Holy Cross Church (Kemnitz)
The Evangelical Holy Cross Church is a single-nave Gothic church from the 14th century in Kemnitz in Western Pomerania . It has been part of the Demmin Propstei in the Pomeranian Evangelical Church District of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany since 2012 . Before that she belonged to the Greifswald parish of the Pomeranian Evangelical Church .
location
The village road runs from the northwest in a V-shape to the northeast through the village. At the apex it meets Schulstrasse , which leads to the southwest and southeast. The church stands to the west of this intersection on a raised piece of land that is enclosed by a wall made of unhewn and non-layered field stones . It can be entered from the south through a white plastered brick portal with a gate and a passage. Like the church, it is a listed building . The route of the North German Romanticism leads past the building. The 54 km long nature trail connects a total of ten life and motif stations of early romantic painters from the region from Greifswald to Wolgast .
history
The church in Kemnitz was built around 1300 under the patronage of the Eldena monastery as a three-aisled , six-bay hall church with a north sacristy . In the 14th century, craftsmen added a late Gothic south porch made of brick . After the destruction in the Thirty Years' War wore parish the north aisle entirely and the southern perimeter walls to such an extent that the central and the aisle could be grouped under a tile-roofed roof. In 1743 a repair was carried out under the direction of Andreas Mayer from Greifswald. The church furnishings were also renewed. The square western church tower in neo-Gothic shapes was built from 1841 to 1842 according to plans by the architect CAP Menzel from Alt Pansow.
architecture
The entire structure was built predominantly from reddish brick. The three-bay choir is straight and has not moved in. On its eastern side is a porch a few centimeters wide that is slightly offset to the north. Above it is a large, ogival panel that extends into the gable . It is painted white. In the lower area the title of the cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach "God / is ours / Confidence" ( BWV 197 ) is quoted, above it a three-part, pressed-segment-arched window. It is framed by six pairs of staggered plaster panels with cloverleaf arches and a masonry cross and diamond panels. On the side are two pinnacles , each with a buttress . The southern choir window is also ogive. At the transition to the roof ridge there is a cloverleaf arch frieze . The southern wall of the nave is dominated by the renovation after the Thirty Years War. Between several buttresses to the west is a small rectangular window. In the following field to the east is a gate with a triple stepped wall . The middle wall is closed, but the remains of a clogged, pressed-segment arch-shaped opening can be seen. To the east of the choir there is another, smaller door with two accompanying windows on each side. Further remains of the original building can be seen on the western wall of the southern nave, such as a pressed-segment arch-shaped opening towards the western tower, which has been blocked. To the south of another buttress is a round arch-shaped, also clogged opening, in which the remains of two coupled, ogival openings can be seen.
On the north side is a small sacristy. It has a square floor plan and a wooden gate on the northern side. Above this, a star is built in the keel-arched gable. To the east is a small window; the west side is closed. The gable is crowned by a small turret with a cross. On the side of the choir are two large ogival windows followed by a buttress. The nave rests on a base made of unhewn boulders. Above it are three large windows, each with a powerful buttress. The remains of the originally existing aisle are recognizable by the broken edges.
The west tower is square and drawn in opposite the nave. Its corners are emphasized by continuous pilaster strips , and the individual floors are separated from one another by cornices . In the west is a large, pointed arched portal with four steps. The north and south sides are closed. On the floor above there are further ogival panels into which coupled windows have been incorporated. The tower floor takes up this formal language; there are corresponding sound arcades . The retracted pyramid helmet is covered with slate and surrounded by four small pinnacles . It ends with a tower ball and a cross.
Furnishing
The furnishings include a pulpit altar by Mayer from 1743. The altar is bricked and clad with wood, behind it the rounded pulpit on a shell-shaped console . The parapet fields are kept in a bluish tone and show in the middle a cloud glory with an angel's head attached above , as well as sacrificial implements such as chalice, paten , baptismal pot and baptismal bowl on the left and right.The access is through a segmented arched door with marbled pilasters . Above the pulpit is a canopy-like sound cover , which is decorated with a crown. A parapet fragment from the first half of the 17th century hangs on the eastern wall of the choir. It consists of two painted wooden panels and shows Jesus Christ and Simon Peter . To the left of it is a sacrament niche with a sculpture . The choir has a cross vault inside.
The galleries in the west and south of the nave probably date from the second half of the 18th century. The parapets are decorated with psalms , for example "Praise the Lord, my soul, and do not forget what he has done you good" (Ps 103: 2).
The organ was made in 1855 by Johann Friedrich Nerlich from Stralsund, rebuilt in 1885 by Friedrich Albert Mehmel from Stralsund and renewed in 1963 by the Sauer company from Frankfurt / Oder.
A limestone grave slab dates from 1368 ; another was added in the 16th and 17th centuries. Century made of brown limestone.
The only bell in the church was cast by Simon Zach from Stralsund in 1819 .
literature
- Georg Dehio (edited by Hans-Christian Feldmann et al.): Handbook of German Art Monuments - Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin / Munich, 2016, ISBN 978-3-422-03128-9 .
- Flyer: The village churches of Kemnitz and Ludwigsburg from a baroque perspective , display in the church in Ludwigsburg, July 2017, p. 4
Web links
- Literature about the Holy Cross Church (Kemnitz) in the state bibliography MV
- Pfarramt Kemnitz , website of the Evangelical Church in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, accessed on August 20, 2017.
Coordinates: 54 ° 4 ′ 27.4 ″ N , 13 ° 31 ′ 44.4 ″ E