Marienkirche (Owen)

Marienkirche Owen

The Marienkirche is a Gothic church in Owen in the Esslingen district in Baden-Württemberg . The church was once the burial place of the Dukes of Teck , was badly damaged in the Second World War and then rebuilt.

history

The first church on the site of today's Marienkirche was probably built at the time of the Franconian conquest . The church was expanded several times and became the burial place of the Dukes of Teck , who had their seat in Teck Castle above the village. In addition to St. Mary's Church, there were two other churches in Owen in the high Middle Ages, each consecrated to Peter: one on the market square, the other as a monastery church in the area of today's cemetery.

The early construction history of the Marienkirche is largely unknown. The old floor of the previous Romanesque building has been preserved at a depth of one meter below ground level, and the basement of the tower also dates back to Romanesque times. The church was given its present form essentially in the late 14th century in the Gothic style. It is not known what was decisive for the extensive expansion of the dukes' burial place, a few years before they had to sell their home land around the Teck to Württemberg . The increase in the floor level and the high surrounding walls suggest that the new building should be designed as a fortified church .

In the course of the Reformation in Württemberg, the church became Protestant in the first half of the 16th century . Various construction measures in the late 16th century illustrate the transformation of the church into a sermon church: in 1566 a pulpit was attached to the church, in 1579/80 the altars were removed and galleries moved in as part of a renovation . The renovation at that time could have been carried out by Heinrich Schickhardt , who built Mössingen Castle around 1580 , the owner of which was related to a citizen of Owen. In 1620 the choir was renovated and painted. During the Thirty Years' War , Pastor Wölflin from Owen fled to Nürtingen , where he was murdered with Bible in hand. This Bible became known as the Nürtinger Blood Bible .

In 1685 an organ was installed on the second floor of the gallery. In 1745 the tower structure had to be renewed. Instead of a stone structure, the tower was given a half-timbered tower . In 1756 damage to the tower and choir caused by lightning was repaired. In 1824 the galleries were enlarged and the pulpit was moved to the choir arch. In the following decades there was bitter poverty in Owen, mainly because of famine, so that further renovations of the church were not carried out. The Association for Art in Ulm and Upper Swabia therefore turned to King Wilhelm I in May 1851 with the request to finance an urgently needed renovation. The king promised 6000 guilders from the court treasury as well as the personal assumption of any further costs. From January to September 1852 the church was extensively renovated. Among other things, the altar in the nave was demolished, a baptismal font set up, a new roof structure erected over the choir, an internal staircase to the gallery (instead of a weathered external staircase) installed, a new floor laid, the choir floor lowered and the facade revised.

In 1893 an altar of thanks for the good harvest year 1892 was set up in the choir. In 1896 a heater was built into the church. In 1898 part of the ceiling collapsed, which was followed by another extensive renovation of the church. In 1903 the upper part of the tower was in need of renovation, rotten beams were replaced and the tower was re-covered with copper. In 1920 the church was connected to the electricity network.

During an American air raid on April 21, 1945, a fire projectile set the spire on fire. The tower burned out completely. The nave remained intact for the time being, except for a shell impact in the roof. On April 29th, the tower caught fire again, presumably due to an incompletely extinguished remains of embers. The fire spread to the roof of the main nave, which collapsed while burning over the main nave, destroying large parts of the interior of the church.

The rebuilding of the church took seven years. Because of the chaotic post-war conditions and the lack of material, only clean-up work and a makeshift covering of the church could be carried out in 1945. From autumn 1946 to spring 1947 the roofs were renewed, then new galleries were drawn in, the church was plastered again and then a new organ, new pulpit and baptismal font as well as benches were installed. On the 3rd Advent 1949 the nave was consecrated again. In autumn 1951, three bells cast by Kutz in Stuttgart were received in Owen, and the first building materials for the reconstruction of the tower arrived. The tower structure was rebuilt from tuff stone from March to July 1952, the bells were raised on August 25, 1952 and the reconstruction of the church was completed with the consecration of the bells on September 7, 1952.

In the second half of the 20th century, further renovations of the church took place. In 1976/77 static defects on the nave, especially on the west gable, were repaired and weathered parts of the choir wall were renewed. Since the central ribs of the Gothic windows in particular also had to be renewed, new choir windows designed by Gerhard Dreher were also procured . In 1981 the tower roof had to be renovated after falling ridge tiles had penetrated the choir roof. In the years from 1982 to 1988, numerous other redevelopment measures followed, in which deficiencies from the period of reconstruction that were often due to the shortage economy in the post-war years were remedied. The interior of the church was also newly plastered and repainted.

description

The Marienkirche is a three-aisled stacked church with an east-facing choir . It has a high central nave, which is flanked by two low aisles. All ships are spanned by a common roof. The walls of the inner nave are supported by two rows of columns, each with three round and two half-columns. The central nave is spanned by a flat wooden ceiling, the side aisles have sloping ceilings. As a staggered church, the Marienkirche therefore forms a transition form from the basilica to the hall church . To the east, the central nave is opened to the Gothic choir with a high choir arch , which has high pointed arched windows with tracery as well as a slender cross-ribbed vault. To the north of the choir is the church tower, which still has Romanesque features from the 12th century in the basement , the upper half of which, however, was only built in its current form after the destruction in World War II. In the west as well as in the side aisles there are galleries , the organ of the church is on the west gallery . A statue of the Virgin Mary from the time the nave was built is attached to the west gable above the portal.

The structural characteristics as well as some inscriptions allow the nave to be dated to the late 14th century. On one of the pillars is the raised bust and the name of Funk Spett , which is recorded in Owen between 1373 and 1383. The bust was created together with the column.

Furnishing

The altar of the church was painted by Konrad Weiß around 1500. The center shrine shows the Descent from the Cross, Saints Lucia and Oswald can be seen on the left wing, Barbara and the disciple Bartholomew on the right wing . The large crucifix in the choir dates from the 17th century. From around 1850 to 1920 it was temporarily no longer found to be up-to-date and was no longer installed.

On the north wall of the choir is an epitaph for Konrad Barner, the first Protestant pastor in the community , dating from around 1570 . On the south side there is a memorial plaque for the bailiff Joachim Bayer mentioned in the baptismal register in 1559.

In the background of the choir is the grave slab of Konrad II von Teck († 1292). According to the inscription on the plate, other dukes of Teck were also buried under it. There are other historical grave slabs in the choir. The one of Katharina von Janowitz geb. von Schilling (1575–1611), five more panels are incorporated into the choir floor.

organ

The first organ was built in 1685 with 9 registers on a manual and pedal . In 1855, the community acquired a used instrument that had been built by the organ builder Weigle with 13 stops on two manuals and a pedal. This instrument was expanded several times, but fell victim to the church fire in 1945.

Between 1946 and 1949, the organ building company EF Walcker & Cie. (Ludwigsburg) a new organ based on plans by Walter Supper. The instrument had 26 registers on two manuals and a pedal, but it proved to be very prone to failure as early as 1985, so that on the occasion of the renovation in 1985 a new building was commissioned by the organ building company Mühleisen (Leonberg). The late baroque instrument has 30 registers (1998 pipes) on two manuals and pedal. The playing and stop actions are mechanical.

I Hauptwerk C – g ³
1.	Principal	16 ′
2.	Principal	8th'
3.	Gamba	8th'
4th	Bourdon	8th'
5.	Octave	4 ′
6th	flute	4 ′
7th	Fifth	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
8th.	Octave	2 ′
9.	Cornet V	8th'
10.	Mixture V	2 ′
11.	Trumpet	8th'

II Swell C – g ³
12.	Wooden dacked	8th'
13.	Salicional	8th'
14th	Voix célèste	8th'
15th	Principal	4 ′
16.	Reed flute	4 ′
17th	Principal	2 ′
18th	Nazard	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
19th	third	1 ³ ⁄ ₅  ′
20th	Fifth	1 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′
21st	Mixture IV	1 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′
22nd	Cromorne	8th'
	Tremulant

Pedal C – f ¹
23.	Wooden principal	16 ′
24.	Sub bass	16 ′
25th	Principal	8th'
26th	cello	8th'
27.	Octave	4 ′
28.	mixture	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
29	trombone	16 ′
30th	Trumpet	8th'

Coupling: II / I, I / P, II / P

Bells

The ringing of the Marienkirche consists of five bells. The oldest bell is the hour bell from 1472, which strikes the full hour, is tuned to tone e 'and weighs around 1300 kg. In 1951 three new bells were added: the baptismal bell strikes the quarter of an hour, is tuned to b 'and weighs 296 kg, the Our Father's bell rings at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., is tuned to G sharp and weighs 507 kg, the prayer bell strikes f sharp and weighs 742 kg. In 1957, the ringing was supplemented by the 1766 kg, tuned to c sharp death bell.