Castle Church (Lahm)
The Evangelical Lutheran Castle Church of the Holy Trinity in Lahm in Upper Franconia , a part of Itzgrund in the Coburg district , dates back to 1732.
Building history
Heinrich Veit and Martin von Lichtenstein had a castle chapel built as their own church for the first time in 1477 . In 1617/18 the nave was lengthened and a church tower was built, and in 1693 the nave was raised and a two-storey gallery and an organ were installed .
Dilapidation and lack of space caused Adam Heinrich Gottlob von Lichtenstein to commission the construction of a new court church after the castle. Since von Lichtenstein had studied architecture in Paris, it is assumed that the idea of the central building came from him. The Ansbach court building director Carl Friedrich von Zocha planned the building of the church. The master carpenter Johann Valentin Juchheim was involved in the execution. The sandstone blocks for building the church came from the Hemmendorf quarry. On April 27, 1728, three cornerstones were laid. The first cornerstone is dedicated to Jesus Christ, "he alone should be the foundation of this church". The dedication of the second read: “God let our Lichtenstein be old and permanent” and the third: “God let this church stone be an ornament of the country, a joy for Christians”. On May 4, 1732 the inauguration of the new church took place at the same time as the organ consecration of the new autumn organ. The lame cantor Johann Lorenz Bach played the instrument.
The parish had extensive repairs carried out from 1978 to 1981. The organ was also dismantled for this purpose.
Building description
The church that dominates the site is to the west of the village. Together with the neighboring castle, the rectory and the formerly associated commercial and administrative buildings opposite the village to the east, it formed a closed, once center-free district.
The transverse hall church is a cross-shaped, around 26 meters long and 20 meters wide central building in the French baroque style . It has two shorter arms in the east-west direction, the main direction, and two longer arms in the north-south direction. In the corners are the stairwells for the galleries, which widen the west and east facades. The church tower stands above the eastern longitudinal arm with the sacristy . The congregation sits to the right and left of the altar, the lords' seats were opposite the altar. The church has around 600 seats.
The interior is divided into three parts by a central square with a groin vault and acts as a transverse hall, primarily because of the long longitudinal arms. The cross arms have single-storey, bridge-like, wooden galleries that rise towards the rear. They are of elliptical arch barrel spans. The east arm is characterized by the free-standing altar and the pulpit above, as well as the organ gallery protruding on three sides. The west arm contains the entrance in the middle, flanked by two rooms closed with lattice frames, above a two-storey gallery, below the high princely gallery. The west gallery has an arcade with three arches and parapets with profiled, rectangular frame fields, each decorated with a circular motif in the middle fields. The stucco work in the box, on the ceiling in the middle, is an oval star made of narrow, drawn-in round-arched frame fields, surrounded by four cartouches. She probably designed Georg Hennicke. Overall, the interior is characterized by a strict structure and simple, almost unadorned furnishings.
The facade of the unplastered sandstone block structure divides pilaster strips on all edges of the building, which are cranked with plinths and beams. A base with a profile cornice runs around the whole building. The cross arms have slated mansard roofs and triangular gables on the front sides over large arched windows that are band-framed. There is a rectangular window on the long sides of the cross arms.
Outside stairs lead to the four stairwells up to base level. The entrances are rectangular and framed like a ribbon. The lighting takes place through two high oval window openings above the entrance door. The main portal in the west facade is designed like the side entrances. Above the door there is a cartridge with the coat of arms of the von Lichtenstein family and a large window with a cornice.
The church tower stands above the east gable with a four-sided base zone, followed by a high, chamfered storey with corner pilasters and large, arched sound openings on each side, which are band-framed and provided with a crown . The upper end is a chamfered, square, narrow hood with slate covering, ball knob and point. Three bells, cast in 1780, hang in the tower.
Under the church there is a crypt with 42 brick burial places, 22 of which are occupied by family members of the von Lichtenstein family. The rectangular room is spanned by four groin vaults. A spring found during the construction of the foundations was captured and channeled. The water flows into the castle pond.
Furnishing
The wooden, rectangular pulpit is from the construction period. The parapet fields are designed in a simple way, access is from the rear via the sacristy. The sandstone font is dated to 1850/60. The brass chandelier with crystal glass chains dates from 1790/1800 and was originally in Ehrenburg Castle in Coburg.
On the south side of the church there is a grave slab for Clara Elisabetha Westett († 1692) and her husband Johann Weststett, "former royal Swedish lieutenant to Bfert under General Graffens von Königsmarck Leipregiment" († 1692). On the north side there is a grave slab for Johann Conrad Wolffhardt († 1692), “Gewesener Hochadelicher Lichtenstein. Gender administrator and notary ”. A tombstone for Johann Lorenz Bach , organist, cantor and schoolmaster in Lahm from 1718 to 1773, great cousin of Johann Sebastian Bach , stands on the inner staircase to the princely gallery.
organ
Above the pulpit altar is an organ from Heinrich Gottlieb Herbst from Halberstadt, which has largely been preserved in its original state . It has two manuals and a pedal as well as 29 sounding registers . The organ prospectus consists of three parts. The middle section ( upper part ) is set back and has three large and four small pipe fields in a four-axis arrangement. At the top there is a cartridge with the coat of arms of the client (in the middle) and his two first wives, Anna Ursula von Alvensleben and Carolina Juliana Voit von Salzburg . At the side, on double brackets, there is a case part with a small outer and a large inner pipe prospect. Part of the pedal unit and the main unit are located in these side pipe fields . On the back wall there is a second wind chest with the rest of the pedal stops, including the mighty 32-foot trombone bass.
- See also: Organ of the castle church in Lahm
Parish
In addition to the castle chapel, there was another chapel, St. Leonhard, in Lahm in the cemetery on the old escort road from Bamberg to Coburg, which was demolished in 1819 because it was dilapidated. The chapels were subordinate to the parish of Mürsbach. In 1552 the barons of Lichtenstein introduced the Reformation . Initially, this only applied to the area of the castle. In 1650 the palace parish was established, which did not include the village. From 1807 the village of Lahm, together with the neighboring towns of Pülsdorf , Kaltenherberg and Hemmendorf, was spun off from Mürsbach and assigned to the palace parish. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the parish of the Protestant parish Lahm im Itzgrund was enlarged to include the mostly Catholic neighboring towns of Mürsbach, Birkach , Freiberg , Poppendorf and Gleusdorf . The community has around 570 members and belongs to the Michelau dean's office .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Angela Michel: Monument conservation survey form Lahm im Itzgrund. 2003, p. 7.
- ↑ dekanat-michelau.de, information and history
- ^ A b c d Karl Ludwig Lippert: Bavarian art monuments, district Staffelstein . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1968, p. 138 f.
- ^ 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 978-3-930531-04-2 , p. 55.
Coordinates: 50 ° 6 ′ 5.2 ″ N , 10 ° 51 ′ 59.8 ″ E