Sigriswil Church
The church in Sigriswil dates from 1678/1679 and is a successor to two previous buildings and is located in the municipality of Sigriswil in the Thun administrative district of the canton of Bern in Switzerland . It belongs to the Sigriswil parish in the Reformed Church of Bern-Jura-Solothurn .
Building history
A previous building of today's church was built in the 10th or 11th century. The church may have been commissioned by Rudolf II and thus belonged to the twelve daughter churches of the pilgrimage church of Einigen . However, this is not historically certain. During archaeological excavations in 1957 on the occasion of renovation work, some graves and remains of the foundations of two previous buildings were discovered. The oldest fragments come from the pre-Romanesque or Romanesque epoch (10th to 12th centuries) and belong to a choir with a possibly polygonal apse .
The second previous building dates from the late Gothic period. The Bishop of Constance had this church consecrated to St. Gall around 1467 . It can therefore be assumed that it was a new building or major changes to the previous church. During the renovation work in 1957, frescoes from the 14th century were exposed on the north wall. The north wall could still represent building fabric from the pre-Romanesque or Romanesque period.
The Bernese builder Abraham Dünz (1630–1688) built today's church. It corresponds to the classic style of the Protestant preaching church from the 17th century.
On June 26, 1671, the rectory burned down partially. The church was most likely spared from the conflagration. In any case, a fire in the church is not historically certain. Nevertheless, in 1677 the church was rebuilt and expanded. Two windows and a door (called "Schwandentor") were let into the north wall. Further work is documented in the years 1784, 1838 and 1866. During renovation work in 1957, the "Schwandentor" was bricked up. The organ was moved out of the choir, the pulpit from the south wall and the panel with the ten commandments from the north wall.
Architecture and furnishings
The church has an elongated nave without a separating arch, the pulpit is on the northern side wall, the communion table and the baptismal font in the main axis. The ceiling of the entire church was painted in 1679 by the painter Hans Conrad Heinrich Friedrich . It is decorated with various baroque ornaments. The ceiling hangs from the roof structure with a strong joist. The tower may date from the Romanesque period. It stands at a slightly oblique angle to the ship and probably had a sacristy added to the east. Its roof structure with a pointed helmet was built in the 15th century.
A plaque with the Ten Commandments was placed on the south side of the ship . It was made by the painter Friedrich, who was already decorating the ceiling. On this board, to the right and left of the Ten Commandments, the names and coats of arms of the members of the court and the choir court of Sigriswil are noted. There are also the names and coats of arms of Thun's mayor Johann Rudolf Tillier as well as the pastor Daniel Müller, the foreman Abraham Dünz and two Junkers (Anthoni Felss and Beat Ludwig Michel) of the Ralligen estate . They were most likely the founders of the new church.
During the renovation work in 1957, remains of medieval frescoes were discovered, which were finally restored. The depiction of Christophorus with the Christ Child in his arms, made around 1300, is the most striking element of this painting. The ornamentation ("button pattern") of the robe is typical of Christophorus representations and can be found, for example, similarly in the Amsoldingen church and in the Erlenbach church in the Simmental . In addition to this representation, more recent frescoes can be seen that were created around the middle of the 14th century. A crucifixion group is depicted to the left of the depiction of Christophorus. It probably consists of the people Maria (left of the cross), Johannes (right of the cross) and, further to the left, the Saints Gallus and Verena. Above is another scene that possibly depicts the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
The pulpit dates from the Renaissance period, namely from the year 1602. In addition to this year, initials can be seen on the pulpit board, which could have come from the carpenters. On the sides of the sound cover there is a verse from the Bible all around: «The gospel of Jeus Christ is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes in it. Rome. Cap. 1.". The baroque table for the Last Supper shows some fruit representations and the year 1678 at the foot. It was made in the Bauhütte for the Bern Minster .
From the seating from the period between 1679 and 1957, consisting of benches without backrests, which must therefore have looked similar to the one in the Scherzligen church , only three benches remain under the port arbor.
organ
The organ was built in 1958 by Orgelbau Geneva AG. Revisions took place in 1984 and 2003, the latter was newly installed: trumpet in the main work and a tremulant in the positive. The organ has two manuals with 56 keys and a pedal with 30 keys and 23 registers . The action is mechanical, the registry pneumatic.
Disposition since 2003:
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- Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
- Playing aids : Two free combinations, tutti, storage space for mixture, sharp, trumpet, prong
Remarks
- ↑ a b built in 2003
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Thomas Lindt: Sigriswil Church . Müller & Gempeler Druck GmbH, Gunten 2020
- ↑ The organ in the Sigriswil church. Reformed Parish Sigriswil, accessed on October 28, 2018
Coordinates: 46 ° 43 ′ 1 " N , 7 ° 42 ′ 40" E ; CH1903: six hundred twenty thousand eight hundred and thirty-three / 174,007