St. Aegidien Church (Stedesdorf)

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St. Aegidien Church (from the south)

The Evangelical Lutheran St. Aegidien Church in Stedesdorf , municipality of Esens , is the oldest surviving church in East Frisia . It was built from tufa on a terp in the first half of the 12th century .

history

In the Middle Ages, Stedesdorf was the seat of a Sendkirche ( provost church ) with jurisdiction over eleven churches such as Buttforde , Burhafe , Dunum , Esens , Fulkum , Thunum , Werdum and other places that were lost in the floods in the 15th and 16th centuries. According to the Bremen deanery register of 1420, Stedesdorf exercised the right to broadcast over the largest church district in the northern archbishopric of Bremen . The church bears the patronage of St. Aegidius , who was considered the patron saint of agriculture. Up until the time of the Reformation, three priests probably served in Stedesdorf, which corresponded to the importance of the place. At the time of the chiefs , Stedesdorf formed together with Thunum and Dunum a glory in the Harlingerland . A castle south of the church was connected to the church by an arched corridor.

As excavations in 1962 have shown, there was a wooden predecessor building in rod construction . With this threshold beam construction, the wall studs rested on individual foundation stones that were set into the ground at some distance. The wooden sticks were then attached to the sill beam. Around the middle of the 12th century the wooden church was replaced by a tuff stone building. The tufa was already sawn to size at the place where it was found in the Eifel and then transported on barges from Andernach down the Rhine and along the Dutch coast to East Frisia.

The single-nave hall church originally had a square choir with a semicircular east apse , which no longer exists today. This type of floor plan is unique for East Frisia. Around 1350 the eastern part was demolished and the nave was extended to the east and provided with a vault, which was replaced by a domed vault in the 17th century. This was followed by an indented choir on an almost square base with a straight wall, which is connected to the nave by a large pointed arch. Some of the old tuff stones were used for this, but mainly bricks, which only found their way into East Frisian churches as a building material from the 13th century . The large pointed arched windows of the choir were also broken into the long sides of the nave.

The parish acquired the former elementary school in 1983 and converted it into a parish hall with a pastorate. In the years 1983 to 1986, when the church had to be closed due to the renovation of the tufa stone, the services took place in the parish hall. This is also regularly practiced in the winter months from January to Easter.

Building description

Church from the east with bell tower

The tuff stone is still preserved, especially in the western part of the church, but has been repaired with bricks in various places. The compact nave is now closed by a recessed and almost square choir area. The nave has a length of 22.5 meters and a width of 13.1 meters, the choir has an area of ​​about 10 × 10 meters and is built with bricks measuring 30 × 14 × 9 centimeters. The outer walls of the tuff stone church are structured by pilaster strips that are pushed closely together and rest on a granite base and were originally closed with a round-arched frieze on wide consoles . Originally, a small, high-seated Romanesque window was installed in every second narrow pilaster strip, of which two have been preserved on the south side and one on the north side. A risalit protrudes on the north side , in which a window and a portal are arranged.

The arched portals in the south and north walls are bricked up today. In the south wall, visible inside the church, there is still a rudimentary hagioscope (leprosy fissure). The south portal was set in a special frame as the main entrance and crowned with a round arch frieze. This rare sickle arch can also be found above the Romanesque windows. All other windows are ogival with stepped reveals . On the north wall a spiral staircase leads between the window and the choir arch to the vault. A gate that was subsequently broken in and later walled up again was located in the western wall. Today you enter the church through the west entrance, which has a modern brick porch as a vestibule. The choir extension and other parts of the east wall were built on the old foundations in the 15th century and made of brick. The eastern wall of the choir is slightly rounded inwards and the choir has a vault.

The brick-built, free-standing bell tower of the closed type was built in 1695. It houses a bell from 1635, which was cast in 1722, and a second bell from 1981.

Furnishing

View of the choir with altar from 1613
Pulpit from 1635

The remains of the shield arches can still be seen from the original vault in the Gothic extension to the east. Today a flat beamed ceiling completes the interior. The dome in the choir dates from the 17th century. Next to the large passage to the choir there are two smaller, ogival niches for the side altars.

The church is equipped with a baptismal font made of Baumberger sandstone from the early 13th century. It is decorated with a tendril frieze and arcades, under which eight biblical figures can be seen: Christ, Peter and the four evangelists as well as two other figures that can no longer be identified due to destruction.

Two wooden sculptures were made around 1600: a so-called Lamentation of Mary and a portrait of John the Baptist . The large crucifix probably dates from the 13th century, as does the Pietà of a figure of Christ, in which the head and legs as well as the color scheme are missing.

The Evangelical winged altar in the Renaissance style dates from 1613 and covers the entire east wall of the choir. In the middle field, the Last Supper is shown, which is lined with fields of slogans in medieval Low German. On the wings, in the outer fields, there are the crucifixion (right) and the resurrection of Jesus (left), while on the inside there are again biblical sayings. The predella is also provided with inscriptions.

The early Baroque hexagonal pulpit on a blue colored background bears the date 1635 and is richly decorated with ornaments, corner columns, coats of arms and golden winged angel heads. In 1662 a sound cover was added.

The Vasa Sacra include a chalice (1629), a box (1678), four candle holders (around 1700) and a pewter jug ​​(1682).

organ

View of the organ

The organ was built in 1696 by Valentin Ulrich Grotian , who took over parts of an older positive (first mentioned in 1666) from an unknown organ builder. Repair and maintenance work was carried out by Johann Friedrich Constabel in 1750 , Hinrich Just Müller from 1763 to 1787 and then by Johann Gottfried Rohlfs and his son Arnold Rohlfs until 1846 . From 1847 to 1849 the latter undertook a major reconstruction with changes in the disposition , expanded the range, replaced the action , wind chests and bellows and created the current case. Since the organ blocked the view of the choir, it was moved from the choir to the west gallery in 1905/06. In 1917 the prospect pipes had to be handed in for war purposes and were replaced by zinc pipes in 1927.

The instrument has nine stops on a manual and attached pedal. In 1986 Rudolf Janke restored the valuable instrument, which has been a listed building since 1952. Three flute and two octave registers are largely preserved from the 17th century, the other registers have been reconstructed.

I Manual C – c 3
1. Drone 16 ′ R / J
2. Principal 8th' J
3. Dumped 8th' G / J
4th Octave 4 ′ G / J
5. flute 4 ′ G
6th Nasat 3 ′ G
7th Octave 2 ′ G / J
8th. Mixture III J
9. Trumpet 8th' J
Pedal C – d 1
attached
Remarks
G = Valentin Ulrich Grotian (1696, partly taken over from 1666)
R = Arnold Rohlfs (1847–1849)
J = Rudolf Janke (1986)

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : St. Aegidien Church  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Menno Smid : Ostfriesische Kirchengeschichte (= East Friesland in the protection of the dike. Vol. 6). Self-published, Pewsum 1974, p. 39.
  2. ↑ a b c Genealogy Forum: Stedesdorf ( Memento from September 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 17, 2019.
  3. ↑ a b c d Ortschronisten der Ostfriesischen Landschaft : Stedesdorf (PDF file; 45.7 kB), accessed on May 17, 2019.
  4. ^ Haiduck: The architecture . 1986, p. 12.
  5. ↑ Noah: God's houses in East Frisia . 1989, p. 46 f.
  6. ^ Robert Noah: The Romanesque church in Stedesdorf . In: Ostfriesland . No. 4, 1962, pp. 8-16.
  7. ↑ a b c Kiesow: Architecture Guide Ostfriesland . 2010, p. 342.
  8. ↑ a b Church district Harlingen: St. Aegidien Church Stedesdorf , accessed on May 17, 2019.
  9. ^ Haiduck: The architecture . 1986, p. 15.
  10. ^ Ingeborg Nöldeke: Hidden treasures in East Frisian village churches - hagioscopes, rood screens and sarcophagus lids - overlooked details from the Middle Ages . Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-7308-1048-4 , p. 81 ff.
  11. ↑ Noah: God's houses in East Frisia . 1989, p. 47.
  12. ↑ Harlingerland Church District: Stedesdorf , accessed on May 17, 2019.
  13. ↑ a b Kiesow: Architectural Guide Ostfriesland . 2010, p. 343.
  14. ^ Dietrich Diederichs-Gottschalk : The Protestant written altars of the 16th and 17th centuries in northwest Germany . Verlag Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg 2005, ISBN 978-3-7954-1762-8 , pp. 150 ff., Fig. 34 ff .
  15. ↑ NOMINE eV: Stedesdorf, St. Aegidien , accessed on May 17, 2019.

Coordinates: 53 ° 37 ′ 33 "  N , 7 ° 39 ′ 46.1"  E