St. Georg (Polch)
The Catholic cemetery church of St. Georg in Polch , a town in the Mayen-Koblenz district in Rhineland-Palatinate , is an early Romanesque pillar basilica and one of the oldest churches in the Eifel . It is a protected architectural monument .
history
The church was built in the late 11th or early 12th century. It is mentioned in writing for the first time in a document in 1275. The area around the church was used as a cemetery until the middle of the 17th century, as can be seen from many old tombstones. Since many plague victims were buried there, a new cemetery was laid out in 1659 around the parish church of St. Stephan in the center of the village for fear of infection. It was not until 1806, under the French times , that the cemetery was moved back to St. Georg.
Around 1690 and 1739 the church was in very poor condition and had to be repaired. She underwent a transformation in the style of Baroque and were Roman spoils mitverbaut as that of the grave stone fragment above the south portal and the bust of a Roman goddess on the gable of the western façade. A sacristy was also added between the choir and the tower , which was demolished in 1966.
The church was renovated several times in the 20th century. Most of the baroque furnishings have been removed. The panel paintings, stations of the cross and baroque sculptures are now housed in the parish church of St. Stephan, built in the 19th century.
architecture
Exterior construction
The outside of the building is plastered in white. The squat bell tower is built onto the north wall of the choir and crowned with a broken pyramid roof. Its upper storey is pierced on all four sides by coupled sound arcades with three-pass arches above .
The entrance on the west facade is framed by rectangular limestone and dates from the time of the baroque redesign. There is a round arched window and an oculus above . The bust on the gable, a spoil from Roman times, is said to represent the goddess Ceres .
The south portal is also rectangular. A Roman tombstone with a Latin inscription and a relief of a genius was reused as the lintel . The clearly legible text of the inscription reads: "C. (= Gaio) Attio Caro / et Iul (iae) Suausiae / uxori, At (t) io Paterno / At (t) iae Avianae fili (i) s" (translation: [Gravestone] for Gaius Attius Carus and his wife Iulia Suausia, [also] for their children Attius Paternus and Attia Aviana.) Some of the letters are written in ligature, which occasionally leads to misinterpretations; z. B. the letter sequence "-ter-" of the cognomen "Paterno" is merged into a single character. The interpretation of the name "Suausiae" is controversial. It is certainly not a Roman name. As an alternative, the reading "suavissimae" is suggested, but this is difficult to reconcile with the recognizable typeface (in particular there is no reference to the letter "m").
inner space
The church is designed as a three-aisled basilica . Low arched arcades separate the main nave from the two aisles. They are by massive square pillars with simple, beveled fighters supported. The oval windows of the upper aisle go back to the baroque redesign.
The side aisles are flat covered, the central nave is slightly arched. When the ceilings were drawn in again in the 18th century, they received their baroque stucco decor . A baroque decorated triumphal arch opens to the square choir. This is covered with a groin vault. The richly decorated choir grille is considered a work of the 17th century.
Furnishing
The altar with the depiction of St. Georg dates from around 1739. He was donated by Balthasar Eichhorn, the valet of Archbishop Franz Georg von Schönborn of Trier , who initiated the renovation work at that time. In the cartouche above the sculpture of St. Georgs emblazoned a squirrel, the coat of arms of the founder.
In the south aisle there is a basalt font . It bears the year 1769.
On the outer wall of the choir is a wooden crucifix from the 18th century under a protective roof.
literature
- Elke Lehmann-Brauns: The old village churches of the Eifel . JP Bachem Verlag , 2nd edition, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-7616-1192-7 , pp. 30-35.
- Hans Paulig: The St. George's Chapel in Polch. Past and present . Ed .: Förderverein St. Georg in Polch, Polch 2000.
- Walter Pippke, Ida Leinberger: The Eifel . DuMont Buchverlag , 4th edition, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-7701-3926-7 , p. 259.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 17 '38.7 " N , 7 ° 19' 12.2" E