Margarethenkirche Voitsberg
The Margarethenkirche was a Roman Catholic church building in the municipality of Voitsberg in western Styria . It was first mentioned in the beginning of the 12th century and was removed in 1890 due to the approaching mining on lignite. It was consecrated to Saint Margaret of Antioch and served as the parish church of Voitsberg for a long time. Since 2004 a memorial has been commemorating the church.
location
The location of the former church and the surrounding area have changed significantly due to mining. However, the location can still be localized today using the land register plan from 1823. It was located on today's Schießplatzstraße in the cadastral municipality of Tregist, which belongs to Voitsberg . According to the old cadastral plan, the church grounds comprised parcels no. 251–306 of the cadastral community Voitsberg-Vorstadt, with the core of the complex with construction area and cemetery on parcel no. 305. The parish church had building area No. 79, the cemetery chapel was No. 80, the rectory was at No. 77 and the outbuilding at the rectory was building area No. 78.
Today there is a memorial and memorial site at the former location of the church.
history
The Margarethenkirche was first mentioned on January 7, 1103 together with the Stadelhof Zedernitz, the original settlement center of Voitsberg. After the founding of the city of Voitsberg, disputes arose again and again as to whether the Margarethenkirche should continue to be used as a parish church. Due to indulgences , the church experienced new popularity in 1475, 1500 and 1519. Presumably in the 15th century, the church was expanded to the east by adding a choir . In 1513 the Michaelkirche was named the new parish church. The previous flat-roofed nave was vaulted in 1531 and a new vault is likely in the 17th century. The steeple was added to the church in 1538. From 1645 the Margarethenkirche served as a parish church for the rural communities belonging to Voitsberg, but the services in this church were rarely attended, the organ was no longer played and the baptisms also took place in the Michaelkirche. A baptismal font was set up in 1646. Another indulgence in 1715 as well as foundations by residents of the surrounding area in 1714, 1753, 1769 and 1783 brought the Margarethenkirche renewed upswing and should ensure its continued existence. The church windows were baroque in the course of the 18th century . In the course of Josephinism , the church was viewed as a superfluous place of worship in 1785 and officially closed, but could be reopened in 1791. The parish rights finally passed in 1812 from the country parish to the Josefskirche . After 1823 a new sacristan's house was built.
The vault next to the church tower was badly damaged by a lightning strike in 1831 and iron locks had to be drawn in as a precaution in the entire nave and in the choir to avoid further damage. Despite these precautionary measures, there were still problems with the vault, which even went so far that from March 23, 1860, the church was officially closed by a building commission from Graz due to the danger of collapse . The pastor tried to restore it in the following years. The company Edmund Welzig & Anton Sczureck started mining on brown coal in 1856 with the construction of the St. Johannes Nepomuk tunnel on the church property . In the following year, the gallery was taken over by the Graz-Köflacher Railway and Mining Company (GKB). Mining continued to affect the church when, from 1873, several church grounds were replaced by the GKB. When one of the tunnels collapsed on the church grounds in 1876, the dean initially asked for a redemption and compensation, but finally agreed with the GKB to lease the grounds. On January 5, 1880, the total redemption by the GKB finally became legally binding. This further urged that the entire church property should be sold and finally also led an expropriation procedure against the church. The pastor was forced to sell the entire church property. With the opening of the new city cemetery in Tregist , many of the graves were transferred there and the gravestones that were set into the church wall were partially transferred to the cloister of the Carmelite monastery at the request of the grave owner . Until the beginning of 1889, the last annual worship services were also transferred to the St. Joseph's Church. When it became clear that the church was about to be demolished, the pastor decided in the spring of 1889 to execute the church. The capsules with the relics were removed from the Altarmensen on May 29, 1889 and transferred to St. Joseph's Church in a solemn procession. On June 14, 1890, the commission responsible for the demolition met for the last time in the church. In the following days, the complete demolition of the church building began.
Based on the pastor Erich Linhardt, a memorial site was opened in the summer of 2004 at the former location of the church.
description
Only sparse descriptions of the church have come down to us. These include the oldest surviving church inventory from 1811 and a description of the church by August Janisch from 1888. The cemetery was located around the church, which in turn was surrounded by a wall with access gates. The floor plan of the church was 16 meters long and 8 meters wide. The massive church tower connected to the fourth yoke of the nave to the south and had a high tent roof . There were three bells hanging in the tower, the largest of which was from the Middle Ages. The middle of the bells was cast by Franz Sales Feltl in Graz in 1772 and the smallest bell was made by Martin Feltl, who cast it in Graz in 1719. The sacristy was attached to the choir to the north.
The four-bay, single-nave nave was essentially Romanesque and had an originally Gothic barrel vault without vaulting ribs , which was seated on pillars in front of it , and which may have come from the 17th century. In the end, only the actual choir bay came from the Gothic period. The late Gothic choir had a three-eighth polygon closure . On Fronbogen an inscription to the lightning in 1831. reminded the ground floor of the church tower it was last in a baptistery.
The main altar was baroque and redesigned in 1727. The altarpiece, created shortly before 1727, has been on a side altar in St. Joseph's Church since 1958 and shows Saint Margaret with a cross and flanked by a dragon, which she has in hand with a pair of tongs. The martyrdom of the saints is depicted in the background of the picture. In addition, there were two figures of Saints Barbara and Walburga on the high altar, which are also located in St. Joseph's Church today. The Marian and the cross altar were first mentioned in 1538. The altar of Mary had a large altarpiece which shows St. Mary with the baby Jesus as she hands over a rosary to St. Dominic . The small altarpiece depicts the Holy Trinity . There was also a figure of St. Nicholas on the altar . It is possible that the Marien Altar was redesigned in 1752. The large altarpiece of the cross altar showed the crucifixion of Christ and the small picture showed a representation of St. George . A figure of St. Benedict stood at the altar. Another side altar, consecrated to St. Vitus , dates from 1682. Two new side altars were consecrated on May 21, 1727 to St. Mary and Joseph of Nazareth and St. Vitus and George. In the baptistery there was a picture depicting the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist .
On the left side of the fron arch, and thus between the nave and the choir, was the pulpit , accessible via a small wooden staircase , which came from the same time as the two side altars. The baroque relief pictures on the pulpit showed the four church teachers . The sound cover was crowned with two angel figures and the Holy Spirit in the shape of a dove. The organ was mentioned repeatedly in the church inventories of the 19th century, but was not described in detail. It had eight registers and in the end only 40 of the wooden organ pipes worked . The tabernacle from 1536 stood on the northern choir wall. The church windows were baroque in the 18th century. The vault in the nave and in the first choir bay was adorned with frescoes that are reminiscent of works by Joseph Adam von Mölk and originate from the late 18th century. The frescoes on the front arch showed the Last Supper .
The cemetery chapel was first mentioned in 1752 as Karner and was consecrated to Saint Wolfgang von Regensburg . An altar consecration in 1682 in honor of St. Wolfgang probably goes back to a redesign of this chapel in the 17th century. The rectory was to the west of the church and was described as dilapidated in the mid-16th century. After 1586 the old rectory was replaced by a new building, which was redesigned in the late baroque style in the second half of the 18th century .
Memorial and memorial
Since the summer of 2004 , a memorial and memorial site designed by Franz Weiss and Michael Gumhold has been located at the former site of the church . This consists of a wayside shrine and cross-shaped tables and benches, which serve as a kind of marking. There are also several showcases on the site, which show pictures and information about the old church.
literature
- Ernst Lasnik: Voitsberg - portrait of a city and its surroundings . tape 3 . Municipality of Voitsberg, Voitsberg 2012, p. 22-27 .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d Walter Brunner (Ed.): History and topography of the Voitsberg district . tape 3 . Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv, Graz 2011, p. 22 .
- ^ A b c d Walter Brunner (Ed.): History and topography of the Voitsberg district . tape 3 . Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv, Graz 2011, p. 27 .
- ↑ 900 years of the church in Voitsberg. www.voitsberg.graz-seckau.at, accessed on October 19, 2019 .
- ^ A b c d e Walter Brunner (Ed.): History and topography of the Voitsberg district . tape 3 . Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv, Graz 2011, p. 23 .
- ^ Walter Brunner (ed.): History and topography of the Voitsberg district . tape 3 . Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv, Graz 2011, p. 26 .
- ^ A b c d Walter Brunner (Ed.): History and topography of the Voitsberg district . tape 3 . Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv, Graz 2011, p. 24 .
- ^ A b c d e Walter Brunner (Ed.): History and topography of the Voitsberg district . tape 3 . Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv, Graz 2011, p. 25 .
Web links
Coordinates: 47 ° 3 '2.4 " N , 15 ° 9' 23.2" E