Melanchthon Church (Frankfurt-Fechenheim)
The Melanchthonkirche is a Protestant church in baroque style in Fechenheim , a district of Frankfurt . It is a cultural monument due to the Hessian Monument Protection Act . It is named after the reformer Philipp Melanchthon .
Origin and development
middle Ages
The Fechenheim church belonged to the Frankfurt Bartholomäusstift in the Middle Ages . Politically, however, the village belonged to the Hanau rulership , since 1429: County Hanau , and after the division of 1458 to the County of Hanau-Münzenberg .
Early modern age
The county of Hanau-Münzenberg joined the Reformation in the 1530s - initially in its Lutheran form. The process of the Reformation ran smoothly and was only under Philip III. (1526–1561) completed. Count Philip Ludwig II (1576–1612) then made use of his right in 1597 to determine the denomination of his territory according to the principle of " cuius regio, eius religio " on the Reformed (Calvinist) creed .
In 1642 the house of Hanau-Münzenberg died out and Count Friedrich Casimir from the Lutheran line of the Counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg took over the inheritance. In the course of his reign and that of his successors, Lutheran congregations formed again in the Hanau-Munzenberg part of the state , which locally formed their own second regional church parallel to and independently of the Reformed regional church of the county, including in Fechenheim.
When the medieval church became dilapidated, the Reformed congregation celebrated its services in the town hall from 1774. The Lutherans built today's Melanchthon Church in 1771 and 1772.
From 1793, both denominations jointly used today's Melanchthon Church as a Simultaneum . This was in fact an anticipation of the unification of the two Hanau regional churches, which took place in 1817.
Modern times
From 1901 to 1904 the church building was extensively renovated. The windows were enlarged and a sacristy was added. From 1928 to 1930 the main facade was redesigned with historicizing gables and a new bell tower was built next to the church. He received a three-tier hood, which previously served as a roof turret. Between 1961 and 1966 the facing gables were removed and the church was completely renovated again.
From 2001 to 2003 the congregation built a new parish hall according to plans by the architect Rolf Hempelt in the east of the church, in which there is also the new access to the church interior.
architecture
The baroque hall church is located in the center of Fechenheim on Pfortenstraße. The west-facing church ends with a polygonal choir and the sacristy in front of it. The facade facing the street is divided by three large arched windows. The former entrance is in the middle field below the window. The outer walls are brightly plastered. The base, window reveals , corner stones and eaves are made of red sandstone . The bell tower northeast of the nave was made of reinforced concrete. The baroque roof turret with a belfry rises above the square tower.
The interior is made up of a three-sided wooden gallery and the central pulpit . The sandstone altar dates from 1904. The stained glass windows were made in 1961 based on a design by the Paris studio Pillods. The baptismal font was also set up at this time .
organ
The organ from 1878 has 21 stops and 2 manuals. The instrument of the organ builder Ratzmann was changed and supplemented in 1963, 1968 and 1983.
Bells
The church has four bells from the Rincker bell and art foundry .
| No. | Nominal | Weight | year |
| 1 | cis 1 | 1753 kg | 1954 |
| 2 | e 1 | 1152 kg | 1956 |
| 3 | f sharp 1 | 850 kg | 1959 |
| 4th | g sharp 1 | 700 kg | 1929 |
A medieval bell from 1390, which was already in the previous building of the Melanchthon Church, is now on display in the community center. It weighs 450 kg and sounds like "b". The inscription reads: "anno domini MCCCLXXXX - 10 ydus mencis novembris".
Web links
- Website of the Evangelical Congregation Fechenheim
- State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (Ed.): Ev. Melanchtonkirche In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hessen
literature
- Georg Dehio : Handbook of German Art Monuments, Hessen II, Darmstadt District , Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2008
- Peter Gbiorczyk: Philipp Melanchthon's relations with the county of Hanau . In: New Magazine for Hanau History 2014, pp. 2-60.
- K. Henß: The area of the Hanauer Union . In: The Hanauer Union = Festschrift for the centenary of the Protestant-Union church community in the consistorial district of Cassel on May 28, 1918. Hanau 1918
- Joachim Proescholdt and Jürgen Telschow: Frankfurt's Protestant Churches through the ages , Frankfurter Societätsverlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-942921-11-4
Coordinates: 50 ° 7 ′ 20.4 " N , 8 ° 46 ′ 11.4" E