Marienkirche (Zorbau)
The Marienkirche in Zorbau is one of the oldest churches in the Burgenland district in Saxony-Anhalt . It belongs to the parish Weissenfels-southeast in the church district Merseburg Evangelical Church in Central Germany .
It was originally built around 1000 as a Romanesque fortified church. It is at the entrance to the village. It is easy to miss, especially in summer, as there are large trees in front of it.
history
Zorbau is mentioned as early as the 11th century. Uda, the sister of Count Palatine Friedrich II died according to the Goseck monastery chronicle in 1088 "apud curtem suam Zurbavio" (on her estate in Zorbau) and was buried in Goseck. Uda is considered to be the founder of the Zorbauer Church.
The church has changed over the years. In the different epochs this happened as follows:
Romanesque
The church is originally a Romanesque fortified church. On the west side is the tower, which is broken through by six sound holes with Romanesque round arches, two in the broad and one in the narrow sides. Tower and ship are made from one piece. The tower probably had a simple tiled roof. It is striking that the church was built from carefully hewn rubble stones. In the nave there were two small arched windows on the south and north sides near the ceiling. The interior of the nave and the choir had flat ceilings (remains can be seen in the tower under the organ). The width of the floor plan of the choir was and is narrower than the nave. The nave and choir are connected by a triumphal arch. The nave is almost square and the choir is rectangular. As was customary at the time, the choir was closed off by an apse. On the west side of the nave there were two arched passages to the tower, which can still be seen today.
Gothic
The choir was enlarged, about twice its size, and the apse was replaced by a trapezoidal end with three sides of equal length. Each side got a window. Rough rubble stones were used as material. The choir was raised a little and got a cross vault. To absorb the pressure of the vault, two supporting pillars were added. The northern passage to the bell tower was walled up and provided with a Gothic door (as in Nempitz, for example). The result was a chamber, the so-called nun chamber, the function of which is unknown. On the south side, two Romanesque windows were replaced by Gothic ones. The third window, closest to the entrance, was not replaced until the 19th century. If you look closely you can still see the remains of the wall of the Romanesque window. The north side has Romanesque windows to this day.
Baroque
The alterations were only made inside the church. Outwardly nothing has been changed apart from the installation of a roof window. During this period, two galleries, one on top of the other, with the corresponding staircase were built on the north and west sides. The ceiling of the nave was replaced by a wooden barrel vault, making it possible to install an organ around 1700 or 1724. The fixtures in the choir room (e.g. confessional) and the pulpit were installed.
From 1800
In 1832 the interior of the church was renovated and given a fresh coat of paint in white and blue. Today nothing can be seen of this renovation. Remains of a painting are now visible, which emphasize the cross ribs and the triumphal arch with red paint . It is possible that the sacrament house and its border were made visible again during this renovation around 1900. In 1907 the Mahler family donated two stained glass windows on the occasion of their daughter's confirmation. In the left window you can see the baptism of Jesus, in the right the celebration of the Lord's Supper. In 1976 the lower gallery on the south side, the pulpit, the stalls in the choir and some of the benches were removed. In 1995/96 the roof of the church was renewed.
Bell jar
"The worth seeing of this church is not exhausted yet. There are three interesting bells hanging on the tower, of which the second largest is the most important because of its age and its ideal shape." (Home calendar, 1909)
Of the former three bells, only the middle and oldest bell has survived today. The inscription on the bell shows the year 1010, but it is not certain whether this is the year the bell was made.
Web links
- Website about the Marienkirche in Zorbau
- Information about the church on the website of the church district
Coordinates: 51 ° 11 '30.1 " N , 12 ° 1' 14.4" E