St. Michaels Church (Pfofeld)

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St. Michael from the southwest

The Evangelical Lutheran parish church of St. Michael is a church building of Romanesque origin with late Gothic frescoes in Pfofeld in the central Franconian district of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen . It is raised in the northeastern area of ​​the village.

Building history

Latin consecration inscription on the south side
East view with the Romanesque apse
Inside the church, looking east
Church interior, view to the west
Late Gothic frescoes in the choir
The altar with the apse frescoes
"Arma-Christi" fresco
Organ on the upper west gallery

The church was built around 1130, as can be deduced from a longer, but damaged and incomplete dedicatory inscription to the right of the church portal. Accordingly, Bishop Otto I of Bamberg consecrated the church with the consent of Bishop Gebhard II of Eichstätt, in whose diocesan area Pfofeld was located. The date is incomplete in the inscription, but can be narrowed down to 1125 to 1138 using the dates of life of the two bishops and ultimately interpreted as November 1, 1134. In the same year, Bishop Geb (e) hardus dedicated the church as "episcopus parrochianus", as the responsible diocesan bishop. The first of the consecration titles is no longer legible, probably related to Mary, perhaps also to St. Cross. Thereafter, the archangel Michael , all holy angels , Peter and Paul and all apostles , the holy martyrs Fabianus and Sebastian , St. Maurus (favorite student of St. Benedict of Nursia ) as well as the Eichstatt diocesan saints Willibald and Wunibald , all three monks.

The Romanesque choir tower church was not changed and rebuilt until the 18th century. In 1722 the gate was added to the south side of the nave . The nave was extended and raised to the west in 1734. The original flat ceiling was replaced by a barrel vault . Large windows were broken into, especially on the south side of the nave, and the western gallery staircase was added to the double galleries in the west and on the north wall of the nave, which were also drawn in at this time. Around the middle of the 18th century the church received a baroque interior . In the late 18th century the sacristy was added to the north side of the choir. In 1793 an octagon was placed on the Romanesque tower and finished with a pointed helmet. During the renovation in 1976, Romanesque arched windows were exposed again.

The Reformation began around 1538 ; since then the church has been an Evangelical Lutheran parish church, which has been redesigned for this purpose.

Building description

It is a sandstone choir tower with a small east apse on the basement of the square church tower in the east. As the third floor, this has an attached octagon with alternating sound openings and clock faces and with a pointed helmet at the end. The apse is semicircular and shows a round arch frieze under the eaves and underneath two partially profiled straps and a base profile made of a simple slope. A window that was probably broken out in the apse in the 18th century is now walled up again and the lower strap has been replaced. The choir in the basement of the tower has a flat roof, the four-axis nave is barrel-vaulted and has a mansard roof interrupted by dormer windows. The west end is "slightly bulged". There is a stair tower for the galleries that is accessible from outside and inside. The church building is surrounded by a high cemetery wall, which has a gatehouse from 1722 with round arched passages on the south side. In the 20th century the cemetery was moved to another location.

Frescoes

In the choir, on the choir arch of the apse, in the apse and on the two nave walls, wall paintings from the mid-15th century, the late Gothic period, were uncovered after 1945 by removing the plaster. The cycle of frescoes represents a kind of picture sermon. In the hemisphere of the apse the four evangelist symbols are depicted around the Christ Lamb. The choir arch at the apse is adorned with a fresco from 1430/40 showing the scene of the Annunciation , underneath there is a donor figure on the right and left. On the north wall of the choir, the Archangel Michael is depicted as weighing the soul and with a sword. Accompanying figures of the fresco are St. Empress Helena and St. Apollonia . Further frescoes show Christ with his instruments of passion (on the north wall), the martyrdom of St. Sebastian (on the south wall of the choir), St. Mauritius , Oswald and Ursula of Cologne . The wise and foolish virgins can be seen on the south wall of the nave, five of them in number, from the parable of Jesus, divided by apostles' crosses .

Furnishing

  • Two-column baroque altar from 1753 with the coat of arms of the sovereign Margrave Carl Wilhelm Friedrich in the elevator. Instead of an altarpiece, a late Gothic crucifix (around 1520) is mounted in a niche frame.
  • Pulpit on the right choir wall from 1753; polygonal body with corner columns flanking the pictures of the four evangelists . Under the decorated sound cover the dove of the Holy Spirit . Stairway to the pulpit from the choir.
  • Crucifix on the south wall from the middle of the 18th century.
  • Organ from 1753; five-part brochure, decorated with acanthus . 1888 new factory from GF Steinmeyer & Co. (Opus 338) with mechanical cone store .
  • The oldest bell in the tower dates from 1569 (from the bell founders in Nuremberg ).

literature

  • Pfofeld. In: Karl Gröber and Felix Mader (arr.): The art monuments of Middle Franconia. VI Gunzenhausen District Office; Munich: R. Oldenbourg 1937, pp. 257-261.
  • Werner Somplatzki: Churches in Altmühlfranken. 2nd corrected edition, Treuchtlingen: Verlag Walter E. Keller 1994, pp. 21–24.
  • Pfofeld. In: Georg Dehio : Handbook of German Art Monuments. Bavaria I: Franconia. The administrative districts of Upper Franconia, Middle Franconia and Lower Franconia. Edited by Tilmann Breuer and others; 2nd, revised and supplemented edition, Munich / Berlin: Deutscher Kunstverlag 1999, p. 845.
  • Johann Schrenk and Karl Friedrich Zink: God's Houses. Church leader in the district of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen; Treuchtlingen / Berlin: wek-Verlag 2008, pp. 169–174.
  • Martin Templin: Evang.-Luth. Parish church St. Michael Pfofeld Altmühlfranken. [Church leader], Pfofeld: Evang.-Luth. Parish office undated [without pagination].
  • Heinrich Wagner and Siglinde Buchner: The Romanesque dedicatory inscription on the Pfofelder parish church of St. Michael. In: Alt-Gunzenhausen (63) 2008, pp. 7-20.

Web links

Commons : St. Michael (Pfofeld)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wagner / Buchner, pp. 13–15
  2. ↑ Wagner / Buchner, pp. 13-17
  3. ↑ Templin, p. [10]; Wagner / Buchner, p. 18f.
  4. ↑ Schrenk / Zink, p. 173
  5. ↑ Templin, p. [5]
  6. ↑ Gröber / Mader, p. 256
  7. ↑ Templin, p. [2]
  8. ↑ Templin, p. [16]
  9. ↑ Gröber / Mader, p. 257; Templin, S. [1]; Dehio, p. 845
  10. ↑ Gröber / Mader, p. 257; Dehio, p. 845
  11. ↑ Gröber / Mader, p. 259
  12. ^ Dehio, p. 845
  13. ↑ Templin, pp. [7], [9]; Schrenk / Zink, p. 172
  14. ↑ Dehio, p. 845, p. [10]
  15. ↑ Schrenk / Zink, p. 173; Somplatzki, p. 23
  16. ↑ Somplatzki, p. 23
  17. ↑ Gröber / Mader, p. 258; Schrenk / Zink, p. 173
  18. ↑ Gröber / Mader, p. 259; Templin, S. [3]

Coordinates: 49 ° 6 ′ 20 "  N , 10 ° 50 ′ 17.7"  E