Evangelical town church Westerkappeln
The Evangelical City Church is a Protestant church building in Westerkappeln in the Tecklenburger Land .
history
A church in Westerkappeln was first mentioned in a document in 1188. It was probably a separate church on Corveyer property, which was placed under the influence of the Corvey monastery under the patronage of St. Stephen. From 1252 the right of patronage lay with the diocese of Münster, and from 1278 with the Gravenhorst monastery ( Hörstel ). The Lutheran Reformed Confession has been valid for the church since 1587/1588.
The church, built in the 12th century, was a flat hall with the tower (which has been preserved to this day). In the 13th century the walls of the nave were raised and the church was laid out in a cross shape by building a transept and a new choir room. The north portal and the south transept have been preserved from this system.
The nave is based on a Romanesque basilica (dark masonry up to a height of 5 m). The later parts such as the upper masonry, the vault, the transept and the choir closure are from the late Gothic period (multiple alterations).
In 1527 Count Otto VII introduced the Reformation in the County of Tecklenburg . The driving force was Otto's son Konrad. At this time the iconoclasts spread with the Reformation (first iconoclasts in the county as early as 1525). A second wave of iconoclasm occurred in connection with the Anabaptists , who took power in Münster in 1534/35 . During this time, there was also destruction in and on the Westerkappelner Stadtkirche. The figures on the south portal, “Ecclesia” and “Synagogue”, lost their heads. Inside, the relief on the south wall of the nave was badly damaged.
During renovations in 1896 and 1923, frescoes were discovered, such as Christ carrying the cross and a representation of Christopherus.
It is remarkable that the south portal is offset to the west to the rose window above.
tower
The tower has a square with a side length of 7.80 m as a floor plan with a wall thickness of 1.60 m to 1.80 m. Originally the tower was designed as a refuge and therefore only had one entrance at a height of 4.5 m. A pointed arched entrance was later added on the west side of the tower. Based on a surrounding ledge in the masonry, it can be assumed that the tower was originally 17 m high. Later, probably in the 13th century, the masonry was increased to more than 29 m. With the late Gothic roof dome (15th century) and the cock, the tower measures exactly 43.09 m today.
The construction of the oldest part of the tower is generally dated to the 12th century, as the Westerkappeln parish was first mentioned in 1188 in the Osnabrück document book. However, this does not take into account that the architecture of the building was mainly influenced by the Osnabrück bishop Benno II (1067-1088) (including construction of the Iburg monastery church, Gertrudenkloster Osnabrück). So it can be assumed that the tower was built in the late 11th century.
The tower is not centered on the longitudinal axis of the nave, but offset to the side (the nave was built slightly to the north to the tower).
Furnishing
Bells
The bell consists of two bronze bells. The east-facing bell, called "Anna", cast by Herbert Bippen in 1519, has a diameter of 1.43 m; the western bell was cast by Peter Hemoni in 1641 and measures 1.26 m in diameter. During the Second World War, the "Anna" was confiscated as an important war asset and was supposed to be melted down. But this did not happen. In 1947 the bell was rediscovered on a storage site in Geseke and returned to Westerkappeln.
organ
The organ was built between 1821 and 1822 by Jan Adolf Hillebrand (Leuwarden). The Rohlfing organ building workshop replaced the pipe work in 1912 and expanded the organ to 32 registers . In 1962, the Emil Hammer Orgelbau workshop built a new organ behind the historic case , in which the pedal registers Subbass 16 ′, Gedackt 8 ′ and Octav 4 ′ from 1912 have been preserved. The action is mechanical, the wind chest designed as a sliding chest. The organ has 24 registers on two manuals and a pedal .
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- Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
literature
Web links
- Internet presence of the Protestant parish Westerkappeln
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Heinz Weyer: The Protestant town church in Westerkappeln. Culture and local history association Westerkappeln e. V., Kroog, Westerkappeln 1991
- ↑ Evangelical City Church Westerkappeln. In: Kirchwege - church rooms. Evangelical Church District Tecklenburg, accessed on May 26, 2019 .
- ↑ Westerkappeln, Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia) - Evangelical parish church. Orgeldatabase Nl. Accessed October 8, 2014 .
Coordinates: 52 ° 18 ′ 52.2 " N , 7 ° 52 ′ 35.6" E