Parish Church of St. Stephan (Tulln)

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Parish Church Tulln
South view of the parish church

The parish church of St. Stephan is a Roman Catholic church building in Tulln on the Danube in Lower Austria .

Building history

Romanesque building

West portal

The origins of the parish church in Tulln go back to the 11th century. On July 5, 1014, Emperor Heinrich II gave the diocese of Passau royal property to build a church. Romanesque foundation remains from this time have been preserved. The building comprised today's central nave and was equipped with a choir square and probably an apse . The first major expansion was carried out in the 12th century when the two side aisles were added, creating the current appearance of the three-nave pillar basilica . At the front of the south aisle, the Romanesque arch still marks the transition to the original apse.

On the south side in particular, Romanesque characteristics in the form of half-columns with cube-shaped capitals and the stepped round arch frieze have been preserved. The north side was subject to major changes, but the Romanesque north portal from the second half of the 12th century still exists (albeit in a baroque vestibule). The portal columns are distinguished by special capitals, an eagle on the left and leaves and fish on the right.

The west portal dates from the early 13th century, the pillars of which are in the style of Roman gravestones each with six half-figures carved in relief , whose identity is assumed differently and ranges from the 12 apostles to 12 Passau bishops.

Gothic extensions

Longhouse

The nave was rebuilt around 1280/90 . After the six-bay Romanesque building, it is now designed with five bays in the early Gothic style of the mendicant churches : Wide-span Gothic pointed arches on octagonal pillars without capitals form the arcades to the side aisles.

The Gothic high choir with its four-bay cross ribbed vault and 5/8 end dates from the first half of the 14th century and its height initially stood in marked contrast to the flat ceilings of the nave aisles. After a fire between 1496 and 1513, these were finally equipped with ribbed vaults under the direction of councilor Martin Gerstenecker (tombstone under the west portal), but not reaching the height of the choir in the central nave either.

The north side chapel (Marienkapelle) also dates from this period, as does the Gothicized south portal. The south side chapel was never completed; the area is now occupied by the sacristy . In 1590 an earthquake caused considerable damage as the northern wall in particular tilted outwards, which is why retaining walls were necessary, which today largely hide the Romanesque origin.

Baroque

The town fire of 1752 did not spare the church either, which meant that the interior furnishings were destroyed by flames and therefore a complete refurbishment was necessary.

The west towers were raised and received today's baroque helmets after their original pointed roofs . A connection was created between the towers at roof height of the central nave to accommodate the tower watchman.

Above the west portal is a stone double-headed eagle with the 'Turkish skulls' in its claws, which is intended to commemorate Tulln's role in the relief of the City of Vienna in 1683 . It comes from the property of the Montecuccoli family and, after it was originally located above the high altar, was relocated to the west facade in 1786.

The stone sculptures on the sides of the west portal, St. Johannes Nepomuk , on the right St. Karl Borromeo , come from the water chapel on the Danube.

Furnishing

Choir

High altar

The high altar made of marble comes from the monastery of the Carmelites in St. Pölten (now the Prandtauerkirche), which was closed during the Josephine era . It was erected there in 1717 and finally transferred to Tulln in 1786. The altarpiece shows the 'Stoning of Saint Stephen ' and the top painting 'Holy Trinity ', works by the Imperial and Royal Chamber Painter Joseph Steiner from Vienna. The two side statues represent the hll. Camillus and Leopold . The upper statues, hll. Magdalena and Rosalia , by Matthias Klöbl, were added later. The altar bears the inscription 'Ex dono Josephi II MDCCLXXXVI'.

Choir stalls

The system established in 1750 Rococo - choir was also out of the repealed 1790 Carthusian Monastery Gaming transmitted. At first it turned out to be too big, so it had to be adapted and finally got an additional front row of seats in 1861.

Nave and side chapels

The two side altars date from the second half of the 18th century. The image of the left side altar of the Annunciation is a contemporary copy of a work by Franz Anton Maulbertsch (original in the Belvedere Palace in Vienna ). The right side altar is decorated with the image of St. Lucia equipped. The left side chapel, the Johanneskapelle, houses an altar with an oil painting by the Tulln Minorite Father Innozenz Moscherosch (1697–1772), Glorie des St. Nepomuk , 1734. In the right side chapel, the St. Thomas Chapel, there is an altar painting by Franz Anton Maulbertsch. The late baroque pulpit is attributed to Matthias Klöbl (1750). The relief shows Christ handing over the keys to Peter.

organ

organ

The church has a mechanical slide organ with 37 registers , which are divided into three manuals and a pedal . It was built between 1958 and 1960 by the Upper Austrian Organ Building Institute in St. Florian (now Kögler Organ Builder ).

Bells

The '' Pummerin '' hangs alone in the north tower, all other bells hang in the south tower.

After the city fire in 1752, when all the old bells were destroyed, Franz Wucherer cast a new bell in Vienna . In addition to the remains of the old bells, he also used metal donated by Empress Maria Theresa for the casting . The following inscription by the Pummerin refers to this :

WITH GOD'S HELP AND HIS GRACE FRANZ WVCHER MICH GOSSEN HAT ZV VIENNA IN THE SUBURBAN.
ANNO DOMINI MDCCLII QVO DIMIDO MAJOREM TVLLNAE PARTEM CORRIPVIT VVLCANVS FVSA HAEC CAMPANA CVM RELIQVIS QVAS AVGVSTISSIMA IMPERATRIX ET REGINA NOSTRA MARIA THERESIA DONATO METALLO AVXIT (...)

During the First World War , the old half-pummer and two small bells had to be handed in for metal extraction and were melted down. In the interwar period, only the little train bell was purchased. In the Second World War , all bells had to be delivered, but were kept in the assembly camp and returned after the end of the war. However, the peal was initially not supplemented.

Only in 2013, in view of the 1000th anniversary in 2014, 3 new bells were purchased, which were cast by the bell foundry Rudolf Perner in Passau. It was one of the last works of this foundry. In the course of the addition, the cracked eatery was restored and a new wooden belfry was built in the south tower for bells 2 to 7. These all received new wooden yokes and new clappers . Since enough donations were collected for this project, the test bell , which had actually only been made as a test casting , could also be purchased and integrated into the bells.

No. Surname Nominal Weight
(kg)
Diameter
(cm)
Casting year Caster
1 Pummerin a 0 4224 188 1752 Franz Usurer
2 Francis bell, half-pummer cis 1 1678 142 2013 Bell foundry Rudolf Perner
3 Twelve dis 1 1110 124 1752 Franz Usurer
4th Diner f sharp 1 562 97 1752 Franz Usurer
5 Christophorus Bell g sharp 1 474 94 2013 Bell foundry Rudolf Perner
6th Test bell dis 2 195 68 2013 Bell foundry Rudolf Perner
7th Train bells f sharp 2 77 50 1931 Bell foundry Pfundner

literature

  • Otto Biack: History of the city of Tulln. 2nd Edition. Self-published by the municipality of Tulln, Tulln 1982.
  • Roderich Geyer: Church buildings of the parish St. Stephan in Tulln. Publishing house St. Peter, Salzburg 2000.
  • Walpurga Oppeker: A Johannes Nepomuk brotherhood and their altar in the parish church of St. Stephan in Tulln. In: Hippolytus NF 32, St. Pölten 2011, pp. 169–177.

Web links

Commons : Parish Church St. Stephan (Tulln)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jörg Wernisch: Glockenkunde von Österreich , Journal-Verlag, Lienz 2006.

Coordinates: 48 ° 19 ′ 53 ″  N , 16 ° 3 ′ 23 ″  E