Castle Church (Meisenheim)
The castle church in Meisenheim is a late Gothic hall church in Rhineland-Palatinate . It is a protected cultural asset under the Hague Convention .
history
Not far from the early Christian centers of Disibodenberg and Medard , the beginnings of the church are in the dark, but it can be assumed that Meisenheim already had its own parish church in the 10th century. Since the 13th century the Counts of Veldenz were obliged to maintain the church. In 1321, the Veldenzer delegated pastoral care to the Johanniter from Herren-Sulzbach , who then moved their headquarters to Meisenheim.
The current church was rebuilt after the Veldenzer family died out in 1444, when the county of Pfalz-Zweibrücken fell and Duke Ludwig I moved his residence to Meisenheim. The castle church was built from 1479 (after the old church was destroyed in the bombardment of the city in 1461 by Elector Friedrich I ). From 1482 onwards, Philipp von Gmünd from the Frankfurt Dombauhütte can be verified as a master builder . The final consecration of the church took place in 1504. The Reformation was introduced in 1532, and Philipp Heinrich Hellermann carried out a baroque renovation of the church from 1766–1770 , during which the most profound change was the removal of the Gothic rood screen. Without otherwise touching the Gothic structure, galleries, pulpit and organ prospect were installed. Subsequent renovations, which had less of an impact on the overall picture, included the neo-Gothic sculptures on the tower, the dismantling of the gallery and modern glass windows in the choir.
investment
The building is a three-aisled, rib-vaulted hall church with 5 bays and a square antechamber, which is flanked to the south by a side chapel (burial place of the Count Palatine) and to the north by the sacristy. The actual choir is unique, the floor plan of a concealed central building with 7 sides of a decagon to be completed. In the choir head, in the fore choir yoke and in the southern side chapel, the rib vaults are significantly richer and more complex than in the nave, where different vault shapes in the southern and northern aisles are incidentally. In the southern chapel there are even free-floating vaulted ribs. The vaults in the nave are supported by round pillars without templates. The tracery that changes from window to window is also varied.
A relatively compact tower forms the western end, which continues from the third floor in an octagon with a blown spire.
On the east side, towards the lower Amtsgasse, the church area is closed off with a high retaining wall, in which there is a late Gothic access portal with stairways on the inside. Above it was the building inscription from 1479, which was however destroyed. Today this coat of arms stone has been replaced by a replica made in 1911.
Burial place
In the burial chapel, which was completed in front of the actual church, there are numerous members of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken family and related lines from the 15th to the 17th centuries. The most famous is probably Charles I the Count Palatine and Duke of Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld. One of his descendants was Maximilian IV of Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld-Bischweiler. As Maximilian I , he became the first king of the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1806 and thus founded the Wittelsbach royal line, which ruled Bavaria until 1918.
Furnishing
After the medieval altars were auctioned during the Reformation, the Renaissance epitaphs in the ducal burial chapel (south side chapel) are particularly noticeable, especially the tomb of Duke Wolfgang († 1569) and Anna of Hesse († 1591), the Johann von Trarbach is attributed. In the choir there are windows from 1968 by Helmut Ammann from Munich.
organ
From the Baroque features, the pulpit, the 1967 shortened gallery and the two manual have Stumm - organ from 1767 received. The instrument has 29 registers on two manuals and a pedal . After changes made in the 19th century by Meyer, Herford, Oberlinger (Windesheim) restored the instrument for the first time in 1968 and restored the original disposition . Especially for liturgical play, the pedal keyboard was expanded to 27 keys as part of the restoration from 1993–1994 by the organ building workshop Förster & Nicolaus (Lich, Hessen), which is achieved by means of an insert; the original 20 keys C – g correspond to the original scope. The organ is the only instrument that has all of the original pipe works, including the only surviving Vox angelica 2 ′ (bass) and is considered the best preserved silent organ of the 18th century.
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- Coupling : Stecherkoppel between manuals I and II as a sliding coupler, pedalcouplerII to the pedal.
literature
- Karl-Heinz Drescher: Castle Church in Meisenheim ; Bad Munster a. St.-Ebernburg 1973
- Karl-Heinz Drescher u. Günther Lenhoff: The castle church in Meisenheim (Rheinische Kunststätten, issue 465). Neuss 2002
- Klaus Freckmann: Meisenheim am Glan (Rheinische Kunststätten, issue 268). 2nd, modified edition, Neuss 1992
- 1504 - 2004 Meisenheim Castle Church. Moving history and living present of a unique building. Edited and published by Evang. Meisenheim parish, 408 pp., 2003/04
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ See Leonhardskirche Frankfurt ( picture ).
- ↑ See Freiburg Minster ( picture ). In Frankfurt , on the other hand, the spire was never completed.
- ↑ Website for the building inscription on the east side of the castle church
- ↑ Torsten Laux: Organ of the Stumm Brothers, Castle Church Meisenheim / Glan - with 13 Baroque organ pieces , April 1998. IFO Records Mainz IFO-023. EAN 4-010228-000221
- ↑ Torsten Laux: Organ of the Brothers Stumm, Castle Church Meisenheim / Glan. IFO-CD 023, booklet p. 3
gallery
East portal
Building inscription above the east portal
West portal
Baroque pulpit
Epitaph Duke Wolfgang and his wife
Epitaph Duke Karl I.
Coordinates: 49 ° 42 ′ 18.9 " N , 7 ° 40 ′ 18.7" E