St. Georg (Bensheim)

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The parish church of St. Georg is the oldest of four Catholic parish churches in the area of ​​the city of Bensheim .

St. Georg as Moller Church

The town church in 1849 (steel engraving by Ludwig Lange )

In 1826 the dilapidated parish church of St. Georg was demolished except for the church tower, with components from the 12th century, and the chief building officer and court building director of the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, Georg Moller, built a classicist-style church in which he moved the old one Integrated church tower. This “Moller Church” was consecrated in 1830. The pastor at the time of construction was Franz Joseph Herold .

On March 26, 1945, this church was destroyed by fire bombs during an air raid, with the exception of a few remains of the wall. The west tower, which dates back to the Middle Ages, was largely preserved, but was demolished after the reconstruction plans by the Mainz architect Hugo Becker (son of the cathedral builder Ludwig Becker ). Construction began as early as 1949 in two construction phases, which were largely based on the original Moller Church. On August 13, 1950, the chancel and the nave with the two eastern towers were consecrated. In 1952/53, the two west towers followed in the second construction phase, which Moller had already provided for in his first plan. On October 4, 1953, the church was completely restored. In 1963, the interior color scheme was completed to approximate the classical Moller Church. The coffered ceiling was previously designed by Moller in green. Today her shade is red. In the same year an organ by Johannes Klais Orgelbau was installed, which was restored in 2011.

Structural origins

"Chronicles, engravings and pictures testify that there has certainly been a Christian community with its own house of worship in Bensheim since the 8th century." "The city of Bensheim is [...] an old place, which as early as 765 was named in documents occurs ( Codex Laureshamensis No 231 ff.) ”. In the year 818, as Dahl wrote in 1818, the Lorsch monastery received a church in Bensheim as a gift, which is probably the parish church of St. George. It stands "quite high, by the way, is very old, not tall, quite dilapidated, and apart from its high tower, of absolutely no respect."

Significance of the building

For the city of Bensheim, St. George's Church is of central urban and historical importance. In southern Hesse , together with the Ludwigskirche in Darmstadt, it is an example of classicism of the first half of the 19th century and of the first phase of reconstruction after the Second World War. This combination makes the St. George's Church unique beyond Bergstrasse .

  • St. Georg (Bensheim)

  • Catholic Church of St. Georg as seen from the Kirchberg

  • St. Georg, interior view

  • St. Georg, main portal, stair access

  • St. Georg, main portal, west side

References

  1. ^ A b State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Marktplatz 11: Catholic Parish Church St. Georg In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse
  2. ↑ Tobias Blum: 50 years of the Klais organ in Bensheim-St. George. Traditional concert with Gregor Knop for the first Advent. In: MBN. Diocese of Mainz, accessed on November 29, 2013 .
  3. ↑ Martin Hellriegel: Construction and consecration of St. George's Church in Bensheim. Festschrift for the 150th anniversary, p. 7
  4. ↑ Konrad Dahl: Historical-topographical-statistical description of the principality of Lorsch or church history of the Upper Rhinegau. Darmstadt 1812, p. 200 ( online at Google Books )
  5. ↑ Konrad Dahl: Historical-topographical-statistical description of the principality of Lorsch or church history of the Upper Rhinegau. Darmstadt 1812, p. 203 ( online at Google Books )

Web links

Commons : St. Georg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 49 ° 40 ′ 53.1 "  N , 8 ° 37 ′ 26.8"  E