Nikolaikirche (Oberndorf)
The Nikolaikirche is the village church of the Arnstadt district of Oberndorf ( Thuringia ). It is one of the best preserved Romanesque village churches in the region. It is assigned to the Evangelical Parish Angelhausen-Oberndorf in the parish of Arnstadt-Ilmenau of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany . The sights of the small church include a Romanesque eight-pass window and the round arch friezes with acanthus ornaments made of stucco in high quality craftsmanship.
Building history
Construction work on the church began in the first half of the 12th century when a Romanesque hall church with a semicircular apse and crossing was built.
The church was rebuilt for the first time around 1170/1180. The church tower was built over the crossing , the apse was replaced by the present choir and arcades were added on the side walls. The round arch frieze of the church and the colored glass window in the apse, which represents the patron saint of the church, Nikolaus von Myra , date from around 1170. It is one of the oldest preserved glass paintings in Germany and was brought to the Thuringian Museum in Eisenach after 1900 . A copy is installed in the church today.
The third phase of construction of the church falls in the first third of the 13th century. At that time the church building was converted into a three-aisled basilica with a transept. This renovation was probably carried out on behalf of the Counts of Schwarzburg-Kevernburg , as their residence, the Kevernburg (today Käfernburg ), was only a few hundred meters away. The counts probably used the church as a castle chapel, which would justify its size. In 1353 the papal court in Avignon even issued a letter of indulgence to the Oberndorf church.
Towards the end of the 16th century, a fourth construction phase followed, combined with a massive reconstruction of the church. Around 1595, the dilapidated aisles, the transept and the west building were demolished without replacement. The arcades were walled up, which is still clearly visible today.
Later, probably after the devastation of the Thirty Years' War , the church was given square, baroque windows. In 1978 the side galleries and the pulpit wall behind the late Gothic altar were removed during a further construction project .
No mission church
As early as 1931 the local historian Otto Stiehl suspected that the beginnings of the church could go back to the Christian missionary time of Saint Boniface . An archaeological exploratory excavation carried out by the University of Jena in the course of construction work in 1962 to determine the actual age of the building, however, revealed ceramic fragments from the first half of the 12th century as the oldest findings. The expansion of the plaster floor in the area of the altar also contradicted the expected situation.
literature
- Matthias Werner (ed.): Romanesque ways around Arnstadt and Gotha . Publishing house and database for the humanities, Weimar 2007, ISBN 978-3-89739-549-7 .
Web links
- The church on the website of the church district. Retrieved March 1, 2020 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Dietrich Wohlfahrt: fate of a village church: Oberndorf near Arnstadt . In: Evangelical Press Association in Central Germany eV (Hrsg.): Faith and Home . Weimar September 7th 1969.
- ↑ Kaufmann: Brief report on the Arnstadt Oberndorf excavation (Arnstadt district), St. Nikolaus Church (June 18-29, 1962) . Jena 1963, p. 3 . (typed + maps / drawings)
Coordinates: 50 ° 49 ′ 8 ″ N , 10 ° 58 ′ 36 ″ E