St. Blasius Plochingen
The Church of St. Blasius is the main church of the Protestant parish (Parish 1) in Plochingen and an important landmark of this city.
Previous buildings
Already at the time of the Alemannic settlement of Plochingen, the area of today's Kirchberg was used as a place of worship and burial place. The construction of the first church in Plochingen as part of Christianization is typical of this time and region, in which the missionaries built the new sacred buildings on the heights on which religious sites had already been located. Under certain circumstances, this made it easier for the population to switch and at the same time represented the triumph of Christianity over pagan ideas. The first Christian church in Plochingen was built around 620 by Franconian missionaries, perhaps by monks from the Lorsch monastery . It was about a St. Wooden building consecrated to Michael within the churchyard. This church was burned down together with the adjacent manor house in connection with the dispute between King Heinrich IV and Rudolf of Swabia in 1078. Under the local lord Ulrich von Stubersheim-Ravenstein, a new, stone, Romanesque church was built around 1100 , which was named after the knight, St. Ulrich von Augsburg was consecrated. Some objects still bear witness to this building (see surroundings, furnishings). During excavation work to build the heating system under the sacristy, some foundations were discovered in 1933 , one of which comes from the Ulrichskirche. This fell victim to the flames of war in 1449/50, before the present church followed about 30 years later.
Building history
The church was built in the 15th century as a fortified church on an old cult site.
According to two inscriptions over the portals of the church, the nave with the choir was completed in 1481 and the tower in 1488, i.e. the construction work was probably completed in 1488, although the exact course and duration of the construction remains unknown.
In 1961/62 major renovations took place, which shape the image of the church to this day (see interior). The tower was last renovated in 1983, the choir in 1984.
Exterior
The city church of St. Blaise is a single-nave hall building with a 32 m high west tower and an east choir with sacristy . Several portals allow access to the church; the former main entrance was through the west portal, the door of which dates from 1962, and the vestibule in the basement of the tower. Above this portal there is a niche in which, until the Reformation, an image of St. Michael found. Above you can see a walled-up former entrance to the tower. This was connected to the Mesnertürmlein, which was demolished in 1801, via a footbridge. This was built on the opposite wall and temporarily served the sacristan or gravedigger as an apartment, who could quickly reach the church tower and thus the bells via the footbridge. On the south side of the church there are some old tombstones, for example from former pastors of the church. The tower tap was made and put on in 1932.
Interior / establishment
The interior appearance of the church has been changed many times, most recently during renovations in 1960–1962. But even before that there were many changes that are listed here chronologically without claiming to be exhaustive:
- End of the 15th century: The "men's or peasant gallery" is built into the west of the church and rebuilt several times in the course of the following centuries.
- Around 1520: The stone Renaissance pulpit is manufactured and installed
- 1610: The "Herrenempore" (today's north gallery) is built by the carpenter Hans Peltin on the south wall of the nave. The middle column is carved by himself.
- 17th century: An organ is installed on a gallery in the choir of the church.
- 1701: The organ is sold, a new one is installed by the organ builder Hartmann from Nürtingen.
- 1745: The Esslingen painter Jakob Ihle fills the gallery parapets in the ship with depictions of scenes from the Bible.
- 1775: The sacristy has direct access from the cemetery.
- 1838: The Hartmann organ is replaced by a new organ from the Walcker company in Ludwigsburg.
- 1883: The pulpit is fitted with a sound cover and a decorative structure.
- 1880: The choir has direct access from the cemetery.
- 1923: During renovation work, a late Gothic crucifix (approx. 1450–1480) is found in the floor of the "peasant gallery", repainted and hung on the north wall of the nave.
- 1933: renovation of the sacristy; Construction of a boiler room and found several foundations (see previous buildings)
- 1935: Modifications / renovation:
- The organ loft in the choir including the organ is demolished. The Walcker company from Ludwigsburg is building a new organ using large parts of the old organ.
- 1960–1962: Major remodeling and renovation:
- Installation of the new ceiling of the nave; The "gentleman's gallery" will be moved from the south to the north wall; The pulpit is moved from the north to the south side of the choir arch, the baptismal font is instead placed to the left of the altar; Remove the pulpit structure, individual parts of it are hung on both sides of the choir arch.
Renovation of the late Gothic reticulated vault in the choir; Exposure of the ceiling paintings there from the same period. Installation of the colored glass windows by the Stuttgart art glass maker Saile
- 1983–1985: The Köberle company builds the new organ, with large parts of the two previous Walcker organs being taken over.
Bells
All of the church's bells today are from the 20th century. All older were melted down for war purposes, first in the Thirty Years' War , and later in the First World War .
Today's ringing consists of five bells:
- Baptism bell (h´, 350 kg, 1921)
- Death knell (a´, 470 kg, 1951)
- Prayer bell (fis´, 791 kg, 1951)
- Dominika (redeemer bell) (e´, 1092 kg, 1962)
- Gloriosa (cis´, 1870 kg, 1962)
literature
- Joachim Hahn / Manfred Reiner: Protestant churches in Plochingen , Herba Verlag, Plochingen 1993, from church history; The St. Blasius Church (p. 4–15)
- Manfred Reiner / Klaus Steinhilber: Together through the centuries , Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, 2008, "The communities in the region around Plochingen": "Plochingen" (pp. 73–76)
Web links
- St. Blasiuskirche on the homepage of the city of Plochingen accessed on January 14, 2013
- St. Blasiuskirche with pictures from the inside on the homepage of the parish accessed on January 14, 2013
Coordinates: 48 ° 42 ′ 29.1 " N , 9 ° 25 ′ 13.2" E