St. Georg (Oberampfrach)
St. Georg is an Evangelical Lutheran church in Oberampfrach . The patron saint of the church is St. George .
history
Due to its layout and the sometimes high surrounding wall, it is assumed that there was originally a kind of fortified church here. However, this assumption cannot be verified. In any case, until 1896 there was only one entrance, which led under the former schoolhouse. A small Romanesque chapel is said to have existed from the 11th century. In 1429, the existence of a church with a bell tower can be assumed, since the Christ bell - the largest bell in the church - has this date and there is no evidence of a later purchase of the two old bells (the type and decoration of the Marien bell may also date from the same period ). The basement of the tower and the sacristy are likely to be older.
The winged altar was built at the end of the 15th century, its origin cannot be precisely assigned. In the sacristan's order of 1580, a striking clock is mentioned in the church. The old Gothic church was largely unchanged until 1626 .
In 1626 a major renovation took place, during which the nave was increased by approximately 1.20 meters, two new windows, a new floor, a new gallery and a new pulpit are reported. Despite great destruction in the whole community, the church remained largely unscathed during the Thirty Years' War .
Between 1697 and 1699 the interior was renewed; the invoices only reveal that the church was designed very colorful (14 tones are listed). In the course of this measure, the church received the preserved images of the apostles with Christ on the gallery parapet. The creed is written above the heads of the apostles, a quote from Jesus Christ is given and the donors (members of the congregation) are listed under the pictures. In 1701 an organ was installed.
From 1707 extensive construction work was carried out, mainly due to a lack of space: increasing the nave, tearing down the north wall and moving it to the north (to widen the church), windows in baroque shapes with round arches and above them oval windows for the galleries as well as a new roof structure (erected June 8th 1708). Inside, new galleries with new “chairs” and new stalls were created in the nave and the color scheme was carried out in a baroque style. In 1710/11 the church tower was raised to 40 meters with a new bell cage.
The Gothic winged altar was placed on the side of the choir in 1725 and replaced by a baroque one made by the Erzberg master carpenter Georg Karl Schwab. This altar is now in the Unterampfrach church .
In 1843 the tower roof was re-roofed, and in 1846 a lowering of the west gable was remedied. Due to the growth of the community, additional church chairs were purchased in the 19th century, including for the choir room including its newly drawn gallery. In 1865, sculptor Franz Herterich, Ansbach, created the pulpit that still exists today (replacement for the predecessor from 1626) and the wooden font (predecessor from 1584) in a neo-Gothic style. At that time, the value of the winged altar was recognized and after restoration by Adam Sickinger, Munich, it was placed in the middle of the choir, while the baroque altar was moved to the side wall of the choir.
Another renovation took place in 1893 because the 328 seats were no longer sufficient for the growing community. The nave was lengthened nine meters to the west. The windows were enlarged in the Gothic style and today's galleries were built in. New benches, some using old ones, were purchased. The painting was done entirely in a neo-Gothic style. The church was consecrated on Sunday, November 26th, 1893. The number of places was given at that time as 529.
In 1895/96 the new organ was installed in the north gallery (organ builder Holländer, Feuchtwangen). In 1930 the electrical lighting was purchased and shortly before the start of the war in 1939 the heating (coke oven) was installed. In 1939/42 Carl Barfuß (Germanisches Museum Nürnberg) restored the pictures of the apostles and the winged altar and in 1941 a new baptismal font was donated.
In the 1950s, the interior was extensively renovated, removing the colored neo-Gothic wall paintings; The church still shows itself in this appearance today. Another renovation took place from 1968 to 1970. Due to massive infestation with dry rot , the west gable had to be torn down in 2009/10 and the wall rebuilt; this measure by the state building authority in Ansbach included an interior renovation.
See also
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 12 ′ 4.5 " N , 10 ° 12 ′ 20.8" E