Castle Church (Bad Dürkheim)

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Castle Church

Castle church from the south; in front of it the Leiningen burial chapel
Basic data
Denomination Protestant
place Bad Dürkheim, Germany
Building history
completion 12th Century
Building description
Architectural style Sandstone block pseudo-basilica
Coordinates 49 ° 27 '41.6 "  N , 8 ° 10' 0.2"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 27 '41.6 "  N , 8 ° 10' 0.2"  E
Template: Infobox church building / maintenance / function and title missing Template: Infobox church building / maintenance / dedication or patronage missing
Castle church 1630 (with old tower), drawn by Landgrave Moritz von Hessen-Kassel

The castle church in Bad Dürkheim , formerly the church of St. Johannis , is the main Protestant church in the city. At the same time, it is an important early Gothic building in the Palatinate .

history

In place of the parish church of St. John first mentioned in 946, a three-aisled basilica was built in a bound system with three square vaults in the nave and six vaults in the aisles. There was a tower in front of the west wall.

Around 1300 a new building was erected in place of the Romanesque church, which took over the foundations and the basement of the church tower from its predecessor . To promote the construction project, efforts were made in Rome for support. According to a document issued there in 1300, the Armenian Archbishop Basilius of Jerusalem, the Archbishops Ranucius of Cagliari in Sardinia and Adenulphus of Conza , as well as 13 other bishops, grant indulgences for the faithful who visit the Dürkheim Church on certain holidays or for the new building or construction. Contribute to the procurement of the necessary church inventory. The document also states that the said church “S. Johannis Baptistae in Durckeym ” , in the diocese of Speyer , “ is part of an extensive new building, the costs of which cannot be covered without the alms of the faithful ” .

The construction work of the first Gothic sacred building in the Vorderpfalz was completed in 1335. The result was a stepped hall in which the central nave is elevated compared to the side aisles, but, contrary to the principles for the construction of a basilica, is not illuminated by its own window zone, the upper aisle . The central nave merges into a one-bay choir , and the side aisles also end in apses . Inside, five free-standing round pillars on each side support the arcades between the central and side aisles. The abbot of Schönau Monastery in the diocese of Worms is named as patron saint in 1387 .

Pope Gregory XII. awarded a further indulgence in 1414 for all devout visitors and benefactors of the church, on the feast days of the Assumption of Mary , the Birth of Mary and on the patron saint of St. John the Baptist , on condition that confession was made ; also the participants in the evening Salve Regina donated by Count Emich von Leiningen for every day of the year .

In favor of a renovation and richer interior of the church procured Johannes von Dürckheim pin cantor at St. Florentius in Niederhaslach (Alsace) , which the St. John's Church in Durkheim special veneration bring, on 26 February 1480 again a discharge issued by 11 cardinals, including the Cardinal Bishops Guillaume d'Estouteville of Ostia, Oliviero Carafa of Albano and Roderic Llançol i de Borja of Porto-Santa Rufina, who later became Pope Alexander VI.

In 1531 the Limburg abbot Werner Breder von Hohenstein was buried here in front of the high altar; his tombstone is currently outside, north of the church.

Leininger burial place

The Leininger burial chapel; on the left the grave area, on the right the ruler's box

Between 1504 and 1508 Count Emich IX built it. von Leiningen-Hardenburg († 1535) a burial chapel with a (inaccessible) crypt, attached to the south-eastern aisle of the church. It is a late Gothic building with two gables, a saddle roof and ribbed vault, which is spatially connected to the church. Several Gothic tombstones and Renaissance epitaphs have been preserved inside. The most important is a monumental double epitaph of Count Emich XII. von Leiningen-Hardenburg and his wife Maria Elisabeth von Pfalz-Zweibrücken, daughter of Duke Wolfgang von Pfalz-Zweibrücken . The Speyer sculptor David Voidel created it around 1612 and you can see behind the princely figures a. a. a relief that shows the existing buildings at the Hardenburg headquarters . There are also the grave slabs of the builder, Count Emich IX, in the chapel. von Leiningen and his wife Agnes geb. von Eppstein-Münzenberg († 1533), as well as remains of Gothic wall paintings. In 1926, when the crypt was opened, the remains of a total of 9 people buried here were found. The eastern part of the chapel is the so-called ruler's lodge , a separate area open to the church, from which the count followed the service. This division is also visible from the outside. To the west, with a three-part pointed arch window, the actual burial chapel; to the east, with a small pointed arch window and separate outer door, the ruler's box .

Changes in 1865/66 and restoration 1977–1980

The exterior of the church is dominated today by the upper floors of the 70 meter high west tower, which were renovated in 1865/66. The tracery of the windows, partly in late Gothic forms, was also created in 1865 and does not match the structural forms of the early Gothic church of the 14th century.

Damage to the vaults and pillars led to an extensive restoration between 1977 and 1980 by the architect Martin Vogel. The interior of the church was significantly changed and adapted to the early Gothic style of the building.

organ

The organ of the castle church was built in 1983 by the organ building company Paul Ott (Göttingen). The instrument has 27 registers on two manuals and a pedal . Game and stop actions are mechanical. Zimbelstern and setting system were added later.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Dumped 16 ′
2. Principal 8th'
3. Reed flute 8th'
4th octave 4 ′
5. Wooden flute 4 ′
6th octave 2 ′
7th Cornett IV
8th. Mixture V-VI
9. Trumpet 8th'
II Swell C – g 3
10. Wooden flute 8th'
11. Salicional 8th'
12. Gamba 8th'
13. Principal 4 ′
14th Transverse flute 4 ′
15th Nasard 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
16. flute 2 ′
17th third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
18th Mixture III-V
19th bassoon 16 ′
20th Schalmey 8th'
Tremulant
Pedals C – f 1
21st Sub bass 16 ′
22nd Principal 8th'
23. Tube bare 8th'
24. Choral bass 4 ′
25th trombone 16 ′
26th Trumpet 8th'
27. Clarine 4 ′

Bells

The castle church has a five-part bell from the Bachert bell foundry from Karlsruhe . The bells were cast in 1953 and have the chimes c sharp, e, a, h, c sharp. The largest bell weighs 1,460 kilograms. The bells cis´´ and a´ strike the quarter hours, the bells e´ and cis´ the hours.

  • Castle church, choir from Kirchgasse

  • Castle church from the south, with burial chapel

  • Castle church from the north

  • Castle Church, north side

  • Castle church, east choir

  • Castle Church, west facade

  • Interior shot, south aisle to the west

  • Double epitaph Count Emich XII. and wife

  • Double epitaph, close-up

  • Grave slab of the builder of the chapel, Count Emich IX. of Leiningen († 1535)

  • Gothic font, 1537

  • Gravestone of the Limburg abbot Werner Breder von Hohenstein († 1531)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Xaver Glasschröder : Documents on the Palatinate Church History in the Middle Ages , Munich, 1903, pages 11 u. 12, document regist No. 32
  2. ↑ ibid., Page 62, document regist no.148
  3. ↑ ibid., Page 81, document regist No. 194
  4. ↑ Franz Xaver Glasschröder: New documents on Palatinate church history in the Middle Ages , Speyer, 1930, p. 101, document regist No. 163
  5. ^ Franz Xaver Remling : Documented history of the former abbeys and monasteries in what is now Rhine Bavaria , Volume 1, p. 144, Neustadt an der Haardt, 1836; (Digital scan)
  6. ↑ Antenne , Zeitschrift der Prot. Kirchengemeinde Bad Dürkheim, June 2016, page 13 (PDF document) ( Memento of the original from November 3, 2016 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.evkirche-bad-duerkheim.de
  7. ^ Johann Georg Lehmann : Documented history of the castles and mountain palaces in the former districts, counties and lordships of the Bavarian Palatinate , Volume 3, page 203, Kaiserslautern, 1863
  8. ↑ Website on the building history of Hardenburg, with mention of the relief in the castle church Bad Dürkheim
  9. ↑ Between time and space: The Castle Church from 946 to the present day , leaflet (church guide), Protestant church community Bad Dürkheim
  10. ↑ Organ of the castle church

Web links

Commons : Bad Dürkheim Castle Church  - Collection of images, videos and audio files