St. Georg (Urmitz)

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St. Georg, Urmitz
Image of the patron saint in the high altar
Maria Immaculate

St. Georg is the Roman Catholic parish church of the municipality of Urmitz in the Mayen-Koblenz district, named after its patron saint . It is on Kirchstrasse, about 20 meters from the banks of the Rhine . The official description of the office of mountain maintenance from 1784 described the Urmitz church twelve years after its construction as "the most beautiful in the office".

History and building description

The church of Urmitz, outwardly a simple plastered building with a small roof turret on the gable, was built in 1772 as a hall church. Before the new building there was a probably late Gothic building from 1502, which was considered dilapidated in 1759 and was repaired in 1764/65. The new church was on December 17, 1772 benediziert and elector and archbishop on August 11, 1776 Clemens Wenceslaus consecrated . The nave with three high round arched windows on the east and west sides was eleven meters long in the light, the choir with four windows and three-eighth end was nine meters long; the nave was eleven meters wide and the choir nine meters wide. At the top, the nave and choir are closed off by a mirror vault . The main entrance is on the south or gable side. To the right of the entrance, a staircase in the tower leads to the gallery.

In 1961, the front part of the church received extensions on the east and west sides. The foundation stone for the extension was laid on April 23, 1961, the inauguration was on May 13, 1962. The architects were the Cologne cathedral builder Willy Weyres (1903–1989) and his colleague Kobes Bong; the construction management was done by architect Josef Helff from Urmitz.

The construction of the church tower by the architect Karl Amsel from Koblenz and the master bricklayer Anton Helf from Urmitz began in 1923/24; The 37 meter high tower was completed in 1953. It is attached to the south-east side of the north-north-west facing church. The conclusion is a three-part, curved helmet, which had not been used for 26 years for reasons of cost. The tower is made of pumice stone and not, like buildings from earlier times, of quarry stone, which is why structural engineers have expressed concerns.

Furnishing

High altar and statues

The high altar from 1774 and the side altars with blue marble decoration in the Baroque style are attributed to Johannes Seiz . Decorative frames and capitals of the columns in the architecture of the altars are set off in gold. The altar structure, which extends up to the height of the choir, is made of oak, like the side paneling that extends to the sills. The central element of the high altar in the central niche is a carved wooden crescent Madonna or Maria Immaculata in a halo. At 2.20 meters, it towers over all the other saints in the church and, unlike the other statues, its cape is not white, but blue on the inside and gold on the outside. An oil painting in a curved frame in the upper part shows the church patron St. George . It is the work of Benedikt Beckenkamp (1747–1828), who was born in Koblenz and was an electoral court painter in Ehrenbreitstein . The model for the painting was a 28 cm high and 18 cm wide draft sketch from 1776 in oil on sheet copper, which today belongs to the art collection of the Middle Rhine Museum in Koblenz. Above the picture, in a triangle and golden rays, is the "Eye of God" , which symbolizes omnipresence , underneath in a cartouche on a red background the letters "DEO", Latin "With God".

St. George

To the left of the altar are the apostles Peter and John the Baptist above a door in the paneling , to the right Paul and Matthias. The faithful used to go through these doors for the sacrificial passage around the altar. The figures at the passage to the side aisles are St. Barbara on the left and St. Joseph opposite, on the right St. Catherine with the broken wheel as a sign of her martyrdom and a Madonna with child. The originally white statues in the choir and on the side altars were painted in color to reflect contemporary tastes during a “modernization” in 1855. Since the church was expanded in 1961/62, apart from the crescent Madonna, they have been white again with gold applications.

On a small table in the annex to the right of the choir stands an approximately 85 cm high equestrian statue of St. George, probably from 1772. At the feet of the rearing horse lies the dragon as a god-hostile and misanthropic monster with which George fights. It is a custom in the community for the Urmitzer “ Schorschjungen ” - the 19-year-olds - to carry the statue through the village during the fair procession on Sunday.

In the left extension there is a cup-shaped baptismal font made of basalt . Its origin is believed to be around 1500. The shaft was probably renewed in 1772 when the church was built. To the side of the baptismal font hangs a large oil painting with a rounded top from 1717, which comes from the previous church; a signature is not recognizable. The picture shows Jesus on the cross and a vine bearing fruit at the foot of the cross. The caption at the bottom reads: "I am the true vine, you the branches" ( Joh 15,5  EU )

In the eastern extension hangs a wooden cross from 2003 with an old body on the wall behind the George altar. This wooden body from 1720 comes from the old cemetery cross; it is probably the work of the sculptor Johann Peter Pfeiffhoven, who worked in the Koblenz area.

  • High altar and statues of the side altars

  • St. Anna with Maria

  • Altars from 1774

  • St. George

Communion bench, side altars and pulpit

A curly communion bench closed the choir until it was omitted after the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council and due to the additions to the church.

The side altars stand diagonally in the corners of the nave at the transition to the choir. Their structure corresponds to the structure of the high altar on a smaller scale. In the middle niche of the left altar there is a statue of St. Anne with Mary, above an oil painting of St. Thekla ; the wooden sculpture in the right side altar represents St. George, the oil painting St. Anthony the hermit . The small pictures above on the confessionals show Peter and Mary Magdalene .

The pulpit, which was formerly attached to the left in the nave in front of the side altar, was given a new place in the front right of the annex for several years; it could no longer be climbed. It is now planned to return it to its original location.

People's Altar

In connection with the liturgical reform, a people's altar was set up in front of the high altar and an ambo. Both parts were made of wood and matched the style and color of the old furnishings. Since July 2020, they have been replaced by a simple block of red Palatinate sandstone according to the plan and design of the architect and sculptor Eva von der Stein. The artist created the altar cross and the candlesticks to match. On July 26, 2020, Bishop Stephan Ackermann consecrated the new altar.

Main entrance, gallery and historical prospectus of the organ

painting

Five large-format paintings by Benedikt Beckenkamp show depictions of the life of Jesus, in the nave Adoration of the Magi , signed by Beckenkamp 1778, Last Supper , Resurrection and Ascension , in the eastern annex the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor . A total of eight unsigned pictures, about 1 × 1.3 meters in size, which are attributed to Heinrich Foelix, hang in the right and left or east and west extensions. The assumption of his authorship is based on the fact that he was considered the most outstanding portrait painter at the electoral court in Ehrenbreitstein. Typical portraits for him are the depictions of the apostles Thomas, Jakobus the Elder in the right extension. Ä., Andreas and Simon as well as the three-quarter figures of the evangelists Matthäus, Markus, Lukas and Johannes in the left annex.

organ

The first organ of the Urmitz church was built in 1775 by the Koblenz organ builder Ignaz Senft. In 1925, the Cologne workshop Johannes Klais installed a new pipe work behind the baroque case, which was restored in 1967 by Josef Klein, Obersteinebach . 1996 supplied Hugo Mayer organ building a new tool with Rückpositiv and 29 registers on two manuals and Pedal , mechanical key and electrical key action with electronic translator combinations . The historical prospectus , richly decorated with veils , has been preserved. He is crowned by King David playing the harp and two trumpet angels.

Bells

Probably the first bells in Urmitz were the Georgs bell from 1586 and a smaller bell from 1639. These bells hung in the roof turret of the Gothic predecessor church and were taken over in 1772 in the new church. Over the course of around 200 years, the smaller ones broke up in 1639, the larger ones in 1814. The bell founder Johann Friedrich Bernhard from Tiefenbach near Braunfels, who had opened a branch in Kettig, melted them down in 1817 and used them with the addition of other material to cast one St. George's bell weighing 1084 pounds and a New Year's bell weighing 845 pounds. In addition to these bells, a small bell weighing only 50 kg hung in the roof turret from 1778 to 1917, which was rung for the changing and burial of a child. On July 14, 1917, the George Bell and the small bell had to be handed in for war purposes.

After completion of the tower, the bell foundry Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock from Gescher in the Münsterland delivered five bronze bells on December 17, 1924; the New Year's bell had been given in payment. The consecration of bells was on the 4th Sunday in Advent, December 24, 1924. The smallest of these five bells, weighing 137 kilograms, hangs as a transformation bell in the roof turret. Since 1996 it has been struck electromechanically for conversion in the fair. Four bells were hung in the tower: the St. George's bell (1148 kg), striking tone f, St. Michael’s bell (663 kg), striking tone as, Marien's bell (450 kg), striking tone b, and St. John -Bell (321 kg), striking tone c. All four bells fell victim to the war; on April 7, 1942, they were confiscated and taken away.

In 1948 the parish of Urmitz bought an 875 kilogram bronze bell with a striking sound, cast in 1890, from the neighboring community of Mülheim , which was given a new bell. After the tower was completed, three new bells cast by Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock were added; they were consecrated on July 12, 1953. They are the St. George's bell (710 kg), striking tone g, Marienglocke (435 kg), striking tone a, and St. John's bell (317 kg), striking tone h.

Web links

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

Remarks

  1. ↑ The first and the second part (Parthen) of the Office of Mountain Maintenance included the Rhine towns of Kesselheim, Kaltenengers, St. Sebastian, Urmitz and Wallersheim as well as Kettig, Kärlich, Mülheim and the “Siedlung am Weißen Turm” roughly the area of ​​today's community of Weißenthurm . As an imperial knighthood, Bassenheim formed its own rule.
  2. ↑ The art monuments of the Koblenz district describe the style of the altars as the "reduced formal language of the latest Rococo". In general, the old furnishings of the St. Georg Church in Urmitz are assigned to the baroque.
  3. ↑ The side altars were exchanged in 2020. Until then, the George altar was on the left, the Anna altar on the right.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Urmitz. In: The art monuments of the district of Koblenz (reprint). Pädagogischer Verlag Schwann, Düsseldorf 1981, ISBN 3-590-32142-3 , pp. 344–346.
  2. ^ A b Walter Häring: History of the Urmitz church bells in the 20th century . In: Heimatbuch 2013, published by the Mayen-Koblenz district administration, Wittig-Verlag, Monschau 2012, p. 167-170.
  3. ↑ A picture gallery for Koblenz - 170 years of the Middle Rhine Museum . Görres printing and publishing house, Koblenz 2005, ISBN 3-928377-29-9 .
  4. ↑ Marlies Häring: Magnificent high altar - a baroque work of art in the parish church of St. Georg in Urmitz . In: Heimatbuch 2021. Ed. By the Mayen-Koblenz district administration. Weiss-Verlag, Monschau 2020, ISSN  0944-1247 , pp. 309-312.
  5. ^ In: Rhein-Zeitung . December 7, 2016.
  6. ↑ Inge Hülpes: A sign that points to the future. In: bistum-trier.de. July 28, 2020, accessed April 15, 2021 .
  7. ↑ Parish Church of St. George. In: Romantischer-Rhein.de. September 30, 2019, accessed April 15, 2021 .
  8. ↑ Praise to God with hands and feet : New organs in the diocese since 1994. In: bistum-trier.de. Retrieved April 15, 2021 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 25 ′ 0.1 ″  N , 7 ° 31 ′ 9.6 ″  E