Paulskirche (Hermannstein)
The Paulskirche was built between 1491 and 1492 in what is today the Wetzlar district of Hermannstein in Central Hesse . It contains a valuable sandstone relief from 1492, which depicts the birth of Christ.
history
The founder of the church cannot be proven, but there are many indications that Johann Schenck zu Schweinsberg was the builder. The year 1491 carved into the archway of the tower door suggests that this is the year of construction. A St. Paulini church in Hermannstein, mentioned as early as 1427, is likely to have been the old Mulenheim church.
Under Landgrave Philip I , the Landgraviate of Hesse , to which Hermannstein belonged, became Protestant in 1526 as a result of the Homberg Synod . In 1567 Hermannstein came to the still Protestant Hessen-Marburg , in 1604 to the Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel . Landgrave Moritz von Hessen-Kassel converted to the Reformed Confession in 1605 and introduced this into his country by 1619. 20 pastors were deposed in the hinterland alone . Hermannstein remained Lutheran until 1619. It should have been the last congregation to accept the Reformed Confession. In 1624 the Lutheran creed was reintroduced. Since then Hermannstein has been a Lutheran parish without interruption.
Since 1624 there are documents about the parish presentation by the Schencken zu Schweinsberg. However, they must have already had the right of patronage , since they had the right to present themselves in the Mulenheim church as early as 1427. In 1637 von Schenck ceded the right to appoint the pastor to the sovereign.
In the Thirty Years War the stalls were badly damaged, so that the church got new stalls in 1687. Some of the chairs in the nave, which were reserved for women, were sold by lot. Initially, seven places were allocated in each chair, later eight. The names of the buyers are registered in the parish authority of 1741. The purchase price of a place was one Reichstaler , ten Albus registration fees still had to be paid to the pastor. The Schencken each had a closed church chair in the lower nave and in the gallery.
In 1710 the nave and the choir were re-covered. The heavily damaged roof of the tower was not renewed until 1775 for cost reasons. The formerly octagonal roof was converted into a pyramid roof .
In 1730 the church received an extension for a staircase on its north side, which led to the Schenck church chair on the gallery. Originally a square building must have stood there, the foundation walls of which were discovered during the church renovation in 1910. This building was connected to the choir by an ogival door that was still visible. It could have been the sacristy that was used to build the stairwell when it was pulled down.
In 1747 a church seat order was introduced, which regulated the passing on of the sold seats in the women's chairs. It was still valid in 1922. The last entry in the register is dated June 20, 1920.
Around 1840 there was no longer enough space in the church. By extending the gallery towards the pulpit and converting the southern entrance door into a window, space for 40 people was created by 1843.
In 1857 the church got a new floor, two gallery stages, several new women's chairs and a new door. The renovation work cost 700 guilders and was paid for by the civil parish.
A major interior renovation was due in 1910. Pastor Hammann succeeded in hiring the government master builder Biermann , who was responsible for the restoration of the Wetzlar Cathedral , and the cathedral master builder Dr. Steumer interested in the church. They discovered the consecration crosses, the ornamental painting around the window on the south side and the remains of the Christophorus picture. The choir, the choir stalls, the organ front , the outer parapet and the pillars of the gallery , the barons' chair and the sacristy were given a new coat of paint.
In 1962/63 the organ was moved from the choir room to the gallery, the patronage chair was removed and the choir windows previously covered by the organ were re-glazed, the walls and wooden parts were painted and the old painting was renewed.
In the 1970s, cracks in the interior of the church and in the exterior masonry required an examination by a structural engineer, who found that the south side bulged outwards. The church building was given a ring armor made of concrete, which was drawn around the nave and choir under the roof structure. Inside the church, the masonry also had to be secured with two steel cables. The renovation work in the autumn of 1977 also included draining the church, repairing the roof structure, painting the interior and cleaning the exterior masonry with the aid of a sandblasting fan . At the same time, the stone relief was moved inside the church.
After extensive renovation work in the interior over a period of ten months, St. Paul's Church was inaugurated on March 31, 2019 with a solemn service.
architecture
The church is built in the late Gothic style. The simple structure consists of a west tower, a nave and an octagon-closed choir . The latter has a reticulated vault with hollow ribs and two-part, pointed arched windows with late Gothic tracery . The choir arch, which is also pointed, is framed on the side of the choir and is profiled with a hollow towards the nave. The ship has a wooden ceiling vaulted in a basket arch with skylight windows. The tower rises in three floors and is covered with a pointed tent roof. The west door, which leads to the tower vestibule, is profiled with a round bar between throats, which overlaps at the apex and is provided with pointed Gothic plinths. The door in the south wall, now used as a window, still has the old stone hinge and the wall slot for the locking beam.
Furnishing
Sandstone relief
The stone relief of the former south gate, which depicts the birth of Christ, dates from the time the church was built. It bears the year 1492. Since the relief had suffered as a result of air pollution, it was placed inside the church in 1977 above the font. In the old place it was replaced by a cast.
crucifix
A wooden crucifix that hangs in the choir arch is said to date from the early days of the church. At the ends of the cross beams there are medallion pictures on which the names and symbols of the four evangelists are depicted.
Baptismal font
The font , which has an octagonal cup shape, is just as old . Around 1700 it was removed from the church and taken to the Klausegarten. It was replaced by a marble baptismal table . In 1951 the font was returned to the church. The baptismal bowl and jug were remade in 1974.
pulpit
The pulpit probably dates from 1723.
Painting
The church must have been painted in earlier times. Remnants of the pre-Reformation painting are still visible today. The large statue of Christ on the north side of the nave, which was discovered during a renovation in 1910, is particularly worth mentioning . During this renovation, twelve consecration crosses were also discovered under the paint, which were probably whitewashed after the Reformation.
Epitaphs
There are six epitaphs in the church for members of the Schenck zu Schweinsberg family:
- On the south side of the nave: life-size knight and his wife. The knight's left hand and the woman's nose are chopped off. The portraits are framed with 16 coats of arms. The stone has neither a name nor a year.
- In addition: Stone for Heinrich Christoph Schenck zu Schweinsberg (* around 1674; † December 23, 1730) and his wife Catharina Susanna (* February 21, 1687; † December 10, 1730). This stone is framed by 24 coats of arms.
- Right in the choir: Stone for Wilhelm Burkhardt Schenck zu Schweinsberg (around 1627 - August 19, 1694) and his wife Anna Elisabeth (November 3, 1634 - April 7, 1702). This stone is adorned with 18 coats of arms.
- East wall of the choir: stone for Caspar Magnus Schenck zu Schweinsberg. The center of the stone is decorated with the Schenck coat of arms. Above and below it you can see the coats of arms of his four wives.
- In the tower: stone for Herman Adolf Schenck zu Schweinsberg († August 26, 1570) and stone for his son Friderich Heinrich Schenck zu Schweinsberg († August 23, 1588).
Grave vault
Under the pulpit was the grave vault, in which members of the Barons Schenck zu Schweinsberg were buried from the beginning of the 18th century to 1785.
organ
The church did not receive an organ until 1837 . Including the organ stage, it cost 1,100 guilders, which were raised by the civil parish. The organ was built by the company Daniel Raßmann from Möttau and placed in the choir. For the 400th anniversary of the church, the organ was given an additional register in 1891 . Pedal and manual have been renewed.
In the First World War , the prospect pipes were withdrawn and not used again until 1920. They were also subject to registration and tax during the Second World War , but were not requested.
The office of organist was connected with the position of the first teacher (later head teacher). Since he was unable to play the organ when the organ was purchased, the teacher from Kleinaltenstädten was the first organist to take over the office of the church. Until 1949 the organ was always played by the first teacher.
The organ was provided with a mechanically operated bellows for more than a hundred years . The bellows tread was paid for by the community. Later the confirmands had to kick the brat. An electric wind machine was only installed in 1954. Today's disposition is as follows:
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Bells
The oldest bell mentioned came from the pre-Reformation period. She was baptized in the name of Maria . Before 1787 the community had a smaller bell poured over in Kleinaltenstädten.
In 1811 the big bell was cast over. The smaller one was also cast over by Rincker in Leun in 1842 . In 1899, because of a crack, the Rincker company had to cast it again in Sinn.
The big bell had to be delivered during the First World War. She was lowered from the bell tower on July 16, 1917 and taken to the train station the next morning. In 1920 the community received a replacement for its bronze bell. The cast steel bell cast at Buderus was inaugurated on August 22nd . At that time, the Buderus company needed land from the Hermannstein civil parish. Among other things, the congregation received the bell for the accommodation. It bears the inscription: “Stand firm in the storm of time! Bless your suffering! Think of eternity! "
On March 31, 1942, the small bronze bell was fetched from the tower and delivered.
On November 16, 1955, two new bronze bells cast in Karlsruhe were received at the Wetzlar train station and brought to the church in a solemn procession.
The smaller one is the prayer bell. It is decorated with the praying hands of Dürer and bears the inscription at the top: “Stop at the prayer” and at the bottom the words “ Grant us peace graciously ” .
The big bell, the death knell, is dedicated to the memory of the fallen and missing of the two world wars. It bears the "Vivit Cross" by Rudolf Koch as an ornament, next to which the saying "I live and you should live too" stands. On its upper edge, Jeremiah's admonition “O land, land, hear the word of the Lord!” Is attached.
On the 1st of Advent 1955 the three bells could be heard together for the first time.
|
No. |
Surname |
Casting year |
Nominal ( HT - 1 / 16 ) |
Weight (kg) |
Diameter (mm) |
Brass knuckle (mm) |
inscription |
| 1 | 1920 | Stand firm in the storm of time! Bless your suffering! Think of eternity! | |||||
| 2 | Death knell | 1955 |
I live and you shall live too O land, land, hear the word of the Lord! |
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| 3 | Prayer bell | 1955 |
Hold on to prayer graciously give us peace |
The usual ringing at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. in Hermannstein goes back to an ordinance issued by Landgrave Georg II during the Thirty Years' War.
Churchyard
The square around the church was surrounded by walls in earlier centuries and was used as a churchyard . After the burial of the dead in churches was banned from 1785, three members of the Schenck zu Schweinsberg family were buried in the churchyard. In October 1785 these were the wife of Eberhard Schenck zu Schweinsberg, Louise Friderike, as well as two children of Eberhard Schenck in 1778 and 1791.
Since the churchyard could not be expanded, a new cemetery was required at the beginning of the 19th century, which was laid out in front of the village (opposite the current cemetery). This cemetery had to be expanded again in 1844 and 1873. Four members of the Schenck zu Schweinsberg family were buried in this cemetery: Baron Ludwig Ernst Karl Schenck zu Schweinsberg in 1847, his son Wilhelm Schenck zu Schweinsberg in 1874, his wife Elisabeth in 1906 and Baron Ferdinand Schenck zu Schweinsberg in 1920. These graves remained there when the cemetery was transformed into a public facility and the remaining graves were leveled.
The current cemetery was inaugurated in early 1904.
Rectory
The rectory was built in 1494 as a hermitage for beguines right next to the church.
Wilhelmsheim
In 1886, Baroness Elisabeth Schenck zu Schweinsberg had a building built in front of the gates of the village (today in Falltorstrasse), which she handed over to the deaconess mother house Elisabethenstift zu Darmstadt, with the obligation to provide the Hermannstein congregation with a child and a nurse put. To maintain the station, she donated a capital of 30,000 marks. The house was inaugurated on July 10, 1887. The next day, 41 children took possession of their "toddler school". In 1924 the number of children had grown to 69, so that the nurse had to be assigned a helper. The Wilhelmsheim was the oldest kindergarten in the Wetzlar district .
In 1939 the National Socialist People's Welfare took over the Elisabethenstift in Darmstadt. On August 11, 1941, the kindergarten in Wilhelmsheim was also taken over by the NSV. The nursing ward could initially be continued. In August 1942 the Hermannstein civil parish became the owner of the Wilhelmsheim. After the end of the war it could no longer be occupied by deaconesses , but continued to serve as a kindergarten and nurses' station. Today the building is privately owned.
Parish hall
The Wilhelmsheim also served as a church meeting room in which singing and reading evenings, children's services and catechumens lessons took place. After the Second World War, this facility was no longer available, so that the parish needed a new space for community and youth work. In July 1958, construction, which was estimated at 40,000 DM, could begin in the rectory. Through house collections, a grant from the church leadership and donations from the civil parish, the Wetzlar industry, the patronage and private individuals, 25,000 DM were raised. The community hall was inaugurated on January 25, 1959. This new building had already reached its capacity limit at the end of the 1960s, but the start of construction on the new community center dragged on for a long time. In the meantime, the old parish hall and the parish barn were demolished due to the expansion of the new Blasbacher Straße.
The new parish hall was inaugurated on October 23, 1977 and has since met the spatial requirements for church parish life in Hermannstein.
Pastor
| Surname | Term of office | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Caspar Drecul († 1527) | around 1500 | First proven and probably only Catholic pastor. |
| Gerlach Reuter | 1545–? | From 1527 he was one of the first students of Protestant theology in Marburg . |
| Josef Framps († 1575) | ? -1575 | Died of the plague with his six daughters . |
| Johannes Ockershausen | 1607-1619 | Was also pastor in Wetzlar. Was deposed because he did not want to introduce the Reformed Creed . |
| Justus Unckelius | 1619-1624 | The only Calvinist pastor in Hermannstein. |
| Burkhard Liebenthal | 1624-1625 | |
| Johann Caspar Krause († 1636) | 1625-1631 | |
| Caspar Schlesinger | 1631–? | |
| Conrad Ruppel (* 1609; † 1673) | ? -1638 | |
| Johannes Löhr | 1656-1661 | Before converting to the Evangelical Church, he is said to have been a Jesuit for 13 years . |
| Jakob Halgans (* 1637) | 1662-1673 | |
| Johann Philipp Burkhard Lantz (* 1644) | 1674-1691 | |
| Johann Helfrich Schräling | 1692-1693 | |
| Johann Daniel Drullmann († 1726) | 1693-1708 | |
| Georg Simon Giller | 1708-1727 | |
| Christoph Ernst Raabe († 1773) | 1727-1732 | |
| Johannes Eusebius Roth (* 1675; † 1732) | 1732 | |
| Johann Rudolf Münch (* 1707; † 1772) | 1732-1772 | |
| Gottlieb Christian Bähr (* 1748) | 1772-1779 | |
| Philipp Carl Fischer (* 1746; † 1817) | 1779-1785 | |
| Johann Joachim Friedrich Görtz († 1828) | 1785-1794 | 1794–1807 pastor of the Aegidienkirche (Hanover) , then pastor in Melbach (Wetterau) |
| Johann Jacob Waldeck | 1795-1799 | |
| Ludwig Wilhelm Steinberger (* 1766; † 1827) | 1799-1827 | |
| Johann Heinrich Spamer (* 1803; † 1886) | 1828-1869 | Because of severe strokes of fate and a rheumatic disease, he asked for a vicar in 1857. Was the pastor's office until his death in 1886. |
| Friedrich Ernst Krauss | 1857-1859 | Vicar in support of Pastor Spamer |
| Wilhelm Georgi | 1859-1860 | Vicar |
| Christian Wilhelm Emil Schwan | 1860-1861 | Vicar |
| Johann Gottfried Karl Koch | 1861-1865 | Vicar |
| Karl Wilhelm Reitz (* 1839) | 1865-1869 | Vicar |
| Karl Wilhelm Reitz | 1869-1872 | Parish administrator |
| Karl Ernst August Philipp Engel | 1872-1886 | Parish administrator |
| Karl Wilhelm Reitz | 1886-1902 | |
| Gustav Otto Philipp Emanuel Hammann (* 1859; † 1916) | 1902-1916 | |
| Otto Alfred Hasselmann († 1937) | 1916-1921 | |
| Gustav Karl Hanstein (* 1874) | 1922-1939 | |
| Karl Zulauf (* 1907; † 1941) | 1939-1941 | He volunteered for the army and was only able to do his duty in Hermannstein during the short vacation periods. He fell in northern Finland on July 6, 1941. |
| Hermann Schmidt (* 1913) | 1947-1967 | |
| Wolfgang Höhler (* 1936) | 1968-1974 | |
| Ernst-Wolfgang Credner (* 1944) | 1974-1988 | |
| Sepp Scheerer (* 1942) | 1978-1982 | |
| Gerhard Failing (* 1954) | 1983– | |
| Wolfgang Grieb | 1995– |
photos
literature
- Ferdinand Luthmer: The architectural and art monuments of the districts of Biedenkopf, Dill, Oberwesterwald and Westerburg. Heinrich Keller publishing house, 1910.
- Maria Mack: Chronicle of the congregation Hermannstein - Part I. Published by the Ev. Hermannstein parish, Hermannstein 1991.
Web links
- Homepage of the parish
- State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (Ed.): Evangelical Parish Church In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hessen
Individual evidence
- ↑ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Burgstrasse 5. Evangelical Parish Church, formerly St. Paulus In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse
- ^ Franz Bösken : Sources and research on the organ history of the Middle Rhine (= contributions to the Middle Rhine music history . Volume 7.1 ). tape 2 : The area of the former administrative district of Wiesbaden. Part 1: A-K . Schott, Mainz 1975, ISBN 3-7957-1307-2 , p. 430 .
Evangelical Church Blasbach | Evangelical Community Center Dalheim | St. Markus (Dalheim) | Evangelical Church (Dutenhofen) | Evangelical Church (Garbenheim) | Paulskirche (Hermannstein) | Evangelical Church (Münchholzhausen) | Evangelical Church (Nauborn) | Evangelical Church (Naunheim) | Christ Church (Niedergirmes) | St. Walburgis (Niedergirmes) | Evangelical Church (Steindorf / Wetzlar) | St. Bonifatius (Wetzlar) | Franciscan Church (Wetzlar) | Gnadenkirche (Wetzlar) | Hospital Church (Wetzlar) | Kreuzkirche (Wetzlar) | Magdalenenkirche (Wetzlar) | Wetzlar Cathedral
Coordinates: 50 ° 34 ′ 45.8 ″ N , 8 ° 29 ′ 30 ″ E