Reformed Church Wilchingen
The Reformed Church of Wilchingen is an early Baroque transverse church in Wilchingen , Switzerland .
history
Today's Sankt Othmar church is part of a medieval fortification. Pieces of the old defensive wall are still preserved and form the southern side of the cemetery wall. The old, still existing loopholes bear witness to this early period. The small chapel within this fortification was mentioned for the first time in 1482, presumably as St. Otmar's Church, which had existed for centuries .
In 1515, after a long process before the episcopal court in Constance, the Wilchinger were allowed to separate from the previous parish of Erzingen and joined the Reformation a few years later . This detachment was taken as an opportunity to start building a simple church immediately. The old defense tower with its 1.70 m thick walls was converted into a church tower. The nave was built on the west side of the tower. In 1551 the steeple was raised and in 1588 the church was extended to the north. During the earthquake on December 8, 1674, cracks appeared in the walls and the Wilchinger asked the authorities for permission to build a new church, the present one. During this planning phase in 1675, the Wilching-based company made contact with the architect Heinrich Peyer, who then looked at the later building site and was already working on plans. This explains why the church could be completed within a short period of time after the laying of the foundation stone on March 15, 1676.
In spring 1676 the dilapidated church was torn down with the exception of the tower. According to Heinrich Peyer's plans, a new church building was then erected on the east side of the old tower and consecrated on November 5, 1676. The construction costs amounted to about 4200 guilders. These costs were split between Trasadingen (1055) and Wilchingen (3166). There was also a grant of 93 guilders, which was donated by the Bishop of Konstanz and the Abbot of Rheinau.
description
The church rises on a hill high above the Klettgau . The nave connects to the west of the medieval tower with its unusual half-hipped roof . The floor plan forms a rectangle with a polygonal end on both sides and a dimension of 30 by 15 meters. The church is one of the earliest transverse churches in Switzerland. The building type of the transverse church was to determine the reformed sacred architecture in Switzerland for the next two hundred years.
The church can be entered through four portals on the longitudinal axes. The ornate baroque pulpit and baptismal font are located on the northern longitudinal axis of the church. The pews in the central part of the church face the pulpit. In the two polygonal parts of the ship and the galleries above, however, the seating is turned by 180 °. As a result, the pulpit as the central location of the Protestant sermon service is clearly visible from all places.
The intricately carved wooden ceiling is remarkable. The strips form two large octagons and two smaller triangles that connect the octagons. The unusual floor plan of this early transverse church is taken up and specially emphasized by the ceiling design.
The organ from the early 1960s comes from Orgelbau Kuhn and comprises 23 registers on two manuals and a pedal . It replaced a pneumatic instrument created by the same company in 1912.
The church of St. Otmar Wilchingen belongs to the Reformed parish of Wilchingen, which has formed a pastoral community within the Evangelical Reformed church of the canton of Schaffhausen together with Trasadingen and Osterfingen since 1997 .
literature
- Kurt Bächtold: History of Wilchingen . Published by the community of Wilchingen, Wilchingen 1988, pp. 107–110.
- Markus Sieber (pastor in Wilchingen from 1986 to 2002): The Sankt Othmar church in Wilchingen . Hallau printing works, Hallau o.J.
- Reinhard Frauenfelder: The Art Monuments of the Canton of Schaffhausen, Volume III, The Canton of Schaffhausen (excluding the city of Schaffhausen and the Stein district). Society for Swiss Art History, Basel 1960, pp. 289–297.
- Klaus Speich, Hans R. Schläpfer: Churches and monasteries in Switzerland. Ex Libris Verlag, Zurich 1978, p. 255.
- Michael D. Schmid: transversely built. Querkirchen in the canton of Zurich , Stutz Medien, Wädenswil 2018, ISBN 978-3-85928-200-1 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Organ portrait on the website of Orgelbau Kuhn AG, accessed on March 24, 2014.
- ^ Website Trasadingen - Osterfingen - Wilchingen at the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Schaffhausen, accessed on March 24, 2014.
Web links
Coordinates: 47 ° 40 '9.8 " N , 8 ° 28' 14.8" E ; CH1903: 677,520 / 280370