St. Matthew Church (Rodenkirchen)

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St. Matthew Church in Rodenkirchen

The St. Matthew Church is an Evangelical Lutheran church in Rodenkirchen (municipality of Stadland , Wesermarsch district , Lower Saxony ). It stands on a loaf made of clay about five meters high . The house of God is a towerless hall church from the 13th century built from Porta sandstone , at that time the main church of the Rüstringischen Stadland . Their fame, however, is based on their post-Reformation furnishings, above all the altarpiece and the pulpit, two main works by Ludwig Münstermann , the most important image carver of Mannerism in Northern Germany.

Building history

There are no usable sources for the beginnings of the church, so the early building history is accordingly unclear. Since the name Rodenkerken was first mentioned in a document in 1244, a church will have already existed at that time, the older parts of the existing building are usually dated to the 13th century. This still Romanesque building with apses in the choir and transept received two more portals on the nave sides in the 14th century and was enlarged in the 15th century with a just closed choir. Fighting for this church in the wars of the city of Bremen and the Counts of Oldenburg against the Frisian chiefs who resisted from here resulted in destruction and changes, so the originally vaulted eastern parts were ultimately only covered flat. The shape of the window openings is no longer original and the west wall with the bell house in front of it dates from 1901.

Furnishing

From medieval times only 12 carved apostles from the 2nd half of the 15th century have survived from a lost altar, now on the parapet of the organ gallery. The reworking of the originally Romanesque baptismal font by the Münstermann workshop around 1630, the epitaph of the Dethmers from 1637, the painting of the Last Judgment donated by Siabbe and Rinet Tantzen in 1649 and lavishly framed in the auricle style and also the original belong to the 17th century Number plate from 1691. The organ front dated 1758 rises above the organ loft from 1738.

altar

The altarpiece is a largely handwritten, signed (shield on the cornice above the predella ) and dated 1629 work by the Hamburg sculptor Ludwig Münstermann . After the workshop had been working on the altar since 1618, the painting, which was gradually financially viable, took place between 1630 and 1639. The inner structure of the structure is made of oak, ornaments and figures are carved from linden. The height is 591 cm, the width 455 cm. With a strong spatial resolution and transparency of the filigree structure, a figure-rich visualization of salvation history unfolds on two main floors around the representations of the Last Supper and the crucifixion , in which prophets and reformers also participate. What is remarkable is the unusual perspective of the stage for the representation of the Last Supper, which extends to a depth of over two meters down to the sill of the choir window. The complex structure is crowned by the risen Christ. The effect of the work is based on the one hand on the sumptuous and decorative wealth of ornaments, on the other hand in the lavish use of strong colors, the effects of which were enhanced by lascivious techniques (color glazes applied to silver foil). Of course, today's appearance only partially corresponds to the Münstermann original colors, which even the most recent restorations could not bring out from under the overpaintings of the 18th to 20th centuries.

pulpit

Ludwig Münstermann is also the creator of the pulpit with a sound ceiling and original staircase. An inscription on the base of the pulpit names the year of completion (1631) and the workshop employees, including Münstermann's sons Johan and Claus. The pulpit support in the form of a tree with leaves on the right and a dry tree on the left repeats a dichotomous pictorial scheme of Lutheran iconography that has often been used since Cranach : Adam sits under the tree, with Moses and John the Baptist at his side . This typological juxtaposition of the Old and New Testament , the theological categories of law and grace, damnation and redemption continues above with prophets and evangelists, the bronze serpent and the crucifixion, the fall and the resurrection. In the sound cover the miracle of Pentecost is depicted with Mary and the 12 apostles, in the gable cartouches the church fathers above it putti with the tools of the Passion , in the lantern the Trinity and as a crown an angel with the church model. The personifications of the five senses on the pulpit stairs (a still quasi "secular" area) are no longer part of the theological program . As with the altar, the colored version of the pulpit is only the result of a reconstruction that was carried out in 1964 on the basis of exposed paint residues from the first version from 1638.

organ

View of the organ

The first (two-manual) organ was built in 1758 by the organ builder Johann Hinrich Klapmeyer . In 1906 a new instrument with 15 registers was installed in the historical case after water damage  , reusing eight historical registers. Today's instrument was built in 1986 by the organ builder Alfred Führer (Wilhelmshaven). It has 21 stops on two manuals and pedal and, after the disposition created the organ of 1758, are obtained from the five registers. The actions are mechanical.

I main work C – f 3
1. Quintatön 16 ′ (1758)
2. Principal 8th' (1758)
3. Reed flute 8th'
4th octave 4 ′ (1758)
5. Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
6th octave 2 ′ (1758)
7th Mixture IV 2 ′
8th. Trumpet 8th'
9. Vox humana 8th'
II breastwork C – f 3
10. Dumped 8th' (1758)
11. flute 4 ′
12. Forest flute 2 ′
13. Sesquialtera II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
14th Scharff III 1 ⁄ 2 ′
Block tremulant
Pedals C – f 1
15th Sub bass 16 ′
16. octave 8th'
17th octave 4 ′
18th trombone 16 ′
19th Trumpet 8th'
20th Trumpet 4 ′
21st Cornett 2 ′

Bell jar

In the tower hangs a heavy bell, which was made in 1863 by Andreas van Bergen from Stickelkamp ( Hesel ) by casting an older bell from 1849. The previous bell itself experienced two castings. The first bell was cast by Johan Fresen from Osnabrück in 1489. The bell has a diameter of 1.70 meters. The inscription reads after the Song of the Bell by Friedrich Schiller , "What deep down / brings The changing destinies Earth's son, / The beats on the metallic crown, / The edifyingly passes it on."

administration

The parish maintains a church office in Rodenkirchen for direct local contact. The regional office of the church district Wesermarsch, based in Nordenham, performs further functions.

See also

literature

  • The architectural and art monuments of the Duchy of Oldenburg , 5th issue, Oldenburg: Stalling, 1909, pp. 35–42.
  • Hans-Bernd Rödiger, Waldemar Reinhardt: Frisian Churches - Rüstringen, Friesische Wehde, Butjadingen, Stedingen and City of Wilhelmshaven , Volume 4. Verlag CL Mettcker & Söhne, Jever 1982, p. 80 ff.
  • Georg Dehio: Handbook of German Art Monuments, Bremen Lower Saxony , Munich 1992, p. 1141 f.
  • Wilhelm Gilly: Medieval churches and chapels in the Oldenburger Land. Building history and inventory. Isensee Verlag , Oldenburg 1992, ISBN 3-89442-126-6 , p. 120 ff.
  • Wilhelm Knollmann, Dietmar Jürgen Ponert, Rolf Schäfer : Ludwig Münstermann . Oldenburg 1992., pp. 55 ff., 71 f., 74 f., 81 ff., 205-216; Plates 34–57.
  • Holger Reimers: Ludwig Münstermann. Between Protestant asceticism and counter-Reformation sensuality . Marburg 1993. pp. 312-316.
  • Hermann Haiduck: The architecture of the medieval churches in the East Frisian coastal area . 2nd Edition. Ostfriesische Landschaftliche Verlags- und Vertriebs-GmbH, Aurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-940601-05-6 , p. 134 .

Web links

Commons : St. Matthew Church  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dehio: "Eastern parts built around 1230-50, the ship around 1270-80"; Hoffmann: The south wall of the nave contains the remains of the one-room church from the early 13th century, the transept from the late 13th century.
  2. ↑ Dietmar J. Ponert and Rolf Schäfer, Ludwig Münstermann, Regensburg 2016, text volume, pp. 434–435, table volume pp. 157–158
  3. ↑ Knollmann, p. 205; Reimers, pp. 309-312; Ponert / Schäfer 2016, pp. 409–433
  4. ↑ Sectional drawing in Knollmann, p. 206
  5. ↑ Knollmann, p. 205; Reimers, p. 163 ff.
  6. ↑ Reimers, p. 312-314.- Rolf Schäfer: Münstermanns works in theological view , in: Knollmann, p. 81-83. Jürgen Ponert: Kanzel in Rodenkirchen , in: Knollmann, pp. 210–216.- Dietmar J. Ponert and Rolf Schäfer, Ludwig Münstermann, Regensburg 2016, text volume, pp. 436–455, volume p. 158ff.
  7. ↑ Lukas Cranach the Elder Older: "Justification Picture", damnation and redemption, oil painting, 1529, Gotha, Castle Museum.
  8. ^ Ponert, in: Knollmann, p. 212
  9. ↑ More information about the organ
  10. ^ A. Rauchheld : Glockenkunde Oldenburgs , in Oldenburger Jahrbuch 29 (1925), page 179
  11. ↑ Wolfgang Runge: Churches in the Oldenburger Land , Volume 1, Holzberg Oldenburg 1984
  12. ↑ Church office with address ( PDF )
  13. ^ Regional office Wesermarsch [1]

Coordinates: 53 ° 24 ′ 4.9 "  N , 8 ° 27 ′ 6.4"  E