Johanneskirche (Freistadt)
The listed Roman Catholic Johanneskirche in Freistadt in Upper Austria's Mühlviertel is the smallest and oldest of the city's three churches. The church was probably built in the 13th century before the city was founded and is located far south of the old town on federal highway 310 . The church belongs to the municipality and has not been used since 2000.
The church is dedicated to John the Baptist .
history
The Johanneskirche was probably built in the 12th century and is therefore older than the city, documents from this time are not available. The first documentary mention as a Romanesque church was in 1378. In 1385 Hans der Tauscher donated the Gothic choir .
In 1789 the city acquired the church after it had been profaned . In the following years it was administered by the Braucommune . In 1857 the merchant Kaspar Schwarz bought the church and had it repaired and consecrated . The three altars that were erected at the time and the neo-Gothic furnishings were removed during the renovation in 1964, when the church was converted into a funeral chapel for the cemetery around 500 meters to the south . The organ from the Freistadt organ builder Lorenz Franz Richter was given to the chapel in the old hospital . The church was in use until the funeral hall at the cemetery was rebuilt in 2000. It has not been used since then and is not accessible.
Citizens Hospital
In the second half of the 15th century, the town built an infirmary, hospital and old people's home in medieval parlance next to the church. The new building was necessary because the old infirmary at the Liebfrauenkirche was destroyed by the Hussites around 1430. The place was chosen because the church was far south of the then city. The Johanneskirche served as a hospital church and was surrounded by the cemetery for the citizen hospital.
The current building was built in 1710 (officially confirmed) and rebuilt in 1780. An increase followed in the second half of the 19th century. The three-storey building has groined vaults and lancet barrel vaults at ground level. Today the house serves as a residential and commercial building and has a modern facade.
The exterior of the church
The church is about 20 meters long and 9 meters wide, simple building. The western gable front is simple, and the western portal was renewed as the level was raised. There is a square window on each side of the portal, and a small wooden canopy extends over almost the entire western front. The choir is slightly drawn in and has narrow, high lancet windows with tracery. The church has a small tower which, like the roof, is covered with Eternit .
The interior of the church
The choir is decorated with overpainted pictures from the Gothic and Baroque periods. The sacristy probably dates from the 16th century. The lettner-like three- arcade installation in the east of the nave is remarkable . There are overpainted wall paintings from different epochs. The choir has a ribbed vault and is uniformly structured by the windows. A sacramental niche is not located north of the church. Nothing is left of the old interior in the church, as it was removed in 1964.
Funerary monuments
There are some remarkable grave monuments in the church. A tombstone was dedicated to the first donor (Hans der Tauscher) and Kaspar Schwarz's family is also buried here. Other grave monuments: Priest Reimar (around 1381), Joseph Wolfrum (1735), Hans Egger and his wife (1690, 1688), Maria Barbara Funck (1743), crypt cover of the Obermayr family (1883–1928).
literature
- Bundesdenkmalamt Austria (Ed.): Dehio -Handbuch, the art monuments of Austria. Topographical inventory of monuments. Department: Upper Austria. Volume 1: Peter Adam: Mühlviertel. Berger, Horn et al. 2003, ISBN 3-85028-362-3 , pp. 148f.
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 30 ′ 9 ″ N , 14 ° 30 ′ 8 ″ E