Matthäuskirche (Gestungshausen)
The Evangelical Lutheran St. Matthew's Church in Gestungshausen in Upper Franconia , a part of Sonnefeld in the Coburg district , dates from the beginning of the 18th century.
history
A church in Gestungshausen was first mentioned in 1122 when the Bamberg diocese gave away goods in Gestungshausen to the Michelsberg monastery near Bamberg, which Gerwic and Konrad von Wildenberg had sold to the Bamberg bishop Otto von Bamberg . The parish church, an own church of the noble free von Wildenberg, was excluded . A papal confirmation of property from 1251 mentions the place as a monastic property of Michelsberg. A pastor is first recorded for 1361. The first Protestant church visitation by Electoral Saxony took place in 1528/29. The district was redefined.
The year of construction of the first church, which was probably a fortified church and stood in the same place as today's church, is not known. The church burned down in 1632 in the course of the Thirty Years War, the troops of Wallenstein together with the village. In 1634 the Croatian cavalry followed , which destroyed the poorly repaired church again by fire. In 1641 the church roof was covered with shingles again. A third church fire is suspected between 1646 and 1650.
Due to a poor structural condition, the old church was demolished and replaced by a new building from 1710 under the direction of Georg Nikolaus. The building was completed for the first time in 1712. Renovations and additions followed. The tower was torn down. The repairs were carried out by the Coburg master carpenter Hans Michael Hertha and the Coburg court mason Johann Georg Brückner. In 1718 the shell was completed. The interior decoration lasted until 1727. The inauguration ceremony followed on June 29, 1733. To finance the new church, five men who were equipped with the Ducal Saxon collective patent collected money in Germany from 1710 to 1715. In 1784 the parish had a sacristy added and in 1925 the belfry was rebuilt.
Building description
The Matthäuskirche stands on a slope above Gestungshausen, characterizing the townscape. It is enclosed by a fortified churchyard, which has recently been expanded, to which a late Gothic gate tower belongs, the slated upper floor of which dates from the 18th century. The church forms an ensemble with the gate tower, the churchyard fortifications and the neighboring rectory and the parish hall. It offers space for around 600 church visitors.
The church is designed as a hall church in margrave style with a retracted choir and a roof turret. The roof turret is located above the choir. It has an octagonal, slated base storey with arched windows. Above it are a tail dome, a small attachment with arched windows and a dome. The choir room is 8.1 meters long and 8.6 meters wide. A single-storey gallery surrounds the room. It is spanned by a flat ceiling with a ceiling painting. The Lord's Supper is shown. The picture was never finished because, according to legend, the artist fell from the scaffolding and had a fatal accident. There are three flat-arched, ear-shaped windows at the end of the choir and one on the south side. A round arched triumphal arch connects the chancel with the nave .
The nave is 18.4 meters long and 10.5 meters wide. The facade is divided into two floors by a cornice in the form of a protruding plate. It has four window axes on the long sides with windows below and above and a door on the south side and only windows above on the north side. The windows are rectangular and decorated with ears and fascias . The western gable wall is divided by the main entrance with a window above and two more rectangular windows above. Between the upper windows there is a board with cartridge labels . A flat ceiling with stucco work by the Bamberger sculptor Resch and Johann Jakob Beinther from Neundorf spans the interior. Multiple strips and bars, wreaths and goblet hangings frame painted main fields. The areas outside the fields towards the corners are stuccoed with large flower vases and tendrils. The paintings in the ceiling panels are works by the Coburg painter Johann Schuster and show scenes from the life of Jesus. The Lord's Supper is shown in the choir room. The large, oval picture in the center of the nave shows the sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost . On the long sides there are three-story, wooden galleries with paneled parapets, on the narrow side a two-story gallery with the organ.
Furnishing
The Moses pulpit on the southern triumphal arch pillar was made by Antonio Langenham from Coburg in 1727. It shows Moses with the two command panels as the supporting pillar. Above is the pulpit, the parapet of which is decorated with the figures of Jesus and the four evangelists. The upper end is an octagonal sound cover on which an angel blowing a trumpet stands.
The baptismal font comes from the previous church. It was donated by two citizens of Leutendorf in 1643.
organ
The first organ was built in 1689 by the organ builder Wiegleb from Heldritt with nine sounding stops on a spring shop for 200 Reichstaler . In 1714 he moved the instrument to the new church house. A major repair followed in 1733, among others. In 1925, the Steinmeyer organ builder from Oettingen installed a new organ with fifteen stops on two manuals and a pedal . The original seven-part organ prospectus , probably from 1733, was narrowly widened by means of grid fields. In the middle there is a round tower framed by flat fields and pointed towers under a common upper cornice and arched fields that rise inwards. The prospectus is adorned with music-making angels, painted tendrils, some with large sunflowers, and painted friezes.
Bells
At the beginning of the 20th century there were three bells in the church tower that were cast in 1864. The largest, the prayer bell weighing 600 kilograms, is still there. It bears the Latin inscription "Vivos voco - mortuos plango - fulgura frango" (German: I call the living, I lament the dead, I break the lightning). The two smaller bells date from 1951 and replace two bells that were removed during World War II . The faith bell has a weight of 350 kilograms and is decorated with a Luther head. It bears the inscription "SOLI DEO GLORIA" (God alone be glory). The 250 kilogram peace bell shows the dove of peace and the inscription "DONA NOBIS PACEM" (Give us peace).
Parish
The Kirchsprengel with around 1700 parishioners includes Gestungshausen, Firmelsdorf , Hof an der Steinach , Horb an der Steinach , Leutendorf , Lochleithen, Mödlitz , Neuses am Brand , Steinach an der Steinach , Weickenbach , Weischau and Zedersdorf . In 1950 Hassenberg became self-employed. Werner Krauss was born in the rectory in 1884 , whose grandfather was a pastor in Gestungshausen.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Georg and Gudrun Wurmthaler: Gestungshausen . In: Evangelical parishes in the Coburg region. Verlag der Ev.-Luth. Mission Erlangen, Erlangen 1984, ISBN 3-87214-202-X , pp. 171f
- ^ Lothar Hofmann: Monuments Region Coburg - Neustadt - Sonneberg: Places of contemplation and prayer. Historical sacred buildings. A guide through the churches in the districts of Coburg and Sonneberg . Verlag Gerätemuseum des Coburger Land, Ahorn 2007, ISBN 3-930531-04-6 , p. 93
- ↑ a b Paul Lehfeldt : Architectural and Art Monuments of Thuringia, Booklet XXVIII, Duchy of Saxony-Coburg and Gotha, Landrathsamt Coburg. Jena 1902, p. 75f
- ^ Hermann Fischer, Theodor Wohnhaas: Alte Orgeln im Coburger Land, Part I. Yearbook of the Coburg State Foundation 1970, p. 102f
- ^ Walter Liepold: Little Church Leader Matthäus-Kirche Gestungshausen
Coordinates: 50 ° 14 '17.3 " N , 11 ° 10' 44.6" E