St. Cäcilia (Heusenstamm)
The parish church of St. Cäcilia in Heusenstamm was built from 1739 to 1741 as a Catholic burial church of the Heusenstammer branch of the Counts of Schönborn by the builder Johann Balthasar Neumann . It is the most important baroque building in the Hessian Heusenstamm.
prehistory
After the Knights of Schönborn had built the front castle in Heusenstamm from 1663 to 1670 , there was initially no court or burial church available. The noble family had "sacked out", i. H. taken on financially and in debt with the high construction costs. In 1701 the family was raised to the rank of imperial count. It was not until 1708 that Countess Marianna von Schönborn had the small field chapel built for the Holy Cross , which, due to its size, was only suitable for commemorating death and not as a burial church. In 1717, Count Anselm Franz von Schönborn had the idea to build the old Gothic parish church from the 13th / 14th centuries. Century in the center of Heusenstamm to be replaced by a more representative new building. When he died in 1726, his widow, Countess Maria Theresia Ernestina Magdalena (née von Montfort-Tettnang) pursued his plan to build a memorial and burial church in Heusenstamm. In 1735, the widow of Schönborn convinced the three brothers of her deceased husband, Franz Georg von Schönborn , Archbishop of Trier , Friedrich Carl von Schönborn , Imperial Vice Chancellor and Prince-Bishop of Würzburg and Bamberg , and Damian Hugo von Schönborn , Cardinal and Bishop of Speyer , of the building plans and achieved that they took over the financing of the complex church building.
Building history
The Schönborn'sche court architect Johann Balthasar Neumann was commissioned with the planning and construction, who immediately began work in 1739 after the old village church had been demolished. Neumann planned the church in the typical Franconian Baroque style with a cross-shaped floor plan. The crypt of the Counts of Schönborn was built under the church . The choir and side aisles have been combined to form a central room using a clever wall structure. The striking bell tower has a central portal and is crowned with an onion dome. The facade was decorated and structured with tail gables and pilasters , and the roof was covered with gray slate . Neumann personally visited the construction site three times and monitored the construction work. In 1740 the shell of the church was completed and work on the interior fittings began. From 1741 on, the Augsburg painter Christoph Thomas Scheffler created the magnificent ceiling paintings. From 1741 the construction of the church was considered finished, although not all interior fittings were finished. The Würzburg court sculptor Johann Wolfgang von der Auwera expanded the high-quality furnishings of the church with the creation of the high altar in 1744 . The pulpit was also completed in the same year . The Mainz court carpenter Franz Anton Herrmann (1711–1770) made the interior fittings out of wood ( confessionals , church stalls , etc.), which were installed in 1751. In the same year the client, Maria Theresia von Schönborn, died in Vienna , where she was buried. Her heart was removed and buried in the Schönborn crypt. The crypt was then occupied by other, already deceased people from the Schönborn'schen - Heusenstammer line.
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The church was named after St. Cäcilia of Rome named, the patron saint of church music. For reasons that have not been handed down, the church was only consecrated on September 19, 1756. As a reminder, the church consecration festival (Curb) is celebrated in Heusenstamm every year on the Sunday before the feast of the Apostle Matthew .
organ
An organ already existed in 1778. In 1825 she had the following disposition:
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This organ was destroyed by lightning on July 9, 1902. A new organ was installed in 1908.
Occupancy of the crypt
The crypt is occupied with the remains of 9 people in 8 graves of the Heusenstammer Schönborn line.
- Anselm Franz von Schönborn, Buchheim and Wolfsthal (1681–1726), imperial chamberlain, court war councilor, general of the cavalry and colonel of a dragoon regiment, commanding general of the Upper Rhine Empire, Kurmainzer Privy Councilor and bailiff.
- Maria Theresa von Schönborn, born von Montfort, Tettnang and Langenargen (1698–1751), wife of Anselm Franz. Her mortal shell was buried in Vienna, her heart in Heusenstamm.
- Franz Ludwig Anton von Schönborn (1719–1728), eldest son of Anselm Franz and Maria Theresia, Kurmainzer bailiff in Steinheim.
- Hugo Philipp Friedrich Carl von Schönborn (1721–1734), second son of Anselm Franz and Maria Theresia, canon at the High Cathedral in Speyer and Kurmainzer bailiff in Steinheim.
- Johann Erwin von Schönborn (1654–1705), Lord of Reichelsoberg and Heusenstamm, Imperial Chamberlain, Reichshofrat, Kurmainzer Privy Council, Obermarschall, Oberjägermeister and bailiff of Steinheim. His only child lies in his grave, his six-year-old son Philipp Anton von Schönborn, who died on March 22, 1679.
- Maria Anna von Schönborn, née Waldbott von und zu Bassenheim († 1702), first wife of Johann Erwin.
- Melchior Friedrich von Schönborn (1643–1717), Imperial Real Privy Councilor.
- Sophia von Schönborn, née Boineburg (1651–1726), wife of Melchior Friedrich.
From 1804 to 1981 Maria Anna von der Leyen and Hohengeroldseck , born von Dalberg (1745–1804), the mother-in-law of Franz Philipp von Schönborn, was buried in the crypt. On August 28, 1981, her remains were transferred to Blieskastel and buried in the castle church of St. Sebastian next to her husband Franz Karl von der Leyen.
Restoration history
The church not only suffered damage due to use and age, but also suffered fire damage caused by lightning in 1902. During the Second World War , the air pressure from exploding aerial bombs destroyed the church windows and replaced them again after the war. Several improper restoration work in the 18th and 19th centuries also caused damage, which could only be repaired cost-intensively in 1979 with a comprehensive restoration. To date, the bells have had to be replaced four times and the church organ three times.
The original baroque organ from 1770 was destroyed by falling debris in the church fire in 1902 and then replaced by an organ made by the Würzburg master organ builder Schlimbach. This organ had to be replaced as early as 1979 because it had become unusable due to cracks and pests. Today's new organ was given a baroque exterior cladding to restore the original appearance.
The original bell from 1740 consisted of three bells from Würzburg, which had to be renovated in 1894. When the church fire in 1902, these bells were destroyed and replaced with new ones. Two of them were melted down during World War I and replaced by an Apolda foundry in 1921 . During the Second World War, the bells were melted down again and the material obtained was used for armaments purposes. In 1950, four new bells were finally manufactured and installed by a Heidelberg bell foundry.
literature
- Herbert Margraf: Balthasar Neumann Church St. Cäcilia in Heusenstamm. Published by the Catholic Parish Office of St. Cäcilia, 1st edition 2007
- Hartmut Platte: The house of Schönborn, counts, prince-bishops and patrons. Verlag Börde, Werl 2006, series Deutsche Fürstenhäuser, issue 13, ISBN 3-9809107-3-3
- Exhibition catalog “The Counts of Schönborn. Church princes, collectors, patrons. ” Verlag des Germanisches Nationalmuseums, Nuremberg 1989
Web links
- Descriptions on the homepage of the German Foundation for Monument Protection
- History of the origins of the church on the homepage of the town of Heusenstamm
- Detailed church guide of the cath. Parish of St. Cäcilia in Heusenstamm
- Internet presence of the Count of Schönborn
- Detailed description of the church's history, construction and heraldry
Individual evidence
- ^ Christian Binz: The organist and organ maker Joseph Anton Boos (1727–1804) , In: Acta Organologica . Volume 34, 2015, pp. 28f.
Coordinates: 50 ° 3 ′ 34.4 " N , 8 ° 48 ′ 23.8" E