George's Church (Höpfigheim)
The Georgskirche in Höpfigheim , a district of Steinheim an der Murr in the Ludwigsburg district in northern Baden-Württemberg , is a Protestant parish church .
history
The church in Höpfigheim is a tower choir church, which was probably built in the 15th century above the old moated castle of the local lords of Höpfigheim. At this point there was most likely a previous building, probably a chapel, which could have merged into the tower choir during the construction of today's church. The tower is oriented to the east, the nave is built to the west. The church was the burial place of the various Höpfigheim local lords, of which numerous tombs from the Renaissance period have been preserved inside. The sometimes massive damage to the tombs probably comes from a French invasion of 1693 during the War of the Palatinate Succession .
After the church gradually became dilapidated and the Second World War delayed the urgently needed renovation, the interior was completely restored after a previous renovation of the stone floor in 1959 under the direction of the architect Fetzer from Grunbach. The north wing of the once three-sided gallery was demolished and the Gothic window on the north wall was exposed. The remaining gallery wings were redesigned and the organ with a renewed organ front was moved to the south pore. The pulpit on the choir arch was renewed using parts of the demolished north gallery. The green painted interior walls were stripped of their paint, whereby historical consecration crosses and a baroque window surround came to light. In the choir , after removing a modern starry sky painting, late Gothic paintings with flames and leaf tendrils were uncovered. All walls were whitewashed. An old rectangular window was found in the west wall and uncovered. The chairs, the doors and the lighting were renewed, as were the damaged stained glass windows in the east and south, which were redesigned by the glass painter A. Saile from Stuttgart. Instead of an old neo-Gothic altar, a simple stone altar was erected. During the renovation of the wooden floor of the sacristy , a cellar-like ossuary with bones from the cemetery, which was located by the church until the 17th century, was found. The interior restoration was completed in December 1959.
In the following year, the exterior of the church was also renewed, whereby the corner blocks and the framework of the tower top were exposed and the church was given a new white plaster and a new clock face. Also in 1960, a memorial to the fallen, designed by E. Dauner from Ludwigsburg, was erected on the outer wall of the church tower.
Tombs
The burial place of the changing local lords of Höpfigheim was in the Georgskirche. In addition to the tombs still preserved today, there are said to have been more in the church, some of which were mentioned in the description of the parish of Marbach in 1866.
The tombs that still exist today are named below:
- The tombstone of Eberhard Spet († 23 May 1538) on the east wall of the nave to the right of the choir arch shows the life-size knight with the coat of arms of his parents (Spet and Remchingen ).
- Next to it is the tombstone of his wife, Johanna Spet geb. von Thalheim († July 15, 1539) set up, which is also shown in life size and with the parents' coat of arms (Thalheim and Lemmlin von Thalheim).
- On the north wall of the choir is an ornate tomb for Anna Spet nee. Herberstein († November 7, 1576) and Hans Ludwig Spet († June 30, 1583).
- The tomb of Melchior von Gärtringen († April 3, 1611) was found in the ground during the restoration of the church and placed next to the large grave monument on the north wall of the choir.
- On the east wall of the choir is the grave monument of Melchior Jäger von Gärtringen and his second wife, a born von Berlichingen , whose figures are made of alabaster and which, in addition to other jewelry, also shows a relief by Höpfigheim.
Further, meanwhile lost grave monuments in the Georgskirche were those for:
- Amalia von Urbach († 1459), wife of Eberhard von Urbach, who was master of Höpfigheim from 1458
- Ludwig Spet († 1538)
- Anna huntress from Gärtringen († December 5, 1594), second wife of Melchior von Gärtringen
- Ludwig Jäger von Gärtringen († November 9, 1623), son of Melchior von Gärtringen
literature
- Markus Otto: The parish church of St. Georg zu Höpfigheim . In: Ludwigsburger Geschichtsblätter , Vol. 20 (1968), ISSN 0179-1842 .
Coordinates: 48 ° 58 ′ 50.26 " N , 9 ° 14 ′ 27.69" E