Saint Helena (Siebleben)
The St. Helena Church is in Siebleben , a district of the Thuringian Gotha .
history
The first Siebleber church is documented in 1365. It stood by the running fountain , about 200 m from today's church, and was called Marienkirche. According to Galetti , the church was enlarged and improved in 1680, 1724 and 1754. A fire on June 11, 1809 destroyed the church and 24 surrounding houses with stables and barns. A pre-Reformation statue of the Virgin Mary ( Anna selbdritt ) survived the major fire.
Duke August von Gotha-Altenburg donated all timber from the Georgenthal forest for a new building . However, there was no new building for the time being because the Siebleber did not want to donate. The wood was rotting. Ten years later, the castle captain Adolf von Wangenheim took care of the reconstruction of the church. His daughter Caroline von Wangenheim, the owner of Buchenwald's free good had become the community Siebleben gave the building site for the new church, under the conditions that the tomb located in the garden of the goods are housed the wife of Buchenwald and her sister in a vault of the church should, the maintenance of the coffins should be taken over forever and the tenant at that time should receive compensation. The congregation agreed to the required regulations and the construction of the church began in 1820. In October 1826 shortly before the church was completed, the coffins of Frau von Buchwald and her sister, who were buried in the vault of the church, were relocated were walled in.
On December 16, 1827, today's church was inaugurated in the presence of Duke Ernst I of Coburg-Gotha and his two princes Ernst and Albert . The initials of their names can still be seen on the organ. A rich Siebleber farmer named Wilhelm Umbreit is said to have donated the bell, which is why the residents also call it "Umbreit-Glocke". A street in Siebleben is also named after the patron.
The congregation did not have enough money for a church spire or dome, so that the top of the tower was given a wooden cross 13 m long, which protruded 6 m from the tower roof. From the end of the 1970s to the beginning of the 1980s, the cross stood in the entrance area of the church. In the end the cross changed its place again and came onto the altar gallery. The church tower received a new cross.
In 1999 the church received a glass extension, the glass house . In 2000 the church was renovated with the installation of new heating and electrics.
In the former cemetery next to the church are the tombs of Gustav Freytag and his wife Anna and his stepdaughter Mika-Maria Strakosch-Freytag . The current Sieblebens cemetery with around 12,400 m² is located 190 m north on Högernweg.
Church interior with organ
Church interior with the cross in the altar gallery
Village well in Siebleben
Gravesite of Gustav and Anne Freytag
Grave of Freytag's stepdaughter
Individual evidence
- ^ Galletti: History and Description of the Duchy of Gotha , Volume 3, p. 62
- ↑ Self-presentation of the parish on www.kirchgemeinde-gotha.de
- 2. Around the Friedenstein. Sheets for Thuringian history and local events. Edited by the Gothaischer Tageblatt. Volume 7, No. 12.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 34.2 " N , 10 ° 44 ′ 35.3" E