Laurentius Church (Dirmstein)

Laurentiuskirche

View from the southwest
Basic data
Denomination	Roman Catholic and Protestant
place	Dirmstein, Germany
diocese	Diocese of Speyer
Patronage	Lawrence of Rome
Building history
Client	former Principality of Worms
architect	Balthasar Neumann
construction time	1742 - 1746 (Catholic part) or 1747 (Prot. Part)
Building description
inauguration	October 28, 1747
Architectural style	late baroque hall building , tower with Romanesque - Gothic substructure
Function and title
Double church for Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians with a partition already included in the plan
Coordinates 49 ° 33 '46.8 "  N , 8 ° 14' 51"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 33 '46.8 "  N , 8 ° 14' 51"  E

The Laurentiuskirche in the Rhineland-Palatinate municipality of Dirmstein is a double church for Catholics and Protestants . The tower has a Romanesque - Gothic substructure, the hall structure goes back to the late Baroque period . The first two construction plans come from the church builder Balthasar Neumann . The second design was modified on site by Franz Rothermel , who carried out the construction.

The only church in town today is a kind of Simultaneum , a sacred building shared by two denominations ; however, not a single room is occupied alternately, but rather two places of worship under one roof. Similar to the parts of a semi-detached house , they have different owners. The massive partition wall, functionally a fire wall , was already included in the planning and, unlike other structures of this type, was not drawn in later. The tower belongs to both parishes together .

Overview

Geographical location

Laurentiuskirche from the north, in the foreground the Schlossplatz

Laurentiuskirche on the real estate map of Dirmstein with lot numbers: Protestant part (left third, 267/2) | Partition | Catholic part (267/1) with tower (267/3)

The Laurentiuskirche is located in Dirmsteiner Oberdorf , today's center, in the transition area of ​​the streets Mitteltor (north side) and Affenstein (west and east side), which form the inner-local section of the state road 455 ( Freinsheim - Monsheim ), at 103  m above sea level. NHN ; the address is Affenstein 1 . Because the ownership of the church is distributed among different rightholders, there are three property numbers: for the Catholic east part (267/1), the Protestant west part (267/2) and the tower (267/3).

Immediately neighboring monuments are the St. Michael Pharmacy , the Old Town Hall , the Hochheimer Hof , the former Catholic schoolhouse , the Spitalhof with its chapel and the Marktstraße 1 building , clockwise from the north . To the south of the church, facing the Catholic schoolhouse, there is the 300 m² paved church square , which is designated as a parking lot.

In the west and east, the church was moved very close to the surrounding buildings. A bottleneck was created in this way, particularly towards the Spitalhof to the west, which only allowed a single lane about 3 m wide. This was sufficient for the slow wagons of past centuries, especially since the passage could be widened slightly by turning the structure slightly counter-clockwise. However, the narrowing represents a considerable obstacle for traffic on today's state road. To make matters worse, the entrance to the Protestant part of the church is located in the middle of the narrow section.

Surname

The Catholic Church is part of the martyr Lawrence of Rome ordained whose name day is August 10. The Protestant part of the church does not have a name of its own; in local usage, however, the entire double church is referred to as Laurentiuskirche . At the time of construction there was a Catholic and a Reformed congregation, Lutherans were a minority. If the article speaks of "Protestants" or "Protestant" , this means Reformed and Lutherans together in historical statements, and the current Protestant parish or its part of the church in the current context. The Catholic part can accommodate around 300 people, the Protestant 150.

Denominations in Dirmstein

The base area ratio of the double church of 2: 1 in favor of the Catholic part results from the building contract. After that, shortly before the middle of the 18th century, the Dirmstein population was 2/3 Catholic and 1/3 Protestant, mostly Reformed, and this ratio should also be expressed in the church shares. But six decades later, in 1802, the proportion of Catholics was only 56% and that of Protestants was 40%. This increased continuously over time, while the proportion of Catholics declined; According to a recent survey, in 2004 there were a good 45% Protestants, almost 34% Catholics and just under 21% non-religious and non-religious.

The Catholic parish of Dirmstein forms a parish association with the neighboring parishes in Laumersheim (including Obersülzen ) and Großkarlbach , the Protestant with Gerolsheim . The Catholic parish belongs to the Diocese of Speyer , the Protestant to the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate (Protestant Church) .

history

Peterskirche

Episcopal coat of arms on the castle next to the former St. Peter's Church

The first parish church in Dirmstein was the Peterskirche . It was surrounded by the community's cemetery at the time, in the Niederdorf immediately northeast of the site on which the former Episcopal Palace stands; this was both the summer residence and the administrative branch of the bishop, who resided in Worms , 12 km away . The church was built in the Romanesque period well before 1044 - in this year the tithe of the "Church of Dirmstein" was documented for the first time - and was consecrated to the patron saint of Worms Cathedral , St. Petrus . It is therefore assumed that the church was built on the initiative of a Worms bishop; possibly the episcopal founder was Burchard I. von Worms , who held office from 1000 to 1025. The church belonged to the Worms monastery Nonnenmünster . From all these circumstances it can be seen that, at least in the early days, the church primarily served the needs of the respective bishop to be able to read mass in representative surroundings during his stays at the summer residence . The Peterskirche only gradually became a parish church when the hamlet , which the Dirmsteiner Niederdorf originally represented, gradually increased in size with the arrival of people.

After a Visitation protocol of 1740, the tower of St. Peter had a special feature, namely he had a "stone thatched roof". It is unclear whether this meant covering with stone slabs or a stepped masonry. Based on several consistent sources, historians estimate the capacity of the church at only about a hundred people. Up until the 18th century, all of Dirmstein's other places of worship were even smaller than St. Peter's Church.

Chapels

Spitalhof with the former chapel of St. Maria Magdalena

The upper village, a few hundred meters to the west, had the Gothic Laurentius Chapel, first mentioned on July 12, 1240 , which was assigned to St. Peter's Church as a subsidiary church. In the 13th or 14th century next door came Mary Magdalene Chapel of Spitalhofs added in the 14th century, the Antonius chapel at the cemetery in Lower Village. These two buildings were also built in the Gothic style. There were probably two other chapels in the upper village; because 1367 was one in the north of the town center Augustinian founded Provost, in 1500 next to another immediately monastery that soon the then new Jesuit order was taken. This still had a bell in 1795 (see section History of Dirmstein Bells ).

condominium

Until the beginning of the 15th century, Dirmstein was under the exclusive control of the Worms Monastery . But from 1419 to 1705, i.e. over the period of the Reformation until the Palatinate church division , the place in the form of a condominium was jointly owned by two gentlemen, the Prince-Bishop of Worms and the Elector of the Palatinate , whom the Wittelsbachers had provided for centuries . After the Reformation, the Protestant inhabitants had to belong to the denomination of the respective prince, according to the principle of “ cuius regio, eius religio ” ( German who owns the land, who also owns the religion) ; After initial back and forth, the Wittelsbach line Palatinate-Simmern under Count Palatine Johann Casimir , who reigned for his underage nephew Friedrich IV , finally decided in 1583 for the Reformed Church and against Lutheranism . Bishop Dietrich II and Elector Friedrich III. had already agreed in 1564 to leave the Peterskirche in Niederdorf to the Catholics and to convert the Laurentiuskapelle in Oberdorf into a reformed church, and implemented this agreement in the same year.

In 1705 the condominium ended with an exchange of territory between Worms and the Electoral Palatinate in what is now northern Baden , in which the Hochstift regained all rights to and in Dirmstein. Only in internal affairs of the Reformed inhabitants was the elector reserved the right to make decisions. After the Wittelsbach line Pfalz-Simmern was inherited by the Catholic branch Pfalz-Neuburg in 1685 , the unusual situation arose that a Catholic sovereign - first Philipp Wilhelm , then his son Johann Wilhelm , also known as "Jan Wellem" - over religious Had to determine the affairs of the Reformed believers.

Dispute, war damage and demolitions

The Dirmstein Catholics now believed that they had more support from the elector of their denomination. Due to the age-related need for repairs to St. Peter's Church, they made several attempts between 1686 and 1689 to hold their services in the Reformed Laurentius Chapel in the upper village, which despite its relatively modest dimensions was called the "large church" to distinguish it from the even smaller Spitalhof chapel . On Corpus Christi day 1687 they even smashed a door with axes and wanted to

"Take the big church in the dirmstein area by force and keep your cermonies inside."

Spared from the conflagration of 1689: the "oldest house" (attested in 1596) near the Laurentiuskirche

Similar provocations by Catholics were repeated over the next two years, particularly in connection with the Corpus Christi procession. However, violence was no longer used, although the elector no longer had the power to permanently appease the divided denominations in Dirmstein. Because in 1687 the War of the Palatinate Succession began, in which the French King Louis XIV had numerous places in the Electoral Palatinate, which he coveted, destroyed. When the French troops finally set Dirmstein on fire in 1689, the reformed Laurentius Chapel in the densely built-up Oberdorf fell victim to the flames, which spared only a few buildings, such as the oldest house in town today . The Catholic St. Peter's Church in need of repair, however, since it was detached, suffered no additional damage from the large fire.

Only after the Palatinate Religious Declaration was issued on November 21, 1705, the Reformed were able to repair the ruins in a makeshift manner. Since, as mentioned, the St. Peter's Church also had deficiencies, the Catholic and Reformed parishes at the latest in 1721 first considered building two new churches under one roof. This should happen in the upper village, which was more populous than the Niederdorf. The main reason for the combination solution was that building land in the upper village was scarce. In addition, it was quite common to use partition walls to divide existing churches.

The two churches in Niederdorf were demolished in the 19th century because they were in disrepair, the Peterskirche in 1809, the Antoniuskapelle around 1850; there are no more traces of them. Only the now profaned Spitalhof chapel in the upper village still exists.

Building history of the Laurentiuskirche

planning

Preparations

1. Construction plan, west elevation

1. Construction plan, floor plan (west below)

The new building project began in the first half of the 18th century with renewed long-standing disputes, which were reflected in petitions and legal disputes. There was agreement about the place where the new church was to be built: at the site of the ruinous Laurentius Chapel. The subject of dispute, however, was the property that had belonged to the Reformed Church for 150 years. Negotiations from 1733 onwards showed that a double church could be built for "1000 guilders " more cheaply than two individual churches. So on October 20, 1739, a treaty was signed, the most important of which was that preference should be given to the

"Produced various floor plans for the latter, by means of which both the catholic and the reformed church, which is to be rebuilt, are to be brought under one roof."

The contract including the floor plan was forwarded to the sovereign Franz Georg von Schönborn . He was not only Archbishop and Elector of Trier from 1729 to 1756 , but from 1732 also Prince-Bishop of Worms and thus responsible for Dirmstein, where the episcopal summer seat was. In 1740 he agreed in principle that a new church be built on the site of the ruined Laurentius Chapel. It should be provided with a partition so that both Christian denominations can be accommodated under one roof; the room should be divided according to the number of Catholics and Protestants. Prince-Bishop Franz Georg commissioned court architect Balthasar Neumann , who was in the service of his brother Friedrich Carl von Schönborn , the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg and Bamberg, with the planning .

First blueprint

Neumann's first plan of June 3, 1740, drawn to scale on the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress with length information in " Schuch ", envisaged a larger complex than it is today, with two churches arranged side by side, the distance between them being small to the surrounding buildings. Even the Catholic part should be more extensive than today's entire building. The length of the building was identical to that of the Catholic part in the north and amounted to 98 Schuch . Due to the "Reformed" part built on in the middle on the right, the total width of the two-church was almost 112 "Schuch", so that the optical longitudinal axis of the complex would have extended roughly from north to south. Since it is not known which of the then regionally customary shoe units Neumann used, the values ​​can only be approximated into the metric system; one assumes a length of 32 m and a width of 36.5 m. Taking into account the shape of the planned parts of the building, there would be a built-up area of ​​800 to 850 m², to which the areas of the existing tower and the subsequently built sacristy would have been added.

This first draft, found again in 1914, was rejected by the prince-bishop; presumably it was too expensive for the client.

Second blueprint and modification

Final floor plan (south below) by Franz Rothermel (1741): Protestant part (left third) | Partition | catholic part (with tower)

Final construction, south elevation; Partition inside between the second and third window from the left (west)

Thereupon Neumann submitted a revised plan in 1741, with churches reduced by a quarter of the area, which he arranged one behind the other as in a double house; the Protestant part moved from the position to the right of the Catholic to the position behind the Catholic . The building contractor Franz Rothermel (1690 / 91–1759) from Dirmstein , who is referred to in the sources as a “bricklayer” and is identified as the author of the final, non-true-to-scale and non-conforming floor plan, made minor modifications to the second plan. In this form it was formally ratified by the Prince-Bishop on November 7, 1741 and released for execution.

Establishment

In 1742, construction work began under Rothermel's direction, which lasted four years for the Catholic part. "1000 fathoms " from the nearby ruinous Affenstein Castle , which came into the possession of the prince-bishopric in 1713 and was completely demolished in 1748, were also used in the construction.

The foundation stone was only laid after the building was completed; Auxiliary Bishop Christian Albert Anton von Merle laid the foundation stone one day before the consecration of the church, together with Franz Carl Friedrich von Hohenfeld , the Worms cathedral dean , who was the governor of the prince-bishop. On October 9, 1746, Auxiliary Bishop von Merle then consecrated the Catholic part and its three altars .

The foundation stone was discovered by chance in 1928 at the easternmost point of the outer wall of the choir ; In a recess underneath there were two small painted bottles with wine, two Trier silver coins from 1734 and an Austrian silver coin from October 4, 1745, as well as a tin box that contained the remains of an illegible founding document, which had apparently been spoiled by moisture.

A special sponsor of the Catholic part was the Vice Chancellor of the Worms Bishop, Adam Franz Brasseur von Gerstenfeld . He donated the right side altar and several liturgical implements that bear his coat of arms.

The Margrave-Badisch-Durlach Hofrat Wolfgang Wilhelm von Rießmann from Mannheim, who owned large estates in Dirmstein, including the later Koeth-Wanscheid Castle , was the most famous patron of the Reformed part of the church. This was only completed a year after the Catholic one. The consecration took place on October 28, 1747, the festival of the names of the apostles Simon and Jude .

tower

North-east tower, white plastered, the raised 6th floor

The tower standing in the north-east of the church has a height of 34 m, an almost square base area of ​​5.95 × 6.10 m and six floors of unequal height. With its lower five floors, the tower had already belonged to the Gothic Laurentius Chapel as well as to the Reformed Successor Church and was now again included in the building; he received a new - baroque -  bonnet . It consists of three slightly curved partial hoods, which - the largest at the bottom, the smallest at the top - are connected by two lanterns of different sizes . The largest hood at the bottom bears the clock face of the tower clock in a bell-shaped field according to the four cardinal points . An ornate gold-colored cross grows out of the top of the church tower and faces east. A weathercock covered with gold leaf has been sitting on the cross since 1956 .

The fact that the old tower is left in its "front left" position distinguishes the Laurentiuskirche from other sacred buildings that can be traced back to Neumann; its tower usually rises above a main portal attached to the end of the ship. The longitudinal axis of the church is, because the nave was not at a right angle, but at a slight incline, attached to the tower, in a counter-clockwise direction from the east-west direction and actually runs from east-northeast to west-southwest. Without this almost imperceptible rotation of the building, the south-west corner of the church would have narrowed the narrow width of the carriageway in front of it - to well below the current 3 m. In the outer corner between the east side of the tower and the choir, an approximately 20 m² sacristy was later installed, which belongs to the Catholic part of the church and was not shown on the building plan.

Originally, the roof ridge of the new church building was roughly at the same height as the lower edge of the hood of the old tower, which contributed to the closed appearance of the entire structure. However, the five-story tower soon turned out to be a little too low to spread the ringing of bells optimally over the village. But it was not until 1904 that a floor was added, recognizable by the white plaster, while the lower part consists of unplastered red red sandstone masonry. This lower part comes from two different stylistic epochs: three storeys made of large, very uniformly cut and masonry stone blocks go back to a Romanesque defense tower and have loopholes instead of windows. It is not known whether the tower was once isolated or belonged to a church or castle. The next two floors date from the 13th century. They are illuminated by Gothic windows - the lower one through small ones, the upper one through large ones - and are mainly made of smaller stones, among which there are also uncut field stones.

partition wall

Partition inside between the second and third window from the right (west)

Balthasar Neumann was to plan a two-church with a partition wall; At the same time, however, he wanted to create a building that appeared from the outside as a homogeneous unit. That is why he chose the proportions in his two designs so that there was nothing on the outside to indicate the partition wall and the visitor should also get the impression of a complete house of worship inside. One of his design elements was the axis arrangement: In the executed design, the catholic part extends conventionally from east to west, the partition wall appears as a rear wall. The section behind it, reformed at the time and now Protestant, is oriented transversely from south to north. The partition is the left side wall. Neumann used other possibilities for optical enlargement by creating oblique or curved lines, e.g. B. at the stairs to the galleries of the two parts of the church. Franz Rothermel, who carried out the construction, made changes, but kept Neumann's basic concept.

After the Treaty of 1739 between the Catholic and the Reformed community should "scheidtwandt" between the two parts of a common worship two shoe (about 60 cm) are strong, "so that no'll worship gestöhret from the other." During the building agreed the cautious church fathers even ended up on three shoes . Modern measurements showed exactly 100 cm. The partition wall has proven to be absolutely soundproof and also reliably shields modern loudspeakers and organ music .

Basic dimensions

Although the construction of the two-church was only based on the rough sketch by Rothermel in terms of planning, the dimensional deviations for opposing walls are only between 3 and 8 cm. The entire structure is now a quarter longer than von Neumann originally intended, namely almost 40 instead of 32 m, and is therefore much closer to the street in the west. The 32 m can be found again as the outer length of the supposed nave . In the back, invisible from the outside, the Protestant part of the church is built in, which measures around 17 × 12.5 m. In front of the 1 m thick partition wall, the Catholic church part takes up 18.5 m of the length of the nave, its width of 17 m also corresponds to the total width of the building.

For the choir there is an additional 8 m depth. It has the shape of a regular trapezoid ; its base of 17 m is identical to the width of the adjacent nave, the three other sides behind the high altar and side altars each measure 8.4 m. The total covered area, including the tower and sacristy, is around 680 m², of which around 212.5 m² is accounted for by the Protestant part.

Modifications and restoration

Neoclassical high altar from 1885 with canopy superstructure

After 2000: restoration of the color scheme from 1746

In 1884/85 the original baroque high altar was replaced by a "modern" one in the neoclassical style , and in 1904 the church tower was increased. How the monument preservation authorities assessed the church renovation in the 1880s after just a few decades can be seen from a note that was recorded in August 1928 by an appraising employee of the Johann Mayer company from Bamberg and hidden in the mouth of a heraldic lion on the ceiling of the nave:

"After the church was painted Gothic in 1885 by a company in Speyer, the beautiful old high altar was thrown out and the current canopy (don't laugh at the architecture, unfortunately, it can't be changed anymore) was made, the State Office for Monument Preservation in Munich called upon to restore the Balthasar Neumann Church in the character of its time of origin. "

However, only a few insignificant modernizations were reversed in 1928, and it was only from the 1960s - when the note in the snapdragon was discovered - that the Catholic part was actually restored. In the first phase (1962–1968) this was mainly done inside, with attempts to reconstruct the altar in terms of style, and then outside in the second (from around 1990). The Protestant part underwent major renovations in 1966.

As a final restoration measure, the entire building, which was plastered white from the beginning, was returned to its original color after 2000 by repainting the red sandstone on the base, edges and window reveals in yellow.

In 1989 the Laurentius Church was classified as a protected cultural asset within the meaning of the Hague Convention . In 1996 the St. Michael Dirmstein Cultural Association organized the 250th anniversary of the church.

Furnishing

Catholic part

Choir, high altar and side altars

The most important new creation in the very bright, richly decorated church interior is the high altar from the second half of the 20th century. The original baroque high altar was replaced in 1884/85 by a neoclassical altar, of which a framed documentary photo hangs in the sacristy. In the course of the church renovation from 1962 to 1968, the new high altar was built by the architect Alfons Sohn from Speyer in a late Baroque style. Because all the sources about the original altar were missing, of which only the six monolith columns with their Rococo capitals had been preserved, the new one was freely modeled on the Balthasar-Neumann high altar in the Bruchsal parish church of St. Peter , which was the burial place for the last prince-bishops von Speyer had served. In the altarpiece, which was made by the church painter Georg Gschwendtner from Reichenhall , he shows St. Laurentius, who brings the treasures of the church, namely the poor, to Emperor Valerian . The scene is flanked by the bishops of St. Pirmin and Ulrich , crowned with a representation of the Most Holy Trinity , as was probably the case with the original altar.

The pelican and its young are depicted above the tabernacle and on the pulpit cover . According to the Physiologus , the pelican parents kill their young, regret the act and then mourn them for three days. After the third day, the mother tears open her chest area, her blood drips on the dead boys and brings them back to life. For the Christians this became a symbol of the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus ; the resulting redemption of humanity is proclaimed in the Word of God and celebrated in the Eucharist .

The side altars come from the original furnishings and are made in the Rococo style. Depicted on the left are Mary with the child and on the right Mary Magdalene with the ointment vessel before the crucified. Maria Magdalena is also the patroness of the Catholic Hospital Foundation Dirmstein and the hospital chapel, which is opposite the church and is now used as a group room for the community kindergarten. The statue of the Virgin Mary in the left side altar was installed later; the symbol above indicates that the altar is consecrated to the heart of Jesus.

Pulpit and nave

pulpit

Pietà

In the front part of the nave monitors on the ceiling in a stucco frame field, the eye of God .

A staircase attached to the long wall leads up to the pulpit below on the left, which has a decorative sound cover . It is approached from the front, from the left side altar, and is secured by a covered railing , over whose diamond-shaped fields the handrail extends. In the small shell niches of the polygonal pulpit basket Mary is depicted with the four occidental teachers of the church Hieronymus , Pope Gregory the Great , Ambrosius of Milan and Augustine . These doctors of the church were to be an example and a guideline for the preacher in faith and interpretation ; because the pulpit was next to the altars the most important liturgical space in the baroque .

The cross opposite the pulpit is intended to remind the preacher of his task to proclaim the redemption of Christianity through Jesus' death on the cross . It comes from an earlier time, is older than the church and may have been taken over from the previous building. Over the years there were also the Pietà and the Sacred Heart , the stations of the Cross on the two long walls, the half-relief of St. Anthony of Padua as well as the memorial plaque for the fallen of the two world wars .

Organ gallery and organ

King David and angels making music

Voit organ from 1900

On the galleries parapet are as relief-half figures, Jesus and the twelve apostles represented. The individual apostles can be identified by the attributes attached to them . The fresco on the ceiling above the gallery is dedicated to the music and shows King David , of whom the writing says that he played the zither - which has been replaced here by the more representative harp - and several angels with different musical instruments. The back wall behind the organ gallery is identical to the partition wall to the Protestant part of the church.

Today's Dirmsteiner organ in the Catholic part of the church was built in 1900 by the company Voit & Sons from Durlach . In 1986 it was renovated by the organ workshop Peter Vier from Friesenheim-Oberweier and given a mechanical action . Eight registers have been replaced. The two-manual organ has 23 sounding registers, which are distributed over three works . The disposition and intonation of the works enable the interpretation of baroque as well as romantic music. The sophisticated action with several half-moves, alternating loops , three couplers and a coupler manual makes the organ a delightful concert instrument for organists . Particularly noteworthy here is Felix Hell, who grew up in the neighboring town of Laumersheim .

The disposition is:

II Hauptwerk C – f 3 Bourdon 16 ′ Principal 8th' flute 8th' Quintad 8th' octave 4 ′ Transverse flute 4 ′ octave 2 ′ Mixture IV 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ Cornett V 8th' Trumpet 8th'

III Swell C – f 3 Violin principal 8th' Salicional 8th' Dumped 8th' Fugara 4 ′ Reed flute 4 ′ Piccolo 2 ′ Sesquialter II Zimbel III 1' clarinet 8th'

Pedal C – f 1 Sub-bass 16 ′ Octave bass 8th' Tenor octave 4 ′ trombone 16 ′

• Pairing :
  • Pedal coupling: II / P, III / P
  • Coupling manual (I) : II / III
• Playing aids : sills

coat of arms

Numerous coats of arms can be seen in the building, two of which date back to the time the church was built:

• Coat of arms of the founder Adam Franz Brasseur von Gerstenfeld above the right side altar

Coat of arms of Prince-Bishop Franz Georg von Schönborn

• Coat of arms of the builder-bishop Franz Georg von Schönborn on the ceiling of the ship

It is worked out in stucco and richly structured; the details appear quite small to the viewer because of the distance to the ceiling and can only be seen on closer inspection. The heraldic shield is round and consists of a main shield on which a middle shield with a heart shield rests. The heart shield contains the family coat of arms of the bishop, the shield of the Counts of Schönborn, crowned by a golden crown of leaves : In red, a golden, blue-crowned lion with a golden ball in his right paw, striding on three rising silver tips. The center shield is square and shows his offices: Elector of Trier, Prince-Bishop of Worms, Prince-Provost of Ellwangen and Prince-Abbot of Prüm.
1.	Archdiocese of Trier : In silver a red cross of St. George
2.	Fürstbistum Worms : In black, a silver key pointing diagonally upwards to the right , which is accompanied by 4 (1: 2: 1) golden shingles at the top and bottom
3.	Fürstpropstei Ellwangen : In silver, a golden prelate's cap
4th	Prince Abbey of Prüm : In red a silver, gold nimbed Easter lamb with a flag, which in silver carries a red cross

The main shield is split twice and split twice and contains titles and possessions from the bishop's family coat of arms.

1.	Reign of Reichelsberg : Three (2: 1) silver tags in red
2.	Imperial double-headed eagle as a coat of arms: a gold-armored and red-tongued black double-headed eagle in gold , holding a silver sword in the right claw and a blue imperial orb with a gold cross and gold clasp in the left . A golden imperial crown with two departing blue ribbons hovers between the heads (the coat of arms was accepted as a sign of grace when the dignity of the imperial count was granted)
3.	Herrschaft Heppenheim: A silver bar in blue, accompanied by two at the top and a silver diamond at the bottom
4th	Hereditary meal office in the Austrian lands above and below the Enns: In an ermine on a red pillow decorated with gold tassels, a blue imperial orb with a gold cross and gold clasp (claim with the goods of those from Buchheim )
5.	The field is occupied by the center shield
6th	Shield from the increased coat of arms of those of Buchheim: In black, three (2: 1) golden upright grain stacks
7th	Grafschaft Wolfsthal : In gold, a black wolf walking to the left
8th.	Archduchy of Austria as a coat of arms: in silver the binding shield (in red a silver bar), surrounded by an ermine coat on the inside and a red coat of arms on the outside, crowned by a ducal hat (taken over by those of Buchheim)
9.	Truchsess von Pommersfelden : In silver a gold crowned and red tongued blue lion, covered with two red bars.

The coat of arms, crowned by an electoral hat, is surrounded by a coat of arms (red outside, ermine inside) from which the crook and sword hilt protrude; on both sides two looking back, crowned golden lions, in the rear front paws on silver rods with golden tips each holding a standard with two golden tassels, on the right silver with the black double-headed crowned imperial eagle, on the left red with a silver bar (Austria).

In the altar and ceiling area there are further coats of arms from more recent times, which aim to fix the historical situation of the construction of the new altar (1968):

• Coat of arms of the Speyer bishop Isidor Markus Emanuel (term of office 1953–1968), who commissioned the restoration of the altar
• Coat of arms of the Diocese of Speyer
• Family coat of arms of the architect son
• Coat of arms of the Speyer bishop Friedrich Wetter (term of office 1968–1982, later archbishop and cardinal), shortly after he took office the new altar was consecrated
• Coat of arms of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate
• Coat of arms of the Dirmstein community

Protestant part

Furnishing

Portal right on the street

Pulpit and altar

The Protestant part has its entrance from the west via a baroque portal, which is just as splendidly designed as the "Catholic" entrances in the north and south. While these lead to sufficiently wide forecourts, the “Protestant” portal leads directly, less than a meter away, onto state road 455, which is now heavily used.

Inside, the Protestant part shows the simplicity usual in Reformed houses of God. The colors are dominated by earthy tones such as ocher, a broken yellow, strong brown and various shades of gray, which cause a certain gloom even during the day when the lighting is switched off; the gold, which is very prominent in the Catholic part, is almost completely absent here.

In the front, in the south, there are "canzel and communion tables" . At the back, in the north, is the semicircular backward-swinging gallery, which is reached via a central, dividing staircase and which also carries the organ. Main sponsor Rießmann had the wooden mansion or guest's chair made in dark brown at his own expense. There were no significant subsequent changes to the interior, a major renovation of the interior was carried out in 1966.

organ

The first organ of the reformed community was bought second-hand in 1746 or 1748 in Kusel . It is not known how long she had already served there. It was infected by woodworms and was only poorly restored. Nevertheless it could be used in Dirmstein for more than a hundred years.

Walcker organ from 1869/70

In 1869/70 it was replaced by a new organ by Eberhard Friedrich Walcker from Ludwigsburg . His two-manual opus 252 comprised eleven stops and was based on the then newly developed technology of the cone chest with pneumatic action . In 1965 the Oberlinger company undertook a sound modification in the neo-baroque style. Over half of the registers were exchanged, the action is now mechanical . The approximately 750 pipes are distributed over two manuals and pedal .

The disposition is:

I main work C – f 3 Principal 8th' Reed flute 8th' Octave 4 ′ Smalled up 4 ′ Mixture IV Cornett II-III

II Hinterwerk C – f 3 Dumped 8th' Coupling flute 4 ′ Principal 2 ′

Pedal C – d 1 Sub bass 16 ′ Violon 8th'

• Coupling : II / I, I / P

Like the Voit organ in the Catholic part, the Walcker organ also enjoys an excellent reputation among experts, which is proven by the concerts mostly organized by the St. Michael Cultural Association.

Bells

Today's bell

Six new bells were added on May 4th / 5th. Cast in May 1951 at the F. W. Schilling bell foundry in Heidelberg . They are described in a contract between the two parishes of April 9, 1954.

Bell no. 1 burst due to a defective suspension in 1990. On December 14th of the same year, a replacement was supplied by the Mabilon bell foundry from Saarburg ; the bell received a new inscription referring to its dedication.

The main characteristics of the bells are:

No.	Nominal	owner	dedication	year	inscription
1.	f '	Catholic parish	St. Laurence	1951	"Be vigilant, stand firm in your faith, act manly and be strong." ( 1 Cor 16:13 ESV )
				1990	"St. Laurentius, pray for us. "(Invocation of the saints from the All Saints' Litany )
2.	b '	Catholic parish	St. Mary	1951	"Mary, exalted Queen of the world, always a pure virgin, begs for us for peace and salvation." (From the communion antiphon Regina mundi dignissima, Maria, Virgo perpetua, intercede pro nostra pace et salute, ... )
3.	it'	Protestant parish	-	1951	"Christ says: I live, and you shall also live." ( Joh 14,19 LUT )
4th	it"	Protestant parish	-	1951	"Christ says: Let the little children come to me." ( Mk 10.14 LUT )
5.	c "	both parishes together	Christ	1951	"Christ our peace, Christ, Lord of glory, give peace to our time."
6th	as'	political community	-	1951	"Pray and work, so God always helps." (From the Benedictine motto Ora et labora , Deus adest sine mora. )

History of the Dirmsteiner bells

The oldest reference to a bell in Dirmstein comes from the vernacular : The inhabitants of the village of Lindesheim , located northwest of the municipality , which was abandoned around 1350 and completely disappeared, are said to have buried their church bell in the ground beforehand. In 1750 a boar uncovered them while digging in the ground. The dispute between the surrounding villages about who should own the bell was settled by the following agreement: A blind horse was harnessed to the transport wagon; the direction it would take would determine the future whereabouts of the bell. But now the blind horse had belonged to a Dirmstein farmer, and as soon as it had felt the whip, it was striving for the local stable. That is why the bell was incorporated into the ringing of the new Laurentiuskirche, consecrated just four years earlier, after its following saying was engraved:

"I'm called Susann
because a boar found me
where
the thunderstorms separate between Erl and Weiden ."

This story is not mentioned in the municipal archive, and the alleged breaking of the bell in 1866 is not documented either.

Evidently there were eight church bells in Dirmstein towards the end of the 18th century: three in the Laurentiuskirche, two in the Peterskirche, two in the hospital chapel , one in the Jesuitenhof , which was still a monastery at that time.

After the French Revolution had spread to the German territories on the left bank of the Rhine , in 1795 French soldiers transported five bells for cannon casting; a sixth reached the nearby Grünstadt , where it remained. Two bells were saved for the village: The smallest at the top of the tower of the Laurentiuskirche had been overlooked by the French, and the clever hospital tenant Wack had a wooden one over one of the two removed bells of the Peterskirche when they were temporarily stored in the hospital courtyard before they were removed Put tubs upside down and hide them like that. It was hung with the remaining one in the Laurentius Tower, which has since been the only place in Dirmstein where bells are operated.

In 1823, under Mayor Jacob Janson, the community had a third, larger bell cast and hung. But in the same year, while working on the tower, the bricklayer Johann Gager "frivolously" smashed the bell that had been rescued at the time and came from St. Peter's Church. Cast in 1825, it shattered again in 1833 and was cast again that year under Mayor Hartmüller. In 1852 and 1874 two more bells were commissioned. Because the smallest one was melted down for the last one, four bells have hung in the tower since then. In 1917, towards the end of the First World War , the bells cast in 1823 and 1874 again had to be delivered for cannon manufacture; two remained.

After a third was cast in 1921 , the new bell and the one from 1833 were confiscated in 1941, during the Second World War . The latter came back surprisingly in 1949 because it had not been melted down. When the current six bells were finally cast in 1951, it was recast because its pitch would not have matched the others. Your material certainly came from before the French Revolution. Whether in 1951 the only bell that has remained in the tower without interruption since 1852 was also cast or whether it was sold can no longer be determined.

literature

The description of the Catholic part of the church including the coat of arms attached there is based on the following documents:

• Elaboration by the then Catholic local pastor and dean Peter Schappert , who was in office in Dirmstein from 1996 until he became vicar general of the Speyer diocese in 2005 . The elaboration - published in full until 2006 and today in excerpts on the website of the St. Michael Dirmstein Cultural Association - has been reorganized, partly shortened and partly supplemented.
• Parish of St. Laurentius Dirmstein (ed.): Parish church of St. Laurentius Dirmstein . Dirmstein 1997 (printed publication laid out in the church).
• Konrad Tyroff (Hrsg.): Book of arms of the entire nobility of the Kingdom of Bavaria . Drawn from the nobility register. 2nd volume. Nuremberg 1819.
• Erwin Gatz (Ed.): The coats of arms of the monasteries, dioceses and diocesan bishops in the Holy Roman Empire 1648–1803 . Regensburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-7954-1637-9 .

For the description of the entire building, the Protestant part, the two organs and the bells and for the data on religious affiliation, the following was used:

• Ute-Konstanze Rasp: The organs of the Laurentiuskirche , pp. 295–299.
• Berthold Schnabel : Contributions to Church History , pp. 227–299.
• Berthold Schnabel: On the history of the bells , pp. 301–316.
• Margret Schwerdt: A look at social history from the end of the 17th to the middle of the 19th century with references to the present , pp. 119–140.

All in: Michael Martin (Hrsg.): Dirmstein - nobility, farmers and citizens . Chronicle of the Dirmstein community. Self-published by the Foundation for the Promotion of Palatinate Historical Research , Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 2005, ISBN 3-9808304-6-2 .

Further literature:

• Municipality of Dirmstein (ed.): Dirmstein, pearl of Unterhaardt . Pictures from past decades. Geiger-Verlag, Horb am Neckar 1984 (illustrated book with short texts).
• Georg Peter Karn, Ulrike Weber (arrangement): Bad Dürkheim district. City of Grünstadt, Union communities Freinsheim, Grünstadt-Land and Hettenleidelheim (=  cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany . Volume 13.2 ). Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 2006, ISBN 3-88462-215-3 .

Web links

Commons : Laurentiuskirche  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Location of the Laurentiuskirche on: Map service of the landscape information system of the Rhineland-Palatinate nature conservation administration (LANIS map) ( notes )
• Web presence of the Catholic parish community Dirmstein, Laumersheim with Obersülzen and Großkarlbach
• Web presence of the Protestant parish Dirmstein-Gerolsheim

References and comments

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Balthasar Neumann : Order from the neyen church in Dirmstein . Ehrenbreitstein 1740 (originals - two sheets with floor plan and west view - in the archives of the Speyer diocese).
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Franz Rothermel : sketch of the floor plan . Dirmstein 1741 (original in the central archive of the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate , Speyer, Dept. 170, No. 698).
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Information (2008) from the Surveying and Cadastre Office Neustadt (Weinstrasse) , Grünstadt branch.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Note: The names Oberdorf and Niederdorf for the two settlement centers of the municipality are derived from the location above and below at the Eckbach , which flows through Dirmstein from west to east.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Map service of the landscape information system of the Rhineland-Palatinate Nature Conservation Administration (LANIS map) ( notes )
6. ↑ Note: The street name Affenstein goes back to the Franconian noble family of Affenstein , who came from Dirmstein .
7. ^ ^{A b c d e} Berthold Schnabel: Contributions to church history . In: Michael Martin (ed.): Dirmstein - nobility, farmers and citizens . 2005, p. 263 .
8. ↑ Margret Schwerdt: A look at social history from the end of the 17th to the middle of the 19th century with references to the present . In: Michael Martin (ed.): Dirmstein - nobility, farmers and citizens . 2005, p. 125-127 .
9. ↑ Dirmstein parish community, Laumersheim with Obersülzen and Großkarlbach. Catholic Parish of St. Lawrence, accessed December 15, 2014 .  
10. ^ Protestant parish Dirmstein-Gerolsheim. (No longer available online.) Protestant parish Dirmstein-Gerolsheim, archived from the original on December 17, 2014 ; accessed on December 15, 2014 .  
11. ^ ^{A b} Berthold Schnabel : Contributions to church history . In: Michael Martin (ed.): Dirmstein - nobility, farmers and citizens . 2005, p.  267-268 .
12. ↑ ^{a b} Berthold Schnabel: On the history of the bells . In: Michael Martin (ed.): Dirmstein - nobility, farmers and citizens . 2005, p. 313 .
13. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Berthold Schnabel: Contributions to church history . In: Michael Martin (ed.): Dirmstein - nobility, farmers and citizens . 2005, p. 254-256 .
14. ↑ ^{a b} Parish of St. Laurentius Dirmstein (ed.): The parish church of St. Laurentius Dirmstein . Dirmstein 1997 (printed publication laid out in the church).
15. ↑ A sensational art historical discovery . In: Grünstadter Latest News . Grünstadt July 22, 1914 (original in the archives of the Diocese of Speyer).
16. ^ Berthold Schnabel: Contributions to church history . In: Michael Martin (ed.): Dirmstein - nobility, farmers and citizens . 2005, p. 264 .
17. ↑ Michael Martin (ed.): Dirmstein - nobility, farmers and citizens . 2005, p. 463 .
18. ↑ Note: A wagon rammed the outer wall and exposed the foundation stone.
19. ^ Hermann Schmitt : Pontifical acts of the Worms auxiliary bishops. Archive for Middle Rhine Church History, 1958, p. 307 , accessed on December 1, 2014 (protocols on the consecration of the church in Dirmstein).  
20. ^ Municipality of Dirmstein (ed.): Dirmstein, Perle der Unterhaardt . 1984, p. 58 .
21. ↑ ^{a b} All dimensions provided (2008) by the Surveying and Cadastre Office Neustadt (Weinstrasse) , Grünstadt branch.
22. ↑ ^{a b} Municipality of Dirmstein (ed.): Dirmstein, Perle der Unterhaardt . 1984, p. 37 .
23. ^ Georg Peter Karn, Ulrike Weber: Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany . Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. tape 13.2 , 2006.
24. ↑ Informational directory of cultural monuments. (PDF; 1.6 MB) General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate , January 17, 2013, p. 20 , accessed on December 1, 2014 .  
25. ↑ Albert H. Keil: Flashback: Two hundred and fifty years Laurentiuskirche. Festival poem. Verlag PfalzMundArt, accessed on December 1, 2014 .  
26. ↑ ^{a b} Ute-Konstanze Rasp: The organs of the Laurentiuskirche . In: Michael Martin (ed.): Dirmstein - nobility, farmers and citizens . 2005, p. 295-299 .
27. ↑ Bernhard H. Bonkhoff: historic organs in the Palatinate . Evangelischer Presseverlag Pfalz, Speyer 1990, ISBN 3-925536-27-2 , p. 306 .
28. ↑ Rudolf Quoika : Organ List. (No longer available online.) In: Walcker and the 19th century organ. ef-walcker.de, archived from the original on October 6, 2014 ; accessed on December 1, 2014 .  
29. ↑ Bernhard H. Bonkhoff: historic organs in the Palatinate . Evangelischer Presseverlag Pfalz, Speyer 1990, ISBN 3-925536-27-2 , p. 224 .
30. ↑ ^{a b c} Helger Wahl: The organ in the Prot. Church Dirmstein . In: Protestant church communities Dirmstein and Gerolsheim (ed.): Community letter . March May. Dirmstein 2016, p. 15th f .
31. ↑ Oskar Bischoff u. a .: How Susann came to the Dirmstein church tower . In: Pfälzischer Verkehrsverband e. V. (Ed.): The great Palatinate Book . Pfälzische Verlagsanstalt, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 1959, p.  243 .
32. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Berthold Schnabel: To the history of the bells . In: Michael Martin (ed.): Dirmstein - nobility, farmers and citizens . 2005, p. 301-316 .
33. ^ Peter Schappert : St. Laurentius Church. Kulturverein St. Michael Dirmstein, accessed on December 1, 2014 (written before 2006).  

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on January 28, 2007 .