Church ruins Katharinenberg
The church ruin Katharinenberg is a former late Gothic pilgrimage chapel in the Katharinenberg district of the Südeichsfeld community in the Unstrut-Hainich district in Thuringia . It stands on the southern edge of the village.
history
Pilgrimage chapel
Around 1520 the construction of a pilgrimage chapel on the trade route Wanfried - Mühlhausen / Thuringia began. This was placed immediately north of the already existing manor, which was probably only secured with a low wall. The exact circumstances that led to the construction have not yet been clearly clarified: it is still disputed whether the Zella monastery , located about 4 km to the north or the Großburschla collegiate monastery, located 8.5 km to the south-west, appeared as the client. It should be noted that at this time the Zella monastery was already supplied with the Annaberg pilgrimage site .
Church patronage
Katharinenberg was first mentioned in a document in 1512, when the Archbishop of Mainz transferred his income from the mountain of St. Catherine , which was designated as offerings , to the Cistercian nunnery of Anrode in Eichsfeld . However, the church district intended for Katharinenberg was subordinate to the Burschla collegiate monastery , which belongs to the Fulda monastery . The patron saint festival of Catherine is November 25. With the return of Wilhelm von Harstall from the Diedorf line of Harstalls to the Catholic faith, the church in Katharinenberg was again needed as a place of pilgrimage, this probably happened shortly after 1600. April 25th - St. Mark's Day - was determined as the annual pilgrimage date .
The holy grave in Diedorf
The Holy Sepulcher in the nearby Diedorf church is of great art historical value , a late Gothic work of art made of stone, which was probably not installed in this church until after 1600. The valuable work, presumably from an Erfurt workshop, is a representation of the rest bed of Jesus Christ. The holy grave should originally have been intended for a pilgrimage church near Eisenach , but it never got there. The von Harstall family , who belonged to the land nobility in Diedorf and Mihla and were already very wealthy at the time, had already secretly taken the picture into their possession and had it buried in a safe hiding place in Hainich , where it had been hidden for over 50 years and so on was forgotten by the population. However, since the Katharinenberg chapel was never completed, it was left to be installed in the Diedorf church.
Building history
construction time
As was customary at the time, the construction of the church dragged on for several years because it was done on a donation basis. Therefore, the church building site was not destroyed during the Peasants' War when fighting broke out in the spring of 1525, it was probably only devastated and then abandoned. After the Peasants' War, the construction site initially remained without progress, as the secular landlords had converted to the Evangelical faith and did not need a pilgrimage church. The existing church tower, however, was used as a watchtower and was therefore repaired. The church building site once again became a theater of war when the village was again attacked and burned down during the Thirty Years War . The tower is also said to have been set on fire on this occasion; this was limited to the period 1640–1641.
Repairs
The first verifiable repair work was carried out after the devastation of the Peasant War, but it only served to secure the tower. The necessary wooden fixtures were built and a pyramid roof was built on the tower. The remaining structures remained untouched. In the meantime, however, the choir has been given a roof to facilitate the service.
Building description
The single-nave building is east-west oriented, the tower was built on the northwest corner. Two entrances, one in the north and one in the south, lead roughly in the middle into the nave. The 5.9 m long and 2.9 m wide room of the sacristy has a vault and is inserted into the eastern part of the north wall. The building axis of the nave and choir are not exactly aligned, an explanation for this could not be found beyond doubt. In the meantime, the choir has been provided with an (emergency) roof to make the service easier. The masonry consists of yellowish-gray shell limestone, the stone made of sandstone. Stonemason's marks have been recorded in several places, as evidence of the craftsmen employed here. Rusted door hinges were discovered in the southern gate, this led to a manor building only 10 m from the church, which is said to have been built around the same time.
see more
Northwest view
West view
Southwest view
North elevation
literature
- Rolf Aulepp: Research report Katharinenberg, the church. In: Mühlhäuser Museum, Katharinenberg local file , Mühlhausen / Thuringia, 23 August 1982.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Rolf Aulepp: The former pilgrimage church of Katharinenberg and its surroundings (I). In: Eichsfelder Heimathefte. Issue 1, Heiligenstadt 1988, p. 18.
- ^ Rainer Lämmerhirt: The story of the von Harstall family. In: Werra Valley News. 8/1996, Creuzburg and Mihla, pp. 12-13.
- ↑ Rarely in Central Germany. Holy grave in Diedorf is 500 years old. In: Online edition of the newspaper “Tag des Herren”, Erfurt edition. Retrieved February 28, 2010 .
- ↑ Rolf Aulepp: ... (I), p. 6.
- ^ Rolf Aulepp: ... (I), p. 13.
- ↑ Rolf Aulepp:… (I), pp. 13–15.
- ↑ Rolf Aulepp:… (I), pp. 13–15.
- ^ Rolf Aulepp: ... (I), p. 15.
- ^ Rolf Aulepp: The former pilgrimage church of Katharinenberg and its surroundings (II). In: Eichsfelder Heimathefte. Issue 2, Heiligenstadt 1988, pp. 156-164.
Coordinates: 51 ° 10 ′ 49 ″ N , 10 ° 15 ′ 37.6 ″ E