St. John's Church (Uelleben)
The St. Johannes Church is an Evangelical Lutheran parish church in Uelleben , a district of Gotha in Thuringia . It was built in the 17th century, belongs to the Gotha superintendent and is located in the center of the village.
Building history
The simple village church was built around 1640 including the church tower from the 14th century (as a choir tower ). This tower (area 4.2 × 3.7 m) had a walkway above the bell chamber, so it could also be used as a waiting room if required. Some of the tower's original gargoyles can be seen in remnants. The church building was built using Seeberger sandstone , the associated quarries are barely four kilometers to the east. The tower and nave were plastered and whitewashed to protect them from the weather.
On the north wall galleries were built in the nave . The pulpit was erected in front of the south wall in the 18th century. A small community hall was added to the nave as an extension in 1985. During the last church restoration in 2008, a mural from the time the nave was built was discovered, hidden under older layers of paint. An unknown artist had created impressive scenes from the Old Testament - including a depiction of David and Goliath . The giant is shown dressed in Landsknecht outfit from the time of the Thirty Years War , his opponent holds a harp in his hands next to the sling.
The artistic design of the room and the ceiling paintings of the wooden barrel vault were made in Art Nouveau style in 1911 .
description
The nave is 21.2 × 11.0 m in size and has a hipped roof from the 17th century. Traditional and weather-resistant Thuringian slate is used as the roof covering .
The chimes installed around 1900 consisted of three bells that were cast in Gotha in 1759, in Mühlhausen / Thuringia in 1793 and in 1855 (in Apolda?). These bronze bells were melted down during World War I and replaced in 1922 by 3 steel bells from the Schilling / Apolda company . They bear the inscriptions 1: In troubled times 2: Consecrated to the Lord 3: Bliss for us. At that time, the inventory also included an artistically high-quality baptismal bowl from southern Germany. The organ was built in the workshop of Friedrich Knauf in 1848 . It was supposed to be renovated in the 2010s, which was only partially done due to a lack of funding.
Next to the side entrance is a plaque attached to the standing legal remembers shooting the citizen Johann Hohner on April 3, 1945 after being given the approaching US -Armee "together with Franz Börner, August Hohmann, Alfred Heusinger and Charles Faupel to rescue Uellebens the white Flag hoisted on the church tower ”.
In the vicinity of the church
In front of the tower side of the church there is a war memorial partly overgrown with ivy, with thanks to those who died in the village during the First World War . For each of the 23 dead there is a symbolic gravestone in a semicircle around the monument. A metal plaque next to the memorial contains the names of around 50 local residents who died as soldiers in World War II or who are missing.
The cemetery by the church has been abandoned, the current one is located near Obertor Street ( Lage ) and has a total area of approx. 3,700 m².
Web links
- Photo set of St.Johanneskirche (Uelleben) on Panoramio - interior shot and overall shot from the time before the restoration
- Picture and brief information about the St. Johannes chapel in Uelleben at www.kirchenkreis-gotha.de
literature
- District court district Gotha . In: Paul Lehfeldt (Hrsg.): Architectural and art monuments of Thuringia. Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha . Booklet VIII. Verlag Gustav Fischer, Jena 1891, Uelleben, p. 186/187 .
- U. Sareik, S. Ortmann, K. Sturm: Monuments of the Gotha district . Ed .: Council of the District of Gotha. August-Bebel Gotha printing works, Erfurt / Gotha 1987, p. 15 .
- Oliver Bauer: Goliath as a Landsknecht: Unique treasures of the Uelleber Church are gradually being renovated . In: Thüringische Landeszeitung . January 9, 2008, local website Gotha.
Coordinates: 50 ° 54 ′ 47 " N , 10 ° 42 ′ 1" E