Easter church
The Catholic branch church St. Stephanus , also Osteraufkirch or Osteraufkirche , is a church that was built in the 12th century and stands on the open ground between Denklingen and Dienhausen in the Landsberg am Lech district .
The church is located a few meters west of the former prince-bishop's road from Augsburg to Füssen . The road was expanded and fortified by Cardinal Peter von Schaumberg in the 15th century and is now a farm road.
The tower substructure of the church dates from the 12th or 13th century, the choir and nave date from the time the road was built in the second half of the 15th century. At that time the church also had a sacristan's house, which was abandoned during the Thirty Years' War during the plague epidemic in 1636 and collapsed in 1669. At that time, the church belonged to the village of Osteraufkirch, which has now been abandoned. From 1730 the church received a baroque interior , in 1870 a way of the cross by the Augsburg artist Ferdinand Wagner was built.
On 6./7. In September 1943 the church, which stood completely alone in the hallway, was hit by an emergency dropping of British aerial bombs and burned down completely. The pilot and the rear gunner of the British Halifax bomber were killed while attempting an emergency landing in neighboring Aschthal . After the war, their corpses were transferred to the Allied military cemetery in Dürnbach am Tegernsee and buried there. Three other crew members were able to jump off with the parachute and fell into German captivity on their further flight.
The reconstruction of the church took place in the 1960s and was made possible primarily through donations and the cooperation of the people of Denklingen and Dienhaus. The new, simple interior was designed by Franz Bernhard Weisshaar from Augsburg "in the spirit of the 2nd Vatican Council", the altar was consecrated by Augsburg Bishop Josef Stimpfle on April 20, 1969. The old choir altar with the depiction of the stoning of St. Stephen, the choir ceiling with it the glorification of St. Stephen, the pulpit, side altar and ceiling fresco in the nave were not restored.
The outer walls of the church were renovated in 1998, and late Gothic remains were discovered on the east side of the choir, which were preserved and covered again. Today devotions and services are only occasionally held in the church.
literature
- Bernhard Müller-Hahl (Ed.): Homeland book for the Landsberg am Lech district with the city and all communities. 2nd revised edition. District Office, Landsberg 1982, p. 373 ( Between Lech and Ammersee 1, ZDB -ID 2295702-9 ).
- Heide Weißhaar-Kiem: The Easter church near Denklingen. In: Landsberger history sheets. 1987/88, ZDB -ID 568859-0 , pp. 14-16.
Web links
Coordinates: 47 ° 53 '55.9 " N , 10 ° 50' 12.3" E