Castle Church (Ahorn)
The Evangelical-Lutheran castle church in Ahorn in Upper Franconia in the Coburg district dates back to its present form at the end of the 18th century. The parish church, together with the neighboring castle, forms a striking ensemble.
Building history
In 1312 a "capella" in maple was first mentioned. The rulership of the castle had the parish priest's rights. In the pre-Reformation period the church was consecrated to Mary, the Mother of God. From around 1400 the church tower, the choir and the sacristy were built , which were given an upper floor around 1500. Between 1610 and 1634, the lord of the castle, Wilhelm von Streitberg, had the nave extended to the south. Another enlargement was not possible due to the neighboring castle. The floor plan probably corresponds to the current one. In 1627 the church tower got its present appearance after a storm damage with two more floors and an octagonal helmet. In 1703 the church tower burned down and was restored a year later. The last major construction project was carried out between 1789 and 1793. The transept was rebuilt, the nave, including the windows, was raised and a two-storey gallery with a box was built for the lords of the castle. As part of restoration work from 1914 to 1916, the community had tracery windows and glass paintings installed in the choir. Gothic wall paintings with depictions of angels with crosses of the Apostles were uncovered, but presumably repainted. During a thorough renovation from 1934 to 1935, the grave slabs embedded in the floor were removed and embedded in the walls.
Building description
The church stands next to the castle, characterizing the townscape, prominently on a slope. On the eastern side, it consists of the medieval tower and the Gothic chancel to the north, as well as the two-storey sacristy. The younger nave is from the late baroque period and has an axis shifted to the south in relation to the choir.
The 45 meter high church tower has five floors and is divided by four strong cornices . He has a slender octagonal helmet, which is bordered below by four watch towers . The tower stands on the 3.15 meter long and 2.5 meter wide vestibule in the basement, which is spanned by a cross vault and was closed to form the nave. On the first floor there are rectangular window slots, on the next floor there are small pointed arch windows. The third floor has smaller arched windows and window slits. It is characterized by the large clock faces of the church tower clock. There are pointed arch windows on the top floor.
The gothic designed, five-sided choir is 9.3 meters long and 5.0 meters wide. It is spanned by two cross vaults with pear rod ribs that begin above the floor. The final yoke is significantly shorter than the long yoke that adjoins it to the west. The keystones show a chiseled head of Christ and a rosette. In the end of the choir there is an arched sacrament niche on the north wall, which is closed with a medieval lattice. A pointed triumphal arch connects the choir with the nave. Another pointed arch is located on the south side as a connection to the vestibule. In the choir there are four pointed arched choir windows, one on each end side and one on the south side of the end yoke. The facade is divided by a base and a window ledge and buttresses .
To the north of the choir, connected by an iron-studded door with a large lock, is the sacristy, which is 4.6 meters long and 2.6 meters wide and has a barrel vault . It has an upper floor with two cross vaults, which is accessed through an inside round and outside polygonal stair tower with a conical helmet. The room on the upper floor was probably the first manorial box.
The nave is spanned by a wooden flat ceiling. The rectangular interior is characterized by a three-sided, two-storey gallery on Tuscan wooden pillars. On each of the long sides there are three flat-arched, high windows. The plastered ceiling is decorated with the trinity triangle in a halo. The main entrance is a richly decorated, round-arched seating niche portal in the center of the south side with a keystone showing the coat of arms of the von Streitberg family and, among other things, the year when the nave was extended in 1634. The west facade has two long, flat-arched windows, a small flat-arched door and a bricked-up pointed arched portal.
Furnishing
The wooden pulpit on the southern triumphal arch pillar dates from the first half of the 19th century. It is decorated with goblet pendants, laurel branches, bunches of flowers and ribbons.
Two epitaphs by the Lords of Streitberg on the east wall of the nave are characteristic of the interior . The sandstone epitaph to the right of the triumphal arch is from 1616 and was erected for Wilhelm von Streitberg († 1631) and his first wife Anna († 1615). It is a work by Johann Werner from Nuremberg and his son-in-law Veit Dümpel from Altenstein and shows the kneeling couple von Streitberg and their children. The wooden epitaph on the left reminds of Wilhelm Ludwig von Streitberg († 1638), son of Wilhelm von Streitberg, with whom the male line of the von Streitbergs died out.
In addition, four Renaissance bronze tombstones from members of the von Rosenau family decorate the north wall of the choir. The panels date from the 16th century and only contain coats of arms, which are framed by inscriptions. A plaque on the southern triumphal arch pillar commemorates the von Hendrich family.
Bells
There are three bells hanging in the church tower . The oldest and largest bell with a diameter of 106 centimeters dates from 1772 and is tuned to the tone f sharp. The other two bells were cast in 1954 and are tuned to C sharp and A. The small bell bears the inscription “In memory of the Golden Confirmation, donated by Johann Gemmer in 1952.” and “Pray and work!”, The middle one “Glory to God alone.” They replace bells that were melted down during World War I , the middle one Bell with a diameter of 83 centimeters was cast in 1821 and the small one with a diameter of 65 centimeters was cast in 1703.
organ
The first organ was installed around 1619 . After the church was expanded around 1790, the Neustadt organ builder Johann Andreas Hofmann built the current organ on the upper west gallery in 1794 using rows of pipes from the previous organ from 1619. Organ pipes had to be delivered during the First and Second World Wars. A restoration of the baroque organ, including a new manual keyboard, was carried out by the organ builder Walcker from Ludwigsburg from 1953 to 1955 .
A comprehensive and fundamental renovation, including a reconstruction of the wedge bellows, followed in 2010/11 by the organ builder Andreas Hemmerlein from Cadolzburg . The organ has eleven registers , a manual and a pedal .
The five-part, late baroque-early classical organ front is divided into a round tower, intermediate fields and concave rectangular fields. The gilded decor consists of tendrils, classical hangings and vases as well as blind wings in the transition style decorated with musical instruments.
Parish
The church district includes Ahorn and the neighboring towns of Triebsdorf , Schafhof , Finkenau and Hohenstein .
Web links
- 360 ° view from the castle church - interactive panorama
Individual evidence
- ^ Lothar Hofmann: Monuments Region Coburg - Neustadt - Sonneberg: Places of contemplation and prayer. Historical sacred buildings. A guide through the churches in the districts of Coburg and Sonneberg . Verlag Gerätemuseum des Coburger Land, Ahorn 2007, ISBN 3-930531-04-6 , p. 11
- ^ Friedrich Falkenstein: Maple . In: Evangelical parishes in the Coburg region. Verlag der Ev - Luth. Mission Erlangen, Erlangen 1984, ISBN 3-87214-202-X , p. 211 f.
- ^ History of the Evangelical Church of Ahorn
- ↑ a b c d Paul Lehfeldt : Architectural and Art Monuments of Thuringia, Book XXXII. Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Jena 1906, p. 383 f.
- ↑ The bells of the Ahorner Church
- ^ A b Hermann Fischer, Theodor Wohnhaus: Alte Orgeln im Coburger Land, Part I. Yearbook of the Coburg State Foundation 1970, p. 184 f.
Coordinates: 50 ° 14 ′ 10.7 ″ N , 10 ° 56 ′ 58.6 ″ E