St. Stephen's Church (Westerhausen)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
St. Stephani Church in Westerhausen (2007)

The St. Stephen's Church is a Protestant church in the district of Westerhausen of the city of Thale in the Harz district in Saxony-Anhalt . It belongs to the Evangelical Church District Halberstadt and is located at Schulstrasse 77.

history

According to tradition, it is said to have been a mission church, which was built under Bishop Hildegrim von Halberstadt (term of office 814–829) in wood construction on a hill on what is now St. Stephen's Street. Relocated to the grounds of the Counts of Blankenburg-Regenstein's farm yard around 1180, it was rebuilt in the Romanesque style. The church was consecrated to Saint Stephen .

After the destruction of the church by the Lords of Hondelage in the Veltheimer Fehde in 1430, a Gothic nave was added to the Romanesque church tower around 1450 and, from 1695, a church nave in the baroque style in the form of a cross-shaped floor plan.

As early as 1523, pastor Henning Radecke preached the new teaching of Martin Luther in St. Stephen's Church .

Furnishing

The interior decoration of the church in the style of the North Harz Baroque comes from Valentin Kühne from Groß Quenstedt . In advance of the financing of the pulpit altar he created in 1697/98, the figures of the Gothic altar were sold to the parish of Wienrode , where they are still located today.

The rose on the crest on the coat of arms of the Lords of Morgenstern, who owned the aristocratic estate in Westerhausen between around 1640 and 1680, and that probably from the previous building of the church (as well as the tombstone of the Voigtländer couple, † 1673 or 1674 , and the epitaph of Pastor Anthon Gercke, † 1686), shows a membership in the baroque language society German-minded cooperative .

The late Romanesque church tower with its bells (with bells from approx. 1300, 1507, 1613, 1964) was given its baroque tower hood with weather vanes, which was renewed in 1791, in 1699/1702, supported by President von Ruck, who has owned the noble estate since 1690 .

In 1997 a comprehensive renovation of the church was completed, which was followed by the renovation of the church tower in 2009. St. Stephen's Church is on the list of cultural monuments in Thale .

literature

  • Westerhausen . In: List of monuments Saxony-Anhalt , Vol. 7.2 - Quedlinburg district. Halle 2007, ISBN 978-3-86568-072-3 , pp. 246-251.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernd Feicke: The gravestone of Andreas Voigtländer . In: Westerhäuser Heimatblätter (9) 2006/2007, pp. 14-16
  2. ^ C. Fero, S. Heise: Daniel Melchior von Ruck . In: Between Harz and Bruch , booklet 50, Halberstadt 2008, pp. 39–45

Coordinates: 51 ° 48 ′ 20.6 "  N , 11 ° 3 ′ 19.8"  E