Parish church Bad Zell
The Roman Catholic parish church in Bad Zell is consecrated to St. John the Baptist and is located in Bad Zell in Upper Austria . It is part of the Pregarten deanery in the Linz diocese .
History of the parish
It is difficult to say when the first church was built in Zell. It was probably that small wooden chapel (celle) that stood by the courtyard at the upper end of the market square that finally gave the place its name. Such courtyards with small chapels were not uncommon in clearing areas in the High Middle Ages, as they offered small accommodation for clergymen traveling through.
However, the current location, at the lower end of the market square, should have been chosen relatively soon as the building site for a stone church, as the market square itself was laid out according to plan. Documentation is found between 1261 and 1278 when Zell was subordinate to the original and mother parish of Naarn . The (documented) parish elevation did not follow until 1366, although it can be assumed that Zell had already been an independent pastor's office in earlier times, the distance to the church of Naarn was too great. Between 1550 and 1624, all Protestant clergymen worked in Zell, which was driven by the Jörger von Tollet rulership . Zell became a stronghold of Protestantism. During the re-Catholicization, the place remained for four years (1624-1628) without a pastor; only later were Catholic clergy reinstated.
Between 1740 and 1784 an important Marian pilgrimage site was established. This fact is due to a circumstance (which cannot be explained to this day) that around 1740 in Zell up to 1/5 of the population died annually. A pilgrimage that took on large proportions quickly developed at the Marien Altar of the Zell church. The income was so great that a complete baroque redesign of the church interior was possible. However, Emperor Joseph II put an end to the pilgrimage. The church has retained its wonderful baroque interior, which is harmoniously combined with the old Gothic structure. At the end of the 19th century, the interior of the church underwent significant regotization.
Since the establishment of the sanatorium in Bad Zell, the church has enjoyed many guests from afar, who are brought closer to the extensive architectural history of the parish church through church tours.
Building history
The church is located in the south-eastern part of the market, over a terrain that slopes steeply on three sides. It is an important building from different medieval construction stages with a remarkable baroque altar solution and a 45 meter high church tower with a neo-Gothic pointed helmet.
Originally a simple, Romanesque building, which was significantly expanded and redesigned at the end of the 15th century so that Romanesque elements (with the exception of the west wall) disappeared completely. Today the church is a three-aisled, staggered system with remarkable vault rib formations (loop ribs, net ribs) from around 1470–1510 ( Freistädter Bauhütte under Mathes Klayndl ; see also Königswiesen parish church ). Other components such as the tower, chancel, crypt chapel, south portal and west gallery come from the same era. The central pillar of the west gallery is one of the most beautiful stone carvings in the church, along with the south gate and the two keystones in the Marienkapelle.
At the end of the 19th century, the church was partially reorganized (window tracery, side altars, tower, etc.).
After some renovation work in the years 1978–1980, the structural defects in the last years of the 20th century became so great that extensive renovation of the entire building was planned. In 2013 the church underwent a complete exterior renovation.
In 2018, the interior renovation of the church finally followed, which was completed with the consecration of the new celebration altar by the Linz Bishop Manfred Scheuer . In the course of this interior renovation and the associated examination of the interior, the decision was made to paint the presbytery in an elegant, baroque color, so that the magnificent high altar can come into its own. The three naves and the Marienkapelle were painted in the colors and shapes of the neo-Gothic after detailed investigations, to match the dominant neo-Gothic furnishings of these components. The findings confirmed the complex room design, one of the most diverse Gothic churches in the Mühlviertel, which, in addition to a high-quality neo-Gothic design, also has an excellent baroque high altar. This means that there is now an exciting meeting of different architectural styles in the parish church of Bad Zell without disturbing the harmony of the overall space.
Interior decoration
The oldest piece of furniture is the granite font from the Gothic period .
The sanctuary was redesigned in Baroque style in 1746 during the pilgrimages to Zell. The remarkable high altar structure, which includes the entire choir, has been preserved to this day. A stucco marble and column architecture by Franz Ludwig Grimm from Vornbach in Bavaria.
The altarpiece by Bartolomeo Altomonte depicts the baptism of Christ by John. In the half-dome there is a fresco “God the Father with the Angels”, also by Bartolomeo Altomonte and pseudo-architecture by Johann Georg Dollicher . Life-size, allegorical stucco marble statues adorn the window niches in the apse: Eucharistia (St. Joachim ), Office (St. Elisabeth of Thuringia ), Poenitentia (St. Hedwig von Andechs , with walking stick and shoes), Oratio (St. Anna ). The high altar is surrounded by a magnificent blue stucco curtain with angels. The stucco marble pulpit also dates from this period. The communion grid made of red and white marble is the work of the Zell stonemason Franz Schulz (1753).
The two neo-Gothic side altars were made by Ludwig Linzinger in 1893/94: Marienaltar (with baroque statue) in the former crypt chapel, Florianialtar in the south aisle. The high-quality way of the cross (fully plastic figures) also comes from Ludwig Linzinger. In the chancel there is a life-size statue of the Heart of Jesus from the 2nd half of the 20th century.
In the course of the most recent interior renovation (2018), an artistic redesign of the liturgical zones, in the chancel and the Marienkapelle, as well as the entrance area to the discussion room, was carried out. The work comes from the contemporary artist Sigrid Kurz and was executed in the joinery of the Benedictine monastery Admont in white varnished maple wood. The considerations for the redesign of the sanctuary relate to the forms of the Baroque and, on the other hand, to forms of moving water surfaces, with their light and dark contrasts. Water, as the source of life, is a reference to the Anabaptist patronage of the parish church and to the connection between Bad Zell and the element of water, which continues to this day. The celebration altar consists of three cubes arranged one above the other, which are slightly rotated (in relation to water), symbolizing the Trinity . Similar to the ambo, which consists of four parts and thus refers to the four evangelists . The lecture cross is made of twenty-one highly polished, cube-shaped brass modules that achieve a crystalline effect through a slight axial rotation. In the Gothic Marienkapelle, next to the chancel, a memorial for "stillborn children" was set up by the artist.
organ
The organ dates from 1902. In the neo-Gothic case there is a work by the Ottensheim organ builder Leopold Breinbauer (2 manuals, 14 registers ).
Bells
As in other parishes in the country, the parish of Zell had to deliver bells in both world wars (1917, 1942). It is remarkable that two historically valuable bells survived both world wars: the larger of the two (today's bell 2; 840 kg) is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and dates from 1524. The inscription says: “Iesus Nasarenus Rex Judeorum. Cordula (!) I hate it. Benedict Reicher Pixenmaister zu Lincz gos me MCCCCCXXIIII “(1524). The oldest bell in the church tower and thus one of the oldest bells in the country is the former woman of twelve (today's bell 4; 280 kg). It comes from the time the church tower was built, i.e. from the 14th century. It is completely unadorned and only has the names of the 4 evangelists as an inscription.
In 1956, the peal was supplemented by three bells from the St. Florian foundry : the Christ the King bell (963 kg), the baptismal change bell (400 kg) and the death bell (146 kg).
The peal of the parish church thus consists of five bells (f, g, b, des, es), with a total weight of approx. 2,630 kg.
Dome fresco by Bartolomeo Altomonte 1746
Gothic nave facing west, with organ
Neo-Gothic art in the south aisle
Detail from the high altar structure
Pulpit and view of the north aisle
Neo-Gothic Florian altar
Pastor of Bad Zell
- Until 1497 Wilhelm
- 1536 Sigmund Froschauer
Protestant clergy
- 1550 Hans Hengelin (was married)
- 1581–1601 Johann Georg Eder (married)
- 1604 David Tabertus
- 1611–1620 Daniel Füringer (married)
- 1620–1624 Johann Wider (had to emigrate with his family)
- 1624–1628 Zell without a pastor
Catholic clergy
- 1628–1634 Bartholomäus Sonse
- 1634–1638 Joachim Luderer
- 1638–1639 Jakob Maurer (was a Premonstratensian of the Allerheiligen monastery in Bavaria)
- 1639–1640 Johannes Storlin (from Enningen in Württemberg)
- 1640–1649 Jörg Ziegler (was always in conflict with the population. Lived in public cohabitation, ridiculed clerical and secular authorities in the pulpit and opened a wine tavern in the rectory. Was therefore deposed in 1649)
- 1649–1654 Balthasar Schnappinger
- 1654–1656 Georg Strobl
- 1656–1665 Erasmus Ammon Mayr
- 1665–1667 Johann Georg Mitterdorfer
- 1667–1671 Heinrich de Heistern
- 1672–1700 Johann Christof May
- 1700–1729 Pankratius Bayer
- 1729–1733 Franz Xaver Andreas Lackerbauer
- 1733–1734 Sebastian Valentin Hugel (later became parish priest of Grein)
- 1734–1738 Kaspar Stadler (later became pastor of Pierbach)
- 1738–1775 Josef Adam Kipelli (pilgrimage pastor in Zell. Client of the baroque redesigns)
- 1775–1789 Jakob Aufreiter (pilgrimage pastor, later became pastor of Kreuzen)
- 1789–1814 Franz Seraph Schmid
- 1814-1822 Placidus Pertsch
- 1823–1847 Johann Michael Blomann
- 1847–1861 Johann Christlbauer
- 1862–1881 Michael Gruber
- 1882–1891 Ignaz Safe
- 1891–1935 Cons. Council Dean Josef Moser
- 1935–1957 Cons. Councilor Maximilian Kelischek
- 1957–1986 Cons. Council dean Florian Strobl
- 1986-1992 GR Boleslaw Walaszek
- 1992–2001 Cons. Council dean Ludwig Höllinger
- 2001– Dean Mag. Johann Resch
See also
literature
- Federal Monuments Office Austria (Ed.): Dehio - Upper Austria Mühlviertel. Berger Verlag, Horn / Vienna 2003, ISBN 978-3-85028-362-5 .
- Lambert Stelzmüller, Alois Schmid : Home book of the market town Bad Zell. Linz 1985.
- Lambert Stelzmüller: Parish Church and Hedwigsbründl. In: History sheets from Zell near Zellhof. Linz 1928.
- Parish Bad Zell (Ed.): Festschrift for the opening of the church and the consecration of the altar. Bad Zell 2018.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Florian Oberchristl: Bells of the Diocese of Linz. Verlag R. Pirngruber, Linz 1941, pp. 621f.
Coordinates: 48 ° 20 ′ 57 ″ N , 14 ° 40 ′ 11 ″ E