St. Nicolai Church (Gebhardshagen)
The Evangelical Lutheran St. Nicolai Church is the oldest church in Gebhardshagen , a district of Salzgitter . Duchess Anna Sophia von Brandenburg (1598–1659) , the wife of Duke Friedrich Ulrich von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1591–1634) , had it built.
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history
Parish
The region of today's Salzgitter was Christianized at the end of the 8th century. The starting point for the conversion to Christianity was the monastery in Fulda , founded in 744 . After Ludwig the Pious founded the duchy of Hildesheim in 815 , today's Salzgitter belonged to his sphere of influence, Gebhardshagen belonged to the church district ( archdiaconate ) Barum.
In 1542 the Reformation was introduced for the first time after the victory of the Schmalkald troops against Duke Heinrich the Younger . When Charles V defeated the Schmalkaldic troops five years later , Duke Heinrich d. J. return to his duchy and subsequently ordered the return to the Catholic faith. The Reformation was finally introduced in 1568 when his son Duke Julius took over the throne. Around this time the church office in Gebhardshagen became vacant and was taken over by the parish in Gustedt (today part of the municipality of Elbe ), so it belonged to the Wohldenberg office . It was not until 1660 that the then Duke August had the pastoral position filled and also ordered the separation from Gustedt. Instead, a parish association was founded with the neighboring parishes of Calbecht and Engerode , which still exists today (2018) and which belongs to the Salzgitter-Bad Provostry. In the summer of 2017, the three parishes of the parish association merged to form the Gebhardshagen-Calbecht-Engerode parish.
Predecessor church
The first mention of a priest in Gebhardshagen comes from the year 1235, in this a priest named Henricus (Heinrich) is mentioned. At that time there was only a small chapel within the castle of the place, while in the larger neighboring towns Kirchheerte (between Gebhardshagen and Heerte (of Gebhardshagen north) already existed village churches) and Weddem. When the threat from military campaigns increased at the beginning of the 15th century, the residents of these places took shelter in the fortified castle and Kirchheerte and Weddem fell desolate . The castle chapel was no longer sufficient for the many residents of the village, so around 1410 a larger wooden chapel was built outside the castle complex. Like today's church, this chapel was dedicated to St. Nicholas . This was based on the St. Nikolai Church in Barum , which at the time was the archdeacon church of the Hildesheim diocese and Gebhardshagen also belonged to its area.
Building history
The wooden church from 1410 had become too small for the community at the beginning of the 17th century, and it was in great need of repair. Since the church at that time belonged to Gustedt and thus to the office of Wohldenberg, Duke Friedrich Ulrich von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel had refused to pay for the construction costs. His wife Anna Sophia, to whom he had assigned the office of Wohldenberg for the wedding, then ordered the construction and also financed it. The new stone church was built between 1614 and 1619 on the foundations of the old church. This church is also shown on the right on a Merian engraving from 1654, which shows the town of Gebhardshagen and its castle. At that time the church had a high and pointed steeple, to which the nave and an octagonal choir adjoined.
Conversions and renovations
In a heavy thunderstorm on May 1st, 1791, the roof and large parts of the church tower were destroyed. Falling parts of the tower tore the three bells of the church, the church clock and also the organ into the depths. Two of the three bells remained intact, and a belfry was built for them in the churchyard. Since the then church patron of Brabeck refused to provide financial support for the reconstruction because he had no share in the church's income, his patronage was revoked in 1804, which then reverted to the sovereign. It was not until 1810 that the damage was repaired. For cost reasons, the church tower was built smaller than before, and it only received a low roof with a lantern on top .
In April 1860, work began to expand the church. A transept and an apse were added to the east side, the tower and nave remained in their old form. The entrance was moved to the middle of the tower and the nave got larger windows.
For the windows destroyed in World War II, wire glass panes were initially used after the end of the war, and in 1952 these were replaced by lead glazing with colored cathedral glass . An extensive renovation was carried out at the end of the 1980s, and old ceiling paintings that had been applied by the Braunschweig court painter Wirries in 1861 were uncovered. The last renovation was carried out in 2012, and the interior received its current paint.
The tympanum (gable representation) in the arched portal above the entrance to the church was created by the sculptor Joseph Krautwald from Rheine . It shows St. Nicholas of Myra, to whom the church is dedicated, together with his wards, the castaways, children and poor. The tympanum is a personal foundation of the honorary cathedral capitular Johannes Wosnitza , who was the first pastor to preside over the Catholic parish of Gebhardshagen, which was founded in 1941. It is a token of thanks for the hospitality of the Nicolaikirche in the last year of the war and for the cooperation between the two Christian communities in Gebhardshagen.
Establishment of the Church
inner space
The altar of the church is simple, the altarpiece shows a representation of the resurrection of Christ. The pulpit is supported by an octagonal column, with figures of the apostles in its six niches . Next to the pulpit is the church's oldest grave tablet, which reminds of Burckhard von Steinberg, who died in 1572. Other grave tablets from the second half of the 17th century are placed in the tower room.
Interior with altar
organ
Baptismal font
Grave tablet from 1572
The oldest communion chalice was donated to the church in 1698 by the clerk Gerding and his wife. This 19 cm high goblet made of gold-plated silver bears a dedication by the donor couple under the foot. According to its inscription, a second silver chalice was made in Wolfenbüttel in 1772; further information on this has not been preserved.
The baptismal font of the church was made of sandstone around 1650. During the work in 1860/62, the stone, considered worthless at the time, was given to a local merchant for two talers and has since been used as a flower bowl in his garden. In June 1862 the merchant donated a silver-plated brass baptismal bowl for the re-consecration. After more than 100 years, the old font was rediscovered and has been in the church again since 1964 after a restoration.
The first organ was procured in 1698 on the initiative and with financial support of the clerk Gerding, the manufacturer was the Halberstadt organ builder Heinrich Jacob Wilcken. This organ was destroyed in the storm of 1791. The organ, still in use today and overhauled in 1961, was made by the master organ builder Engelhardt from Herzberg and inaugurated on December 25, 1862.
Bells
After the church tower was rebuilt in 1810, the two bells that had hung in the bell cage of the churchyard since the collapse in 1791 were brought back into the church tower. One of the two bells was damaged by improper ringing in 1892, after which the two bells were re-cast. These had to be handed in to be melted down in 1917, as a replacement the church received two small steel bells. Thanks to donations from the population, a large and a small bronze bell could be purchased in 1933. The larger of the two bells and the bell of the church tower clock had to be delivered in 1942 and were melted down. The Rincker bell foundry gave the church two new chimes in 1961 and 1966, and a new chime for the church tower clock in 2001.
Tower clock
The first church tower clock was damaged in the storm in 1791, but was repaired and continued to be used after the tower was rebuilt. The clock face was first attached to the south side of the tower, it was moved to the west side during the work of 1860. In 1904 the church received a new clock from the Weule tower clock factory in Bockenem, which was a gift from the Lattemann couple to the community on the occasion of their diamond wedding. The clockwork is still operated mechanically today and has to be wound up once a week.
literature
- Reinhard Försterling, Sigrid Lux, Gudrun Pischke: Calbecht, Engerode, Gebhardshagen, Heerte . West town in old views. Archive of the City of Salzgitter, Salzgitter 2003, ISBN 3-930292-15-7 , p. 188-200 .
- Church buildings in Salzgitter . In: Salzgitter Forum . tape 12 . Public Relations Department of the City of Salzgitter, 1986, DNB 880735341 , p. 23-24 .
- Parish of St. Nicolai [Gebhardshagen] (Hrsg.): Gebhardshagen and his St. Nicolai Church . Salzgitter 1971.
- Parish of St. Nicolai [Gebhardshagen] (Hrsg.): St. Nicolai Church in Salzgitter-Gebhardshagen . Salzgitter 2002.
- Reinhard Försterling, Horst Plümer, Erdmute Strohmeyer, Bernd Wölbern: The Pfarrverband Gebhardshagen, Calbecht, Engerode: its history from 1660 to 1960 . Ed .: Pfarrverband Gebhardshagen, Calbecht, Engerode. Appelhans, Braunschweig 2010, ISBN 978-3-941737-34-1 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e parish : Gebhardshagen and his St. Nicolai Church
- ↑ Salzgitter-Zeitung from January 15, 2018
- ↑ a b City of Salzgitter: Church buildings in Salzgitter , pp. 23–24
- ↑ a b Stadt Salzgitter: Ortschaft West , p. 190
- ↑ a b c Parish: St. Nicolai Church in Salzgitter-Gebhardshagen
Coordinates: 52 ° 6 ′ 20 ″ N , 10 ° 21 ′ 31 ″ E