Orvin Reformed Church
The Reformed Church Orvin is the Reformed Church in Orvin in the canton of Bern , belonging to the parish of Rondchâtel . It is located in an east-west direction on the outskirts on Rue D'Evilard at about 670 m. The solid stone building is surrounded by a cemetery. To the northwest is a modern community hall. The church is a regional cultural asset.
Building description
The church, built in light-colored lime blocks, stands a little higher on the left bank of the Orvine river, which flows through the village, and looks defiantly defensive. Its rectangular exterior is determined by three narrow, high windows on the longitudinal, two on the choir facade and a square bell tower on the west side. While the nave is covered with a simple saddle roof with a small roof overhang, the octagonal tower hood has been designed more elaborately: the upper half of the tower becomes octagonal above a cornice . Under the four sound holes of the bell chamber there are three dials, each filling the entire width of one side of the octagon. On the south wall between the first and second window is a sundial appropriate.
The inside of the church can be reached via the west facade, to which the bell tower is in front of mighty pillars. A small foyée is separated from the actual church space by a wooden double door. Immediately behind the door on the left, a wide wooden staircase leads up to the gallery, which protrudes into the church on four wooden pillars. The main room is separated by another wooden wall and designed in the style of a hall church with a painted coffered wooden ceiling. The color scheme is gray and white.
history
A chapel in Orvin was first mentioned in 866, but it may have been elsewhere. Orvin has been reformed since 1530, but the parish continued to use the late Gothic church building of St. Peter of unknown date for almost two hundred years before this baroque building was erected.
With a generous donation from Benedikt Thellung (1595–1637), bailiff of Erguel , and his wife Magdalena von Graffenried , daughter of Anton von Graffenried (I.) , whose coat of arms can be seen on the back of the glass window on the left In 1638 the construction of the bell tower began. In 1660 the community received a donation from Johann Heinrich Thellung (1550–1637), governor of Biel, and his wife Susanna Ursula von Wattenwyl, who are immortalized in a second window. Construction was delayed due to the plague and severe winters, most recently in 1709, from which the community recovered slowly. In the years 1861, 1916 and 1994/1995 important renovations of the building took place.
The building is in the canon of the recatholization of Erguel under the Basel Prince-Bishop Jakob Christoph Blarer von Wartensee . Church buildings should help strengthen the faith of the population. A total of ten new churches were built in this church federation during this time.
Web links
- The churches on the website of the Reformed Parish Rondchâtel (French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ B objects BE 2018 . Canton of Bern KGS inventory, B objects, status: 2009, unadjusted (1.1.2018; municipal mergers for 2018 are marked in blue). In: babs.admin.ch / kulturgueterschutz.ch. Federal Office for Civil Protection FOCP - Department of Cultural Property Protection, January 1, 2018, accessed on December 30, 2017 (PDF; 344 kB, 11 pages, updated annually, the changes for 2018 are marked in blue).
- ↑ Christine Gagnebin-Deacon: Orvin. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ↑ a b c Jean-Claude et Pierre-Olivier Léchot: Historique de l'eglise Saint-Pierre d'Orvin ( Memento of the original dated May 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , 2002 (French)
- ^ Niklaus Bartlome: Biel Barter. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
