Regiswindiskirche (Lauffen am Neckar)

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Regiswindiskirche in Lauffen am Neckar

The Regiswindiskirche in Lauffen am Neckar in the district of Heilbronn in northern Baden-Württemberg is a Protestant parish church . Previous buildings go back to the 8th century and were dedicated to Saint Martin. From 1227 a building dedicated to Saint Regiswindis was built, which was rebuilt into its present form after a fire in 1564. Next to the church there is an old cemetery chapel, to which the stone Regiswindis shrine from the 13th century was moved around 1880 and which has since been called the Regiswindis chapel .

history

Choir rehearsal during renovation in 2008
View of the choir from the castle

The first church on the rock above the left bank of the Neckar in Lauffen was probably built around the year 700. This probably wooden church was dedicated to St. Martin and came into the possession of the Würzburg monastery between 741 and 747 through a donation from the Franconian housekeeper Karlmann . After Regiswindis , the daughter of Count Ernst von Nordgau, was murdered around the year 839 and buried in the cemetery near the church, Bishop Hunbert von Würzburg had a first stone church built. The location of the church on the rock has always given the building the character of a fortified church . A tympanum relief with St. Martin from around 1100 in the Württemberg State Museum could indicate that the church would be rebuilt around 1100.

The construction of today's church began with the laying of the foundation stone in 1227, of which an inscription on the stone shrine for the bones of the count's daughter, who was canonized in that year, announces. The construction dragged on for a long time. Due to the architectural features of the former basilica , extensive construction work may not even take place until after 1275. The eastern part of the church was completed by 1293 at the latest, as an altar was founded in that year. In 1341 pastor Gebhard called for donations for the expansion of the church, so that the shell was probably finished at that time. 1506 a sundial on the west side of the church was installed, 1507 was the still fragmentary Mount of Olives by Hans Seyffer . The church was damaged in 1525 when peasants angry during the Peasants' War destroyed five altars. In 1527 the bones of the Regiswindis were reburied in a silver shrine, which was placed in a stone cabinet on the north wall of the choir. The old stone shrine from 1227 was then placed in the surrounding cemetery. After the battle of Lauffen in 1534, the valuable silver shrine was lost. The bones of the saints were then kept in a tin coffin, which however also disappeared a little later.

On September 5, 1564 the church burned down after a lightning strike. The chronicle expressly notes about the extent of the fire that stones and pillars were also burned. The current church building goes back to the reconstruction of the church from 1567 in the late Gothic style. The originally vaulted ceiling was replaced by a flat ceiling, so that the church has since presented itself as a three-aisled hall church . The wall paintings uncovered in 1957 also date from the time of the reconstruction.

The church has been redesigned many times over the years. In the late 18th century, the church was painted over. In the chancel and the side aisles, galleries (which had already been removed today) were drawn in and the church was given a baroque style, with the ceiling also being designed as a stucco ceiling. In 1876 the interior of the church was redesigned again, the walls and pillars were painted gray oil paint. Around 1930, the church was again slightly redesigned for interior and exterior renovations. The interior of the church was essentially given its current design during an extensive renovation in 1957, which has since been followed by many other renovation measures. A particularly extensive renovation, which affected not only the choir of the church, but also the fragment of the Mount of Olives and the wall surrounding the Kirchberg, took place in 2008/09.

description

View from the gallery to the choir

The Regiswindiskirche is a three-aisled hall church with an east-facing choir with a 5/8 end and a reticulated vault . The central nave is separated from the side aisles by towering columns. Most of the nave has a flat ceiling, with stone vaults only in the altar area and in the choir. To the north there is also a vaulted sacristy attached to the choir.

The Gothic choir seems to have weathered the fire of 1564 comparatively well and to date from a single era. The nave of the church, on the other hand, gives an idea of ​​the structural remodeling during the reconstruction of 1567 in many details. After the fire of 1564, the nave walls and columns were torn down and the side aisle walls were raised from their stones. Then a new central nave was built at the new height of the side walls. As a result of the renovation, the original window situation in the outer walls has fundamentally changed. On the west gable above the church portal, a single large window was converted into three small, lower windows. Repairs and changes to the windows can also be seen on the north facade of the church. Only on the south facade is one of the original windows preserved, which differs significantly from the younger windows of the nave in terms of its height and tracery .

In the church choir, on the north wall of the choir, there is an old stone cabinet in which the silver Regiswindis shrine from the early 16th century was once kept. On the north wall of the choir there are five copies of altar paintings made by the painter Andressen around 1480, showing the enfeoffment of Count Ernst with Lauffen, the birth and baptism of Regiswindis, the chastisement of Regiswindis' wet nurse's brother, the finding of the child's body and the arrest represent the nurse and the canonization of the Regiswindis.

The equipment of the church, consisting of the choir organ, baptismal font and altar, was procured during the Baroque period.

Organs

The choir organ has figural decorations showing King David playing the harp and angels making music.

View of the main organ

At the west gable of the nave, a gallery has been drawn in, on which there is another, modern organ . The slider chest instrument was built by the organ builder Richard Rensch (Lauffen / N.) And has 33 registers on three manuals and a pedal. The key actions are mechanical, the stop actions are electrical.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Quintad 16 ′
2. Principal 8th'
3. Reed flute 8th'
4th Octave 4 ′
5. Night horn 4 ′
6th Hollow flute 2 ′
7th Mixture IV-VI 2 ′
8th. Trumpet 8th'
II Swell C – g 3
9. Wooden flute 8th'
10. Salicional 8th'
11. Principal 4 ′
12. Pointed flute 4 ′
13. Nasat 2 23
14th Octave 2 ′
15th Swiss pipe 1'
16. Spicy Mix IV-V 1'
17th Dulcian 16 ′
18th oboe 8th'
III Rückpositiv C – g 3
19th Wood-covered 8th'
20th Praestant 4 ′
21st Reed flute 4 ′
22nd Pointed octave 2 ′
23. Sesquialter I-II 2 23
24. Sif flute 1'
25th Sharp IV 1'
26th Vox Humana 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
27. Principal 16 ′
28. Sub bass 16 ′
29 Octave 8th'
30th Covered bass 8th'
31. Transverse flute 4 ′
32. Back set III 4 ′
33. trombone 16 ′

Regiswindis Chapel

Regiswindis Chapel with the ossuary below

To the south of the Regiswindis Church is an old cemetery chapel, which was originally dedicated to St. Anne. The chapel consists of an old square room with a floor area of ​​10 × 10 feet (3.60 × 3.60 meters) from the 13th century, to which a late Gothic choir with a 5/8 end was added after 1400, which is with a pointed arch opening to the old square room. The thickness of the walls is two feet (72 centimeters). There is an old ossuary under the chapel . The origin of the building as a cemetery chapel was due to the fact that the original Lauffen cemetery was located around the Regiswindis Church.

Around 1880 the stone shrine of the Regiswindis relics from 1227, which previously stood in the cemetery, was installed in the chapel of the chapel. The shrine has an inscription, which indicates the year of the canonization of the Regisiwindis, which is also the year of the laying of the foundation stone of the Regiswindis Church, as 1227. The holes in the shrine provided a view of the relics. Since the shrine has been in the chapel, it has been called the Regiswindis Chapel . The small structure was extensively renovated in 1952, with the tracery of the windows being added and the roof repaired.

Voids under the church

The rock on which the church stands is criss-crossed by various man-made passages and cavities from different eras. This also includes the remaining vaults from previous buildings and the ossuary below the Regiswindis Chapel next to it, some of which can be viewed. A civil air raid shelter was driven into the rock in 1944 with level access to the gravel road. During renovation work on the city wall, this cellar was temporarily exposed again in 2008.

Individual evidence

  1. More information on the organ of the Regiswindiskirche (PDF; 59 kB)
  2. Thomas Dorn: City wall renovation as a permanent task . In: Heilbronn voice . September 6, 2008 ( from Stimme.de [accessed on August 22, 2009]).

literature

  • Julius Fekete: Art and cultural monuments in the city and district of Heilbronn . 2nd Edition. Theiss, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8062-1662-2 . P. 215
  • Albrecht Kottmann and Gudrun Kottmann: Evangelical churches in Lauffen am Neckar. Regiswindiskirche, Regiswindiskapelle, Martinskirche . 2nd Edition. Schnell & Steiner, Munich a. a. 1980 ( Art Guide No. 783)
  • Festschrift 750 years Regiswindiskirche Lauffen am Neckar , Brackenheim 1977

Web links

Commons : Regiswindiskirche  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 49 ° 4 ′ 34.1 ″  N , 9 ° 9 ′ 15.9 ″  E