Reuthe parish church

Catholic parish church St. Jakobus in Reuthe

inside view

The Roman Catholic parish church Reuthe is located in the Bregenzerwald community of Reuthe in the Bregenz district in Vorarlberg . It is consecrated to St. James and belongs to the dean's office in Hinterwald in the diocese of Feldkirch . The building is a listed building .

history

When Reuthe was settled at the beginning of the 13th century, the farmer Albrecht Verre built a wooden chapel on the site of today's church around 1250. In 1284 several farmers in the area built a common church with a cemetery and a parish hall . The tower was created with a passage through which the footpath and bridle path from Bezau to Bizau led. At the beginning of the 15th century the church became too small for the rapidly growing population; In 1419 a major renovation took place. Walls were moved and the tower was given the octagonal cantilevered pointed spire - a church tower shape unique in Vorarlberg . In the following years the church received its frescoes; its origin is dated between 1420 and 1450.

architecture

A comprehensive renovation and baroque renovation took place in 1774. The old frescoes were damaged, painted over with a white coat and gradually forgotten. The old path through the church tower was bricked up and the road from Bezau to Bizau was led around the church. Three baroque altars and a baroque pulpit were erected. The old Gothic pointed arch windows were widened and given flat arch lintels. Only the window in the east wall of the chancel has been preserved in its original Gothic form. The new glass windows were created in 1963 and 1964 by the Düsseldorf artist Jochem Poensgen .

Around 115 years later, the old frescoes in the chancel were rediscovered, exposed and renovated by the painter Josef Reich from Bizau in 1889/90. They show scenes from the life of Mary and twelve apostles with German inscriptions. The frescoes on the choir arch wall remained hidden until the 1960s. In the course of a renovation in which the baroque altars and the baroque pulpit were removed, Hans Bertele from Schruns renovated the choir arch frescoes. The frescoes on the choir arch show the martyrdom of St. Sebastian , the handkerchief of St. Veronica, St. Martin on horseback with the beggar at his feet and the Madonna in protective cloak, starting from the top left . Anna herself is depicted in the lower left , the scene in the lower right cannot be clearly assigned. A late Romanesque processional lecture cross, which was created around 1300, is part of the furnishings of the church . Seven relics are kept inside the crossbeams of the hollowed-out cross . The precious cross is kept in the parish archive.