Leonhardskirche (Gellmersbach)

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Leonhardskirche with chain

The Protestant Leonhard Church in Weinsberg - Gellmersbach is a chain church originally consecrated to Saint Leonhard of Limoges , which was rebuilt after being destroyed in the Peasants' War and has since been expanded and renovated several times. The church is girded with the historical Leonhard chain consisting of 392 links . It belongs to the Protestant parish Gellmersbach in the church district of Weinsberg-Neuenstadt of the Evangelical Church in Württemberg .

history

The Leonhardskirche was built in 1544 after the introduction of the Reformation in Gellmersbach (1535) on the foundation walls of an earlier church building from the 12th or 13th century that fell victim to the Peasants' War of 1525. Remains of the destroyed previous building can still be seen in today's church. Its former south entrance is now only recognizable as a niche due to the meanwhile greatly increased ground level (to protect against the damp underground). The old foundations are now below ground level. The late Gothic reticulated vault in the choir is the oldest component today. The tower dates from 1667 and was raised in 1749. At that time, the nave was also enlarged and the outer wall was raised to accommodate a north gallery. An inscription above the new main entrance on the west side tells about it. In 1892 a sacristy was added. In a storm in 1897, the west side of the roof was smashed and the church was badly damaged. A generous external donation of 5000 marks made a comprehensive renovation possible. Further renovations were carried out in 1952 and 1974 to 1976, with several historical components being discovered and exposed. In the chancel, the sandstone was exposed inside and outside, whereby the seating niches and sacrament houses of the medieval church emerged. The south portal from 1667 was uncovered, the gray paint on the gallery and pulpit was removed. In addition, the church received a new marble floor to protect against moisture. The tower received a new slate roof and a weathercock. The most striking characteristic of the Leonhardskirche is the chain around it, which makes it one of the chain churches to be found in southern Germany and Austria and with this attribute refers to the traditional prisoner care of the church patron Leonhard . He is depicted in a (not datable) wooden wayside shrine on a pedestal on the choir arch wall as a monk, in front of whom a freed prisoner kneels. Much can be assumed about the origin and age of a glass picture in the pulpit window with the Adoration of the Three Kings in Bethlehem , a so-called cabinet window. It has an exact duplicate in the Johanneskirche Weinsberg and is run there as a family foundation in 1920. Craftsmanship details speak for this period, the motif comes from a traditional model by the early Renaissance painter Albrecht Altdorfer , but with historicizing attributes, lettering and fictitious dating 1522 .

Leonhard chain

At a height of two meters, a chain is wrapped around the church, which consists of 392 chain links and is around 50 meters long. The chain links were probably created at different times; some of them are dated to 1749 and are related to the expansion of the church at that time. Presumably the older chain had to be extended after the church was expanded.

Such a chain church occurs more frequently only in the Alpine region and is rather rare in northern Württemberg near Gellmersbach. The chain can also be found (shortened) in the coat of arms of the former municipality.

The chain is probably related to Saint Leonhard, who is represented by a sculpture inside the church as a monk with a black robe, blessing right hand, abbot and a chain with a padlock over his shoulder. Leonhard is also venerated as a prisoner liberator.

It is claimed that the chain was forged from horse shoes, but there is no evidence for this, nor do the chain links show any such characteristics. According to old reports, the church was built over a spring that was still bubbling in 1843 but has now dried up. In any case, excavations in 1952 showed that the subsoil of the building is still quite damp and swampy. This spring is said to have fed a horse pond right next to the church, which is proven on a map from 1834. According to a report from 1752, the peasants are said to have ridden their horses on pilgrimage every year out of superstition, since the spring was able to heal “all horses that were damaged and damaged”. Based on these reports and on the basis of the chain, which is said to have spanned pre-Christian shrines in a similar form, there are assumptions that the Gellmersbacher Leonhardskirche was built at a place of pre-Christian source and horse worship. However, the assumptions remain an unproven hypothesis so far.

literature

  • Barbara-Ulrike Griesinger: Gellmersbach: a chronicle of the community, created on the occasion of its 750th anniversary in 1985. City of Weinsberg, Weinsberg 1985
  • Otto Friedrich: Evangelical churches in the deanery Weinsberg - picture reading book ; ed. Ev. Deanery Weinsberg, 2003, page 18 f

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Website of the Evangelical Church Community Gellmersbach
  2. ^ Website of the Evangelical Church District Weinsberg-Neuenstadt
  3. ↑ Church leaders (leaflet) see [1]
  4. ↑ A reverse model could have served: Adoration of the Magi (around 1530–1535, oil painting on linden wood), Städel Collection (Frankfurt), inventory number SG 452, see [2]
Commons : Leonhardskirche  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 49 ° 10 ′ 53.2 "  N , 9 ° 17 ′ 41.2"  E