Marienkirche (Niederweidbach)

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The Marienkirche in Niederweidbach, view from the west
Choir tower from the east

The Marienkirche is the Protestant church in the Bischoffen district of Niederweidbach in Hesse . The early Gothic fortified tower was built around 1300, the two-aisled hall church was added from 1498–1520. One of the important pieces of equipment is a late Gothic St. Mary's altar from around 1516–1518. The church shapes the townscape and is a Hessian cultural monument due to its historical, artistic, urban and scientific importance .

history

The emergence of a fortified chapel (today's church tower) in Niederweidbach around 1300 is associated with the politics of the Counts of Solms , who extended their territory to the Altenkirchen plateau. The structural findings of the church and the historical documents do not allow the church to be dated before the 14th century. In the Middle Ages Niederweidbach belonged to the parish Altenkirchen in the Archipresbyterat Wetzlar of the Archdiakonat St. Lubentius Dietkirchen in the diocese of Trier . The fortified church was a branch church of the parish Altenkirchen .

From 1350 or 1357 the Koenigsberg office was subordinate to the Count of Solms and the Hessian Landgrave. As a result of the Dernbacher feud , the important long-distance trade route ( Brabanter Strasse ), which had formerly run on the long watershed across Gladenbach , Rachelshausen , Bottenhorner Hochflächen , Schelder Forest , Angelburg (Berg) , had become too unsafe and gradually became in favor of the new one running in the Aartal Abandoned Cologne-Leipziger-Handelsstrasse. After 1357 it also ran through Niederweidbach. This trade route was u. a. also a pilgrimage route to Marburg to the grave of St. Elisabeth in the Elisabethkirche , pilgrims passed through Niederweidbach. The assumption that the Marienkirche was also a pilgrimage church cannot be substantiated from the Hessian church history.

In 1498 work began on adding a late Gothic nave to the defense tower. The completion dragged on for many years. The transmission logs of the Wetzlar archipelago in 1520 reveal irregularities in the builders' invoices. The construction is not yet completed at this point in time. The new church was dedicated to Mary.

Between 1516 and 1520, that is, in the pre-Reformation period, the congregation acquired an altar of Mary. With the introduction of the Reformation , the Niederweidbach parish changed to the Evangelical-Lutheran creed under Pastor Bernhard Aspilianus in 1533 and was probably elevated to an independent parish in the same year. A pulpit was built in 1568, a gallery in 1608 and the first organ in 1752. Important interior renovations were in 1894/1895, 1953–1955 and 1995–1998. During the last renovation, the church was again painted in the version from 1895, in the style of Art Nouveau and Historicism .

architecture

Layout
South portal marked 1498

The non geostete but oriented to the northeast, two naves from the late Gothic period has an early Gothic choir tower . Two-aisled hall churches are rarely found in the region. The white plastered building is erected on a hill in the center of the village in a prominent location above the Aartal .

The mighty, compact east tower on a square floor plan has a slate upper floor, the trumpets of which point to a former or planned battlement. The tower is slightly drawn in opposite the nave. In the 19th century it was given a new eight-sided pointed helmet with an outer circumference. The helmet is crowned by a pommel cross and weathercock. Inside, a large, deep triumphal arch with a blunt pointed arch opens the three-step choir to the nave. A chalice is depicted on the Bible on the north side of the arch and a lamb on the south side. The rib consoles of the groin vault in the choir show the devil, God in the form of a Pope with a tiara, golden leaves, a dog and another animal. The keystones show a head with wine motifs - which probably alludes to Jesus' statement I am the vine ( Joh 15,5  LUT ), the letters JHS , a snake, a cross, an eight-pointed star and two flowers.

The bell chamber houses a triple bell. The oldest and largest bell with the strike note G sharp 1 was cast by Laux Rucker in 1580 and bears the inscription: “SORINER LEHR ZV GOTIES EHR RUFICH MEIN NHCHBERN HER ZV MIR DVHT WOLVN VER DROSSEN 1 5 8 0 / HAD MICH GOSSEN A LL EIN GOD THE HONOR VND SVNSTKEIN NEM MORE LAVX RVCKER "(" For pure teaching to God's honor I call my neighbors to me. Do well (!), [Do it] undaunted Laux Rucker poured me. ”) A bell by JB Henschel from 1772 was delivered in 1917 and melted down. In 1919 the community acquired two new bells from Rincker , both of which were confiscated in 1940. The smaller bell was returned but apparently remelted in 1948 when two new bells were cast. The middle bell weighs 222 kg and bears two verses from the Bible as an inscription: “I am the light of the world. Come to me all who are troublesome and burdensome. I want to refresh you ”. The small bell with the mass of 162 kg also bears two verses from the Bible: “O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord. I am the resurrection and the life".

The nave is covered by a crooked roof. It is accessed in the south through a late Gothic pointed arch portal with garments made of red sandstone, which has stiffeners. It is marked with the year 1498. On the south side of the choir there is a priest's gate in a similar shape, but somewhat narrower, probably in the course of the new church building. The church doors were decorated around 1830 in the classicist braid style. On the western side of the gable, which has loopholes of various shapes , the dial of the church clock is attached under the crested hip. The interior is illuminated on the south side through three ogival windows with two-lane tracery . The two windows in the north and the arched window in the west of the nave as well as one window each in the north and south of the choir are undivided. An arched window is let into the west side. The east window was walled up in the 18th century when a choir organ was installed. In the three-bay nave, two mighty stone columns with battlements support the groin vault, an octagonal column in the west and a round one in the east. The vaults have tendril paintings in the style of historicism. The ribs rest on consoles and end in keystones , some of which are figurative.

Furnishing

Late Gothic sacrament niche in the choir

An early Gothic basalt baptismal font with a tracery frieze is the oldest inventory item in the church from the time the fortified chapel was built. He points out that the fortified chapel served as a baptismal font. It has stood on the triumphal arch since 1955, having previously served as a flower pot in front of the church. In the north wall of the choir there is a sacrament niche above a rotated column. The latticed niche is flanked by two stepped corner pilasters that merge into pinnacles with lily-shaped finials . In Wimperg , which is covered with crabs , the torture tools of Jesus and possibly the holy skirt from Trier are depicted. The upper cornice is covered with battlements. As before 1955, a wheel chandelier is hung in the choir .

In 1608 a wooden angled gallery was installed in the north and west, which rests on posts with round arches . The rectangular panels of the parapet show alternating green tendril ornaments on a brown background and polychrome images of the twelve apostles from the 17th century. In the southeast corner of the ship there is a wooden, olive-green parish chair with openwork, white-painted latticework in the upper half. It grants the entrance to the wood-visible Renaissance pulpit from 1568. The pulpit fields have round arches in two zones with cantilevered transoms . In the opposite north-east corner of the church there is another, similar sacristy with latticework. The simple church stalls leave a central aisle free. A spiral staircase in the northwest corner leads to the attic.

altar

The restoration of the Marian altar between 2003 and 2005 showed that all parts date from the 16th century. The altar consists of two wings, a shrine and the statues of Mary, St. James the Elder in pilgrimage and St. Nicholas with three loaves. These parts are presumably not uniform and may not have been put together until the 18th century. The altar wings are 2.10 x 0.95 meters and show scenes from the life of Mary. The painter of the panels is very likely Hans Döring , court painter to the Counts of Solms and student of Lucas Cranach the Elder . The origin of the figures covered with canvas and painted is unclear. The shrine shows stars on a blue sky and a golden halo that is too small for today's figure of Mary. The masks under the two flanking saints date from the Renaissance . The columns between the figures were added later. The cross vaults above the figures are made in the late Gothic style of the flamboyant .

The four panels with scenes from the Virgin Mary were created under the influence of Albrecht Dürer . On the outer weekday page on the left you can see Mary's visit to Elisabeth and on the right the temple passage of Mary. On the inside, the Holy Kinship is shown on the left together with the donors and on the right the Assumption and Coronation of Mary . The result of a dispute about the identification of the persons depicted on the donor board between 1953 and 1958 is that the family members of Jesus are depicted with the faces of contemporary people: Count Philipp von Solms-Lich, Bishop Richard von Greiffenklau, the painter Hans Döring and perhaps Adriana von Hanau-Münzenberg as Maria Salome.

organ

The first organ was installed in 1752 by organ builder Dreuth from Griedel. After two lightning strikes in 1892 and 1893, the instrument suffered damage and was replaced by Gustav Raßmann in 1895 . The new organ had a neo-Gothic prospect and had 15 stops on two manuals and a pedal . The instrument was rebuilt in 1954/1955 by GF Steinmeyer and Günter Hardt and the sound was rearranged. It received a free pipe prospect and a new substructure. The Raßmann pipework with 15 registers and mechanical cone chests was largely retained. The disposition is as follows:

I Manual C–
Dumped 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Hollow flute 8th'
Flute 4 ′
Fifth 3 ′
Gemshorn 2 ′
Mixture V 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Trumpet 8th'
II Manual C–
Dumped 8th'
Principal 4 ′
octave 2 ′
Sharp 1'
Pedal C–
Sub bass 16 ′
Octave bass 8th'
recorder 4 ′

literature

  • 802–2002 - Weidbach 1200 years - A home book. Published by the Weidbacher Vereine eV interest group in 2002 for the 1200th anniversary of Niederweidbach and Oberweidbach.
  • Karl-Bernd Beierlein: Report on the interior renovation of the Evangelical Church in Niederweidbach. In: Dieter Schwarz (Hrsg.): 500 years Marienkirche in Niederweidbach. Wetzlardruck, Wetzlar 2001, pp. 67-79.
  • Günter E. Th. Bezzenberger; Beatus Fischer (Ed.): Churches worth seeing in the church areas of Hesse and Nassau and Kurhessen-Waldeck, including the Rhine-Hessian church districts of Wetzlar and Braunfels. Evangelical Press Association Kurhessen-Waldeck and Evangelical Press Association Hesse and Nassau, Kassel / Frankfurt 1987.
  • Georg Dehio : Handbook of German art monuments , Hessen I. Administrative districts of Giessen and Kassel. Edited by Folkhard Cremer, Tobias Michael Wolf and others. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich a. a. 2008, ISBN 978-3-422-03092-3 .
  • Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany . Cultural monuments in Hessen. Lahn-Dill-Kreis II. Theiss-Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 978-3-8062-1652-3 .
  • Andreas Dittmann: The Marienkirche in Niederweidbach. Church building and artistic creation as instruments of late medieval political interests in the Hessian hinterland. In: Interest group Weidbacher Vereine e. V. (Ed.): 802-2002. Weidbach 1200 years. A home book. Druckhaus Marburg, Marburg 2002, pp. 61–99.
  • Hermann Kloos: In the headwaters of the Aar. Our closer home then and now. I. Volume. Niederweidbach 1967.
  • Hermann Kloos: In the headwaters of the Aar. Our closer home then and now. II. Volume. Niederweidbach 1968.
  • Ferdinand Luthmer (edit.): The architectural and art monuments of the districts of Biedenkopf, Dill, Oberwesterwald and Westerburg. Heinrich Keller, Frankfurt am Main 1910, pp. 48-50 ( online ).
  • Frank W. Rudolph: Our Marien Altar after the restoration. In: Together. Community letter of the Evangelical Church Community Niederweidbach, No. 41, March to April 2005, pp. 18–23.
  • Frank W. Rudolph: Döring, Hans. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon . Vol. 28. Traugott Bautz, Nordhausen 2007, Col. 453-463.
  • Frank W. Rudolph: Philipp von Solms-Lich. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon . Vol. 28. Traugott Bautz, Nordhausen 2007, Sp. 1259-1263.
  • Frank W. Rudolph: The Protestant St. Mary's Church in Niederweidbach and its St. Mary's altar. Church history. Village history. Regional history. Bautz, Nordhausen 2009, ISBN 978-3-88309-533-2 .
  • Dieter Schwarz: The History of the Evangelical Luth. Parish Niederweidbach. In: Interest group Weidbacher Vereine e. V. (Ed.): 802-2002. Weidbach 1200 years. A home book. Druckhaus Marburg, Marburg 2002, 36–60.
  • Friedrich Uhlhorn: History of the Counts of Solms in the Middle Ages. University printing house Joh.Aug. Koch, Marburg 1931.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Evangelical Parish Church In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse
  2. ↑ Rudolph: Evangelical Marienkirche Niederweidbach. A Brief Guide , p. 3.
  3. ^ Gerhard Kleinfeldt, Hans Weirich: The medieval church organization in the Upper Hessian-Nassau area (= writings of the Institute for historical regional studies of Hesse and Nassau 16 ). NG Elwert, Marburg 1937, ND 1984, p. 192.
  4. ↑ Rudolph: The Protestant Marienkirche in Niederweidbach and its Marienaltar. 2009, p. 16.
  5. ↑ Rudolph: Evangelical Marienkirche Niederweidbach. A Brief Guide , pp. 5-6.
  6. ↑ a b Rudolph: Evangelical Marienkirche Niederweidbach. A Brief Guide , p. 5.
  7. ↑ Niederweidbach. Historical local dictionary for Hesse (as of February 14, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). Hessian State Office for Historical Cultural Studies (HLGL), accessed on April 19, 2020 .
  8. ^ Frank W. Rudolph: 475 Years of the Niederweidbach Parish , accessed on April 19, 2020.
  9. ↑ Rudolph: Evangelical Marienkirche Niederweidbach. A Brief Guide , p. 6.
  10. ↑ Luthmer: The architectural and art monuments of the Biedenkopf, Dill, Oberwesterwald and Westerburg districts. 1910, p. 48 ( online ).
  11. ↑ a b c d e Dehio: Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler, Hessen I. 2008.
  12. ↑ Rudolph: The Protestant Marienkirche in Niederweidbach and its Marienaltar. 2009, pp. 59-60.
  13. ↑ a b Rudolph: News about the Marienkirche , accessed on April 19, 2020.
  14. ↑ Hellmut Schliephake: Bell customer of the district of Wetzlar. In: Heimatkundliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft Lahntal e. V. 12th yearbook. 1989, ISSN  0722-1126 , pp. 5-150, here p. 140.
  15. ↑ Rudolph: Evangelical Marienkirche Niederweidbach. A Brief Guide , p. 8.
  16. ↑ Luthmer: The architectural and art monuments of the Biedenkopf, Dill, Oberwesterwald and Westerburg districts. 1910, p. 49 ( online ).
  17. ↑ Rudolph: The Protestant Marienkirche in Niederweidbach and its Marienaltar. 2009, p. 64.
  18. ↑ Rudolph: Our Marien Altar after the restoration , accessed on April 19, 2020.
  19. ↑ Rudolph: Evangelical Marienkirche Niederweidbach. A Brief Guide , p. 9.
  20. ^ Franz Bösken: Sources and research on the organ history of the Middle Rhine (=  contributions to the Middle Rhine music history . Volume 7.2 ). tape 2 : The area of ​​the former administrative district of Wiesbaden. Part 2: L-Z . Schott, Mainz 1975, ISBN 3-7957-1370-6 , p. 675 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 42 ′ 13.3 "  N , 8 ° 29 ′ 1.1"  E