Castle Church of the Annunciation

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Castle Church of the Annunciation
Interior

The Castle Church of the Annunciation is a Baroque church and Catholic parish church in Liebenburg in the Goslar district in Lower Saxony .

history

Liebenburg is one of the areas of the Hildesheim bishopric that became Lutheran under Guelph rule as a result of the monastery feud during the Reformation , but returned to the bishopric in 1643. The church of the episcopal Levenborch , the history of which goes back to the 13th century, has since been the official Catholic parish for the entire area.

From 1754–1760, Prince-Bishop Clemens August had today's baroque palace built, the western half of which is the palace church. The construction management had the then Drost von Liebenburg Jobst Edmund (III.) Von Brabeck ; his family crest and that of his wife, born von Kerckerinck , are affixed to the organ front. The castle was built after the ruined remains of the medieval Liebenburg , which was located on the site, were demolished. Castle and church are only one wing of the originally planned complex, which was no longer completed due to the Seven Years' War and the death of Clemens August in 1761. The function of the old castle church, which was demolished in 1766, was transferred to the new castle church.

Even after the end of the bishopric in 1803, under Napoleonic , Hanoverian and Prussian rule, the Annunciation remained a Catholic parish church. In 1974 the state of Lower Saxony sold the entire structure. Since then, the former castle has been the home and workplace of the artist Gerd Winner . The structural maintenance of the castle parish church is still subject to the country.

Since July 1, 2007, the parish of St. Mary Annunciation has belonged to the then newly established deanery of Goslar-Salzgitter of the Diocese of Hildesheim , and since then it has also included branch churches St. Clemens (Hornburg) , Herz Mariä (Langelsheim) , St. Joseph (Othfresen) and St. Marien (Schladen) .

architecture

The Liebenburger Schlosskirche is a rectangular hall building with a risalit portal , two rows of windows, a mansard roof and an octagonal roof turret . The external building decoration is limited to the color contrast: the stone is plastered in yellow, but is visible on the edges and window reveals and above the portal as a structure.

Furnishing

Martyrdom of St. Clemens, detail of the ceiling painting

The interior, restored in 1985/86, looks like a baroque ballroom. Three-sided galleries with slim double columns divide the room into two storeys, of which the lower one is shortened at the front on both sides by partition walls, giving the impression of a three-aisle structure with a choir . The altar wall is deepened in a flat oval. In front of the basic colors white and light gray with golden accents on the pulpit, organ façade and capitals , high altar and ceiling paintings stand out in strong colors.

The altar structure is a pseudo-architecture with marble columns, entablature and sculptural decoration. In the middle it contains the image of the Annunciation to Mary in an unusual representation with Mary floating in the middle, an almost childlike angel Gabriel in the background and the adoring figures of Adam and Eve awaiting their redemption .

The most important work of art in the church is the large-scale ceiling fresco from 1758, which extends over the entire length of the room. The painter Joseph Gregor Winck has depicted ten scenes from the life and legend of Saint Clemens , the namesake of the castle builder Clemens August: in the middle between natural and architectural elements the open sky with the apotheosis of the saint, on the edges his episcopal ordination , his miracles and his martyrdom .

organ

Müller organ from 1761

The organ was built by Johann Conrad Müller in 1760/1761 with 26 stops on two manuals and a pedal. The case, action , five wedge bellows and 17 registers are original. The nine-axis, flat prospectus is strictly structured and is flanked by the two polygonal pedal towers. Above the main structure is the slightly lower upper structure, the polygonal central tower of which is slightly elevated. On both sides, two-storey flat pipe fields adjoin both manuals. A single-storey flat field follows a pointed tower and leads to the pedal tower. The pipe fields above and below, as well as the blind wings on the side, have gilded veil boards with openwork carvings in rococo ornamentation. In 1980/1981 Alfred Führer reconstructed the original layout , in 2013 Orgelbau Reinhard Hüfken carried out a general overhaul . The Liebenburg instrument is the only surviving medium-sized palace organ in Lower Saxony. The disposition is as follows:

I main work C – c 3
Principal 8th'
Fleut travers 8th'
Quintadena 8th'
Reed flute 8th'
Pointed flute 4 ′
Fifth 3 ′
Octave 2 ′
Sesquialtera II
Mixture III
Trumpet 8th'
Vox humana 8th'
II upper structure C – c 3
Dumped 8th'
Principal 4 ′
Reed flute 4 ′
Zigfleut 2 ′
Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 2  ′
Sesquialtera II
Mixture III
Hoboe 8th'
Pedal C – c 1
Sub bass 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Octave 4 ′
Rauschpfeife II – III
trombone 16 ′
Trumpet 8th'

literature

Web links

Commons : Castle Church of the Annunciation (Liebenburg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Liebenburg names Winner an honorary citizen in: Braunschweiger Zeitung of November 7, 2011
  2. ^ Harald Vogel, Günter Lade, Nicola Borger-Keweloh: Organs in Lower Saxony . Hauschild, Bremen 1997, ISBN 3-931785-50-5 , p. 250 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 1 ′ 10.6 ″  N , 10 ° 25 ′ 20.5 ″  E