Leonhard's Church (Köditz)

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View of the church

The St. Leonhards Church Köditz is an Evangelical Lutheran parish church in the core of the Upper Franconian political community Köditz . It stands in the middle of a round, high-medieval village complex that is laid out towards a center point at a crossroads. In addition to the Christoph-Blumhardt-House is one of the central places of spiritual community life of the parish Köditz.

The peculiarities of the church ensemble include the covered bridge-like access and the defense-like structure. Inside, the subsequently drawn-in gallery in the choir, the lush wall paintings and the floating baptismal font by Wolfgang Knoll as well as the unusually central altar catch the eye.

history

Entrance area
View from the gallery into the chancel

The St. Leonard's Church goes back to a foundation in 1476, were acquired as a parish benefice and 1479 Paul Knirrer first Frühmesser is documented tangible. The original chapel is said to have been built on the site of a fortification that served to secure road crossings, which was confirmed by findings during foundation work. When it was first built around 1450, wood was predominantly used, followed by stone around 1470. The chapel building also had defensive features with ramparts and moats. During the interior renovation in 1977/78, traces of paintings were discovered in the choir room. Among them were presumably holy images of St. Leonhard and St. Christophorus . The niche of a sacrament house and a consecration cross have been preserved.

Under the first pastor Paulus Hayder, who had been entrusted with church duties in Köditz since 1510, the congregation presumably accepted the Protestant confession in 1529. It received recognition as an independent Protestant parish in 1545 in a letter from the Margrave of Bayreuth, in which he confirmed the financial resources of the pastor's office.

During the Thirty Years War Köditz was attacked and looted several times. The first church building was destroyed in 1632 and rebuilt between 1638 and 1641. In addition to local aristocratic families with the Winkler von Hainfeld and the Ratisborsky von Sechzebus (see also the Unterkotzau manor ), there were also Bohemian exile families among the founding families . The church had the character of a fortified church with the partially walled churchyard and a church wall mentioned until the 18th century.

The location and the environment

The church is with its front side on the main street of the village. The church ensemble is surrounded on all sides by streets or paths, but is in the context of what was once a very dense village development. In the meantime, however, due to the demolition of the former surrounding buildings, the church ensemble is somewhat more exposed than it was in 2000.

The ensemble from the outside

The church ensemble essentially consists of the church on a raised plateau (including a wooden extension in the west), a defensive wall surrounding it , the covered bridge-like transition (in the west) and an outside staircase in the east of the complex. The slightly higher plateau (seen from the main road) on which the church building stands is surrounded by the aforementioned fortress wall, which also serves as a supporting wall for the plateau. In the past, the enclosing wall was also surrounded by a moat .

Both the bridge-like transition and the outside staircase serve as access to the elevated plateau. There is another barrier-free entrance from the rear . The church itself consists of a nave and choir as well as the wooden extension, which contains an anteroom and a staircase. The wooden extension extends to the surrounding wall. The sacristy is added to the rear (north) of the choir as an extension. The church does not have a massive tower, but only a roof turret with an onion dome in which the bells are located. The striking bridge-like transition spans the former fortress moat in an arch ( barrel vault ) and, like an arcade, is covered by a gable roof with a wooden structure that is visible below.

Furnishing

When entering the church, the first thing that catches the eye is the simple altar standing in the center under the arch, as well as the baptismal angel (see below) and the organ gallery in the choir with paintings. This constellation is relatively young. During a comprehensive church renovation in 1978, the high altar with three pictures that had previously been in the choir was removed. According to the Protestant understanding of the community, the altar was moved to the center of the community so that they could gather around the altar and celebrate the Lord's Supper in a circle. Since then, the altar has consisted of a comparatively small, roughly square wooden plate on a central pillar.

In the choir, too, seats with loose furniture (chairs) were created to emphasize the sitting around the altar. A new gallery was built above it, and the previous three altarpieces were integrated into the parapet and four more were added by Professor Hans Wiedemann.

The organ, which previously had its place on the rear side in the nave, was installed on the new gallery in the choir room. While the organ case still comes from the Heidenreich brothers' organ from 1830/31, the Deininger & Renner company manufactured today's organ. It was cleaned in 2011 by Orgelbau Friedrich (Oberasbach) and a new register was added.

The renovation measures of 1978 took account of developments in the understanding of the community at the time. The community character of a congregation that understood itself in a spiritual awakening was underlined by the new combination of the principal pieces and should thus also come into its own in the worship service.

The pulpit from 1641, donated by Caspar Conrad Joditzer, is on the right of the choir arch.

The rest of the furnishings can be attributed to the late 17th century and were partly made in the Knoll artist's workshop in Hof , which also furnished many other churches in the Hof area with works of art.

At the entrance there is a modern bronze plate and a figure of Christ by the Köditz artist Margarete Wiggen .

The lavish wall painting in large areas of the church and in the barrel-vaulted sacristy is striking . The wall paintings contain coats of arms depictions of the noble families von Feilitzsch , von Brandt , von Reitzenstein , Prückner , Winkler von Hainfeld and Weltewitz, in the sacristy those von Falkenstein and von Lilien. The coat of arms of the Falkenstein family is also the coat of arms of the political municipality of Köditz.

Floating baptismal angel

A special feature of the church is the floating baptismal angel by Wolfgang Knoll, made in 1769, which was originally hung on a rope in the choir arch. In the middle of the 19th century, the baroque angel, which was no longer felt to be contemporary, was brought to the attic. During the renovation in 1950 it was given a place next to the sacristy door in the choir, where it was installed upright. The shell-shaped bowl that he holds forward with his outstretched arms was used as a baptismal font. In 1978 it was installed again as a floating baptismal angel in the church. For baptism, it is lowered from the ceiling using a mechanical construction that has to be operated by hand. The floating baptismal angel is the only one in Upper Franconia and one of only a few of its kind in Germany that is still in use.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ St. Leonhard Köditz - 1641 . P. 9.
  2. ↑ St. Leonhard Köditz - 1641 . P. 30.

Coordinates: 50 ° 19 ′ 55.4 "  N , 11 ° 50 ′ 55.5"  E