Parish Church St. Gallus (Amden)
The parish church of St. Gallus is located in the St. Gall community of Amden . Their creation can be traced back to the 13th century. It was given its current appearance during the renovation in 1923.
history
In the Middle Ages, the village of Amden belonged to the large parish of Schänis , which made going to church very difficult. This lasted three to four hours and led past the parish church of Weesen . That is why a church was built here in the 13th century and a clergyman was employed. The construction cannot be dated exactly, but it is believed to have taken place between 1282 and 1406 during Austrian rule.
The first mention of the church and the clergy took place in the income junk of the diocese of Chur from 1320 to 1329, which makes a construction at the end of the 13th-beginning of the 14th century seem realistic. On April 16, 1457, the people of Amden donated an "Eternal Season", mentioning a pastor Heinrich Helbock. At the beginning of February 1529 there was an iconoclasm in the church as a result of the Reformation . In 1531 they returned to the Catholic faith.
The church of Amden has been an independent parish church since January 19, 1594 , but Schänis Abbey retained its right of presentation . In 1639 an episcopal visitation took place, in the report written at the same time the church is described. In 1643 pastor Johannes Frischknecht († 1669) founded the Rosary Brotherhood . Gabriel Eberle and Susanne Hefti donated the statue of the Mother of God to the brotherhood.
The church was probably redesigned at the end of the 17th century. The two preserved side altars date from this period. The Way of the Cross was built in 1768. The sacristy was enlarged in 1776 and the following year the Scapular Brotherhood was founded. The church was extended approx. 8–9 meters in 1794, with a new west entrance created and the windows enlarged. The necessary building site was given to the church by Paul Römer.
Pastor Leonard Gmür founded the Sacred Heart Brotherhood in 1809 . He arranged for sandstone tiles to be laid on the raw limestone floor in the choir in 1812 and in the nave in 1814. In 1813 the choir stalls were replaced. Between 1812 and 1814 the old ossuary on the south side of the church was demolished and replaced by a small new building in the southwest corner of the churchyard. In 1814 the Redemptorist Fr. Johannes Sebelli, who had fled from Warsaw, brought the head of St. Angelica to Amden. In 1812 a new organ with 16 registers was purchased for around 1000 guilders .
After the engineer Wieland from Weesen had confirmed that a renovation could be carried out without the risk of the tower collapsing, planning began in 1848 for a renovation, which was carried out between 1858 and 1860. Karl Reichlin from Schwyz could be hired for the interior decoration, who then also carried out the exterior renovation.
In 1873 the catacomb saint Theodor was brought here. Orgelbau Kuhn , founded by Johann Nepomuk Kuhn , delivered a new organ in 1884. The high altar from 1888 was made by Alois Holenstein from Wil and the two side altars were newly gilded. Another renovation of the church was carried out in 1923, the tower and sacristy were redesigned. The tower was raised by the bell storey. A new high altar was also installed by the company Holenstein from Wil. In 1953 the organ was replaced by a new one from A. Frey from Lucerne.
The church was renovated again between 1980 and 1985. The sacristy was rebuilt. The interior was also redesigned. The baptismal font was removed and a black marble floor was laid. The extension from 1794 can be seen in the different ceiling construction, which stands out above the recessed gallery as a wooden construction from the gypsum slatted barrel ceiling of the rest of the ship.
construction
The church is east and stands on the southern edge of the steep cliff between Rombach and Fallenbach. The elongated rectangular nave has five window axes. The windows are designed to be arched. A retracted choir tower is attached to the nave. The sacristy has stood north of the tower since 1923, initially two-story, but since the renovation has only been one-story and has been pulled to the side of the nave. Your roof now leads seamlessly to that of the ship. The tower is the oldest remaining part of the church. It initially carried a cheese bite roof and was later replaced by a neo-Gothic cross ridge with a polygonal roof turret. In 1932 it was raised by today's bell floor and received a raised tent roof.
The ship was provided with a plasterboard barrel ceiling in 1858. The roof structure was probably built at the same time using old wooden parts that were still usable.
A gallery was added to the sign as a northern extension of the new rectory building.
Interior decoration
The neo-baroque high altar was created in 1923. It is flanked by the two statues of Gallus and Otmar , which come from the previous altar from 1888. Two side altars from the 17th century are placed in front of the choir arch. The wall statues in the nave were also installed in 1923. The three ceiling paintings were painted by August Meinrad Bächtiger in 1923.
The Gothic baptismal font , half of which is placed in a niche by the side altar in the south wall, has a hexagonal outside and an oval basin. It is believed that it was created in a post-Gothic style, as the three visible sides are imprecise. It is likely that the font was created around 1594. This font was removed during the renovation in the 1980s.
photos
View of the church from the southwest
View of the church from the north
Interior, view of the gallery with organ
Interior, view of the choir
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archive on the history of Schänis Abbey and the Gaster landscape, compiled by Anton Fraefel, (Fraefel Archive) No. 51
- ↑ Legal source Gaster No. 267
- ↑ Fraefel Archive No. 25, page 80
- ↑ As a dependent parish, no baptismal font was necessary until 1594
literature
- Bernhard Anderes The Gaster District , Volume 5 of the series The Art Monuments of the Canton of St. Gallen . Birkhäuser 1970
ISBNpages 12–23
Web links
Coordinates: 47 ° 8 '56.3 " N , 9 ° 8' 27.3" E ; CH1903: seven hundred twenty-nine thousand one hundred / 223400