Nikolauskirche (Gimmeldingen)
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| Basic data | |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| place | Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Germany |
| Patronage | Nicholas of Myra |
| Building history | |
| construction time | 1474-1477 |
| Building description | |
| inauguration | 1957 |
| Profanation | 1751-1957 |
| Architectural style | Late Gothic |
| Construction type | Hall construction |
| Function and title | |
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Filial church of the Catholic parish of St. Johannes Mußbach |
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| 49 ° 22 '26.1 " N , 8 ° 9' 25.9" E | |
The Nicholas Church in the district Gimmeldingen the Palatinate town of Neustadt an der Weinstraße ( Rhineland-Palatinate ), popularly known as St. Nicholas Chapel called, is a Catholic church , under the patronage of Nicholas of Myra is and as branch church of the Catholic parish of St. John Mußbach is assigned . The church stands on the site of a Mithras sanctuary from Roman times .
In 1366, a previous Christian building was first mentioned in a document. Individual Romanesque elements were taken over from him in the high-Gothic church building, which was built shortly after 1400. From the end of the 17th century onwards, the church was in ruins for more than 250 years; restoration took place in the 1950s.
Geographical location
The Nikolauskirche with the property address Loblocher Straße 32 lies - conventionally with the choir to the east - at about 166 m above sea level. NHN on a southern slope between two streets running parallel from east to west, Loblocher Straße (entrance side, below) and Kurpfalzstraße (tower side, above), which have a difference in level of a good 10 m.
The church is surrounded by tall trees, under which horse chestnuts and robinia dominate. The area around the church used to be a small cemetery . In the south, where the area towards Loblocher Straße has been filled up like terraces for centuries, the very damaged retaining wall made of roughly hewn field stones was replaced by a wall made of square-shaped light sandstones , in the middle of which the entrance stairs are cut.
In the west the church area is limited by the house wall of the next residential property, in the east by an old pedestrian staircase that overcomes the slope between the two streets. Halfway up the stairs, a side gate of the church grounds opens out. On the hillside to the east of it there are vineyards , so that the building stands freely in front of the village backdrop from this direction.
Building history
Roman times
The Nikolauskirche stands on the area of a Mithras sanctuary from Roman times, which was built in 325 AD. This explains the unusual location for a Christian church on a slope and not on a hill.
In 1926, during construction work to the west of the church ruins at that time, the foundations of the temple , an almost complete altar made of sandstone and other stone components were found. The most important, a relief image , shows the deity sitting astride a bull and subjecting it to tauroctony , i.e. ritually killing it with a stab in the neck .
The originals of the finds are exhibited in the Historisches Museum der Pfalz zu Speyer . A replica of the relief made of light sandstone is embedded in a retaining wall a piece to the left of the church entrance (Loblocher Straße).
Late Middle Ages
In its present form, the Nikolauskirche originates mainly from the High Gothic period shortly after 1400. This is indicated by the architectural style and stonemason marks that go back to the 15th century. The unplastered tower, however, is much older and still has Romanesque elements; originally it could have served as a defense tower . It proves that there was a previous building, as the first documented mention of the church in 1366 speaks for. The year 1565 carved into the exterior plaster of the choir on the east side has no archival value, but only antiquarian value.
In the Middle Ages, the Nikolauskirche was the church of the then village Lobloch (also "Luploch" or "Lupphenloch"), which probably had its nucleus about 100 m south of the church on the Mußbach flowing there, perhaps in the form of a mill on a small reservoir ( -loch from Latin lacus for lake, pond). In 1751, after the place had spread up the slope to the northwest, in the larger neighboring village of Gimmeldingen. The small Lobloch never had its own parish office, but was provided for centuries by parishes from the surrounding area, mostly Mußbach , and occasionally also by the Jesuits from Branchweiler .
Decay and profanation
A Latin worded Visitation report, which the Jesuits patres Georg Klein and Urban Kobert 1701 on behalf of the bishop of Speyer , Johann Hugo von Orsbeck , created, reported back to the recent ( "not ita pridem") significant damage to the Nicholas Church in connection with a construction project the noble Lady von Bretheim, who came from Bretten in the north of Baden today . She appropriated the roof of the church to use it in her own house. According to the visitors, the noblewoman justified her actions by claiming that she could use what her ancestors had built for her own purposes without hesitation. The nature of the alleged dynastic connections to Lobloch and his place of worship is not explained. Obviously, the theft of building materials occurred in the wake of the War of the Palatinate Succession (1688–1697), when French troops laid the Palatinate in ruins and probably caused damage to the Nikolauskirche and property of the nobility in Lobloch as well. Lumber was very welcome to rebuild destroyed houses, even if illegally obtained from a church.
After the roof was lost, the Nikolauskirche was unusable and quickly degenerated into ruins. When the Palatinate church was divided in 1705, the small church was added to the Reformed . However, they could no longer use these for church services and passed them on to the political community of Gimmeldingen at an unknown time, probably in 1751. In any case, in 1776 the "Kapellenturm zu Lobloch", which, unlike the rest of the building, still had its roof, was leased by the Gimmelding municipal administration and served as a hay or grain store. Shortly before 1900, the dilapidated building was given to the Gimmeldinger Gymnastics Club for use, which installed an emergency roof halfway up the nave. In 1927, after building their own gym, the gymnasts released the building again. Until after the Second World War it was used as a warehouse for various commercial tenants, but it fell into disrepair.
restoration
From 1956 on, the restoration of the church took place on the initiative of two brothers from neighboring Mußbach - Hans Keil (1913–2006) and Hermann Keil (1918–1998) . On July 7, 1957, it was re- consecrated by the Speyer bishop Isidor Markus Emanuel , who served from 1953 to 1968 . It was assigned as a branch church to the parish of Mußbach, whose pastor was Jakob Blum from 1949 to 1961.
Already on 24 August 1955 had the Gimmeldinger council the sale of the ruins at the price of 17,000 DM ( inflation adjusted in today's currency 43,442 euros ) to the founded by the two brothers Catholic Church Foundation "St. Nikolaus ” agreed. The next day the purchase contract was verbally concluded and notarized on September 16, 1955 .
The renovation and renovation work took almost two years. At the topping-out ceremony on November 8, 1956, the topping-out speech was introduced with the following lines:
"
Awakened from a hundred years of sleep through self-sacrifice and craftsmanship -
the chapel stands at God's price
as an ornament to the village - in new splendor"
The quatrain is printed on the title page of the Festschrift , which was published on the occasion of the second inauguration. The front page also shows a sketched east view of the building, which comes from the planning application . The title “Festschrift” and the date are printed in blue on a beige background, while the other parts of the writing and the building sketch are reproduced in brown.
Architecture and equipment
investment
The longitudinal axis of the hall church is aligned transversely to the slope, the three-storey tower is in relation to the building at the front left next to the choir on the mountain side, the entrance in the back right in the nave on the valley side. The choir was shifted about 1.5 m to the right in the direction east opposite the nave, presumably in order not to have to dig the tower foundation too far into the slope on the left - up the slope. The church building has a floor space of over 130 m² inside and can accommodate a maximum of 300 people.
The most important floor plan dimensions are:
Choir
- Inner length: 9.00 m
- Inside width: 6.00 m
ship
- Inside length: 11.00 m
- Inside width: 7.50 m
tower
- Internal dimensions: 3.60 × 3.60 m (also the area of the sacristy)
- External dimensions: 5.00 × 5.00 m
Vault
The ceiling of the choir and nave used to be formed by a star or cross vault . The sacristy on the ground floor of the tower was also provided with a similar vault . These vaults have been destroyed, with the exception of the stone elaborations (figures and crest-like shields ) at the lower end of their ribs . For cost reasons, the vaulted ceiling could not be restored, but was replaced by a level construction made of light wooden beams.
Choir and ship
Since no remains of the altar were found, it was built as a new cafeteria made of light-colored sandstone. Remnants of an old burial were discovered at the site of the altar, which, however, could not be assigned to any historical person.
The Gothic triumphal arch between the choir and nave is in excellent condition. The choir receives a lot of light through three frontal windows to the east and another to the south, especially during the morning service.
In contrast, the ship originally had only one window, which also faced south. During the restoration, two additional windows were broken into the north (left) side wall of the ship and another - round one - on the rear wall above. However, they do not have the Gothic tracery and the carved stone frames of the original windows.
Stained glass window
While the leaded glass windows were made without painting by the Speyer glass painter Georg Brotzler (1892–1970), the three windows in the altar area consist of stained glass mosaics , which the Marburg glass painter Erhardt Klonk (1898–1984) based on the Gothic style. The metal installations necessary for the windows were made by the art locksmith Franz Pelgen (1900–1973), also from Speyer.
The stained glass windows show stations from the life and work of the church patron St. Nicholas as they are passed down in legends :
- Two episodes of three each by the Holy Beneficiary are shown in the left window. Above, he saved three young girls from prostitution by financing their dowry and thus enabling them to marry appropriately. Below he gives life back to three boys whose bodies their killer had hidden in a barrel. In between, St. Elisabeth can be seen visiting and caring for the sick.
- On the middle window, which is dominated by a crucified Christ , St. Nicholas appears to a skipper who is in distress and leads him to a safe harbor.
- On the right-hand window there are again three people who are being helped by St. Nicholas. Above he saves three convicted by a corrupt judge from the executioner who has already raised his sword. Below he influences an emperor in a dream face to release three of his dignitaries who languish innocently in dungeon. Between the two images the scene is recorded of St. Martin cutting his cloak with a sword to clothe someone who is cold.
Internals
The former stone gallery was also made of light wood to match the new wooden ceiling . It was completely absent; its material had apparently been used in other buildings. The stairs that lead up to the gallery on the back wall are made of the same wood. The clear height of the stone vault of the sacristy door was only 150 cm in the middle; the passage has been raised by 50 cm to allow upright passage through the door. There were no remains of a pulpit .
Bells
The two bells made of tin bronze , weighing around 1200 and 750 kg respectively, were cast in the spring of 1957 in the Frankenthaler bell foundry in Hamm , which existed until 1960 , where the imperial bell of Cologne Cathedral was also cast in 1875 .
Recent history
Worship knew in the first months after the Neukonsekration 1957 from Edesheim native pastor Richard Scheurich (1905-1979), who in the era of National Socialism had been briefly detained and then as chaplain of the former Carmelite -Klosters Hildenbrandseck did at Gimmeldingen service. The retired priest Johannes Pfeiffer (1886–1965), who was born in Mußbach and had to flee Germany during the Third Reich , served until 1962 . In the 1940s he had worked as a theology professor at the University of Santiago de Chile . From 1962 to 1968 the services were held by priest Herbert Fuchs (1925-2013) from Winnweiler , who was a religion teacher at the Neustadt vocational school. In 1968 the respective local pastor of Mußbach took over the function.
On July 7th, 2007 the 50th anniversary of the new consecration was celebrated with a big anniversary celebration in which the diocese of Speyer , the parishes of both Christian denominations as well as local associations and the local administration participated. The speech was given by the dialect poet Albert H. Keil from Mußbach, who was the first child to receive communion in the restored Nikolauskirche in 1957 .
literature
- Catholic Church Foundation St. Nikolaus (publisher): Festschrift for the day of the inauguration of the St. Nicholas Chapel in Gimmeldingen an der Weinstrasse, July 7, 1957 . Schwarztraub printing company (Mußbach), Gimmeldingen 1957 (editorial team Hans and Hermann Keil).
- Alfred Sitzmann: Lobloch - guide through the local history from the beginning to the union with Gimmeldingen . Special print no.7. Historic Association Neustadt / Weinstrasse, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 1990.
Web links
- Location of Nikolauskirche on: Map service of the landscape information system of the Rhineland-Palatinate Nature Conservation Administration (LANIS map) ( notes )
- Lobloch, the unknown village between Gimmeldingen and Mußbach (under construction)
- Catholic parish of St. Johannes Mußbach
References and comments
- ↑ Map service of the landscape information system of the Rhineland-Palatinate nature conservation administration (LANIS map) ( notes )
- ↑ a b c d e f g Festschrift . 1957, p. 8 .
- ↑ Richard Petrovszky et al. a .: Reliefs of the mithraum of Neustadt-Gimmeldingen (325 AD) . In: Meinrad Maria Grewenig (Ed.): Die Römerzeit . Historical Museum of the Palatinate, Stuttgart 1994, p. 87 .
- ↑ a b Festschrift . 1957, p. 5 .
- ↑ a b c d Festschrift . 1957, p. 6 .
- ↑ a b c General State Archives Karlsruhe, today department of the State Archives Baden-Württemberg . Quoted in: Festschrift. 1957, p. 6.
- ↑ Villa Breteheim . In: Lorscher Codex . Traditional note No. 767 (end of the 12th century).
- ↑ a b Festschrift . 1957, p. 7 .
- ↑ Festschrift . 1957, p. 10 .
- ↑ Festschrift . 1957, p. 2 .
- ↑ This number is automatically determined each time the page is viewed , has been rounded to full euros and relates to the previous January.
- ↑ Festschrift . 1957, p. 8th f .
- ↑ Festschrift . 1957 (front page).
- ↑ Approximate dimensions, measured on the plan of the building application.
- ↑ Anke Elisabeth Sommer: Stained Glass of the Nikolauskapelle Gimmeldingen . E-mail. September 28, 2009.
- ↑ Festschrift . 1957, p. 11 f .
- ↑ "Open all floodgates of hatred of Catholics and the hatred of priests". (No longer available online.) Schoenstatt-lexikon.de, June 18, 2008, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on November 7, 2015 .
- ^ Association of religious folklore and necrology. (No longer available online.) VerbundServer of Religious Folk Culture and Necrologies, April 27, 2007, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on November 7, 2015 .
- ^ Address by Pastor Michael Hergl in the Requiem for Pastor Herbert Fuchs. (PDF; 25.6 kB) (No longer available online.) Diocese of Speyer, October 2, 2013, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on November 7, 2015 .
- ↑ Gimmeldingen was incorporated into Neustadt as a district in 1969 and has had a local administration since then .
- ^ Albert H. Keil: 50 years of new consecration of the Nikolauskirche in Gimmeldingen. Verlag PfalzMundArt, July 7, 2007, accessed on October 5, 2017 .