Meikirch Church

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Meikirch church with tower
Jakob Samuel Weibel: Meikirch, 1823 (Collection Gugelmann)

The Meikirch Church is the Reformed village church of Meikirch , Wahlendorf and Ortschwaben in Switzerland . With the rectory from 1605 and the Müngerhaus from 1836, a former farmhouse that has served as a parish hall since 2001, and the former oven house with beneficiary and secretariat, the building group is a cultural asset of national importance. The church and its surroundings are noteworthy for their long history dating back to the 7th and 8th centuries.

history

During excavations in 1978/1979 extensive wall remains of a Roman country estate from the 1st and 2nd centuries with wall paintings in an underground walkway were found . From the finds it is concluded that a stately Villa Romana with side wings stood on the site of the later church . The course of the wall is marked in the pavement of the church forecourt and the recovered wall paintings are kept in the parish hall. The villa was abandoned in the second half of the 3rd century.

Around 700 graves were laid in the ruins. The types of burial, grave goods and anthropological studies suggest that they were immigrated Alemanni . About a hundred years later, a church was probably founded by Christianized Alemanni. The donor graves are likely to be among those found inside the church.

Cistercian monks founded the Frienisberg monastery in 1131 . In the neighboring Meikirch on the south-eastern slope of the Frienisberg, a church was built around the same time, which was dedicated to St. Mary. The monastery appointed the clergy and also received income from the church property. The church set belonged to the Kyburg ministers from Sumiswald and in 1343 from Schüpfen. In 1401 or 1405 the last Herr von Schüpfen enlarged the beneficiary, released his servants and gave it away with the rights and duties to the Tedlingen Monastery . Legally, the owners of the church set also had to take care of the maintenance of the choir, while the ship was being maintained by the local community.

After the Reformation in 1528 and the dissolution of the women's monastery, the collature and church property fell to the Bern estate and was administered by the bailiff of Frienisberg. After 1798 the state with the Bernese regional church was the sole owner of all Bernese churches . With the separation of church and state in 1874, Meikirch became a separate parish of the Bernese regional church and was given the choir at its own disposal as early as 1883, in contrast to other parishes, which only did so a few years later. Until the construction of the new cemetery in 1904, the dead of the community were buried within the walls of the churchyard.

Building history and architecture

The first church building from the 7th or 8th century had partly used the Roman walls. The building from the 10th-11th centuries In the 19th century, the dimensions were 6.80 × 6.30 meters, with a tightly rounded apse in the east, raised by one step .

In the 11th-12th In the 19th century, an elongated nave measuring 6.80 × 10.30 meters was built with a strongly recessed, semicircular choir apse. There were stone benches on the side walls and there was a baptismal font near the entrance gate, because in the pre-Reformation period a baptized person was only allowed to enter the church after being baptized. The three arched windows in the north wall that are still preserved today come from this construction phase. The south wall was renewed, presumably because of the insufficient foundation on the Roman foundation walls, and an arched door and two or three narrow windows were added.

In the 15th century, just a few years before the Reformation, the ship was lengthened another 5 meters to the west. The Romanesque gate was bricked up and a new door was installed at the rear.

After the Reformation in 1528, instead of the altar, a communion table and the baptismal font from 1585, which still exists today, were placed in the choir. The baptismal font bears two coats of arms from Bern and the coat of arms of the Vogtei Frienisberg with the crosier, as well as that of Cîteaux (F) , the place of origin of the Cistercians. A pulpit in the Baroque style was built in 1687 on the right choir arch.

During the renovation under the direction of Hans Jakob Dünz (1667–1742), between 1726 and 1729 the church with its Romanesque apse was changed into a reformed “sermon hall” with an octagonal choir. During this renovation, the choir received three arched windows and the nave got one in the middle of the south wall, plus two round ox-eye windows and one in the north wall above the gallery. The exact time when the first gallery was built is not known. Presumably it became too cramped in the church at the end of the 17th century, because in 1688 a Hans Schertenleib was fined for: He committed a great deal of mischief by pushing and pushing on the portico , as noted in the choir court files . This guarantees the presence of a gallery from then on.

At the beginning of the 20th century the church was in poor condition. The community began to raise funds for a new organ and renovations, and in 1920 began renovating the ship and contracting out the construction of the organ. Presumably when the gallery was being rebuilt, one of the three south-facing Romanesque windows was bricked up. The sandstone slabs of the choir had to be re-laid and a new wooden floor had to be installed under the benches. A new west portal replaced the rear, now walled-up door and patterned ceramic tiles were laid over the old clay tiles in the central aisle. The restoration of the baroque slogan and ornament painting, as suggested by the building manager Wyss from Lyss, was not done, instead the new woodwork was painted with oil and a frieze was painted on the new ceiling using stencils designed by Ernst Linck . In the middle of the south wall a newly broken high arched window brought more light and with stained glass in two choir windows the church corresponded to the prevailing sense of art. In the Gothic style of the time, they depicted Christ as a friend of children and the adoration of the kings . The cost of the renovation, at 15,400 for the organ, totaled 43,401 francs.

Meikirch Church, south wall with sundial

1960–1961, architect Peter Indermühle (1909–1986), Bern, led the renovation of the tower with the renewed shingle roof and plastering. The last major renovation in 1978/1979 under the direction of architect Franz Kessler, Bern, involved archaeological excavations and investigations. When the remains of a Roman wall were found during excavation work in the vicinity of the church, the Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern was called in. Further investigations inside the church gave an insight into the earlier construction phases. The south wall in particular was revealing after the plaster was removed. Because the church should serve its purpose again as soon as possible, the research results had to be documented and a restoration planned. The large window on the south wall was bricked up and a new one, analogous to the three on the north wall and the one exposed again under the gallery, was designed. A small window from the first construction phase is open again and the two ox-eye windows have also been preserved. Because of these differently shaped windows, the wall has a mixed appearance, but the history of the building is still imaginable.

The pulpit from 1687 was renovated and "mirrored" on the left side of the choir. Instead of the painted balustrade on the gallery parapet , wooden baluster supports and solid oak beams have been installed. The substructure of the gallery was supported with turned columns and a new staircase was installed. A white fir wood ceiling was put in, new pews and the reconstructed choir stalls were installed. The two painted windows in the choir have been removed, despite some dissenting votes, and all windows have been given new neutral glass. The glass paintings are kept in a special cupboard in the rectory for possible later use.

art

In 1985 Walter Loosli commissioned three murals to depict biblical themes on nine fired clay tablets. They focus on Paradise , Isaiah's vision and the Apocalypse . The pictures, painted in earthy tones, are hung between the choir windows.

tower

Meikirch church tower

In the 13-14 In the 19th century, the church was given a tower with a square base measuring 3.50 × 3.50 meters. It still exists today in its original masonry. Up to the sandstone stick belt, the height is 12 meters. The bell cage is located behind the wooden wreath with clapboard cladding 2.15 meters high . The sound hole above with wooden slats is 0.75 meters high. The octagonal pointed helmet ends in a square shape after the hollow and is 7.25 meters high. The top of the tower has a copper wind vane with a star on the axis and a moon as a direction indicator, plus a lying cross in the cardinal points. It is 3.50 high, so the tower has a total height of 25.55 meters. During the tower renovation in 1960/1961, the roof shingles were replaced and Romanesque blind arcades and sound windows were exposed on the facade . The bell was electrified and a third dial of the clock was installed. The clock with mechanical movement was built in 1952 by JG Baer von Sumiswald.

A renewed shingle roof was built in 2014 under the supervision of architect Hansjürg Spycher, Münchenbuchsee. After the more than fifty-year-old shingles showed considerable weather damage, a new roofing was decided in consultation with the monument protection authority. After the defective shingles had been dismantled, the boards of the sub-roof cladding turned out to be intact and could be reused. The parish council commissioned the company StettlerPolybau from Eggiwil with the work. With hand-split larch wood shingles in the Emmental, 51 centimeters long and an average of 0.5 centimeters thick, a looped shingle roof with triple covering and 16 centimeters compartment height was created. The edges were designed as a ridge container with a zinc plug-in container (Noquette) underneath. For better protection of the sandstone belt , the copper cover was designed with a drip nose . With the construction work, the weather vane and the clock faces were also re-gilded.

Bells

In 1812 a bell casting by FL (Franz Ludwig) Kaiser from Solothurn for Meikirch is noted in the files. The community bought a bell from the Reformed Church in Münsingen , which was cast by Johann Reber in Aarau in 1412. It bears the names of Saints Martin and Theodul . It was acquired by Meikirch in 1857 when four new bells replaced the old peal in Münsingen. A second larger one, probably the one mentioned in 1812, was given to Hindelbank in 1928. The local Ernst Weber built a new belfry for the new bell. With the two new bells, which were cast by Rüetschi AG, Aarau in 1928 , they form a minor triad. During the tower renovation in 2014, JG Baer replaced the yoke bearings and the control of the bells. At the suggestion of the conservationist Mathias Walter, the bells were given new clappers with a softer alloy for a warmer sound.

  • 1. With a surrounding band of oak leaves and an eagle bearing the coats of arms of Meikirch and Bern. Rüetschi, 1928. Weight: 1,050 kg, diameter: 120 cm, strike note: f 1
  • 2. With banner: Anno domini MCCCCXII fusa sum in honorem sancti Theodoli et Martini episcopi a magistro Joanne de arov. (Eng. In the year of the Lord 1412 I was cast in honor of Saint Theodolus and Martinus, the bishop, by master Johannes von Aarau. ) Two identical bishop images of the saints. Weight: 650 kg, diameter: 100 cm, strike note: as 1
  • 3. With banner O COUNTRY, COUNTRY, COUNTRY, HEAR THE LORD'S WORD. (Jeremia, 22/28), coat of arms of Bern and Meikirch. Rüetschi, 1928. Weight: 300 kg, diameter: 80 cm, strike note: c 2

Organs

Gallery and organ

In 1820 the parish had organ builder Johann Jakob Weber from Juchten near Seeberg build a new organ with eight registers and a prospectus in a classicist style. JJ Weber was influenced by the organ builder Philipp Heinrich Caesar from Mannheim when building the organ in the town church of Burgdorf , which was destroyed in 1865 .

In 1921, Goll built a new movement with a pneumatic action and 15 stops in the case and used old stops with insensitively sawn off pipes.

Using the old case and reconstructed parts, including the register octave 4 'and two others (a choir 1' from the mixture and the subbass 16 '), Metzler Orgelbau created a new work in 1979 with a mechanical action , mechanical registration and the Wind chest built with slider drawer. The three pedal registers are set up separately in a new housing behind the rear wall.

The new organ has 14 registers, two manuals and a pedal with playing aids .

I main work C – f 3
1. Principal 8th'
2. Hollow flute 8th'
3. octave 4 ′
4th Pointed 4 ′
5. Super octave 2 ′
6th mixture 1'
Tremulant
II positive C – g 3 (swellable)
7th Dumped 8th'
8th. Reed flute 4 ′
9. Nazard 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
10. Gemshorn 2 ′
11. third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
Pedals C – f 1
12. Sub bass 16 ′
13. Octave bass 8th'
14th Trumpet 8th'

literature

  • PJ Suter et al .: Meikirch: Villa romana, graves and church. Rub media, Bern 2004, ISBN 3-90766302-0 .
  • Robert Aeberhard, Ernst Pfeifer: Churches in the Seeland. Verlag W. Gassmann, Biel 1980, pages 66-68.
  • Peter Altorfer, Gerhart Wagner: Meikirch: Festschrift for the church renovation 1978. Meikirch parish, 1978.
  • P. Altorfer: Biblical murals in the church of Meikirch. Separately printed from the Sower's parish from March to October 1985.

Web links

Commons : Reformed Church Meikirch  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kirchöre in Swiss Idiotikon .
  2. ↑ The Aarauer Glockengiesser , work: Vol. 16 (1929)
  3. ↑ Jakob Lüdi: The church system of Münsingen. In: Blätter für Bernische Geschichte, Kunst und Altertumskunde, 18 (1922), Issue 3–4.
  4. ↑ Festschrift for church renovation, What old Meikirchner still know
  5. ↑ Hans Gugger: The Bernese organs. The reintroduction of the organ in the Reformed churches of the canton of Bern by 1900. Bern 1978, ISBN 3-7272-9265-2 , p. 374.
  6. ^ Metzler Orgelbau catalog raisonné: 501, 1979, NE, Meikirch / BE, Ref. Kirche, II / P / 14
  7. ^ Organ directory Switzerland and Lichtenstein , accessed on March 19, 2016.

Coordinates: 47 ° 0 '33.7 "  N , 7 ° 21' 45.2"  E ; CH1903:  594214  /  206 483