Grüninger bell foundry

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The Grüninger bell foundry began as a family business in the 17th century with the craft of bell foundry in Villingen (Black Forest) . According to tradition, the oldest bells of the Grüninger foundry are considered to have the best sound; according to the old bell-founding tradition, they contain silver . In 1949 the company was relocated to Neu-Ulm , where it was stopped at the beginning of the 1950s.

Josef Benjamin Grüninger II. Grave with bell

history

Around 1580 the bell foundry in Villingen was founded outside the city wall near the Käferburg by Hans Raeble (Reble), from whom a bell cast in Riedlingen (St. Georg) in 1590 has been preserved. Several bells have been preserved from his son and successor Christof Reble (* 1591): one in Schluchsee ( St. Nikolaus ) from 1614 and a bell from the church of the Bickenkloster in Villingen, others in Rottweil , Jungnau , Wolfach , Achdorf and Hinterzarten . In 1645 it was handed over to his son-in-law Johann Joachim Grieninger (1624–1676), son of the hammer smith Veit Grieninger, who married the widowed daughter of the master. Three bells have been preserved from him:

His son Matthäus Grieninger had two sons, Jakob Pelagius Grieninger and Meinrad Grieninger , one of whom was preserved in the Friedenweiler Abbey .

The descendant Franz Joseph Benjamin Grieninger (1735–1795) was one of the most active bell founders of the Baroque era in Baden, he cast the bells together with his son Nicolaus Grüninger , who changed his name to Grueninger after the death of his father and took over the foundry for by Prince abbot Martin Gerbert rebuilt St. Blasien monastery . In 1787, when the town of Villingen was besieged, the foundry outside the town wall was completely destroyed; after that, the bell foundry family moved into the bell cage within the city wall near the Romäusgymnasium.

The son of Nicolaus Grüninger was Severin Benjamin Grüninger , of whom only one bell remained (in Münchingen); he had the sons Lukas Meinrad and the successor Benedikt Benjamin Grüninger (1821–1879), of whom only a few bells have survived. Together with his sons Josef Benjamin Grüninger I (1844–1912) and Georg Adelbert Grüninger (1852–1918), he continued the business under the name Grüninger and Sons.

After his death in 1879 the sons continued the business under different company names, in 1879 the son of Josef Benjamin I, the eponymous Josef Benjamin Grüninger II. Took over the company, together with his father he cast the bells for the city church St. Bernhard in Karlsruhe with a total weight of 11,500 kg. After the previous years with only small bells, this was again a remarkable work by the foundry. Up until the First World War, the Grüningers poured over 2,000 bells, but only a few of them survived.

The son and successor Franz Josef Benjamin Grüninger (1901 to 1963) is today generally and again recognized by experts as an excellent foundryman. Due to the destruction of the plant in Villingen during the Second World War , he had to move to a new location in Neu-Ulm in 1948 ; Among other things, it caused an inglorious departure in the early 1950s, which did not do well to the actually outstanding reputation of the craft. His most important work is the bells for the town church of the Birth of Mary in Gengenbach .

White bronze bells

After the Second World War, Grüninger supplied inexpensive white bronze bells from Neu-Ulm as well as high-quality bells . This alloy contains aluminum , which was only economically producible on an industrial scale around 1880. Because of this, the material is quite soft and therefore shows a lot of wear , which is why these bells are already being replaced.

Well-known preserved works of the Grüninger bell foundry

Even today - apart from a few smaller bells from the pre-war period - there are many good bronze bells from the post-war period, cast from 1948 to 1951. The best and most famous are then presented in ascending order with the tone of the basic bell.

  • Sigmarigen , St. Johannes Baptist Church - B °: Five bells from 1950 to complement a historical bell. (Probably the deepest bell of the post-war period)
  • Kempten-Lenzfried , St. Magnus - B °: Complete ringing of seven bells , cast in 1949 (probably the largest post-war bell in terms of numbers)
  • Burladingen , St. Fidelis: H °: Complete ringing of six bells from 1949 (as one of the very few large bells cast in the heavy rib construction)
  • Gengenbach, St. Marien H °: Ringing of five bells from 1949 (generally considered Grüninger's most beautiful post-war bell )
  • Schonach , St. Urban c ': Ringing from five bells from 1950 as an addition to a historical bell (a particularly beautiful ringing in a particularly heavy rib construction with particularly beautifully decorated crowns)
  • Berg , St.Peter und Paul cis': Complete ringing of four bells from 1951 (Grüninger's probably the last big bell. Analogous to Schonach, the bells are beautifully decorated.)

In addition to these well-known and special bells, there are many smaller bells and bells from the Grüninger bell foundry, especially in the region between Lake Constance and the Danube. These are not necessarily known, but as bronze bells, especially from the year of casting in 1949, they are predominantly very sonorous. The bells from Fronhofen, Langenenslingen, Fleischwangen, Pfullendorf and Ostrach should be mentioned here as examples.

Grüninger bells in Black Forest churches and the surrounding area

The bell foundry dynasty, which began as a small family manufacture in the 17th century, left its legacy in many church buildings in the Black Forest, many of which, however, are no longer preserved. From the turn of the century and the following years, bells of the dynasty are or were to be found in many Black Forest church buildings. To be mentioned are:

  • Benedictine Church of St. George, Villingen , bells cast in 1764 and a carillon in 1767, 1806 victims of secularization.
  • Dom St. Blasien , initially four smaller bells in 1772, and ten more bells on site in 1782, including the largest weighing 6150 kg
  • 1767 Benedictine Church (Villingen) , not preserved
  • (1788?) St. Nikolaus, Lausheim
  • 1789 St. Verena and Gallus, Hüfingen Bell 3 in f. Full bell in the video (pictures of the bell from 4:48)
  • Lower gate (Basler Tor) in Waldshut , two small bells, cast in 1897
  • Parish church St. Oswald in Buchen (Odenwald) , Rochus bell, cast in 1899
  • Neustädter Münster , cast in 1902, melted down in 1942
  • 1908/1909 seven-part bells for the Cathedral of Our Lady in Villingen; Confiscated and melted down except for the smallest bell (Franziskus) in 1942, the remaining small bell was integrated into the new carillon in 2006 ( Rudolf Perner bell foundry ).
  • Protestant church Tennenbronn, cast in 1903, melted down in 1942.
  • St. Bernhard (Baden-Baden) , a bell, cast in 1913
  • Catholic St. Gallus Church Gutenstein , two bells, cast in 1923, melted down in 1942; four cast in 1950, still in use today
  • 1925/26 Bells and bell cage for the Catholic parish church St. Laurentius Rotenfels / Murgtal (mother parish of the Murg valley ). Cast on December 3, 1925 (Dreifaltigkeits-, Laurentius-, Marien-, Josef-, Wendelin-, Elisabethbell) and another on April 22, 1926 (guardian angel bell, donated by Princess Feodora zu Leiningen , who resides in Schloss Rotenfels ), consecrated on May 16, 1926, taken from 1942; the Elizabeth bell was allowed to remain and is now exhibited in the Catholic parish hall in Bad Rotenfels. Sound recording with pictures available to the public.
  • 1927 new bells for the pilgrimage church Todtmoos , (delivery 1944)
  • Liebfrauenkirche Waldshut , 1925 casting of a bell by the bell founder Johann Jakob Grieshaber, the grandfather of Franz Anton Grieshaber
  • Freiburg Minster , cast in 1927, melted down in 1942
  • Four bells for St. Martin (Riegel am Kaiserstuhl) , cast in 1937
  • St. Nicholas Church in Rotenberg , cast in 1949, removed in 2012 and exhibited in front of the church since then
  • Kusterdinger Marienkirche , cast in 1950, still in use today
  • Leipferdingen , parish and pilgrimage church of St. Michael, five bells, cast in 1950; Tones / weight: c` / 250 kg - es` / 1250 kg - f / `850 kg - g` / 600 kg - b` / 350 kg
  • Oberwolfach, St.Bartholomäus , one bell 1919: "Mother of God", three bells 1949: "St.Luitgart", "Sankt Bartholomäus", "Holy Trinity"
  • Obernheim Württ., Catholic St. Afra-Church, three bells cast 1949: The Wolfgang bell for the anniversary "400 years of the parish", the Sebastian bell in memory of the 14 + 59 fallen, the Marien bell as an angelus bell
  • Obernheim Württ. St. Wolfgang chapel, a bell cast in 1949, against heavy storms: "As far as the little Wolfgang bell rings, as far as no hailstones succeed."
  • Bleibach, St. Georg Church : four bells, cast in 1950, still in use

Well-known members of the dynasty

  • Jos. Benjamin Grüninger, stucco and bell founder in Villingen.
  • Joseph Benjamin Grüninger (1873–1927), Grüninger V.
  • Joseph Benjamin Grüninger (1901–1963), Grüninger VI .: He moved the company to Neu-Ulm in 1949 and cast the well-known white bronze bells. Most of the Grüninger bells we know today come from him, as he industrialized the company.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johannes Wittekind: The bells of the Archdiocese of Freiburg - Sigmaringen St. Johannes. Archdiocese of Freiburg, accessed on August 24, 2018 (German).
  2. ^ Glockenfampf: Kempten im Allgäu (D-KE) The bells of the parish church of St. Magnus in Lenzfried. September 11, 2015, accessed August 24, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Johannes Wittekind: The bells of the Archdiocese of Freiburg - St. Fidelis Burladingen. Archdiocese of Freiburg, accessed on August 24, 2018 (German).
  4. ↑ Romani Kant: Gengenbach (OG) St.Marien plenary. December 7, 2011, accessed August 24, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Schwarzwälder Bote, Oberndorf, Germany: Schonach: When the bells struck again - Schonach - Black Forest Bote. Retrieved August 24, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Romanikant: Schonach (D-VS) - The peal of St. Urban. October 12, 2015, accessed August 24, 2018 .
  7. ^ Glockenfampf: Fronreute (D-RV) The bells of the parish church St. Konrad in Fronhofen. October 28, 2016, accessed August 24, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Glockenfampf: Ostrach (D-BW) The bells of the parish church St.Pankratius. September 1, 2017, accessed August 24, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Johannes Wittekind: Search for the bell of a church or chapel - St.Jakobus Pfullendorf. Archdiocese of Freiburg, accessed on August 24, 2018 (German).
  10. ↑ Bell inspection of the Archdiocese of Freiburg. Retrieved on August 29, 2018 (German).
  11. ^ Association for cultural and local history Bad Rotenfels eV - home page. Retrieved October 16, 2017 .
  12. ^ The Sigmaringen State Archive contains a "copy of a contract with Jos. Benjamin Grüninger, stucco and bell caster in Villingen, on the casting of a cracked bell from 1775 ”.