Minster St. Johannes

St. Johannes Minster in Bad Mergentheim

Tower of the minster seen from the market square

The St. Johannes Minster , also called St. Johannes Baptist Minster , is a Catholic church building in Bad Mergentheim . Its bell tower is one of the city's landmarks.

history

The St. John's Church was built between 1250 and 1274 by the Order of St. John as an early Gothic pillar basilica . Before that, there was a chapel dedicated to Saint Kilian on the site.

In 1498 the Anna chapel was added to the south transept. In 1554, the Teutonic Order acquired the entire property of the Johanniter and carried out renovations. The previous flat ceiling of the central nave of the Johanneskirche has been replaced by a ribbed vault ; the vaults were decorated with the Renaissance paintings that are still preserved today .

The bell tower was built in several stages. The bottom four floors date from the time of the builder. In 1445 the tower was increased by two floors. From 1594 to 1618 the gallery characteristic of the tower and the dome- shaped tower onion on the octagon were built.

In 1983 the church was made a minster.

An extensive renovation is currently taking place from 2017 to probably the end of 2021.

Furnishing

Nave with galleries and organ

The interior of the church is kept simple.

On the southern pillars of the central nave and on the west wall of the intermediate gallery there are still some wall paintings that were created around the year 1300. There are also some wooden sculptures from the period up to the beginning of the 16th century, such as the Pietà on the south nave pillar (around 1400), the sculpture of Anna herself on the south nave wall (around 1525) and the figure of the saint Sebastian on the north pillar of the nave (around 1500). There is a stone sculpture of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (around 1400) on the north-eastern pillar of the central nave . Most of the other sculptures date from the 18th and 19th centuries.

In the choir there is a wooden crucifixion group from 1669. The pulpit and the choir stalls are remains of the neo-Gothic furnishings. In the north aisle and in the Anna chapel there are tombs of important members of the Teutonic Order from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Organ front with veil

organ

The organ consists of a baroque organ front with a newer organ work. The prospectus comes from an instrument made by the organ builder Johann Anton Ehrlich in the years 1772–1773. The organ work was built in 1972 by the Walcker organ building company. The slider chest work has 35 stops on two manuals and pedal . The action actions are mechanical, the stop actions are electro-pneumatic.

I positive C-g 3 1. Wood-covered 8th' 2. Reed flute 4 ′ 3. Super octave 2 ′ 4th Quintan II 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ 5. Scharff III – IV 1' 6th oboe 8th'

II Hauptwerk C – g 3 7th Covered 16 ′ 8th. Principal 8th' 9. Lead-covered 8th' 10. octave 4 ′ 11. Gemshorn 4 ′ 12. Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ 13. Forest flute 2 ′ 14th Piffaro II 2 ′ 15th Mixture V-VI 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ 16. Trumpet 8th'

III Swell C – g 3 17th Sif flute 8th' 18th Cane quintad 8th' 19th Principal 4 ′ 20th Hollow flute 4 ′ 21st Sesquialter 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ 22nd Schwiegel 2 ′ 23. Fifth flute 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ 24. Sharp Cymbal IV 1 ⁄ 2 ′ 25th Dulcian 16 ′ 26th Krummhorn 8th'

Pedals C – f 1 27. Principal bass 16 ′ 28. Sub-bass 16 ′ 29 Fifth bass 10 2 ⁄ 3  ′ 30th Octave bass 8th' 31. Pommer 8th' 32. Chorale bass 4 ′ 33. Rauschwerk IV 8th' 34. trombone 16 ′ 35. Clarine 4 ′

• Coupling : I / II, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P

Bells

A six-part bronze bell hangs in the tower of the Johannesmünster.

No.	Surname	Casting year	Caster	Weight (kg)	Nominal
1	Christ the King	1965	Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling, Heidelberg	2300	c 1
2	Maria	1951	Heinrich Kurtz, Stuttgart	1360	it 1
3	Fallen memorial bell	1951	Heinrich Kurtz, Stuttgart	950	f 1
4th	John	1965	Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling, Heidelberg	700	g 1
5	Joseph	1951	Heinrich Kurtz, Stuttgart	400	b 1
6th	Martinus	1972	Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling, Heidelberg	302	c 2

Minster treasure

The minster treasure of St. Johannes Baptist documents liturgical vessels and devices from the late Gothic to the present day.

Web links

Commons : Münster St. Johannes Bad Mergentheim  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the parish of St. John
• Johanniterkommende Mergentheim in the database of monasteries in Baden-Württemberg of the Baden-Württemberg State Archives

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See also the basic information about the Münster Church on the website of the community
2. ↑ Website of the cathedral , reports on the renovation of the cathedral , accessed June 15, 2019.
3. ↑ Information on the organ
4. ↑ Sound recording of the peal
5. ↑ Liebliches Taubertal: Museums . Online at www.liebliches-taubertal.de. Retrieved September 13, 2019.

Coordinates: 49 ° 29 ′ 29.3 "  N , 9 ° 46 ′ 22.6"  E