Kilian's Church (Waldbach)
The Kilian's Church in Waldbach , a district of Bretzfeld in Hohenlohekreis in northern Baden-Württemberg , is a Protestant church, the oldest parts of which date from the 14th century. The interior of the church, which has been expanded in various ways, has rich paintings from different eras. It belongs to the Protestant parish Waldbach-Dimbach in the church district Weinsberg-Neuenstadt of the Evangelical Church in Württemberg .
history
Kilian's Church in Waldbach was mentioned when the place was first mentioned in 1264 and has probably existed as a simple wooden church since the village was founded around the 9th century, which was renovated between 1300 and around 1360 as a stone building in the early Gothic style. The church was originally consecrated to Saint Kilian and the center of a parish district, which also includes today's Bretzfeld parish of Dimbach , Scheppach , Schwabbach and Siebeneich . Around 1300 there was still a local nobility from Waldbach in Waldbach . From this, the ownership of the site went to the Lords of Maienfels Castle , who in 1363 gave the church statute to the Lichtenstern Monastery , which in future held the church patronage and in 1469 also gained local authority under the suzerainty of the Electoral Palatinate . With the transition to Lichtenstern, Saint Nicholas appeared as the second saint of the church. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the church was painted in color. In 1481 Schwabach and Siebeneich left the parish association after their own parish had been established in Schwabach. In the course of the dissolution of the Lichtenstern monastery, which had been under the sovereignty of Württemberg since 1504, the Reformation in Waldbach was carried out in 1547 with the appointment of the Protestant pastor Johann Walz .
The nave was demolished in 1616 in favor of a new building and rebuilt in the Renaissance style by master builder Friedrich Vischlin until 1618 . An open transverse church without columns with a circumferential gallery, a new, simple altar outside the small choir and a new wooden pulpit in the middle of the south wall was created. However, the nave was lower than today's church. An octagonal stair tower formed the entrance from the outside to the gallery , which was then still one-story, in the west of the nave . During the Thirty Years War , the parapet of the gallery was painted with scenes from the Old Testament.
In 1712 the organ that is still preserved today was acquired. In 1748, the nave was increased by around three meters during a Baroque renovation to make space for additional galleries: On the east wall in front of the triumphal arch, a new organ gallery with depictions of the apostles was built in the parapet, the old gallery in the west was enlarged by one The first floor is raised and the parapet of the new upper floor is adorned with further biblical scenes. The grooved flat ceiling of the nave was painted and decorated with stucco elements. This essentially gave the church its present form.
In 1889 the ceiling paintings were painted over with other biblical scenes by the Neckarsulm painter Menrad. During the First World War , a historic bell from 1453 had to be handed in, which was replaced by a steel bell in 1922 . A historical bronze bell from 1748 has been preserved to this day. From 1959 to 1961 the church was extensively renovated for the first time, with the octagonal stair tower being torn down, heating installed, a new floor being laid, the chairs replaced, a gallery removed and the original ceiling paintings exposed again. During the renovation, valuable finds were found, including other panels by the painter Stigler around 1748 as well as 30 Rhenish gold guilders around 1400 and other historical coins. In 1995/96 an external renovation was necessary due to the lowering of the groundwater and the associated crack formation in the facade. In 2006 the interior was renovated. The interior renovation also had to repair damage that had occurred during the renovation in the 1960s by covering paintings with casein .
Description of the picture decoration
In the choir is historic wall and ceiling paintings have received the 14th and 15th century. The church saints Kilian and Nikolaus can be seen in the central arch, and evangelistic symbols , depictions of martyrdom and saints in the choir vault .
The pulpit with rich figural decorations on the pulpit and sound cover was created in 1618 by the Brettach sculptor Jakob Vockh. The figures on the pulpit are the four evangelists, the five angels on the sound cover hold the instruments of Jesus' torture, a figure of Jesus rises above them.
The age and origin of the twelve pictures of the apostles in the organ loft are unknown. The pictures are each labeled with the names of the apostles. Based on the style of painting, they are dated to the early 18th century and could have adorned the original organ gallery before they came to their present location during the renovation in 1748.
The decoration of the parapet of the lower west gallery, consisting of several scenes, shows motifs from the Old Testament according to Matthäus Merian . The scene with Job and the four messengers in front of a naked leper near a burning village also reflects the misery of the now ruling Thirty Years' War . Other scenes in this episode include: a. the fall of man and Queen Esther before Ahaspheros. The painting style of the pictures varies greatly. Since only one of the pictures was signed by a painter stickleback in 1636, it is not certain whether he created all eight pictures of the lower parapet. Nothing more is known about the painter stickleback. Since another painter stickleback was working in Neuenstadt am Kocher several decades later, one suspects a family of painters from the area.
The decorative paintings on the upper floor of the west gallery come from the time of the renovation in 1748 by Johannes Stigler , a painter presumably from Prague who left various pictures in southern Germany. He created a total of 25 pictures for the upper gallery of Kilian's Church, and more were found during the renovation around 1960. Again, there are mostly scenes from the Old Testament, including Cain and Abel , Elijah's rapture into heaven, and David and Goliath . Only four of the 25 parapet pictures show motifs from the New Testament.
The ceiling painting, which consists of a central circular image and several medallions, probably originates from Stigler's hand from 1748. The round picture shows the celebration of the Lord's Supper , the six medallions show only scenes from the New Testament with the story of the birth and childhood of Jesus .
The church also adorns two wooden epitaphs from the 17th century, with the epitaph of Dimbacher mayor Hans Erhet around 1620, which shows him with his wife and eleven children in front of a crucifixion scene, which is the oldest painted on wood, which is hung on the side wall under the visitors' gallery Picture is in the church. The ornate Renaissance epitaph on the gable wall next to the choir is that of Johann Weick from 1630 and shows the baptism of Christ in the middle part.
organ
The first organ was built in 1712–1713. The prospectus has been preserved for this instrument . Today's instrument in the historical case on the east wall of the nave was built in 1962 and 1980 by the organ building company Link (Giengen an der Brenz). It has 19 stops on two manuals and a pedal . In 2011 the instrument was cleaned and revised by the organ builder Mühleisen (Leonberg).
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- Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
literature
- Eduard Paulus: The art and antiquity monuments in the Kingdom of Württemberg. Neckarkkreis - inventory ; Stuttgart 1889, p. 529
- Timo Schumacher: Kilian's Church Waldbach. Center of a community. Center of faith. 750 years of local and church history. Evangelical Church Community Waldbach-Dimbach, Bretzfeld 2006 ( special edition for the re-consecration 2006 ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Website of the Evangelical Church Community Waldbach-Dimbach
- ^ Website of the Evangelical Church District Weinsberg-Neuenstadt
- ↑ Information on the organ
Coordinates: 49 ° 9 ′ 47 " N , 9 ° 24 ′ 30" E