Groothuser Church

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Groothuser Church

The Evangelical Reformed Groothuser Church is in the East Frisian town of Groothusen , in the Krummhörn . The basic structure of today's structure dates back to 1425, the tower is older and is dated to 1225. In the early Middle Ages it was one of the six provost churches of the old Emsgau .

The organ, which was built by Johann Friedrich Wenthin , and the baptismal font by Ghert Klinghe , which is considered to be the oldest bronze baptism in East Frisia, are of overriding importance in terms of art history .

history

The place Groothusen is one of the oldest residential areas in the Krummhörn and existed since the 8th century. For a long time the village had access to the open sea and developed into a locally important trading post on a Langwarft on the Sielmönker Bay .

There are no sources about the construction of the first church building itself, but it is assumed that the missionary Liudger founded a Sendkirche around 790 , which was consecrated to Saint Peter . It was almost certainly a wooden church, the remains of which are suspected to be under the current building in the early historical terp horizons. In the early Middle Ages, Groothusen was the seat of a Münster provost and thus one of the six provost churches in the old Emsgau .

Around 1200 the wooden church was replaced by a sacred building made of tuff stone . This was a little smaller than today's building. The stone churches in the Krummhörn were sacred buildings made of tuff, they are mainly to be found on the former coastlines and at the estuaries. The building material required for this was transported from Andernach am Rhein in the Eifel on the waterway via Deventer and Utrecht to East Frisia.

In the east of the tuff church, the tall, slender tower was built in the Romanesque style around 1225 .

In 1425 the old nave was torn down and replaced by a new Gothic building. Construction material from the demolition of the previous building was also used for a new purpose. The tufa was preserved, especially on the north side. Since there was not enough material from the demolition for the new building, bricks were also used. Shell limestone was used as the mortar. The bell tower was also clad with bricks and connected to the nave, which was originally closed off by an apse . It was not converted into a choir tower.

According to the East Frisian chronicler Houtrop, after the Reformation, Groothusen had a Lutheran preacher named Gerhard Sprangius from 1597 to 1600, who was then deposed because of his Lutheran teaching. Since then the place has been shaped by reforms. Today the community, which was able to maintain its independence in a network with the Visquard Church , has around 500 members.

description

The outer

The church from the south on the edge of the cemetery

The nave was built in the Gothic style , the older church tower in the Romanesque style. The long sides on the north and south sides are structured by buttresses. Some of these have retained their original, stepped shape. When it was built, the church had three entrances. The women entered the church through the now walled up low north door with an arched arch . It is also known as the Norman door. This goes back to a popularly known tradition from the time of the Norman invasions, according to which all church visitors had to bow in honor of the Normans when leaving the church to the north . Since stone church building did not begin until more than 250 years after the Norman invasions, this thesis is not tenable.

The south door was reserved for men and, at weddings, for brides . Later it was provided with a porch and now serves as the main entrance, while the larger and richer west portal is opened for weddings and special occasions.

Of the originally existing slim, large pointed arch windows, five on the south and three on the north side are still open today. They have multi- profiled soffits , which are either stepped several times in a rectangular shape or surrounded by recesses with bevelled edges.

The tall, slender tower in the east of the church has four identical Romanesque sound holes . It was originally built free-standing and was only connected to the nave in 1425. The sound hole facing west is now covered by the roof of the church that was added later. Unusual for a Reformed church is a swan as a weather vane, which goes back to the Lutheran clergyman Gerhard Sprangius, who served in the church from 1597 to 1600. The Lutheran symbol was imposed on the community by the Lutheran Count Edzard II .

The inner

View into the nave

The nave has a slight kink on the north wall because the tower is narrower than the main structure. It is divided into a total of eleven narrow yokes, of which the two eastern yokes are trapezoidal due to the tapering towards the tower. Presumably, a vault was originally planned, but no traces have been discovered so far, so it is uncertain whether this was ever built.

Today the church is vaulted upwards with a wooden mirror ceiling. The choir, separated from the nave by a wall with an arched opening, has a simple beamed ceiling.

The walls inside have been plastered and painted white since the Reformation . At the time the church was built, the walls were decorated with ornamental and figurative paintings and the windows were presumably colored glass.

Presumably, the church was originally supposed to have a polygonal closure, but this was not implemented. This is indicated by the first buttress on the south side, which was erected at an angle.

Furnishing

The baptismal font.
The clock donated by Sprangius.

Almost nothing has been preserved from the pre-Reformation equipment of the church. The long room was completely redesigned. Originally built for the liturgical purposes of Roman Catholic doctrine, it has served as a sermon room according to the Protestant view since the Reformation, the focus of which has shifted from the choir to the pulpit, because the preaching of the word became the focus of prayer. All pictures and illustrations on objects have been removed.

In the separate choir there are gravestones and sarcophagus lids of residents of the Groothus castles and former pastors. They were originally in the center aisle of the church and were relocated during the renovation. The most striking tombstone is that of Adda van Mecklenborch, Groothusen's only mistress. She died in 1590 and is depicted on her bluestone tomb in the costume of her time on a small pedestal under an arch with articulated posts. Two angels hover over her and hold an alliance coat of arms above her head: lily on heart and pelican with cubs.

On the narrow eastern side in front of the choir room are the gentlemen's stalls with the coat of arms of the former owners of the Easter (left) and Westerburg (right). The older oak stalls had to be replaced during a church renovation in 1968. The carved side parts and the partition walls of the predecessor could be used again, so that the character of the church interior was preserved.

The baptismal font is the oldest bronze baptism in East Friesland. Until the last interior renovation of the church in 1968, it stood on a heavy sandstone plinth under the pulpit and was covered with a huge funnel-shaped wooden lid. Today it is across from the pulpit. The bronze basin was cast from bell material by Ghert Klinghe in 1454. It is an early work by the bell founder who is considered one of the most important of his time in northern Germany. The crucifixion is depicted amidst the standing figures of apostles, the Madonna and Saint Mauritius . The pool is carried by four young deacons, their heads coincide with the heads on the edge of the pool.

A few years ago a gilded late Gothic priest's chalice was found in the attic of the rectory. Since this chalice was still described by Houtrop, it must have been used long after the Reformation.

The bell tower has three bells, of which the so-called prayer bell was cast in 1773. It was confiscated during World War II , but not melted down, so that it could be hung in its old location again in 1947. Since then it has rung every day at 8 a.m., 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. The two bells are made of steel. They were cast in 1925 and replaced their predecessors from 1423 ( fire bell , recast in 1892) and from 1707, which were confiscated and melted down during the First World War .

The clock to the left of the sound hole in the south side of the tower is a work from 1599. It is framed by a stone border in Renaissance form and was donated to the community by Edzard II and Katharina Wasa during the tenure of the Lutheran clergyman Gerhard Sprangius and Katharina Wasa , their coat of arms are attached above the dial.

organ

Church interior with stalls and pulpit
Wenthin organ from 1801

The community already had an organ in the late Gothic period . It was built in 1520 by Master Petrus von Emden when Johannis von Bra were preachers in Groothusen and Wierds Mecken were chief . Nothing is known about the size of the instrument. Jost Sieburg carried out repairs from 1647–1653, Valentin Ulrich Grotian in 1694 and Johann Friedrich Constabel in 1741/1742 . In 1794, when the accounts were closed, it was stated that “the hazy old organ had become completely unusable and could not be repaired”, so that a new building was considered.

Today's organ on the west side was built by Johann Friedrich Wenthin in rococo style and put into use on May 10, 1801. At the inauguration, the master builder himself described it as an excellent country organ in East Frisia . Due to its completely preserved choir of mahogany transverse flutes, it is considered a work of art of European standing. It was renovated for the first time in 1930 by Max Maucher from Emden and taken out of service in 1968 due to severe structural and sonic defects, before it was extensively renovated in 1987 by Alfred Führer from Wilhelmshaven. The instrument has 19 registers , divided into 2 manuals. The pedal is attached. The organ has the following disposition :

I Hoofdwerk C – f 3
1. Principal 8th' F.
2. Drone 16 ′ W.
3. Gedact 8th' W.
4th Fluit travers 8th' W.
5. Octav 4 ′ W / F
6th Fluit travers 4 ′ W.
7th Nasat 3 ′ W.
8th. Octav 2 ′ W.
9. Mixture IV W.
10. Bassoon 16 ′ F.
11. Trumpet 8th' F.
II Bovenwerk C – f 3
12. Principal 4 ′ F.
13. Angenaam Gedact 8th' W.
14th Gedact Fluit 4 ′ W.
15th Octav 2 ′ F.
16. Forest Fluit 2 ′ W.
17th Cornet III F.
18th Vox angelica 8th' F.
19th Vox humana 8th' F.
Pedal C – d 1
attached to HW

Remarks

W = Johann Friedrich Wenthin, Emden (1798–1801)
F = Alfred Führer, Wilhelmshaven (1987)

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Groothuser Kirche  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q reformiert.de: Ev.-ref. Community of Groothusen , accessed on May 15, 2011.
  2. ↑ Kiesow: Architecture Guide Ostfriesland. 2010, p. 78.
  3. ↑ a b local chronicles of the East Frisian landscape: Groothusen, municipality Krummhörn, district Aurich (PDF; 38 kB), accessed on January 31, 2011.
  4. ↑ Kiesow: Architecture Guide Ostfriesland. 2010, p. 79.
  5. ↑ Ralph Nickles: Organ inventory of the Krummhörn and the city of Emden . Hauschild Verlag , Bremen 1995, ISBN 3-929902-62-1 , p. 202-204 .
  6. ^ Fritz Schild: Memorial organs. Documentation of the restoration by Organ Builders Guide 1974–1991 . tape 1 . Florian Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2005, ISBN 978-3-7959-0862-1 , p. 427 .
  7. ↑ organ on NOMINE eV , seen April 22, 2011.

Coordinates: 53 ° 26 '12 "  N , 7 ° 3' 51.3"  E