Duchess Agnes Memorial Church
The Herzogin-Agnes-Gedächtniskirche ( Agnes Church for short ) is a Protestant church that was donated by her husband, Duke Ernst I of Saxony-Altenburg, in the East Thuringian skat and royal seat of Altenburg in memory of the deceased Duchess Agnes of Saxony-Altenburg .
location
The church is located east of the city center and the residential palace in the southeastern palace park on Hausweg.
history
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the wedding of Duke Ernst I of Saxony-Altenburg to Princess Agnes of Anhalt-Dessau on April 28, 1903, Ernst I donated the church building in memory of his wife who died in 1897. The architect was the State Building Director of Saxony-Altenburg, Alfred Wanckel . The foundation stone was laid exactly one year later. Two years later, on April 28, 1906, the inauguration took place. With it, the eastern suburbs received their own church.
architecture
The floor plan of the church consists of a nave and the rectangular memorial hall to the east, to which the entrance hall is attached. To the south of the Memorial Hall is the 56 meter high tower. In the west of the church is the sanctuary in the shape of a half octagon. To the north is the ducal chapel and to the south the sacristy. There is a ridge turret on the western part of the church roof .
Weiberner tufa limestone was used as building material . The church is built in neo-Romanesque and Art Nouveau styles. The rose motif can be found everywhere in the church.
Interior design
The loading organ is located above the entrance hall . Above is a rose-shaped window with angel motifs. In the nave there is a cantilevered wooden gallery that is like a balcony on three sides and is decorated with ornaments. In the sanctuary there is the sandstone altar as well as the decorated wooden pulpit and the box of the duke couple. The church is closed in the chancel with three leaded glass windows on which the Ascension of Christ with the twelve disciples is depicted.
The first three bells date from 1905. Two of them were melted down during the First World War . They were later replaced by bronze bells. In World War II, all three bells were taken. Today's three cast steel bells date from 1955.
Princely Crypt
The princely crypt is located under the chancel and has a separate entrance on the south-west corner of the church. Duchess Agnes, Duke Ernst I and their son Georg, who died shortly after his birth in 1856, rest in it. From 1927 to 1939 the body of Elisabeth von Sachsen-Altenburg was also in the princely crypt, which today, however, rests next to her brother Ernst II in his grave site Krähenhütte near Trockenborn-Wolfersdorf .
literature
- Barbara Löwe, Günter Hummel, Dr. Frank Reinhold : Altenburg. Duchess Agnes Memorial Church . In: The little sacred art guide. Special issue . Beier & Beran, Altenburg / Langenweißbach / Neumark 2006, ISBN 3-937517-46-4 .
Web links
- The church on the website of the parish Altenburg. Retrieved April 1, 2020 .
- Information about the organ. In: orgbase.nl. Accessed April 2, 2020 (German, Dutch).
Coordinates: 50 ° 59 ′ 22 ″ N , 12 ° 26 ′ 49 ″ E