Marienkirche (Watzendorf)

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Parish church Watzendorf

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Mary in Watzendorf in Upper Franconia , a part of Großheirath in the district of Coburg , dates back to 1733. The church has the only surviving organ from the Sesslach organ builder Johann Conrad Schöpf (1692–1752), which is one of the most outstanding baroque organs in Upper Franconia becomes.

history

Fresco on the south wall in the choir room

A church consecrated to the Virgin Mary was probably already in the 14th century in Watzendorf, in 1405 it was first mentioned in a lost document and it is documented for 1435. The oldest part is the basement of the church tower, which dates back to at least the second half of the 14th century and has frescoes from the 15th century in the choir . In 1452 the Würzburg bishop Gottfried IV. Schenk of Limpurg raised Watzendorf to an independent community. Previously, the community belonged to the original parish of Altenbanz, seven kilometers away .

On the occasion of the first Protestant church visitation by Electoral Saxony in 1528/29, the pastor Johann Horolt ​​was appointed as the first Protestant clergyman. Presumably the church was destroyed in the Thirty Years War . Construction defects and a growing population caused the parish to commission the Coburg court mason Johann Georg Brückner with the construction of the nave for 1200 guilders and 24 species thalers in 1728 . After the demolition, the foundation stone was laid in May 1729 and the roof was covered in early 1730. On July 2, 1733, the new church was consecrated. Private foundations made it possible to erect a new organ and in 1743 to design the flat ceiling . In 1803/04 the church tower was given its present shape with a new hood. Renovations were carried out on the nave in 1857, 1957/58 and on the church tower in 1965.

Building description

inner space
Ceiling painting Transfiguration of Jesus

The choir tower church , which resembles the margrave style, stands in the center of the village and is surrounded by a church wall.

The three-storey church tower is structured by cornices and has columns of light below and pointed arched windows on the top floor. He wears a disguised, octagonal curly helmet with a lantern and a small onion. The 3.9 meter long and wide chancel in the tower is spanned by a rib-free cross vault and has a rectangular window on the south and east side and a door to the sacristy on the north side . The walls are painted with late Gothic frescoes that were exposed in 1956/58. On the south wall, among other things, Mary with the baby Jesus in her arms and the holy women Elisabeth , Katharina and Helena are depicted. On the east wall, Saint Andrew can be recognized by the St. Andrew's cross and Thomas by the lance. Semicircular wall fields ( lunettes ) with fine, colored tendrils are above the figurative representations.

A high, round triumphal arch connects the choir with the 19.7 meter long and 10.7 meter wide nave. This is spanned by a flat ceiling and has a three-storey gallery on the long sides and a two-storey gallery on the transverse side . The parapets are painted with rococo scrolls. The plastered ceiling is alternately decorated in the corners with Saxon diamond- shaped wreath coats of arms and the intertwined initials of the dukes of Saxony-Coburg-Saalfeld Christian Ernst and Franz Josias , each under the ducal crown. In the middle of the ceiling there are two oval fields with paintings depicting Moses on Mount Sinai and the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount ( Tabor ).

The facade has five axes each with two rows of windows on the south and north sides. A cornice separates the rows of windows on the south side. In the middle of the facade there are entrance doors below. The rectangular windows are decorated with ears and profiles. The large rectangular main entrance is located in the middle of the three-axis west side. It is profiled with throats and round bars and framed by Doric pilasters , on the entablature of which a broken round arched gable with the diamond- shaped wreath coat of arms is arranged under the crown. The upper, central window in the west gable is bricked up because of the organ behind it. Pilasters adorn the corners of the building. A simple gable roof forms the upper end.

Furnishing

The pulpit on the southern triumphal arch pillar dates from 1731. It rests on a figure of John the Baptist with a cross in his right hand and a wooden baptismal bowl in the left, on which a semi-oval pewter baptismal bowl with an angel's face can be placed. The pulpit support is probably the work of the Coburg sculptor Georg Kaufmann. The pulpit staircase is closed with a door.

In the parish church of St. John the Baptist in Seßlach there is a late Gothic wooden figure of Our Lady, known as the Watzendorfer Madonna. It is possible that this once stood in the Watzendorfer Marienkirche. There is no evidence for this.

organ

organ

At the beginning of the 18th century there was an organ in Watzendorf , which was sold to Grub am Forst in 1734 . Between 1732 and 1734, the organ builder from Seßlach, Johann Conrad Schöpf, built a new organ on the west gallery for 14 Reichstaler . In 1809 the Neustadt organ builder Johann Andreas Hofmann rebuilt the instrument. In 1917 the historical prospect pipes had to be delivered. In 1921 it was repaired by Karl Herig from Rodach , who installed new prospect pipes, among other things, and in 1981 it was revised by the Hey organ builder from Urspringen in the Rhön .

The organ is the only one that has survived from Johann Conrad Schöpf. The Schöpf family created at least 27 organs in Upper Franconia in three generations. Between 2011 and 2012, the instrument, which is one of the outstanding baroque organs in Upper Franconia, was extensively restored by Linder Organ Builders . The subsequent changes were dismantled and the full functionality of the instrument from 1734 and 1809 was restored.

Among other things, the original bellows were reconstructed and installed in the attic in the partially preserved beams. In addition, the keyboards were renewed in the style of Johann Andreas Hofmann, the mechanics, the wind chests , the historic pipes and many preserved individual parts were restored.

The organ has 14 registers , which are distributed over two manuals and a pedal . Since 2012 the instrument has the following disposition :

I Manual C – d 3
1. Principal 8th'
2. Gemshorn 8th'
3. Octave 4 ′
4th Dumped 4 ′
5. Fifth 3 ′
6th Super octave 2 ′
7th Mixture III 1'
II Manual C – d 3
8th. Coarse 8th'
9. Viola di gamba 8th'
10. Salicional 8th'
11. Hollow flutes 4 ′
Pedal C – c 1
12. Violon bass 16 ′
13. Sub bass 16 ′
14th Octave bass 8th'
  • Coupling : manual coupler as sliding coupler, pedal coupler to I. Manual as valve coupler
  • Tremulant : Canal tremulant acting on both manuals
  • Tuning pitch: a 1 = 466 Hz at 15 ° C (= Cornett tone )
  • Mood : 1 / 6 -Komma

The seven-part organ front consists of pipe towers sloping down at the sides. The central round tower is flanked by high, concave rectangular fields that are connected to the outer pointed towers by low round towers. Two carved angels, blowing the trumpet, and veils, as well as blind wings made of acanthus foliage decorate the spruce wood casing, which is held in blue, red and gold.

Parish

The Kirchsprengel includes the Eigendörfer , which in addition to Watzendorf are the two neighboring towns of Gossenberg and Neuses an den Eichen with a total of 470 parishioners. Until 1811 Welsberg and until 1839 Schafhof belonged to the parish. Together with the parish of Schottenstein , Watzendorf has formed a joint parish since 1980.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gabi Arnold: Finishing touches on a restored organ , in: Neue Presse , July 17, 2012 ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / mobil.np-coburg.de
  2. ^ Gerd Ackermann: Watzendorf . In: Evangelical parishes in the Coburg region. Verlag der Ev.-Luth. Mission Erlangen, Erlangen 1984, ISBN 3-87214-202-X , pp. 205f
  3. ^ A b Rainer Axmann: Großheirath, Rossach, Watzendorf. Church history and history of their churches . In: Helmut Schöttner: Community of Großheirath - from past and present . Großheirath 2013, ISBN 978-3-00-042206-5 , pp. 211f
  4. ↑ a b c Paul Lehfeldt : Architectural and Art Monuments of Thuringia, Booklet XXXII. Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Jena 1906, p. 465f
  5. ^ Rainer Axmann: Großheirath, Rossach, Watzendorf. Church history and history of their churches . In: Helmut Schöttner: Community of Großheirath - from past and present . Großheirath 2013, ISBN 978-3-00-042206-5 , pp. 220, 221
  6. ^ A b Hermann Fischer, Theodor Wohnhaas: Old Orgeln im Coburger Land, Part II. Yearbook of the Coburg State Foundation 1970, p. 219f
  7. ^ Eckart Kollmer: The Johann Conrad Schöpf organ in the Marienkirche in Watzendorf . In: Helmut Schöttner: Community of Großheirath - from past and present . Großheirath 2013, ISBN 978-3-00-042206-5 , p. 223
  8. ^ Linder organ building

Coordinates: 50 ° 11 ′ 19.8 ″  N , 10 ° 53 ′ 16.1 ″  E