St. Aper (Wasserliesch)
St. Aper Wasserliesch is the church of the Catholic parish St. Aper Wasserliesch in the Trier-Saarburg district in Rhineland-Palatinate . It is the only parish church in Germany that has the patronage of the bishop and confessor Aper; from 500 to 507 he was the 7th bishop of the then diocese of Toul in the French region of Lorraine . The building is oriented from southwest to northeast. The 36 m high church tower is on the north-western side, the belfry is on the top slate-covered tower floor. The entrance side of the church is the gable side facing the Dorfstrasse. It has a main entrance portal in the middle with two smaller entrance portals arranged next to it. All entrances are provided with vestibules; between the vestibules there are two small chapels accessible from the church interior . The side entrance on the north-eastern side of the church has a covered staircase, it is no longer used; the interior vestibule serves only as an exhibition space.
Building
The St. Aper Church in Wasserliesch was built in 1910/1911 as a three - part neo - baroque stepped hall. The nationally known architect and church builder Peter Marx from Trier had the planning and construction management . He used the then still new building material reinforced concrete , the use of which for a sacred building was unusual. Peter Marx was an important church builder , he built or rebuilt more than 70 churches, mostly in Saarland and the Trier region .
Peter Marx was probably inspired by the Baroque pilgrimage church “Our Lady” in Steinhausen (Baden-Württemberg), which the famous master builder Dominikus Zimmermann built. Its oval floor plan and the triple-broken baroque church tower dome may have inspired Marx to create a similar structure in Wasserliesch . Reinforced concrete, a building material used for the first time, allowed him to cover the central nave with a wide, oval domed vault; in the entrance and choir area it turns into a barrel vault . The two side aisles are covered with a flat coffered reinforced concrete slab.
The unusual construction method allowed the architect to create a design that was completely detached from historical architectural styles . The building cannot be assigned to any historical style, even if individual components, such as the church tower dome and the supporting pillars in the interior with their arches, have neo-baroque structures.
The exterior of the church is simple. The structures are made of light sandstone with rough plastered wall surfaces, the roof surfaces are covered with slate . The interior is also simply designed, ceilings and vaults are coffered. The architect only used reinforced concrete for the central nave with the supporting columns. At that time, only a few companies had the necessary experience with the processing of the new building material, so that the architect had to commission a specialist company based in Saarbrücken with the implementation. He had the outer masonry built by local companies using traditional construction methods using local red sandstone . The remarkable combination of these two construction methods in one building was the reason for the Rhineland-Palatinate State Office for Monument Preservation to place the church under monument protection after the end of the Second World War .
The parish had given the architect the unusual size for a village church for 1,200 visitors because of the dynamic growth of the population at the beginning of the 20th century. The previous church, which stood in a different location until 1920, had long since become too small. In order to meet the requirement, Marx had to use an unusual construction method.
The interior has an impact on the visitor due to its extraordinary size and width. The impression is due to the oval shape of the building, which allows the main nave the largest space by far. The high vaulted ceiling rests on two laterally arranged in rows that are kept very slim. The two side aisles are very narrow so that they can only serve as side aisles. Nevertheless, the church offers the image of a three-aisled church interior. However, it is in no way reminiscent of the sober shapes of the concrete churches that were increasingly built after the Second World War.
An art critic described St. Aper's Church in 1910 as follows:
“The new parish church in Wasserliesch near Trier, built by the architect Peter Marx, Trier, arouses great interest in more than one respect. Reinforced concrete was mainly used as building material. The modern, extremely designable building material requires a design that is completely detached from the historical styles and at the same time enabled a significant degree of freedom in the creation of a floor plan. The nave has a barrel vault with a very large span. The result is a wide, clear room interspersed with only a few slender pillars, without revealing the longitudinal direction characteristic of Catholic churches. The spatial effect is enhanced by great simplicity. "
Altars
The showpiece of the interior is the valuable rococo high altar from the 1st half of the 18th century, its construction is dated between 1730 and 1750. It was in the Michaeliskapelle in Wetzlar until around 1900, after which it was sold. Gold-colored decorations on both sides of the altar structure emphasize the Rococo style of the work of art. The massive altar table, also known as the cafeteria , had to be rebuilt from sandstone . A stone 10 × 10 cm in size and 2 cm thick was placed in it as a sepulcrum with a relic of St. Jucunda. It was a white sandstone that was taken from the masonry of the abbey church of the former Benedictine abbey of Marmoutier in Alsace and given to the parish of Wasserliesch.
The tabernacle also had to be rebuilt, architect Peter Marx designed it. A very good replica of the miraculous image of Mariahilf by Lucas Cranach the Elder forms the visual focus above the tabernacle . Like the original of the painting in the Cathedral of St. Jakob in Innsbruck , it shows one of his famous Madonna pictures. Above, above the picture of the Madonna, the eye of God can be seen in the radiance. Between this and the picture of the Madonna is the coat of arms of the Prince of Solms-Braunfels. The prince belonged to a noble family from Hesse, presumably he donated the altar to the Michaeliskapelle in Wetzlar in the 18th century.
The image of the Madonna is represented by the sculptures of St. Gertrudis von Altenberg , represented with book and staff, and St. Barbara of Nicomedia flanked with martyr's palm , chalice and tower. Gertrudis was the youngest daughter of St. Elisabeth of Thuringia . St. Barbara is said to have lived in the 3rd century; she was a martyr and saint, but her existence is not historically certain. Above all, she is venerated as the patron saint of miners, but also stonemasons, carpenters, roofers and firefighters; she is also one of the fourteen helpers in need . There is no longer any celebrations on the high altar , because the liturgical reform introduced after the Second Vatican Council requires the priest to turn to the faithful during mass . For this reason, a new celebration altar was procured in 2000 and placed on a wooden pedestal in the center of the nave.
The side aisles meet the side altars that were acquired in 1913 . The 4.85 m high left side altar made of oak is the work of the sculptor Vitus Föhr from Trier. It was called the “Altar of St. Family ”, which is why a wooden sculpture of the Holy Family with Jesus , Mary and Joseph was placed in the middle of the altar structure . After the Second World War, it was replaced by a figure of Mary depicting Mary as queen. The side parts of the altar structure each carry an angel statue, between them there is an image of God the Father.
The right side altar is also the work of the sculptor Vitus Föhr. It is 3.60 m high, the top is a 1.20 m statue of the Sacred Heart. The side parts of the altar structure have putti made by a wood carver from South Tyrol . In order to keep costs down, the pastor at the time had acquired carvings and other parts as well as the tabernacle of an altar that was no longer needed in the branch church in a neighboring village. In order to adapt it stylistically, Vitus Föhr decorated it with Rococo style elements. Yet it presents a completely different picture than the other altars; it cannot be clearly assigned stylistically.
Interior
Below the three-step staircase to the somewhat higher choir room is a massive octagonal baptismal font made of red sandstone with the year 1556 and the Christ symbol "XP " underneath; it comes from the previous church. As a work of art of the late Renaissance , it also has late Gothic style elements with a Romanesque round arch frieze on the lower edge. It is believed to have been created by a local artist and is considered a masterpiece of the sacred stonemasonry . Some of the surfaces of the octagonal baptismal font, which stands on a gray-painted plinth and is painted in red sandstone color, bear inscriptions and signs that can only be partially recognized under the repeatedly applied layers of paint.
On the occasion of the interior renovation of the church in 1986, the baptismal font was given today's sandstone-red paint. The diocese conservator of the diocese of Trier had examined it and found that it had previously had a green-gray dispersion paint , under it was a sandstone-red oil paint . Under this he again recognized parts of a blue-green paint in casein , finally, at the bottom, remains of a lime paint in Caput mortuum (Latin: skull), a purple-tinged red paint produced by the alchemists in the 15th century.
The original sandstone cover of the baptismal font was replaced in 1911 by a brass cover with beautiful ornaments . After the Second World War, the work of art was given an inner insert made of brass after the massive interior was leaked by a crack in the stone. The baptism ceremony still takes place at the baptismal font, but the consecrated baptismal water is kept in a different container.
Unlike in many churches, the baptismal font is in the choir of the church. Usually it should be set up next to the main entrance to the church - at first it was the same here. The location there has symbolic meaning, because the giving of the baptismal sacrament stands for the entry of the baptized into the community of believers.
On the side wall of the choir, above the baptismal font, a larger sculpture of the patron saint St. Aper is placed on a pedestal . The foundation stone of the church is set into the wall below, and to the right of it is a memorial plaque for the consecration with the engraved text "Hoc templum consecratum est anno 1911 XXII MAII." (This church was consecrated on May 22, 1911).
The pulpit, placed in the front right in the choir, comes from the previous church. It has not been used for a long time. Previously, it was attached to one of the supporting pillars on the right in the front part of the nave on a column and was accessible from there via a wooden staircase. Today it is back where it was once the church was built. Apparently, the episcopal authority did not like the installation site at the time. She had instructed the pastor to arrange for it to be erected in the aisle instead of a right side altar . Placed in the choir, it obstructs the communion bench . The erection of a third altar could then be dispensed with. These guidelines did not meet with approval from the pastor, he did not adhere to them and had the pulpit set up in the choir room. Today there is no longer a communion bench, it was removed after the introduction of communion in the hand. The pictures on the sides of the pulpit show the four evangelists with their symbols , as they are known as authors of the biblical gospels. From left to right you can see: Matthew with a winged person holding the book of the Gospels , Mark with a lion's head , Luke standing in front of a bull and John with an eagle .
The two large-format wall paintings on the side walls of the chancel above the sacristy doors with scenes from the Old Testament are unusual . The picture on the left side wall shows a scene of manna falling from heaven , also called heavenly bread, which God gave the Israelites as food during their 40-year wandering through the desert . According to the Bible, manna fell on the desert floor at night, could be picked up in the morning and consumed on the same day; everything that wasn't eaten in the evening spoiled overnight. Twice as much was allowed to be collected on the 6th day of the week for the Sabbath because no fresh manna could be found on the morning of the Sabbath.
The mural on the right shows Melchizedech , high priest and king of Salem, offering bread and wine to God as a sacrifice of thanksgiving; According to the Bible, he was a priest of the Most High God and blessed Abraham with the words: "Blessed be Abraham from the highest God, the creator of heaven and earth, and praised be the highest God, who delivered your enemies to you". Abraham recognized him then as king and gave him the tithe of everything. The main meaning of Melchizedech is that he was the first priest mentioned in the Bible who offered bread and wine and not the meat of animals.
The ceiling painting above the high altar in the upper curve of the apse takes up the entire width of the chancel. It depicts Jesus sitting on a throne, next to him Mary and Joseph, on the far right St. Aper in front of his patronage church , on the far left St. Matthias with a chopping block and an ax - he was beheaded.
Nave
The fourteen Stations of the Cross, customary in Catholic churches, are attached to the side walls . The paintings were newly acquired in 1958. Starting at the left side altar and moving counter-clockwise, they depict the suffering of Jesus Christ that he had to go before his crucifixion .
As in most Catholic churches, sculptures of saints are placed on pedestals on the pillars of the nave . In a small chapel in the middle of the right side wall, which originally formed the side entrance, there is a very old wooden sculpture of the Virgin Mary, a "Madonna with the Pear" , behind a wrought-iron grille . The upright figure shows Mary, holding a pear in her raised right hand - the left arm carries the baby Jesus - a very rare type of representation of Mary. The pear is said to symbolize the innocence and purity of Our Lady. The work of art dates from the 15th or 16th century and stood in front of the new church in the old church.
The church's furnishings used to include a very old wooden Baroque Madonna, a Mother of God on the crescent moon from 1470, which the pastor at the time probably acquired from private ownership as "old furniture" after the First World War . Little did he know that it was an extraordinarily valuable work of art. The sculpture is considered to be the work of the Dutch sculptor Nikolaus Gerhaerd van Leyden. She is z. Currently exhibited in the Diocesan Episcopal Museum in Trier .
One of the two small chapels next to the main entrance contains the group of figures of the Holy Family that originally adorned the left side altar; On the right on the wall is a Pietà , the second chapel contains an artistically designed wooden plaque with the names of those who fell in World War I and a large mission cross .
The nave is illuminated by side windows and a very large seven-part window in the gable front above the organ gallery. The latter illuminates the vault in particular, as the side windows are too deep for this. The fourteen colored lead glass windows artistically designed by a Trier glass workshop were destroyed during the Second World War as a result of artillery fire. It was donated by local families when the church was built at great financial sacrifice. They showed biblical scenes and motifs in impressive pictures; The illustrations of the school Bible at that time served as a template. In strong colors, they bathed the interior in a subdued, multi-colored light that made it appear very dark even in daylight. In order to be able to illuminate the interior sufficiently, architect Peter Marx had the seven-part arched window, which is unusual for a sacred building , installed above the entrances to the church. Today the windows on the side walls have lightly colored glass panes with a subtle orange glass frame; only the two windows in the choir and the large rear window are equipped with colored lead glass windows.
The church itself was also damaged during World War II; After the end of the war there was a round hole with a diameter of approx. 5 m in the vaulted ceiling of the main nave. The roof with the truss was largely destroyed, so that rainwater penetrating could cause further damage. In the first years after the war, the deficiencies could only be remedied poorly; the church was not completely renovated until the mid-1950s. Unfortunately at that time it was "modernized" according to contemporary tastes; the elaborate interior was painted over. During the interior renovation in the 1990s, considerable effort was made to restore the old painting, which only partially succeeded.
organ
In the entrance area, an organ gallery spans the entire width of the church. On the left side it bears a two-manual Weigle organ with pedal from 1927. The console, which is attached to the part of the organ facing the organ loft, bears the name of the organ builder Johann Stockhausen from Linz am Rhein. The instrument was manufactured by the Weigle company from Stuttgart-Echterdingen. Stockhausen was previously an employee of the Weigle company, but after having set up his own master organ builder, he took over the construction and intonation of the organ himself . The instrument was inaugurated on August 28, 1927 with a large participation of the population .
The organ has a pneumatic action , 19 sounding registers allow different pitches and timbres to be set. The romantically tuned instrument is arranged as follows:
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- Coupling : II / I (normal, sub and super octave coupling), I / P, II / P.
- Playing aids : automatic pedal switching, free combination, off switch, echo box for the 2nd manual, crescent swell with indicator as well as piano, mezzoforte, forte and tutti pulls.
Bells
The ringing of the bells and its history is quite unusual . After the tower had initially received the two smaller bronze bells from the previous church, the parish had to hand them over to the war ministry in 1917 as raw material for the manufacture of weapons ; Bronze bells were a sought-after armament material during the two world wars. They were then replaced by three heavier cast steel bells that had been cast by the Bochum Association for 2,545 marks. The proceeds from the sale of the old bells were used to buy the new bells. The new bells, as they were not made of bronze, were spared the same fate during the Second World War. After all, they had already been brought down from the tower and only then had it been discovered that they were made of steel rather than bronze and were therefore of no interest to the armaments industry. So they were immediately pulled back up to their place in the belfry, where they still do their work today.
The three cast steel bells weigh 586 kg, 336 kg and 283 kg and are tuned to the pitches G sharp, B flat and C sharp. An expert who performed the tone test during acceptance complained that the large bell sounded a few vibrations lower than G sharp, while the two smaller ones kept the notes B and C sharp pure. However, the small downward deviation of the G sharp almost completely disappears, which does not detract from the melodious sound, as he concluded. The largest bell bears the inscription: “St. Aper ora pro nobis, esto bonus pastor hujus parochiae Wasserliesch 1917 ”(St. Aper, pray for us, be a good shepherd to your parish of Wasserliesch), the inscription on the middle bell reads:“ S. Maria, regina pacis, ora pro nobis ”(Holy Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us) and finally the inscription on the little bell:“ H. Johannes pray for us, war year 1917 ”.
Web links
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- Parish archive of the parish of St. Aper Wasserliesch
- Chronicle Wasserliesch (community Wasserliesch 1975, printing works Wagner OHG, Trier)
- Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate, Volume 12.1 Krs. Trier-Saarburg (Wernersche Verlags-Gesellschaft, Worms)
Coordinates: 49 ° 42 ′ 32.3 ″ N , 6 ° 32 ′ 22 ″ E