Hospital Church of the Holy Spirit (Weißenburg)
The Spitalkirche zum Heiligen Geist is a Protestant hospital church in the listed old town of Weißenburg in Bavaria .
location
The Spitalkirche is located at the confluence of Wildbadstrasse , Höllgasse and Untere Stadtmühlgasse in Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse . To the north of the church, at the end of Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse, is the Weißenburg market square. Friedrich-Ebert-Straße is divided by the gate . The southern city wall used to be where the church is today. Due to the city expansion in the 14th century, the city wall was included in a second city wall to the south towards the Weißenburger suburb.
history
In 1447 a civil hospital was established. Instead of tearing down the old city wall and the old gate, which had been within the old town since the city was expanded in the 14th century, the city wall was built into the church and the former city gate became the church tower. After a delay due to a city war from 1449 to 1451, the roof structure was completed in 1458 and the choir completed in 1493. The hospital system was a great source of money for the town and church, which is why the small hospital was added to the church, which had been reformed since 1530, in 1586 . In 1729 the hospital church was renovated together with the small hospital in 1729 by Gabriel de Gabrieli and redesigned in baroque style . The winter storms in the 1990s caused great damage, which is why the church was completely renovated from 1993, with interruptions, until 2003.
Building description
The late Gothic church, which has been redesigned in Baroque style, consists of a single nave nave with a retracted choir closed on five sides. The sacristy is located south of the choir . The nave, with three axes on the north side, is unadorned except for the two portals. In the choir there are round buttresses in the corners, the capitals of which are adorned with angels holding tartlets . The construction of the choir resulted in an axis shift of 2 ° between the nave and the choir, similar to that of the Weißenburg parish church of St. Andreas .
Facility
Murals
On the south wall there is a cycle of pictures on the life of Jesus . The wall frescoes are dated to 1480. The life of Jesus is depicted as a secco painting on 30 almost square fields. The frescoes on the north wall, which show a figure of Mary and the fourteen helpers in need, were added after 1493. The many frescoes were probably made by artists from Nuremberg . A ceiling fresco shows the Ascension. A picture of the patron saint is flanked by two pictures each in the transverse axis and in the longitudinal axis.
altar
The altar by a sculptor from Nördlingen who is not known by name was donated in 1712 by the Mayor of Weißenburg , Sonnemeyer. The altar shows a combination of a free plastic crucifix with a shrine-like structure and background painting, which is unprecedented in the region . The structure is largely framed by acanthus tendrils.
organ
The organ of the church was made in 1790 by the organ builder Gottfried Pfähler from Oberbürden in Württemberg . The sculptures on the housing of the organ created the Ellinger Joseph angle. The head of the organ prospectus was decorated with the Weißenburg city arms.
additional
The pulpit with scrollwork and winding corner pillars was donated in 1675. The galleries also date from this time. In 1966 a statue of Mary and a statue of Catherine were replaced by copies of Ellinger Uwe Günther, who also created the stone figures in the west portal. The Gothic choir stalls have been preserved.
Hospital gate
The Spitaltor, the steeple of the hospital church, was a gate of the city wall before the city was expanded. After the city was expanded, the gate was used as a church tower. The core of the hospital gate is from the 14th century. In 1728 the church tower was increased in the course of the Baroque style. The octagonal upper floor has a mansard roof with a lantern attached. There is a narrow walkway between the mansard roof and the sandstone balustrade. During the renovation from 1993 to 2005, the tower clock including dials and hands was renewed.
literature
- Gotthard Kießling: City of Weißenburg i. Bay. (= Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation [Hrsg.]: Monuments in Bavaria . Volume V.70 / 2 ). Karl M. Lipp Verlag, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-87490-582-9 .
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 1 ′ 47.2 ″ N , 10 ° 58 ′ 15.5 ″ E