George's Church (Massenbach)
The Protestant Georgskirche in Massenbach , a district of Schwaigern in the Heilbronn district in northern Baden-Württemberg , was built in 1912 on the site of an older church according to plans by the architect Martin Elsaesser .
history
A church in Massenbach was first mentioned in a visitation report in 1496. It was a chapel consecrated to St. George , which was already on the Bollenberg at that time and is therefore the direct predecessor of today's church. Massenbach was originally an ecclesiastical branch of Schwaigern. The right of patronage lay with the Lords of Neipperg , who raised Massenbach to an independent parish in 1496 and ceded the right of patronage to the Lords of Massenbach in 1531 , who had a crypt in the church for the burial of deceased family members. It is no longer known who carried out the Reformation in Massenbach. The first Protestant pastor was probably Valentin Schreiber.
Massenbach suffered a lot in the wars of the 17th century, so that around 1700 the church was badly damaged and looted. In 1704 and again in 1734 the tower was also damaged by lightning. The tower on the west gable of the church was already so ramshackle at the time that it should actually have been demolished and rebuilt, but this was not done for reasons of cost. When the tower was actually demolished later, the only replacement was a roof turret on the east gable.
In the media coverage of the rule Neipperg the upper parish was abolished Schwaigern. Massenbach came to the deanery Heilbronn and in 1813 to the deanery Brackenheim . In the second half of the 19th century, a church building fund was founded to finance a new church. Although he had already collected 14,000 guilders in 1873, the old church was renovated again inside and out in 1874/75. At that time, however, their 350 to 400 seats were no longer sufficient for the community. Due to the decline in the population as a result of emigration and emigration, the space problem was resolved by around 1900, but the core of the old church remained dilapidated.
The surrounding cemetery, which was occupied until 1870 and then expanded to the east, was up to one meter higher than the ground level of the church. Before the construction of a new church, the terrain level had to be adjusted, for which in 1897 all old graves in the area of today's church square were removed and the earth with bones distributed over meadows and fields in the area. When Massenbach was hit by a severe storm with hail on the night of July 1, 1897, this was seen by many believers as a punishment for the alleged desecration of the cemetery. An additional evening service was then held for around 50 years on July 1st, the “hail holiday”.
The last service in the old church took place on July 1, 1912, the day after the demolition began. On the foundations of the old church, today's church was built according to plans by the architect Martin Elsaesser in Art Nouveau style, whereby the old crypt and the patronage box of the local rule as well as the old sacristy and parts of the furnishings were retained. The foundation stone was laid on August 11, 1912, and the new church was consecrated on July 16, 1913.
The Barons von Massenbach held the right of patronage until 1927. In 1943 the patronage box was glazed so that it could be used as a room for confirmation classes. In 1963 the church was renovated and redesigned, with heating also being installed.
From 2015 to 2016 the roof structure of the church was renewed and the interior renovated.
description
The church is located on the Bollenberg east above the village center of Massenbach. It is a single-nave building, with the choir facing east, which is accessed through the basement of the tower built on the side in the south-west. The nave is spanned by a coffered ceiling, which was painted by students of the architect Elsaesser. The old count's lodge is built on to the south. A gallery has moved into the west of the nave , on which the late romantic organ op. 582 by the master organ builder Gebr. Link from 1913 is located. A historical inscription is embedded in one of the gallery posts, attesting to the lightning strike of 1704. A life-size wooden crucifix from 1741, a small altar crucifix, the pulpit from 1586 and a baptismal font from 1557 have also been preserved from the old church in the new building. In the interior, historical epitaphs of the von Massenbach family are also set into the masonry. The most important tomb is that of Christoph Wilhelm von Massenbach (1557–1591) in the count's box, which was created in the Renaissance style by the sculptors Jakob Müller and Adam Wagner from Heilbronn. On the eastern gable exterior, Christoph Wilhelm's grave slab has also been preserved, as well as other grave slabs from the 16th and 17th centuries.
Around the church are the burial places of those of Massenbach, a war memorial that also commemorates the relatives of the barons who died in both world wars and the three victims of the Holocaust under the Jewish community of Massenbach , as well as a memorial stone for dead firefighters.
Late romantic organ by the Link Brothers
Tomb of Christoph Wilhelm von Massenbach († 1591) in the count's box
Lightning strike inscription from 1704
literature
- Schwaigern. Homeland book of the city of Schwaigern with the suburbs Massenbach, Stetten a. H. and Niederhofen . City administration Schwaigern, Schwaigern 1994
- Heinz Rall: Historic churches in Zabergäu and the surrounding area . Forum-Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8091-1088-4 , pp. 56/57.
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 9 '52 " N , 9 ° 3' 52" E