Parish Church of the Birth of Mary (Reckingen VS)
The parish church of the Birth of Mary is located in Reckingen in Obergoms in the canton of Valais . The current structure was built between 1743 and 1745. It is considered to be the most imposing building of the Upper Valais Baroque .
History
The congregation tried to separate from the parish of Münster in 1682 , but this was not achieved until 1695/96. The separation from Munster was not easy, because the mother parish resisted, although the papal nuncio Marcellus de Aste had already drawn up the act of foundation of the curate chaplain on April 16, 1695. Because of the refusal of Münster and Bishop Adrian V. von Riedmatten , Johann Joseph Hürsimann had to be sent to Reckingen as apostolic commissioner so that the house of God could be designated and the first curate chaplain appointed. The church received the baptismal and burial rights and the right to appoint the curate chaplain was transferred to Reckingen. But one was still subordinate to the mother parish of Münster. The final separation from Münster did not take place until 1914, previously in 1880 the Primezen had been bought out from the church factory in Münster.
The church was consecrated in 1748 together with the rosary altar by Bishop Johann Joseph Blatter .
Previous buildings
A chapel is mentioned for the first time in 1414 for the place where today's parish church stands. This gave way to a new building at the end of the 15th century. This building was consecrated together with the altar on the patronage of Our Lady and St. Theoduls in 1498 and replaced by a new building in 1696 in connection with the establishment of a curate chaplaincy. This was completed in November 1695, but could not be consecrated until April 29, 1696 because of the dispute with the bishop. It was consecrated in 1704 by Bishop Josef Franz Supersaxon. The visitation act carried out in 1736 only mentions the patronage of the birth of Mary. The church was built too small, also as a result of the quarrels with the mother church in Münster, so that a new building of a larger church was inevitable.
Building history
The conception of the church goes back to the doctorate theologian Johan Georg Garin Ritz, who worked as curate chaplain of Reckingen. He was the son of the altar carver Johann Ritz from Selkingen. His successor as pastor was Christian Blatter, who was aware of the artistic importance of the building, which is reflected in his entry in the baptismal register at the start of construction.
The builder cannot be determined with certainty because literature and chronicles contradict each other in some cases. Possible builders are Johann Bickel (Pickel) (* 1703) from Raggal ( Bludenz ) from Vorarlberg or two architects named Pickel from Feldkirch , who are said to have had an accident in Eginental.
Layout
The church faces east and has an elongated rectangular nave with a very long choir . The choir consists of two choir bays and ends in a somewhat irregular polygon. The projecting tower is arranged in the northern axis of the choir and the ossuary in the southern axis .
Bells
From 1704 it is known that there were three bells in the church tower. The one from 1697 is available, the bell cast in 1700 with a diameter of 835 mm, this bell burst in 1930. The largest bell was purchased in 1697 and had to be cast several times (in 1777 for the fifth time). In 1757 a fourth bell was added. In 1776, three bells were cast by the Reckinger bell foundry Walpen, so that the ringing comprised seven bells. With the new casting of three bells in 1931, the ringing was reduced to five bells. A bell with a diameter of 530 mm in the Martinsberg chapel comes from this church. It was removed from the church tower in 1931 and placed in the chapel in 1951.
|
No. |
Casting year |
Giesser, casting location |
Diameter (mm) |
| 1 | 1868 | Gebr. Rüetschi, Aarau | 1280 |
| 2 | 1931 | H. Rüetschi, Aarau | 1020 |
| 3 | 1931 | H. Rüetschi, Aarau | 850 |
| 4th | 1931 | H. Rüetschi, Aarau | 750 |
| 5 | 1697 | unknown | 600 |
Renovation in 1974
The total renovation in 1974 was carried out without official support from the preservation authorities. Thus, in some cases, too little consideration was given to the historical inventory.
literature
- Walter Ruppen: Art Monuments of Switzerland Volume 64 The Art Monuments of the Canton of Valais Volume 1 Obergoms . Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1976, ISBN 3-7643-0728-5 .
Web links
Remarks
- ^ Norbert Lieb , Franz Dieth The Vorarlberger Baroque Masters Münschn and Zurich 1967, pp. 18 and 79
- ↑ Franz Joseph Joller († 1794) noted “Im Eginen-Thal. Lauwe misfortune. After 1751 the two famous architects Pickel von Feldkirch (Vorarlberg), the builders of the churches in Reckingen, Stalden and Geschen, died at the entrance of the Egischen-Thales on the Kitt near Stalden in the Lauwe. A stone next to it got their name ”. However, this could be a mix-up with the brothers Christian (master mason) and Franziskus Bichel, who were found dead here on February 11, 1735.