Michaelskapelle (Böttingen)
The Michaelskapelle on the Michaelsberg near Gundelsheim (district Böttingen ) on the Neckar is one of the oldest church buildings in the region.
history
The Michaelsberg shows traces of settlement as far back as the Middle Stone Age and is said to have been used as a place of worship as early as pre-Roman times . The Romans also left a consecration altar of Jupiter and Juno there, probably in the 2nd century, which can be seen today in a wall niche of the chapel . By Michael Berg, a way to a will in Roman times Villa Rustica on the site of today for Burg Hornberg belonging Stock Bronner court led. However, the route did not correspond exactly to that of the current connecting route.
As noted in a document of the Lorsch Codex , on October 8th, 771, priest Godefrid gave the Lorsch monastery "for his soul salvation", "what he in Neckargau in Bettinger marca (marking) in Huben (farmland), meadows, forests, water, Houses and buildings, as well as the basilica, which he had built himself ”. It is assumed that, as happened many times in the course of Christianization, this priest built a church / chapel on the Michaelsberg in order to set an example against the "devil's stuff" of the ancient, non-Christian places of worship and to break their cultic attraction . It is sometimes assumed that it was initially a wooden building that later had to give way to a Romanesque stone building. Dendrochronological investigations on timbers of the construction period of the tower with Romanesque windows confirm a construction period towards the middle of the 11th century. The nave of the church also has remains of Romanesque windows and was built as a stone structure around that time. During the early Gothic period , the chapel was expanded to include the tower structures with pointed arched niches. The Michaelskapelle served as the Gundelsheim parish church until the late 13th century, in 1295 it was replaced in this function by the Georgskapelle in Gundelsheim, where Böttingen was later also parish. The cemetery around the church is still the burial place for the residents of Böttingen and the Böttinger and Dornbacher Hof.
The popular founding legend of the church reports that the church was built over the grave of a hermit, where a pilgrimage had developed. In fact, there was once a hermitage near the church , but it was already lost in the 16th century, whereupon the brother property fell to the Horneck Teutonic Order in Gundelsheim. The pilgrimage to the church is also documented. The niches in the tower extensions are interpreted as prayer niches for incoming pilgrims.
The church has been rebuilt and modernized several times over the years. The ciborium above the right altar dates from 1513, around the same time the small window extension in the east of the choir was built, which also received its ribbed vault at that time . In the early 17th century, the windows on the south side and the western portal were redesigned. In the 18th century the church was completely renovated, the main altar, the triumphal arch and the roof structure over the nave date from that time . In the course of the 19th century, today's gallery was built in, and in 1908 the church was given a new interior painting, with parts of the historical painting being preserved in some places. In 1927/28 the church was renovated, with the focus on new roofing, as well as on flasher and carpentry work. In 1937 the choir and tower were repaired, whereby the masonry of the tower, which had been plastered for a long time, was exposed. Above all, moisture damage contributed to the fact that the church had to be renovated again in the 1960s and 1980s. The extensive renovation of the building, which began in 1986, was interrupted for a long time by the death of the pastor responsible and was only completed in the 1990s.
Furnishing
The main altar of the chapel dates from 1702 and shows the church patron Michael fighting with the unbelievers. The left side altar shows the adoration of the kings, the altarpiece was donated around 1610 by the Teutonic Order Commander Karl von Wolkenstein . The right side altar with the ciborium dated 1513 shows a copy of a terracotta Pietà from around 1400 in the middle shrine , the original of which has since been brought to the parish church of St. Nicholas in Gundelsheim. The shrine is surrounded by depictions of the 14 helpers in need with four other saints. In the church there are also various historical paintings with depictions of the Archangel Michael as well as Mary and Jesus, sometimes only as copies.
Left side altar with Adoration of the Magi
Right side altar with Pietà and helpers in need
Painting with Archangel Michael
Detail of the painting from 1908
literature
- Julius Fekete: Art and cultural monuments in the city and district of Heilbronn . Theiss, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-8062-0556-6 .
- Christoph Morrissey: The Michaelsberg near Gundelsheim . Ed .: State Institute for Environment, Measurements and Nature Conservation Baden-Württemberg. Regional culture publishing house, Ubstadt-Weiher 2007, ISBN 978-3-89735-491-3 .
- Julius Fekete, Christoph Morrissey, Markus Numberger: “Above they are brought to the grave, those who rejoiced in the valley.” Michaelskirche near Gundelsheim and the preservation of monuments in the 20th century. In: Monument Preservation in Baden-Württemberg , Volume 37, 2008, Issue 1, pp. 45–50 ( PDF )
Web links
- Legend about the Michaelsberg ( Memento from January 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- J. Fesser: Early Medieval Settlements in the Front Palatinate (PDF; 2.41 MB)
Coordinates: 49 ° 17 ′ 29.7 " N , 9 ° 9 ′ 13.3" E