Simultaneous church Bechtolsheim

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The interdenominational church Bechtolsheim (full name: St. Mary and St. Christopher , and the Assumption and St. Christopher [sic]) is an under monument protection standing three-nave church building with late Gothic ornate pews and a Stumm organ in Bechtolsheim in Rheinland-Pfalz .

The church building was completed in 1492 and is consecrated to Saints Mary and Christophorus . During the Palatinate Reformation, Bechtolsheim became Lutheran in 1544 or 1556. Since Palm Sunday , April 15, 1685, the church has been used by the Catholic and Protestant congregations as a simultaneous church on the orders of Louis XIV .

Simultaneous church with a free-standing bell tower

Preliminary remarks

In today's Rheinhessen there were a total of 30 different Protestant territorial churches up to 1798 . The largest part of it with 82 parishes was in the area of ​​the Electorate of Palatinate , followed by the Wild and Rhine Counties with nine and the County of Falkenstein with seven parishes. The remaining 42 parishes belonged to 27 territorial churches; four of them formed an independent Ganerbschaft . These were Nieder-Saulheim , Mommenheim , Schornsheim and Bechtolsheim. The inheritance in Bechtolsheim existed since 1270.

The Simultankirche is on “St. Mary and St. Christopher ”consecrated. The saint is otherwise listed as " Christophorus ". The different spelling is probably due to a later tradition of the legend of St. Christopher, according to which he was called "Offerus" before his baptism.

Building history

Previous construction

The wayside cross in today's Sulzheimer Straße reminds of the old church and the old cemetery at this point. The picture was taken during the Corpus Christi procession.

In Bechtolsheim, a previous building already existed at a different location, in the swampy area outside the village weir system. In what is now Sulzheimer Straße, a wayside cross on a house façade marks the location of this first place of worship just 200 meters (as the crow flies) southwest of today's church.

Letters of indulgence in favor of the building of the church from Popes Nicholas IV from 1292, Boniface VIII from 1300 and Benedict XII have been found in the parish archives . , issued in 1341. Accordingly, the construction took more than half a century. The church was given the name of the great Church of Our Lady, Ecclesia Major, BMV (= Beatae Mariae Virginis, "the Blessed Virgin Mary ") and had, in addition to the high altar, seven donated altars, which were erected over the centuries and for which the nobles the right to present exercised. The nobles from the town and the surrounding area chose it as their burial place. Most of them belonged to the Ganerbe . After the construction of the new parish church, Bechtolsheim had two places of worship. With the introduction of the Reformation, the church in the churchyard continued to be used as a cemetery chapel. The walls of the old church were still in place in 1790. According to a description from 1612, it contained many tombstones of Ganerbe. The old cemetery was also located here until 1876.

Building the church

On Maundy Thursday , April 4, 1482, Philipp von Dalberg, as spokesman for the Ganerbegemeinschaft, negotiated with his relative Johann von Hohenfels , Mr. zu Reipoltskirchen , about the construction of a new church. As overlord and patron of the Bechtolsheim church, he gave his approval in a letter. The space between the then existing tower, now the bell tower and the location was as Gebück chosen on the outskirts. After five years of construction, the shell was completed in 1487. In the same year the church jury and church masters Peter Ledderhose and Hans Reßeler confirmed in writing that Adam von Rockenhausen had donated 20 guilders as altarist of the St. Theobalds altar . The completion took place in 1492 under the direction of the builder Jakob von Landshut .

Floor plan (geosted)

The three-aisled late Gothic hall church with southern German characteristics is five bays long . The single-nave choir measures three yokes and is closed on three sides. The side aisles are about half as wide as the central nave and have a chapel-like extension between the buttresses in the second yoke in front of the choir arch on each side . In the northern chapel there is a closed confessional with three interiors. The southern chapel contains a side row of seats that was previously used by the Protestant church council. The two-story sacristy is located on the north side of the choir ; it serves as a preparation and changing room, the upper floor as a storage room.

The building, 36 meters long and almost 16 meters wide, looks like a block on the outside. A high, hipped gable roof covers all three naves. The roof over the choir is slightly lower, although the crowns of the vaults are the same height.

Numerous construction details as well as the interior with a volume of 4200 cubic meters indicate architectural connections with church buildings outside of Rheinhessen. Related church buildings from this time are the Bavarian parish church of St. Jakob in Burghausen and the Landshut Heilig-Geist-Kirche . All three churches have a similar vault system.

The octagonal pillar technique used by Hans Stethaimer for the first time in Landshut's St. Martins Church is likely to come from Bavaria . It is even more pronounced in St. Nikolaus in Neuötting and in St. Jakob in Wasserburg am Inn .

In the outer walls of the choir there are six epitaphs that were brought there from the old church. Most of the grave slabs are very weathered. A donkey can be seen in the coat of arms on three plates , which refers to Johann Esel († 1380), Heinrich Esel († 1398) and Latelmus Esel († 1400). The portrait figures are Limanis Bube von Geispitzheim and Peter Kämmerer von Worms , named von Dalberg (both † 1397). A knight from Bechtolsheim († 1339) completes the series.

Restorations

View from the choir into the nave

In the Palatinate War of Succession in 1695, the church was set on fire by the French. The roof structure burned out completely, but the vault held up. In 1699 an emergency roof made of wooden beams was put on the older church. The roof structure was not covered with slate until 1709. According to a painting behind the Stumm organ, the church was renovated in 1742. Further renovations followed in 1839/40 and 1887.

During the last major renovation from 1971 to 1977, the Stumm organ was also dismantled and overhauled in an organ builder. The electrical pipe heating system, which was only installed in 1960/1961 and for which both denominations had raised 26,000 DM (today, due to inflation, would be more than 59,000 euros), was removed again, as the heating directly attached to the chairs carved by Erhart Falckener caused cracks in the wood with the constant temperature change would have. It was exchanged for an oil-operated warm air heating system, which guarantees a constant temperature and humidity. In addition, electric underfloor heating was installed. For this purpose, the chairs in the nave and in the choir were removed at the end of 1973 and restored in a specialist company. The church services of both denominations have since taken place in the neighboring hall of the Protestant youth home. The former financiers of the renovation, which cost well over one million DM (today, due to inflation, would correspond to more than 1 million euros), were honored by adding their coat of arms to the ceiling. These are the coat of arms of Rhineland-Palatinate , the coat of arms of the bishop of Mainz Hermann Volk and the papal coat of arms of John Paul II. Since the Evangelical Church of Hesse and Nassau does not have a coat of arms, the Luther rose was chosen as a representative motif .

The exterior facade was last refreshed with mineral paint in 2001 . The buttresses and the tracery stand out from the rest of the white masonry in a slightly reddish coat; The same applies to the octagonal pillars and the star vault in the interior. Under the reddish plaster , the masonry consists of slightly yellowish Flonheim sandstone .

Interior

During the Thirty Years War the church was looted in 1625/1626 .

Altars

Interior with a view of the high altar from the gallery on which the silent organ is located
Cross or folk altar

The Simultankirche has a total of four altars , of which only the cross altar is shared by both parishes. The other three belong to the Catholic community.

The two-story high altar was bought in 1761. It was originally built in 1699 by Franz Hügelij for the Mariamünster monastery in Worms and has a walnut veneer. Matthäus Lohmann designed the altarpiece, which shows the Ascension of the Mother of God Mary . In the aedicula above , God the Father and Christ hold the crown for Mary as she ascends in the oval painting . The dove hovers over them as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Above the tabernacle of the are Holy Clemens , the Saint Barbara and the Holy Tiburtius displayed. The large figures represent Saint Bernard and Saint Anthony . The high altar and the eternal light on it are reserved for the exclusive use of the Catholic community.

The cross altar or people's altar in the middle of the choir entrance below the triumphal arch is used collectively and consists of a total of 52 stones, as an allusion to all books of the Old and New Testaments.

Above the northern side altar - on the Gospel side - there is an epitaph for Johann Hund von Saulheim († 1595) with a relief image of the conversion of the Apostle Paul . The heads of the kneeling figures were cut off; this happened either during the Palatine War of Succession (also: Orléans War from 1688 to 1697) or by French revolutionary soldiers in 1795. The Christmas crib is on the altar during Advent .

On the epistle side , above the southern side altar , the St. Mary's altar , are grouped around the figure of Our Lady Rochus and Christophorus, Katharina and Barbara, Georg and Hieronymus , which was restored in 2007 . Another male saint carries an open book. In the bas-relief there are two holy monks; one is accompanied by a hind , the second is an unknown bishop. The ensemble is rounded off by a statue of a female saint with a book. Some of these figures were shown at the 1927 exhibition for old art on the Middle Rhine in Darmstadt . The figures of the "Bayuvarischen type" from the old winged altar come like the stalls by Erhart Falckener, who made them at the end of the 15th century. The figure of the Mother of God is younger and dates from around 1887.

Baptismal font and pulpit

Baptismal font and pulpit

The round baptismal font is made of reddish sandstone with grotesque ornaments in bas-relief and dates from 1530. It has only been used by both parishes since 1977, before it was only used by the Catholics. The boiler basin is lined with sheet metal and can be covered when not in use, for example to carry a flower arrangement.

The stone pulpit staircase with tracery parapet dates from around 1500. Today's pulpit and sound cover were made from wood in 1690. The painting is an imitation of marble. On the column behind the pulpit there is a painted ornament in the form of a canopy . The pulpit rests on a support column. Protestant parishioners had installed a pulpit clock on the old pulpit in 1667 so that the clergyman did not extend the sermon for over an hour. This pulpit clock was renewed in the 18th century; however, it is no longer preserved. Today the pulpit is only occasionally used in Protestant services.

Stalls

Calligraphic flat cut (right: “maria”, left: “jesus”). Eastern front of the southern group of lay chairs

Countess Lisa von Ingelheim donated the valuable church stalls in the nave and in the choir .

Choir stalls

In the choir there are stalls from the late 15th century. Its restored baroque colors clearly refer to the high altar. The individual folding seats are provided with misericords so that a standing aid is available when the seat is folded up. Above there are relief figures from a late Gothic altarpiece.

Church stalls

The church stalls from 1496 by Erhart Falckener from Abensberg are the oldest of the completely preserved lay stalls in Germany. In addition, the late Gothic style stalls are still in the original colors of the first painting. There are a total of 30 benches with bench cheeks in flat carving technique (the names of saints, inscriptions, donor coats of arms, tendrils and tracery are shown) made of fir or spruce in a frame construction, the corner cheeks with the octagonal carved knobs are made of oak. The founder was Lysa von Ingelheim († 1519), wife of the Bechtolsheim heir Eberhard Vetzer von Geispitzheim .

The stalls are signed and dated:

"This werck hait made Erhart valckener von Abensperg uß baern In the jar since you zalt after cristi ours love her birth MCCCCLXXXXVI Jar"

The request follows: " b g v m " = bit got in front of me .

Gallery

When it was originally built, no upstairs stage was planned. The bearing stones have a more recent fitting pattern. 1716 was the first time a curb was mentioned. With the installation of the Stumm organ, a gallery was necessary at the latest in 1756 and one made of wood was installed. The two columns made of Bornheimer stone (→ Flonheimer sandstone ) cost 9 fl. 40 kr including the wages  . The side panels went up to the chapels in the two transepts. During the restoration in 1887, these were shortened by one yoke length. Ninety years later the gallery was shortened again and today no longer has any side panels.

organ

Stumm organ in Bechtolsheim

The organ was built in 1756 by the brothers Johann Philipp and Johann Heinrich Stumm from Sulzbach near Rhaunen for 900 Reichsgulden .

The 27 sounding registers are distributed over two manuals and a pedal ; this makes it one of the larger silent organs. The gaming table is located on the left side of the case, which is in its original state. The pipework is made of wood and tin.

The organ has been restored or rebuilt three times: in 1765/1767 repairs were carried out by the Stumm workshop. Heinrich Bechstein from Groß-Umstadt rebuilt it in 1899 , and during the major restoration campaign in the 1970s, the Oberlinger brothers from Windesheim restored the Stumm organ.

Up to three quarters of the original material is still present. The organ pipes visible in the prospectus are still in their original condition. The registers Gamba, Mixtur (partially) and Vox angelica in the main work as well as Flaut travers, Solicional, Quint, Mixtur, Krummhorn and Vox humana in the substation were renewed in 1977. The magazine bellows of the winch comes from Bechstein . Fundraising began in 2013 for the renovation and cleaning of the organ. For this purpose, so-called organ vespers and concerts are held, at which money is collected for the preservation of the organ. A website has also been set up where you can follow the donation process.

Murals

According to research by Karl Oberle in 1787, the entire interior was painted over in the Rococo style. These images were refreshed in 1887. This was also confirmed by studies by restorers in the 1970s, who brought various old paintings to light again. Old window frames were discovered in the choir, and medallion-like decorations appeared scattered on the wall surfaces of the side aisles, which were also refreshed in color. A painting volume was also added to separate the arch of the north side chapel from the side aisle.

Above the side entrance (north portal) there is a painting in the form of a sun, above it a painting of Saint Christopher (oil on canvas) from 1887. It is signed V VOLK . Before the renovation of the church, Dehio described it in 1972 as a "heavily restored mural of St. Christopher around 1500". In addition to the high altar painting of the Assumption of Mary, it is the largest painting in terms of surface area with the typical depiction of a giant with a staff carrying the baby Jesus on his shoulders across a river.

Carrier community

In the course of history there have been several attempts by both denominations to resolve the simultaneum . The Protestants made an offer to the Catholics for the first time in 1790, with 400 gulden being promised for the reconstruction of the old Catholic church in the Sulzheim district. A second attempt was made in 1802 by the Episcopal Ordinariate in Mainz. But due to the cost burden and the ongoing dragging of building materials from the old to the new church, the project was canceled. There were three more attempts to solve the Simultaneum.

The church is used equally by both denominations. The same applies to the ownership structure, although the population of the place today consists of 52.9 percent Protestant and 25.1 percent Catholic Christians. The contractual regulations were last put into effect on January 29, 1977 after the extensive renovation and the ceremonial reopening. These were preceded by agreements of 1886 and November 27, 1974. The Protestant community is in charge of the maintenance measures, while the Catholic community contributes half of the costs.

The Protestant rectory in Bechtolsheim belongs to the State Church of Hessen-Nassau and also looks after the parishes in Biebelnheim , Ensheim and Spiesheim .

The Catholic parish together with St. Mariae Himmelfahrt in Biebelnheim belongs to the Gau-Odernheim parish in the Catholic Dean's Office Alzey / Gau-Bickelheim of the Diocese of Mainz .

use

Special postmark: 100 years bell tower

Every Saturday evening and Sunday morning there is either a Catholic or Protestant service. The church building is also used for concerts. The Easter candle is used by both denominations.

Since the beginning of the 1980s, on the last weekend in August, the notch has been taking place in Bechtolsheim from Friday to Monday. The ecumenical church service on Notch Sunday is also held there under the open sky when the weather is nice.

A Christmas market was held on the church forecourt on the First Advent with the participation of local businesses and associations. Due to roof renovation work, the church square was not available for the Christmas market in 2015, since then it has also been held on the Kerbeplatz, as it has a larger area.

Guided tours usually take place on the Open Monument Day. On June 23, 2007, to mark the 100th anniversary of the bell tower, a special postmark was issued, which at the same time referred to the wine festival of the Verbandsgemeinde in Bechtolsheim.

Cultural monument

Distinctive emblem special protection.svg
The incorrectly attached triple use for special protection is located at the northern entrance portal

The Simultankirche is protected within the meaning of Article 1 in conjunction with Article 17 of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict , the corresponding document of the Federal Republic of Germany represented by the Alzey-Worms district administration was issued on September 30, 1988 and hangs inside the Church. As well as confirmed in a letter with the execution. The label as “cultural property worthy of protection” is located at the entrance portal. The protection was placed on November 5, 1967 with the entry in the monument book of the district administration Alzey-Worms, with the scientific, historical and artistic importance of the building. Furthermore, item 42 of the Hague Convention on Special Protection is given in the monument book as the reason for the protection, but not item 43 (UNESCO) Convention for the Protection of the World’s Cultural and Natural Heritage . The district government of Rheinhessen-Pfalz also mentions the Simultankirche as a cultural monument worthy of special protection in a letter from 1979 .

The triple mark for marking cultural property under special protection was wrongly attached by the lower monument authority, since in Germany, according to the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Aid, only the Barbarastollen in the Black Forest has this mark.

In the "Informational Directory of Cultural Monuments Rhineland-Palatinate for the District of Alzey-Worms" (→ List of Cultural Monuments in Bechtolsheim ), the simultaneous church in the "Monument Zone Fortification", together with the bell tower and the bridge on the south side of the church , as well as "Individual monument".

In the Handbook of German Art Monuments , the church is highlighted as an "art monument of special importance" .

Other structures

Bell tower

late baroque cemetery cross with body, around 1755 which stands in front of the bell tower

The neighboring bell tower next to the sacristy belongs to the local parish of Bechtolsheim and has no direct connection to the sacred building . The tower, bells and clock are owned by the municipality. The parishes have the free right of use.

Church forecourt

The church forecourt is divided into three parts, one third each belongs to the two denominations and the last third belongs to the local congregation. The crucifix made of stone (late Baroque cemetery cross with corpus from 1755) belongs to the Catholic parish.

"The square is 'adorned with the most beautiful and largest linden tree in Rheinhessen, which can probably number 300 years.'"

- Phil. August Pauli : The Roman and German antiquities on the Rhine, Rheinhessen, Mainz 1820, p. 124

The staircase to the church forecourt is bordered by the two former denominational school buildings, which were built as late classicist plastered buildings around 1854 and are now used as residential buildings.

literature

Web links

Commons : Simultankirche Bechtolsheim  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Festschrift 1977, p. 26
  2. ↑ a b c Heinrich Steitz, p. 20
  3. ↑ Copy in the Dalberg archive in Darmstadt (old signature: yellow, No. 54, St.A. No. 842, lot 31, Bechtolsheim 6, Church II)
  4. ↑ Church Leader 2017; Christoperus or Christophorus ?; P. 58
  5. ↑ Festschrift 1977, p. 21
  6. ^ Karl Oberle, p. 81
  7. ^ Stephan Alexander Würdtwein : Dioecesis Moguntina in Archidiaconatus distincta , 1767.
  8. ↑ a b c Festschrift 1977, pp. 22-23
  9. ↑ Regine Dölling, The Simultankirche in Bechtolsheim (Rheinhessen), p. 15.
  10. ↑ a b Karl Oberle, p. 72
  11. ↑ Festschrift 1977, p. 36
  12. ^ Heinrich Steitz, p. 22
  13. ↑ Karl Oberle, p. 74
  14. ↑ Festschrift 1977, p. 35
  15. ↑ Karl Johann Brilmayer : Rheinhessen in the past and present - history of the existing and departed cities, spots, villages, hamlets and farms, monasteries and castles of the province of Rheinhessen with an introduction., Verlag Emil Roth, Mainz, 1905, p. 48
  16. ↑ a b Dehio-Handbuch 1984, p. 83.
  17. ↑ a b Karl Oberle, p. 77
  18. ↑ Heimo Reinitzer : Tapetum Concordiae. Peter Heymans tapestry for Philip I of Pomerania and the tradition of the pulpits carried by Moses . De Gruyter, Berlin 2012. ISBN 978-3-11-027887-3 . P. 202.
  19. ^ Josef Rick, Die Weinbaugemeinde Bechtolsheim, in the commemorative publication for the fire brigade festival in 1972.
  20. ^ Website on Lysa von Ingelheim
  21. ↑ Website on the donated church stalls
  22. ^ Organ landscape Rheinhessen ( Memento from March 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  23. ↑ Episcopal Ordinariate, December IX / 4, Bechtolsheim organ file.
  24. ↑ http://rettet-die-koenigin.de/
  25. ^ Karl Oberle, p. 78
  26. ↑ Festschrift 1977, p. 34
  27. ^ Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate; 2013; P. 76
  28. ↑ a b Dehio-Handbuch from 1972, p. 81
  29. ↑ Karl Oberle, p. 73
  30. ^ Result of the 2011 census as of the reporting date May 9, 2011
  31. ↑ Festschrift 1977, p. 29
  32. ↑ Art. 1 Definition of cultural property
  33. ↑ Art. 17 Use of the label
  34. ↑ Letter from the Alzey-Worms district administration (Lower Monument Protection Authority), Az .: 362-11 / fg-jl dated December 27, 1988
  35. ↑ Informational directory of the cultural monuments Rhineland-Palatinate for the district of Alzey-Worms.

Coordinates: 49 ° 48 ′ 7.6 "  N , 8 ° 11 ′ 31.9"  E

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on February 25, 2010 .