Upper Church (Arnstadt)
The upper church in Arnstadt is a former Franciscan church built in the 13th century in Arnstadt , Thuringia . Since 1538 she is the Protestant parish used Arnstadt that the church district of Arnstadt-Ilmenau Evangelical Church in Central Germany belongs. It is a listed building .
building
The church stands on a hill on the southern edge of the old town of Arnstadt. It is a long, rectangular, single-nave building made of exposed quarry stone and a gable roof. The interior has a size of 60 × 11 meters and is closed at the top by a wooden barrel vault . The straight east wall has three high windows with tracery ends . The middle one has three lanes and is flanked by two lower, two-lane windows. There are four stepped buttresses at the corners of the east wall. The north side has several two-part pointed arch windows , while the south wall - apart from two windows in the choir area - has no windows because of the adjoining convent building. In the western part of the north wall there is a bricked up late Romanesque window (around 1250), possibly from a previous building. On the north side there is a subsequently added church tower . On the south side there is also an inner courtyard with a small cloister , from which the convent buildings can be accessed.
The interior today is mainly characterized by the large early baroque altar, the prince's estates and galleries and the baptismal font, all of which date from the 17th century. Numerous paintings from the same period show biblical scenes and decorate the balustrades of the galleries .
history
The first brothers of the Franciscan Order , founded in 1210, came to Arnstadt in 1246 from Gotha, where they had to leave their branch founded in 1225. The Franciscans, also known as Barfüßer , who belonged to the Saxon Order Province ( Saxonia ), apparently found a good reception in Arnstadt and began building a church and monastery on a hill in the old town, which was first mentioned in 1266. According to the rules of the order, the buildings were kept simple - as a mendicant order church . A tower was initially dispensed with. The construction of the convent building dragged on until the 14th century. In 1461 a bell tower was built into the north wall, through which the strong deformation of the north wall of the nave could be prevented. In 1498, the Barefoot Church received an artfully carved Gothic winged altar , which is now in the Church of Our Lady .
After the Reformation was introduced in Arnstadt in 1533, the Franciscans were given a short period of reflection in 1538 to commit to the Reformation. However, they rejected them and then had to evacuate the monastery with "great anger". In 1539 the church fell to the city of Arnstadt and the monastery to the count's house . On the initiative of Günther XL. Count von Schwarzburg-Blankenburg opened a count's educational institution in 1540. The son of Count Günther XLI. closed the institution in 1561 and handed the monastery over to Leo von Packmor , Colonel of the Count, as a retirement home.
After the town fire in 1581, Packmor first released the monastery building as an emergency shelter, and later after his death (1583) for the church and school in his will. Since the Bonifatiuskirche (predecessor of the Bachkirche) fell victim to the city fire, the former Barefoot Church, now called the Upper Church, became the city's main church. In 1588 the organ was renewed for the first time. The u. a. by the pulpit donated by Packmor was consecrated in 1589. His legacy also formed the basis for the Church's valuable library. At the end of the 16th century the lower floor of the nobility was built to the left of the altar and the lower galleries. Between 1609 and 1610 the ceiling was renovated. In 1611 a new organ was built by Ezekiel Groitzscher, Eisleben . Thereafter, the valuable and still largely existing furnishings above the upper part of the nobility, the prince's status, the pulpit (1625), the baptism (1639) and the three-storey high altar (1641) were installed inside the church. After the baroque furnishing of the pulpit and altar by the Arnstadt artist Burchard Röhl, the old pulpit and 1642 the Gothic altar were moved to the Liebfrauenkirche, where they can still be seen today.
From 1640 until his death in 1692 Heinrich Bach was organist at the Barfüßerkirche. In 1715 further galleries were built and the pulpit changed. In 1725, the current barrel vault and the attic windows were installed by the master carpenter Lange and the necessary interventions in the roof structure (additional construction timber on the inside of the rafters to fasten the barrel formwork with a new and narrower radius). The second brook at the organ of the Barfüßerkirche was Johann Ernst (1683–1739), who from 1728 until his death also played the organ in the Liebfrauenkirche. In 1746 the tower was given a baroque tower dome instead of the steep pyramid roof that was presumably previously present. Two years later the church roof was re-covered. With the installation of a new organ by Johann Stephan Schmaltz from 1751 to 1756 or 1760 , an era of significant building activity came to an end.
At the end of the 19th century an extremely poor structural condition of the upper church was reported. As a result, extensive restoration work began in 1899, which lasted until 1901. Many church stalls were removed, the barrel ceiling plastered, the gravestones and epitaphs in the floor were erected, the concrete floor was put in and the church was painted. In 1902 a new organ was installed by the Wilhelm Sauer company . In 1909 the church received steam heating.
In 1942 the bell, which was cast by Melchior Möring in 1587, had to be delivered for war purposes. In 1946 the “Klengel” from the Church of Our Lady was hung in the upper church by a resolution of the parish council. During the Second World War , the roof was partially covered by a bomb hit and the barrel vault was broken through to about 10 m², there was also a wall penetration of about 1 m², and four altar windows were completely smashed. After the necessary work and the expansion of the galleries in 1715, the church was put back into use in 1947 and the pastorate was reoccupied in 1949.
Just 25 years later, serious damage to the substance became apparent again. Leaks on the roof damaged the construction and equipment, so that in 1977 the upper church was closed. Renovation residue and penetrating rain have led to severe deterioration of the interior over the years. The northern nobility and the pulpit were removed and stored, as were the figures of the baptismal font. The Sauer organ from the early days was no longer functional.
After the fall of the Wall, the church was gradually renovated. The historical pieces of equipment were reinstalled in the original places after the masonry renovation. Other buildings in the monastery now serve the Evangelical Lutheran parish of Arnstadt as offices, apartments and community center.
Furnishing
- Gothic wooden wall crucifix (around 1350)
- Celebrant seats
- Nobility (ca.1590)
- Princely class (1595)
- Countess Katharina's estate (1595)
- Gallery with painting, approx. 1600 based on woodcuts from a picture Bible printed by Johann Krafft (Wittenberg) in 1547 . Painting on the gallery on the west side of the church with pictures from the childhood of Jesus.
- Pulpit, consecrated Easter 1625
- Crucifix by Burchard Röhl (around 1630), which was located on the altar step.
- Font in wood and metal by Burchard Röhl (1639)
- High altar, by Count Günther XLII . Donated, created by Burchard Röhl (Arnstadt) in 1641 and consecrated at Easter 1642, with a total of 33 figures and six pictures.
- the little countess stand (1645)
- Various paintings by clergymen as well as Luther and Melanchton from different times, e.g. Currently stored
- Paintings by the superintendent Johann Gottfried Olearius († 1711) and two paintings (after 1737) by the court painter Gottfried Wunderlich.
- Portrait (around 1810) of the deacon Johann Carl Umbreit († 1820)
- Organ from the Wilhelm Sauer company (1902).
Epitaphs and tombstones
North face
- Epitaph for D. Nicolaus Scheller, Schwarzburgischer Rat († 1581), three-winged altarpiece donated to the church by Countess Katharina in 1594 from the inventory of Neideck Castle . The painting by the Dutch painter Frans Floris († 1572) makes it the most important work of art in the upper church. An added plaque commemorates Count Günther XLI .
- Epitaph for Catharina Güttich († 1628, 34 years), wife of Chancellor Johann Caspar Güttich (designed by Burchard Röhl, Arnstadt 1629)
- Grave slab Katharina von Witzleben († 1501)
- Grave slab Chancellor Dr. Andreas Gerhard, Schwarzburg Council († 1623)
- Grave slab Sophia Elisabeth Tentzel († 1694)
- Grave plate children of the superintendent Tentzel († 1685)
- Grave slab Superintendent Dr. Jacob Tentzel († 1673)
- Grave slab Lieutenant Colonel Hartenack Christian v. Wangelin on Vilis Braunschweig-Lüneburg († 1678)
- Grave slab Utha von Schwarzburg, b. von Henneberg-Hartenberg († 1346)
- Grave slab presumably of a knight from Witzleben († 1520)
East wall
- Epitaph Chancellor Hieronymus Hedenus († 1670)
- Epitaph Mayor Erasmus Kilian, 1545 Mayor († 1576, buried in the old cemetery), resurrection image: risen man, flag of victory, sleeping guardian below angel with coat of arms of Kilian; by Steinmetz Donath Fritzsch (symbol above right)
- Grave slab Chancellor Dr. Heinrich Schneidewein († 1580), Cranach work
- Gravestone Georg Fischer († 1505), owner of the smelting works (Am Kupferrasen, Arnstadt). It is the most artistically significant stone. It represents the Gregor's mass.
- Tomb slab Catharina († 1492)
- Grave plate Chancellor Hieronymus Hedenus († 1670), Luther Rose with bronze plate
South wall
- Epitaph Landrentmeister Christoph Kirchberger († 1593), Schwarzburg Council
- Epitaph Landrentmeister Ludwig Koch († 1620), Schwarzburg Council
- Epitaph Leo von Packmor († 1583), Colonel under Count Günther the Arguable (outsourced)
- Grave slab Landrentmeister Ludwig Koch († 1621)
- Grave slab Landrentmeister Christoph Kirchberger († 1593)
- Grave slab Chancellor Johannes Börner († 1587)
- Grave slab knight Rudolf von Hopfgarten († 1529)
- Grave slab Leo von Packmor († 1583)
literature
- Oliver Bötefür: The upper church in Arnstadt. Arnstadt 2008
- Lehrmann & Partner: Presentation Oberkirche Arnstadt, preparation of potential measures for the Reformation anniversary in 2017. Arnstadt 2010
- Hans-Ulrich Orban: Chronicle of the upper church, compilation. Arnstadt 2008
- Georg Dehio: Handbook of the German art monuments. Thuringia. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1998.
Web links
- Website of the Oberkirche Arnstadt eV association
- Parish website
- www.thueringen.de
- www.monumente-online.de
- History details
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dieter Berg (Ed.): Traces of Franciscan History. Werl 1999, p. 25.45.63.
Coordinates: 50 ° 49 '57.3 " N , 10 ° 56" 44.5 " E