St. Nikolai Church (Osterburg)

St. Nicolai Church

View of the Church, 2008

The St. Nicolai Church is a Protestant church in Osterburg in Saxony-Anhalt .

It is located in the city center of Osterburg on Kirchstrasse and belongs to the Stendal parish of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany .

history

The core of the Gothic brick church probably dates back to the second half of the 12th century. The oldest part can be traced back to a cross-shaped basilica made of field stones with a transverse rectangular church tower. In the middle of the 13th century the church was converted into a three-aisled hall church. It was renewed around the middle of the 15th century, keeping the supports from the 13th century. In the period around 1484 the church was extended by a three-aisled, irregular three apsidial closed choir. In 1484 the All Saints Chapel was donated on the north side, which today serves as a sacristy . In 1614 a magistrate's gallery was added next to the sacristy.

The church was damaged in the Thirty Years War . After it was repaired in 1714, the church was again badly damaged in a town fire in 1761. In addition to the Gothic top of the tower, the furnishings in particular were largely destroyed. The new fixtures from the 18th century that followed were replaced by fixtures in the neo-Gothic style in the course of a restoration in 1890. These were removed again during a restoration between 1953 and 1957.

In the local register of monuments , the church is registered as a monument under registration number 094 97337 .

architecture

The oldest part of the church does that make fieldstone built Romanesque masonry of the nave from. The lower floors of the tower and the crossing pillars also date from this time. On the west side there is an early Gothic portal built in the 13th century from brick, stepped as a pointed arch . About two thirds of the walls of the portal are in the ground.

In the western part of the north aisle there is a piece of wall made of field stones, which goes back to the renovation in the 13th century. During the renovation in the 15th century, the south aisle was extended to the south. The lower part of the wall of the south aisle is irregularly made of field stones. The buttresses are stepped three times, the windows are divided into three parts. Under the main cornice there is a tracery frieze with quatrefoils .

The choir has three naves and stretches over two bays, but appears to be irregular. All three naves of the church are closed on three sides. The ends of the side aisles are arranged with their axes diagonally and aligned with the main choir.

The portals are designed as steep pointed arches with multiple steps.

The interior of the church is largely shaped by the components from the Romanesque or late Romanesque period that are included in the current building. The choir is clearly separated from the nave inside by the crossing square. Originally the crossing arches were designed as round arches, but were later converted into higher pointed arches. The longship extends over five yokes. The lower part of the arcade pillars there consists of field stones. The upper part is made of bricks. They were created during renovations in the middle of the 13th century.

Furnishing

As part of a comprehensive renovation and redesign in 1890, the church received an altar cross created by wood sculptor Gustav Kuntzsch , Wernigerode , donated by the royal building officer Georg Ludwig Gerlhoff, who also directed the renovation of the church. In the course of the purifying restoration between 1953 and 1957, with the removal of the baroque and historical furnishings, the Kuntz Altar Cross was also removed. It has been preserved and is in a very poor condition, in need of restoration, in a storeroom of the church.

Above the altar there is now a large wooden crucifix made in the middle of the 15th century . It came from the Altmark Museum in Stendal to the Sankt Nikolai Church. The church's wooden pulpit was also initially set up elsewhere. It was created in the second half of the 16th century and was originally located in the Marienkirche in Salzwedel. The chalice-shaped baptism is made of bronze and was created according to an inscription in 1442 by the Münster master Volker . The baptismal cup is decorated with vine tendrils and stylized lilies.

The organ front dates from 1765 and is designed in the style of early classicism . The organ is a work by Carl August Buchholz from 1825, which today, after repeated repairs and restorations, contains 21 stops on two manuals and a pedal .

On the outside of the municipal gallery on the north side of the church is the late Gothic sandstone epitaph of Otto Boldemann, who died in 1484. It is decorated with a crucifixion group designed as a relief. Another grave slab commemorates the mayor Hans Boldeman, who died in 1532, and his wife, who died in 1520. Both deceased are depicted with a scratch technique, the heads somewhat vividly. Next to the tombs there is a plaque commemorating Johann Balthasar Berndis, who died near Görlitz in 1694 .

literature

Mario Titze: Dehio, Handbook of German Art Monuments , Saxony-Anhalt I, Magdeburg administrative district. Deutscher Kunstverlag Munich Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-422-03069-7 , page 679 f.