St. Matthew Church (Resterhafe)

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St. Matthew Church

The Evangelical Lutheran St. Matthew's Church in Dornumer district Resterhafe was probably in the late 13th century as a hall church made of bricks in the style of early Gothic architecture built. It stands on a five meter high freestanding terp . Until the Reformation, the church was under the Archdiocese of Bremen .

history

It is unclear whether today's church had a previous wooden structure. Presumably in the late 13th century the freestanding church yard was raised to a height of 5 meters above sea ​​level . The foundation of heavy granite stones was then laid on the highest point, on which the construction of today's church began around 1270. It was built from bricks in the early Gothic style and consecrated to the Evangelist Matthew . At the time of its construction, the church had stone vaults and was larger than today. Over the centuries, however, the condition of the building deteriorated to such an extent that the vaults had to be demolished.

In 1806, major renovations were again necessary. The church in the west was shortened by about 6 meters. A new entrance was built in the resulting west wall and the two old portals in the north and south were walled up. In the course of the work, the two gables in the east and west were demolished and the building was covered with a hipped roof .

The closed-type freestanding bell tower was probably erected a little later than the church in front of the southeast corner of the building, but it is also dated to the 13th century.

Today the congregation with around 470 members is one of the smallest congregations in the north parish and has a parish connection with the parish of Dornum.

Building description

The interior

St. Matthew is a single-nave rectangular church made of bricks. It has a length of 23.75 m and a width of 10.2 m. The older bricks in the monastery format have a length of 29 cm, a width of 13.5 cm and a depth of 8.5 cm. Its walls are up to 1.6 m thick, the much younger west wall is 1 m thick.

As a result of the major renovations in 1806, the building underwent major changes that gave it a completely different appearance than when it was built. Of the original windows with a profiled soffit and inlaid round bar , only the four in the north wall were preserved, all the others were later renewed without a profile. In the east wall there are still remnants of two once taller windows with heavily profiled soffits and to the south of it a panel with a brick pattern in a herringbone bond . The north wall is divided by four windows, the heavily repaired south wall by three windows. The former portals in the north and south were closed on the inside with an arched arch and had a clover-leaf-shaped border. This is well preserved in the south, but walled up in the north except for a small remainder.

Inside, St. Matthew is closed off with a wooden beam ceiling. From the originally existing vaults, the services that used to carry their loads have been preserved in the southeast corner of the building. The eastern part is three steps higher than the rest of the interior. The choir and nave are separated from each other by a wooden lattice . A niche is set into the south wall of the choir room, in the north wall there is a gothic sacrament niche with iron grating .

Furnishing

The organ from 1963
Fabricius memorial stone at the church

The oldest piece of equipment in the church is the octagonal baptismal font with a square base. It is dated to the 15th century, while its wooden lid with a volute crown dates from the 17th century.

The lettner-like barrier between choir and nave is a work of the early 17th century. It consists of bars with an upper end of openwork tendrils.

The Protestant winged altar with its inscriptions was also created in the 17th century. It is shaped by the iconoclasm of the Reformation . In northern Germany, in the 16th and 17th centuries, written altars took the place of medieval sculptures in the Reformed and Lutheran churches . On his wings he lists the Creed of Faith on the right and the Ten Commandments on the left. The crucifixion depiction in its central field was not added until 1830. It was painted by Pastor Kittel, who is in office in Resterhafe, and is based on the model of the altar painting in St. Bartholomew's Church in Dornum , which is in turn a copy of a work by the Flemish painter Anthonis van Dyck . A coat of arms crowns the altar.

The gallery in the choir is decorated with paintings of Christ and the apostles . It was probably built in the 17th century as a patron's box for the former lords of Dornum, who also held the church patronage of Resterhafe. According to tradition, the pulpit was donated in 1690 by two residents of the parish.

The organ on the west gallery was made in 1963 by the Alfred Führer organ workshop in Wilhelmshaven. It was procured as a replacement for an old instrument that the parish had acquired second-hand in Aurich in 1838. The new organ has five registers, a manual and an attached pedal.

A sick chalice without a year belongs to the Vasa Sacra . The names of the donors are mentioned in a legend.

There is a memorial stone outside on the south wall. He commemorates the pastor David Fabricius , who was born in Esens on March 19, 1564 and worked at the church from 1584 to 1602 , who was an important amateur astronomer and cartographer . From Resterhafe he discovered the variability of the star Mira and was the father of Johann Fabricius , who in 1611 was the first to publish a scientific treatise on sunspots .

The ringing consists of two bell calls. The larger bell in the eastern soundhole was cast in 1473. It has a diameter of 125 cm and weighs 1800 kg. In her cloak she is provided with a partially illegible lettering and a relief of the Queen of Heaven with a crown . The smaller bell in the western sound hole has a diameter of 100 cm and a weight of around 1000 kg. It was cast in 1757.

See also

literature

  • Hans-Bernd Rödiger, Heinz Ramm: Frisian churches in Auricherland, Norderland, Brokmerland and in Krummhörn , volume 2. Verlag CL Mettcker & Sons, Jever (2nd edition) 1983, p. 91.
  • 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. 10, 43, 149, 152 ff .

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d local chronicles of the East Frisian landscape : Resterhafe (PDF file; 13 kB)
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Georg Dehio: Dehio - Handbook of German Art Monuments: Handbook of German Art Monuments, Bremen, Lower Saxony . German art publisher; Edition: revision, greatly expanded edition. Munich, Berlin (January 1, 1992), ISBN 3-422-03022-0 . P. 1115.
  3. ^ Dietrich Diederichs-Gottschalk : The Protestant written altars of the 16th and 17th centuries in northwest Germany . Verlag Schnell + Steiner GmbH, Regensburg 2005, ISBN 978-3-7954-1762-8 , p. 127 ff.
  4. ↑ a b c d Hermann Rector, homepage of the parishes of Dornum and Resterhafe: Resterhafe Church , viewed on May 19, 2011.
  5. ^ Genealogy forum: Resterhafe ( memento of October 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 17, 2019.

Coordinates: 53 ° 38 '15.8 "  N , 7 ° 26' 3.6"  E