St. Bartholomaei (Demmin)
The Sankt Bartholomaei church is the parish church of the parish of the Pomeranian Evangelical Church District of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany in the Hanseatic city of Demmin . Since 2012 she has been the preaching position of the provost of the provost Demmin. With its tower that can be seen from afar, the brick Gothic church, which is one of the large city churches in Western Pomerania, is Demmin's landmark . After almost complete destruction in the 17th century, the church , consecrated to the Jesus disciple Bartholomäus , was rebuilt in the following centuries and received its current neo-Gothic appearance in the 19th century .
history
It is believed that shortly after Bishop Otto von Bamberg's second missionary trip to Pomerania in the first half of the 12th century there was a wooden church in Demmin. This burned down after the battle of Verchen in 1164 together with the city. In the period from the end of the 12th to the beginning of the 13th century, it was then probably rebuilt from stone by colonists from Lower Saxony. The existence of the St. Bartholomew Church for the year 1269 is documented.
At the end of the 14th century, the city council received the right of patronage over the church, which the Pomeranian dukes had previously held. After the Reformation was introduced in Pomerania in 1534, church visits were carried out at longer intervals , which confirmed that the church was in good condition between 1588 and 1619. Among other things, the church had an extensive library .
In the following Thirty Years' War , the sieges of the city in 1631, 1637 and 1639 caused severe damage to the building. In the post-war years, Demmin now belonged to Swedish Pomerania , repairs were carried out, the tower was rebuilt and the lead roofing was renewed. When Brandenburg troops besieged Demmin in 1659 during the Second Northern War , the Swedish city commander Heinrich von Vincken had the lead roofs of the church and the surrounding buildings torn down and musket balls made from them. After the war, the city was promised by the Swedish king "1500 Daler Silbermüntz" for the reconstruction of the church, in fact it probably only received around 100. In order to get money, the city turned to the church's numerous debtors. However, as a result of the war, they usually did not want to or were unable to pay, so that lengthy litigation resulted.
Nevertheless, the church was restored by 1676. This year Demmin was besieged by the troops of the Great Elector during the Swedish-Brandenburg War . The town and church caught fire as a result of the heavy bombardment. During the two-day fire, the church burned to the ground. The tower, which at that time contained four large and three small bells, collapsed with the burning roof truss on the nave and broke through the vaults, so that the fire got inside the church. In addition to the valuable interior, which consisted of several altars, the library was destroyed.
With a concession from the Great Elector for a nationwide collection , money was collected in Pomerania and Prussia in 1684 and 1685 for the reconstruction of the church. Donations were also sought in Mecklenburg , Denmark and cities such as Hamburg , where the collection was most successful. The church was consecrated again in 1689 and was largely restored in 1706. However, a new vaulted ceiling was not erected until 1734. The tower was given a baroque dome.
During the Seven Years' War , the church was in danger again in 1759 when Prussian troops shot at Demmin and damaged the tower, altar and pulpit. During the French occupation it was used as a warehouse for straw and hay.
From 1826 onwards the alteration of the altar and the choir began according to a design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel . In 1853 and 1854 the church tower was restored up to the first gallery . From 1857 to 1867, the church was completely rebuilt according to drafts and under the direction of Friedrich August Stülers . The east gable and interior have been redesigned. After Stüler's death in 1865, the Szczecin master builder Bartholomaeus Weber completed the construction. Demmin Superintendent Franz Hermann Lengerich was in charge of the church's construction management.
The church survived the catastrophic fire in the old town in the first days of May 1945 after the invasion of the Red Army .
Renovation measures required in the 20th century could only be carried out to the required extent after the end of the GDR . In the northern part of the church there is a permanent exhibition on the life of Bishop Otto von Bamberg , the "Apostle of Pomerania". In addition to the church services , the church is regularly used for musical events.
building
The three-aisled Gothic hall church with five bays and a six-berth central nave is a brick building with ribbed vaults . The oldest parts, the basement of the tower and the western yoke, date from the 13th century. The neo-Gothic east gable with window windows and openwork pinnacles , designed by Stüler, is an important architectural feature of the building.
Octagonal pillars support the baroque ribbed vault. The high window niches are formed by drawn-in, connected buttresses . Between the windows there are pillars on which there are stucco statues . These represent apostles and evangelists .
The stipes of the altar are made according to Schinkel's design. An altarpiece by Heinrich Lengerich , a copy of Raphael's “Entombment of Christ”, dates from 1825; the original hangs in the Galleria Borghese in Rome.
The pulpit has five statuettes. These are the representations of Bishop Otto von Bamberg, the Pomeranian Duke Wartislaw I , Alwinius, the first priest of the church as well as Martin Luther and Johannes Bugenhagen .
The choir with its five windows was designed according to Stüler's design. The stained glass windows of the choir were designed by Karl Gottfried Pfannschmidt , from whom two paintings on the organ gallery were also made. The middle window was given to the parish by the King and later Emperor Wilhelm I in 1867, who had it made in the Royal Institute for Glass Painting in Berlin.
tower
The tower in its current form dates from the 19th century. The neo-Gothic tower shaft has a square basement. The upper floors of the tower were rebuilt under the direction of Stülers. The sound floor is set back a little, with eyelashes and corner turrets. The octagonal floor above has eyelash-like wall openings. The brick spire with a small lantern sits on top of it . The cross on the 93 meter high, completely brick-built tower is 3.3 meters tall, making the tower 96.3 m high.
The tower received the clock in 1872 from the Berlin company Rochlitz. It was financed by the parish and the Siedenbrünzower Kapellenkasse.
The tower was in danger of collapsing in the 20th century. After an emergency repair in 1937/1938, the complete renovation of the tower could only begin after the fall of the Wall and be completed in 1994. The church tower, with its breakthroughs that are unusually high for North German architecture, is one of the most important works by Stüler and is today the only completely preserved church tower from his work.
The church tower was illuminated for the first time in 1936.
Baptistery
In 1422 a chapel was added on the south side , which covered the south portal. This was called "Kirchenköst" in the 18th century and contained the servant's apartment. It has been used as a baptistery since a restoration. This was redesigned in 1950 and expanded into a winter church . The Rostock artist Lothar Mannewitz created the stained glass windows of the chapel and the sacristy .
Another chapel on the north side in front of the side portal was demolished after a city fire in 1847.
Buchholz-Grüneberg organ
The oldest record of an organ in the town church comes from the 16th century. This was destroyed when the church was destroyed in 1676. The Swedish provisions inspector Bohse donated a new organ in 1706, which was later enlarged and expanded.
In 1818 and 1819 the church received a new organ from the workshop of the Berlin organ builder Johann Simon Buchholz . In 1866 and 1867 it was rebuilt and expanded by the Szczecin organ builder Barnim Grüneberg .
The Buchholz-Grüneberg organ with 52 registers is the largest surviving organ in Germany from the workshop of Barnim Grüneberg and has a romantic sound quality. It was restored by the Scheffler organ building company between 1998 and 2003. The Demmin e. V. organizes the Demmin Organ Days every year at the beginning of September .
Bells
The church has had 5 bronze bells ringing since 2001 . The "Hosanna" Mary's bell (a °) was the largest bell cast for a Western Pomeranian church at the time of its manufacture. It has a mass of 3.6 tons. Three other newly cast bells are the “King's Bell” - Christ bell (d '), the “Prophet's bell” (e') and the “Baptism bell” (g '). The Bartholomäus bell (a ') is the oldest bell and was cast in 1751. The four younger bells come from the Albert Bachert bell foundry (Heilbronn).
Two of the old steel bells from 1922 are placed on the side of the church.
literature
- Karl Goetze: History of the city of Demmin edited on the basis of the Demmin Council Archives, the Stollesche Chronik and other sources. Demmin 1903, reprint 1997, ISBN 3-89557-077-X .
- Wolfgang Fuhrmann: The Hanseatic City of Demmin in old and new views. GEROS Verlag, Neubrandenburg 1998.
Web links
- Literature about St. Bartholomaei (Demmin) in the state bibliography MV
- St. Bartholomew Church Demmin
- Church of St. Bartholomew near Kirchen in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Individual evidence
- ^ Heinz-Gerhard Quadt: Demmin A Hanseatic City in Western Pomerania . 1st edition. Sutton-Verlag GmbH, Erfurt 1999, ISBN 3-89702-115-3 , p. 24 .
Coordinates: 53 ° 54 '25.5 " N , 13 ° 2' 4.8" E