Oberhofenkirche (Göppingen)

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Oberhofenkirche Göppingen

The Oberhofenkirche , built between 1436 and 1490, is a Protestant church building in Göppingen and, after the small neighboring Holy Cross Chapel, the second oldest building in the city center. She is now one of the two Protestant city churches and belongs to the Evangelical church composite Göppingen to church district Göppingen .

Building history

Göppingen's first parish church, first mentioned in 1275, was the late Gothic hall church , the Graf , located outside the city walls on the remains of several previous buildings (a Roman Villa Rustica from the 2nd / 3rd century AD, four smaller churches mainly made of wood) Ulrich V von Württemberg had it rebuilt between 1436 and 1490 and converted it into a canon monastery. With a total length of 49.50 meters, it has an originally planned three-aisled flat-roofed nave, a reticulated transept, an elevated polygonal choir and two choir-flank towers, which were only built with stone helmets with a total height of 1884 with the work of the Ulm cathedral master builder August von Beyer 50 meters have been completed. The Oberhofenkirche initially remained Catholic after the Reformation by Württemberg because of the remaining canons. There were several chapels in the city, the largest of which, the Johanneskapelle near the castle, therefore served as the city and dean's church from 1532 until the city ​​church was rebuilt in 1619. After the canons' monastery was dissolved at the beginning of 1535, the Oberhofenkirche was used almost exclusively for funeral ceremonies and occasionally as an alternative to construction work on the Renaissance town church due to its location outside the city and in a cemetery. A revival of the Catholic monastery by Jesuits from 1636 to 1649 under Austrian control of the office of Göppingen by Archduchess Claudia of Tyrol as a result of the Edict of Restitution came to an end with the Peace of Westphalia . The restoration of the church, which was then necessary due to the risk of collapse, dragged on with the complete renewal of the choir and nave roof trusses until 1687. After temporary secular use (in the Napoleonic wars : hospital, hay store and horse stable; telegraph station in the south tower) in the early 19th century, the restoration and neo-Gothic remodeling began in 1854 and was completed around 1900 (architect Heinrich Dolmetsch ). Since 1902 the Oberhofenkirche is again the parish church and second parish church of Göppingen. Interior renovations were carried out in 1938 (architect Hans Seytter , Stuttgart), 1983 (architect Folker Mayer , Ulm) and until 2013 (architects Bauer & Behringer, Ebersbach), and exterior renovations from 2001 to 2008 (AeDis AG Hochdorf / Ebersbach). Next to the Oberhofenkirche is the Heiligkreuzkapelle , the preserved choir of the former Marienkapelle from 1410, which today is mainly used for exhibitions and devotions.

Furnishing

Inside, it houses significant late Gothic choir stalls and splendid Baroque epitaphs , some of which were brought here from the town church around 1770. On the north wall of the choir there are frescoes from the period of construction, at the south portal the representation of the church foundation created around 1470 (two noble women presenting a church model) with the only surviving picture of the undestroyed Hohenstaufen Castle , which was only uncovered in 1938. Next to it in the Zillenhardt Chapel are the grave monuments of the donor family from Zillenhart Castle near Schlat . The baroque stucco ceiling of the nave from 1686 was created during security measures because of dilapidation. The wooden crucifix in the choir dates from 1510. Walter Kohler created the glass paintings in the central choir window in 1938 (the tracery glazing in the north and south transepts). In 1983, after completing archaeological excavations in the interior, his son Wolf-Dieter Kohler completed it on the left and right Total work of art. The artistic pulpit designs from 1883 ( Jakob Grünenwald : six pulpit paintings canvas Moses, Christ, four evangelists ) and 1938 ( Helmuth Uhrig : three pulpit wood reliefs Annunciation to the shepherds, crucifixion, crowning of thorns ) were part of the 2001-2008 exterior renovation Interior renovation, which lasted until 2013 , has been replaced by modern principles without artistic pretensions.

Stained glass

With a gap of 45 years, father and son Kohler created the three choir windows. The conception and artistic as well as biblical relationship of these two late works to one another form the collective climax of the artistic family's work. The apex window (built in 1938, dismantled / secured in 1940, reinstalled in 1947) also thematizes the struggle against evil, against evil, on Christ's path from suffering to ruler of the world: At the Lord's Supper, Judas in a yellow robe; the wolf in sheep's clothing, of which the rooster warns and says: Be vigilant! State power inadvertently raising the cross - To express this in 1938 was remarkable and courageous. With Walter Kohler, old Christian iconography becomes his language of art after his (until then) mature Expressionism as allegedly degenerate art had put him and his young family in great danger from 1933 onwards , he plays on this keyboard with virtuosity, like a look in shows his oeuvre - and his son Wolf-Dieter continued on this path later. The center window of the choir can be "read" against the background of contemporary history in its biblical imagery. Suffering, suffering and death in the middle is flanked by Wolf-Dieter Kohler in the left window with God's creative work and the covenant of peace and in the right window with signs and visions of salvation and perfection. In detail:

Walter Kohler 1938

  • Middle Choir Window - Second Article of Faith The Way of Christ (bottom up):
    • 1st circle - left: Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Below is a wolf in sheep's clothing, above it 2 hands with a delicious nard ( Joh 12,3  LUT ). To the left of the main picture the leaves of the willow tree as a sign of spring. Right: The Lord's Supper. Below the crowing rooster, above bread and goblet. On the right the vine as a symbol of Christ.
    • 2nd circle - left: The Judas kiss. Below the pieces of silver, above the screaming stag as a symbol of Christ. Left thorns. Right: Jesus before Pilate. Among them is the state authority, which hits one pan with its fist and thereby increases the cross lying in the other pan. Above it the lamb with the cross. On the right the bitter wormwood.
    • 3rd circle - left: The crucifixion Below the defeated dragon, above an angel with a palm tree. Left The bitter plant hops as a symbol of passion. Right: the resurrection. Below the defeated death as a skeleton with a scythe, above an angel with a crown. On the right laurel, the sign of new life in Christ.
    • In the spandrels between the circles: the four evangelists. Above the circles: four angels (one each with scales, where the cross weighs heavier than the law; with a cross, with a flaming sword and with a trumpet).
    • In the three passes above: Alpha and Omega. In five pass: Majestas Domini , the ruler of the world in the mandorla ; Book inscription Alpha and Omega, four angels.

Wolf-Dieter Kohler 1983

  • Left choir window - First Article of Faith - God's Creation, Covenant of Peace and Promise (from top to bottom):
    • In the tracery, cloud-veiled God's spirit over the primordial flood
    • Creative hand
    • Sun Moon Stars
    • Creation of man
    • God's covenant of peace and Noah's sacrifice
    • Scouts with the fruits from the land of promise
    • Adoration of the Lamb ( Rev 4,1-11  LUT )
  • Right choir window - Third Article of Faith - Work of the Spirit of God (from bottom to top):
    • Pentecost sermon of Peter
    • Healing the Lame
    • Conversion of Paul
    • Raising the Tabita
    • Appointment of the Gentiles Cornelius and Lydia
    • Bride / Groom Association
    • Tree and water of life as symbols of perfection
    • in the tracery: heavenly Jerusalem

Bells

The furnishing of the Oberhofenkirche with bells obviously suffered from the restricted use of the church in the 17th to 19th centuries: After the construction of the city church, the end of the Thirty Years War and the thanksgiving service and service that was still celebrated in Oberhofen in 1650 on a ducal order despite the danger of collapse, Origin of the Göppingen May Day since then, the largest bell was given to the city church in 1653. There was only a reduced ringing for the burials, especially since the towers had only been provided with emergency roofs for over 300 years after severe lightning damage in 1561/63 and the south tower was last used for a telegraph station. Since the Oberhofenkirche was regained as a parish church in 1902, the current bell from 1950 is the third in 35 years. Twice it fell victim to the war economy as a so-called metal donation by the German people for the armaments industry. Three of the four new bells cast at the Heinrich Kurtz bell foundry in Stuttgart could already be put into service in the north tower in 1950. They have the notes f - g - b and thus the old Gloria motif ("Glory to God in the highest").

Their inscriptions read:

  • f: Lord God, you are our refuge for and for Ps 90  LUT (weight 950 kg)
  • g: The Lord can be heard until the world ends - Isa 62,11  LUT - in memory of Joh. Gg. Boehringer, b. January 16, 1803, d. September 24, 1859, the founder of the Boehringer brothers plant in Göppingen, donated by his descendants (680 kg)
  • b: Graciously grant us peace - In memory of Dr. Albert Schuler (1877-1943). Maria Schuler (400 kg)

literature

  • Eugen Jäckh: The Oberhof Church in Göppingen ; Stuttgart 1954; Published posthumously in 1956 with an afterword by Otto Remppis; Small art guide for Baden and Württemberg, volume 1, Silberburg-Verlag Stuttgart 1956
  • Manfred Reyle: Oberhofenkirche Göppingen ; Series Kleiner Kunstführer Volume 1621, Regensburg 1986
  • Margit Haas: City Church and Oberhofenkirche Göppingen ; ed. Association for the Preservation of the Oberhofenkirche, Göppingen / Stuttgart 2005
  • Archives and museums of the city of Göppingen (ed.): Göppinger stories. Of people, events and buildings ; Publications of the Göppingen City Archives Volume 44; Goeppingen 2005

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Klam: The seal ring of Oberhofen ; in: Neue Württembergische Zeitung (NWZ) - Südwestpresse from January 5, 2013, see [1]
  2. ↑ Oberhofenkirche Göppingen. Archeology, history, monument preservation ; Exhibition by the Baden-Württemberg State Monuments Office and the Göppingen City Archives, documentation and accompanying program, Göppingen 1986
  3. ↑ Ellen Pietrus: Heinrich Dolmetsch. The church restorations by the Württemberg builder ; Stuttgart 2008, pages 241-244
  4. ↑ Hartmut Schäfer: The archaeological investigations in the Oberhofenkirche Göppingen ; in: city, church, nobility. Göppingen from the Staufer period to the late Middle Ages ; Volume 45 of the History and Antiquity Association, ed. by Walter Ziegler, Göppingen 2006, p. 170
  5. ^ Petra Scheible-Schober and Jürgen Helmbrecht: Jakob Grünenwald (1821-1896). A Swabian genre painter ; ed. Karl-Heinz Rueß; Publications of the Göppingen City Archives Volume 35, Göppingen / Weißenhorn 1996, page 137 f - now in the holdings of the Städt. Museum Göppingen
  6. ↑ Ingrid Helber (ed.): Helmuth Uhrig, 1906-1979. A Christian artist from Württemberg ; Horb aN, 2006 with catalog raisonné
  7. ↑ Since June 2020 in the Uhrig art collection [2] of the Kirchberg monastery , see: Bärbel Altendorf-Jehle: Christlich und modern ; in: Ev. Municipal Gazette for Württemberg, No. 29/2020, Stuttgart 2020, p. 26
  8. ^ Walter M. Keller: The early church of the Filstal - Göppingen's Oberhofenkirche in a new splendor ; in: Schwäbische Heimat - magazine of the Schwäbischer Heimatbund, issue 2010/2, Stuttgart 2010, pages 165–170
  9. ↑ For a general view of the choir and the windows, see Oberhofenkirche Göppingen Christmas 2011
  10. ↑ Eugen Jäckh: The Oberhof Church in Göppingen ; Stuttgart 1954; Published posthumously in 1956 with an afterword by Otto Remppis; Small art guide for Baden and Württemberg, volume 1, Silberburg-Verlag Stuttgart 1956, p. 28

Web links

Commons : Oberhofenkirche (Göppingen)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 42 ′ 20.4 "  N , 9 ° 39 ′ 30.8"  E