Nikolaikirche (Melchendorf)

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The Melchendorfer Church

The Nikolaikirche is a Catholic parish church in the Erfurt district of Melchendorf . It is the former village church of the district, which is today characterized by prefabricated housing estates.

history

In Melchendorf there was possibly a church in the early, but most certainly in the High Middle Ages , but nothing is known about it today. Historians assume that Frisians and Flemings who had settled in and around Erfurt in the 12th and 13th centuries and who St. Bishop Nikolaus venerated, gave their names to a number of churches in the Erfurt area. So St. Nikolaus is also the patron saint of the Melchendorfer Church. The place originally had Slavic population and belonged u. a. with the neighboring Daberstedt and Dittelstedt to the Mainz kitchen villages . The kitchen villages were owned by the Archbishops of Mainz and were responsible for supplying the Archbishop when he was in Erfurt, and for the constant supply of the Mainz court in the city of Erfurt . Under the direct rule of the Archbishop of Mainz, the kitchen villages remained Catholic during the Reformation and later.

In chronicles it is reported that the old Melchendorfer church had become dilapidated and required a new building. The foundation stone was laid on May 6, 1715 by Auxiliary Bishop Johann Jacob Senft from Erfurt and on November 8, 1724 the new altar was consecrated by Auxiliary Bishop Joachim Hahn . In the following decades, building damage occurred again and so it was decided at the end of the 19th century to extensively renovate and expand. Laterally additions were added on both sides, so that from now on the floor plan had a cross shape and the front gable was moved slightly outwards. The conversion costs are documented, they amounted to 19,000 Reichsmarks .

Shortly before the end of the Second World War , in the midday of March 17, 1945, Melchendorf and the neighboring Dittelstadt came under a carpet of bombs that was laid by 51 four-engine bombers of the US Air Force and which was actually intended for the Erfurt freight yard. As we know from the documents today, 151 tons of bombs were dropped. Due to poor visibility, it was dropped incorrectly and one of the bombs hit the tower of the church, which then collapsed. He buried the sanctuary and the sacristy under the rubble and the north wing of the aisle was danger of collapse. After the end of the war, the reconstruction, which lasted until 1948, began. Since there was no building material, the reconstruction turned out to be difficult and forced improvisation. So the roof, where the bricks were missing, was covered with strips of cardboard, which were then coated with tar. The local farmers carried out the necessary transports with their horse-drawn vehicles.

The plans for a complete renovation only began around 1985. With the reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990, a new situation arose. In the following years, the church was completely renovated from the floor to the roof. It was given a new floor for all to see, new benches and, above all, a new altar. The Carnival Society of St. Nicholas donated a copy of the medieval St. Nicholas figure that had been relocated to the inside for the outside.

Furnishing

  • 1.2 m high sandstone figure of St. Nicholas on the front wall of the nave, originally attached to the outside of the previous building, around 1400
  • 2 figures of saints (St. Nicholas and St. Boniface ) on the left wall of the chancel
  • Depiction of the Mother of God on the right front side, around 1500
  • plastic crucifixion group made of wood in the form of a forked cross , approx. 1950
  • Post-war organ

Web links

Commons : Nikolaikirche (Melchendorf)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 57 ′ 8.6 "  N , 11 ° 4 ′ 23.4"  E