 1750 by the Thuringian organ builders Johann Casper Beck and Johann Michael Wagner with 21 registers . The Büdingen sculptor Johann Kaspar Wöll designed the prospectus. The young Johann Andreas Heinemann was significantly involved in the new building and then went into business for himself in Laubach. The city, the count and the church paid the costs of 3,065 guilders for the new organ. In the course of time the instrument was rearranged several times , for the first time in 1877 by the Bernhard brothers . A third manual was added to the organ in 1965. The case and prospect pipes are original, as are the wind chests and some registers. In the course of a restoration of the organ by the organ building company Förster & Nicolaus (Lich) in 2010, the action was reconstructed and the range of all sub-works was expanded by adding block loading. The company added three registers in 2018, two more registers in the pedal are prepared for expansion. The instrument has a double register and has 31 sounding registers.

I main work C – f 3
1. Quintathoena 16 ′ H
2. Principal 8th' H
3. Viola di gamba 8th'
4th Fleut Travers 8th'
5. Dumped 8th' H
6th Octave 4 ′ H
7th Rohrfleuto 4 ′
8th. Super octave 2 ′ H
9. Sesquialter II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ H
10. Mixture V 2 ′
11. Trompeta 8th'
II Oberwerk C – f 3
12. Musically dumped 8th'
13. Quintathoena 8th'
14th Salicional 8th'
15th Principal 4 ′ H
16. Flute douce 4 ′
17th Flachinet 2 ′ H
18th Cymbal III 1'
Tremulant
III Echowerk C – f 3
19th Echo Gedackt 8th'
20th Harmonica 8th'
21st Flauto amabile 8th'
22nd Transverse flute 4 ′
23. Nasard 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
24. Octavine 2 ′
25th third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
26th oboe 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
27. Principal bass 16 ′ H
28. Violon bass 16 ′ v
29 Sub bass 16 ′
30th Octavbass 8th'
31. Dacked bass 8th'
32. Trombone bass 16 ′
33. Trumpet bass 8th' v
H = completely or largely original
v = vacant, prepared for expansion

Further equipment

Count's chair from 1735

The stately chair in blue and gold dates from 1735 and is decorated with a richly carved crown. The letters of the Hebrew tetragram stand in a gold-plated triangle surrounded by a halo . Today the count's chair serves as a sacristy. It was originally in the choir and has been in the southern transverse arm since 1909.

The Gothic baptismal font from the 13th century stands on modern feet. It was rediscovered in the palace gardens and placed in front of the pulpit in 1979. The block altar is closed by a marble slab that comes from the monastery church in Arnsburg and was donated to the Laubach church in 1820. The polygonal wooden pulpit with a sound cover, on whose curved arches a pelican is attached, was built around 1700. A picture of Pastor Maximilian Ritter († 1635), who worked as a pastor in Laubach from 1613 and was superintendent from 1616, is hung on the pulpit staircase . There are also three portraits of pastors in the church, a small one from 1633 and two larger ones by Anton Wilhelm Tischbein , those of Johann Friedrich Heusinger († 1813) and Heinrich Daniel Rauch († 1829).

Bells

The Marienglocke from 1470, which is not given the name of the bell caster, probably came from Delman Borger, who also cast the bells in Hungen , Ilbenstadt Monastery and Leihgestern . Bells 2 to 4 were delivered in 1941 for armament purposes, but escaped being melted down and were transported back to Laubach by horse and cart in 1947 from the bell cemetery in Hamburg-Veddel .

No.
  		Surname
  		Casting year
  		Foundry, casting location
  		Mass
(kg) 		Diameter
(mm) 		Height
(mm) 		Chime
  		inscription
 
1 Marienglocke, "The Fat One" 1470 1200 1250 1000 f / f sharp 1
2 Eleven o'clock bell, "Wigbert bell" 1419 660 1030 800 g 1 " TONITRUM + RUMPO + MORTUUM [figure of Mary]
DEFLEO + SACRIFICEM + VOCO + IHESUS [figure of Jesus with shepherd's staff]
S. VICPERTUS + ANNO [George with dragon]
DM + M + CCCC + IXX "
3 Citizen Bell 1847 Friedrich Otto, Giessen 380 860 600 c 2 “ In God's name I flowed. Friedrich Otto in Giessen cast me.
The church council: first pastor, court preacher Georg Marx. Second pastor, Conrad Zöckler. Georg Draut, Philipp Heinrich Kolb, Franz Gäbisch. Under whose administration the bell was cast. [below: Luther relief]
Our God is a solid castle.
[on the other side:] In the year 1847 for the city: The mayor Adolph Heinrich Kneip. The community council members [12 names] "
4th Our Father Bell unknown 130 550 450 a 2

literature

  • Georg Dehio : Handbook of German art monuments , Hessen I. Administrative districts of Giessen and Kassel. Edited by Folkhard Cremer, Tobias Michael Wolf and others. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich a. a. 2008, ISBN 978-3-422-03092-3 , pp. 540 f.
  • Wilhelm Diehl : Construction book for the Protestant parishes of the sovereign lands and the acquired areas of Darmstadt (= Hassia sacra; 8 ). Self-published, Darmstadt 1935, pp. 260–264.
  • Hans-Joachim Falkenstein: The newly discovered figures at the Laubach town church. In: Laubacher Hefte 7 . Local history working group Laubach, Laubach 1989, pp. 44–49.
  • Church council of the Ev. Parish of Laubach (ed.): Living stories under the church tower. Evangelical town church Laubach. Gebhard, Laubach 2013.
  • State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.); Karlheinz Lang (Red.): Cultural monuments in Hesse. District of Giessen I. Hungen, Laubach, Lich, Reiskirchen (= monument topography Federal Republic of Germany ). Theiss, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-8062-2177-0 , pp. 244-246.
  • Hartmut Miethe, Heinz-Gerhard Schuette: Gothic paintings . Ed .: Förderkreis Kunst-Mensch-Kirche (=  Christian art in Upper Hesse . Volume 1 ). Grünberg 2010.
  • Heinz P. Probst: Churches and sacred monuments in Laubach and the former county of Solms-Laubach. With an introduction to the history of style, church building and a glossary. Local history study group Laubach, Laubach 2004.
  • Trautel Wellenkötter: Laubach. History and present. T. Wellenkötter, Laubach 2004.
  • Peter Weyrauch : The churches of the old district of Giessen. Mittelhessische Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Gießen 1979, p. 110 f.
  • Peter Weyrauch: To the sculptures in the southern transept wall of the Laubach church. In: Laubacher Hefte 9 . Local history working group Laubach, Laubach 1992, pp. 93–95.

Web links

Commons : Evangelische Stadtkirche Laubach  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse (ed.); Lang (Red.): Cultural monuments in Hessen. District of Giessen I. 2008, p. 246.
  2. ^ A b State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse (ed.); Lang (Red.): Cultural monuments in Hessen. District of Giessen I. 2008, p. 244.
  3. ^ Gerhard Kleinfeldt, Hans Weirich: The medieval church organization in the Upper Hessian-Nassau area. (= Writings of the institute for historical regional studies of Hesse and Nassau 16 ). NG Elwert, Marburg 1937, ND 1984, p. 56.
  4. ^ Church council of the Ev. Parish of Laubach (ed.): Living stories under the church tower. 2013, p. 24.
  5. ^ Church council of the Ev. Parish of Laubach (ed.): Living stories under the church tower. 2013, p. 5.
  6. ^ Diehl: Construction book for the Protestant parishes. 1935, p. 262.
  7. ↑ a b c Weyrauch: The churches of the old district of Gießen. 1979, p. 111.
  8. ↑ Wellenkötter: Laubach. History and present. 2004, p. 19.
  9. ↑ a b c d e Dehio: Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler, Hessen I. 2008, p. 540.
  10. ↑ a b Weyrauch: The churches of the old district of Gießen. 1979, p. 110.
  11. ↑ a b c d State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse (ed.); Lang (Red.): Cultural monuments in Hessen. District of Giessen I. 2008, p. 245.
  12. ↑ Falkenstein: The newly discovered figures at the Laubach town church. 1989, p. 48.
  13. ↑ Weyrauch: On the sculptures in the south wall of the transept. 1992, p. 94.
  14. ^ Church council of the Ev. Parish of Laubach (ed.): Living stories under the church tower. 2013, pp. 39–41.
  15. ^ Church council of the Ev. Parish of Laubach (ed.): Living stories under the church tower. 2013, p. 37.
  16. ^ Miethe, Schuette: Gothic paintings. 2010, [p. 64].
  17. ↑ Wellenkötter: Laubach. History and present. 2004, p. 17.
  18. ^ Church council of the Ev. Parish of Laubach (ed.): Living stories under the church tower. 2013, p. 10 f.
  19. ^ Church council of the Ev. Parish of Laubach (ed.): Living stories under the church tower. 2013, p. 15 f.
  20. ↑ Wellenkötter: Laubach. History and present. 2004, p. 22.
  21. ^ Franz Bösken , Hermann Fischer : Sources and research on the organ history of the Middle Rhine (=  contributions to the Middle Rhine music history . Volume 29.1 ). tape 3 : Former province of Upper Hesse. Part 1: A-L . Schott, Mainz 1988, ISBN 3-7957-1330-7 , p. 15 .
  22. ^ Franz Bösken, Hermann Fischer: Sources and research on the organ history of the Middle Rhine (=  contributions to the Middle Rhine music history . Volume 29.1 ). tape 3 : Former province of Upper Hesse. Part 1: A-L . Schott, Mainz 1988, ISBN 3-7957-1330-7 , p. 568-570 .
  23. ↑ Information on the organ of the city church , accessed on October 19, 2018.
  24. ↑ Wellenkötter: Laubach. History and present. 2004, p. 18.
  25. ^ Church council of the Ev. Parish of Laubach (ed.): Living stories under the church tower. 2013, p. 29 f.

Coordinates: 50 ° 32 ′ 34.7 "  N , 8 ° 59 ′ 25.8"  E