St. Francis (Pforzheim)
St. Franziskus is a Catholic parish church in Pforzheim in Baden-Württemberg .
history
Pforzheim had become Protestant through the Reformation . Catholics were still banned from settling in the late 17th century. Only in the late 18th century were Catholics able to settle again and in 1823 they were given their own parish . A room in the breeding and orphanage served as a prayer room. After a flood made the prayer hall unusable, in 1825 they acquired the choir of the former Barefoot Church of the otherwise largely destroyed Franciscan monastery southwest below the castle church , which they dedicated to St. Francis consecrated. This choir had a capacity of about 300 people and was soon no longer sufficient, as the Catholic community grew rapidly in the course of the industrialization of Pforzheim.
In 1872 the congregation acquired a plot of land for a new church, which was to be dimensioned so large that it could also accommodate the faithful from Brötzingen , Büchenbronn , Dillweißstein , Dürrn , Eutingen an der Enz , Kieselbronn , Niefern and Würm . However, they were wrong about the building site and instead of the stable stone base they had hoped for, they bought a loamy plot of land. The community won over Adolf Williard from the archbishop's building authority in Karlsruhe as the architect for the church, who had to struggle not only with the subsoil but also with the cost issue during a planning phase lasting several years from 1883. Plans were ready for building in 1888.
The foundation stone of the church was laid on September 23, 1888. After three years of construction, the church was consecrated on October 18, 1891 by Archbishop Christian Roos . The pure construction costs without equipment amounted to 285,000 marks. In 1907 the choir windows were changed to bring more light to the high altar.
The community grew rapidly due to the ongoing industrialization of Pforzheim up to the First World War . In 1910 there were 13,500 Catholics in the city and the surrounding branch communities. Therefore, between 1900 and 1910, separate churches were built in Dillstein and Brötzingen. After the First World War, a separate church for Eutingen followed in 1922 and in 1925 the municipality was divided up through the creation of the Sacred Heart Congregation.
From 1928 the first major renovation of the church took place. The organ was revised, the window situation in the choir was changed again and the interior was whitewashed.
During the Second World War , bells had to be delivered for armament purposes in 1942. From October 1944, the church was badly damaged in several air raids on Pforzheim . The church burned down and parts of the vaulted ceiling collapsed. From 1946 to 1948 the church was rebuilt by the architects Theo Preckel and Eduard Wolf . The main nave was given a new vault made of prefabricated parts, all walls were plastered again. The destroyed wheel window on the west facade was simply restored. From 1961 to 1966 an extensive renovation followed, during which the stairways around the church were also restored and the church was given new fittings.
description
architecture
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The church of St. Francis is a three-aisled columned basilica with an east-facing choir. The church is built from red Pfinztal sandstone . The nave is divided into six bays , the raised choir across the width of the central nave has a 5/8 end. To the north of the choir is the 64-meter-high tower, to the south of the choir is the sacristy, which continues the south aisle. To the west, the central nave protrudes slightly over the side aisles and forms a three-arcade, three-bay porch.
The west facade has a wheel window in the upper area with cross-like reinforced vertical and horizontal spokes and ends at the top with a triangular gable with a small round window. Between the arcade arches of the vestibule and the wheel window is a row of three niches in which there are standing figures of Saints Conradus, Francis and Bernhard. The statues of Bernhard and Franziskus are a foundation of the Grand Duke of Baden. The recessed narrow sides of the side aisles each have a round-arched double portal and a group of three round-arched windows above each, with a tondo in between each with the heads of Saints Peter and Paul.
The long sides of the church have arched and round windows arranged in different ways on the outer walls of the side aisles, which are divided by pilaster strips . The structure of the pilaster strips also continues on the window fronts of the central nave, which is illuminated by arched windows. In the choir there are also arched windows with oculi above .
The tower has high arched windows in the middle, above a zone with the clock leaves and above, set off by a pronounced cornice, a parapet-reinforced bell storey opened by three arcades, which is again set off by a cornice, crowned by a dome with a roof lantern accented by double ribs .
The church is built in the style of historicism . Their style is clearly influenced by Williard's teacher Heinrich Hübsch and his arched style, but also by Williard's enthusiasm for Italian construction. In addition, the church has elements of the Romanesque and Renaissance styles in an eclectic manner .
Furnishing
The original equipment of the church was almost completely destroyed in the Second World War. With a few exceptions, the few remaining fragments were dispensed with during the restoration in favor of a uniform interior design.
The Munich sculptor Wilhelm Müller created the main and side altar, baptismal font, ambo , holy water basin and eternal light as well as the Tirer motifs on the doors to the vestibule .
The glass windows were designed by Franz Dewald in the 1960s. In the side aisle, scenes from the legend of Francis are depicted: the stigmatization of the saint, his sermon to the birds and his appearance in the dream of Pope Innocent. The choir windows show Christ as ruler of the world as well as scenes from the life and passion of Christ.
The series of Passions in the side aisles, designed as relief panels, was created by Gisela Bär . Helene Bauer designed the wall hanging in the choir with motifs from the Canticle of the Sun by Francis. The choir cross, altar lights and the sacrament house are works by the painter and goldsmith Herbert Kämper .
The figure of Mary placed in front of the rectory originally comes from the Sacred Heart Church and was created by Edward Mürrle .
A set of Stations of the Cross preserved from the pre-war furnishings of the Franziskuskirche is now in the Barfüßerkirche.
The organ was built by the Steinmeyer organ building company. In 1996 the instrument was modified and expanded by the organ builder Karl Göckel . The registers of the manual works were placed on slider drawers (previously: pocket drawers), and the instrument received a new electric console. The organ today has 67 stops on four manual works and a pedal. The game and stop action tractures are electric.
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- Coupling : I / II, III / II, IV / I, IV / II, IV / III, I / P, II / P, III / P, IV / P
- annotation
- (n) = new register from Goeckel (1996)
literature
- Parish of St. Franziskus Pforzheim (Ed.): 100 years of St. Francis 1891–1991. Catholic life in Pforzheim. Pforzheim 1991.
- Hermann Diruff and Christoph Timm: Art and cultural monuments in Pforzheim and in the Enzkreis. Theiss, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 978-3-8062-0824-5 , pp. 67-68.
Individual evidence
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 53 ′ 36.4 " N , 8 ° 42 ′ 30.4" E