St. Helena (Mutscheid)

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Parish Church of St. Helena, tower and old church from the south.
Floor plan of the entire church.

The parish church of St. Helena in Mutscheid is consecrated to St. Helena and consists of three connected structures that were built at different times: a Romanesque tower from the 12th century, the old Gothic church from the middle of the 15th century and the new church from Beginning of the 20th century.

The steeple

The oldest surviving part of the church is the high Romanesque tower from the 12th century in the west of the building. It probably belongs to a church which, according to the statutes of the Ahrdekanat, belonged to its sending churches in 1173 . No other structural remains of this church have been preserved. The tower is a typical square defense tower with a side length of about 6.40 m. It is four stories high and the walls are about 18 m high. Covered the tower with an octagonal spire , so a total height of about 40 m that is obtained. On the west side is the former main entrance to the church, which today allows access to a barred anteroom in the church during the day. The tower has two sound arcades with round arches in the upper wall area on each side . It has a tower ornament in the form of a wrought iron cross with a cock on top.

The old church

Drawing of the old church by the architect Anton Becker (1894)

To the east of the tower is a two-aisled Gothic church. It has a four-part ribbed vault that rests on two columns. The ornate keystones of this vault are remarkable . During a renovation, it was discovered that the caps between the ribs were also painted earlier. However, these paintings have not been preserved. In the east, the old church closes with a choir , which is now used as a baptistery . The basalt lava baptismal font dates from the 12th century and probably from the previous church. The old church was consecrated between 1435 and 1457. At that time, however, it probably still had a flat ceiling, as one of the keystones of the vault shows the coat of arms of the Lords of Orsbeck, who only had a connection to Mutscheid from 1539 when Wensburg was taken over .

The new church

Draft of the new church from the east, which was implemented almost like this. Carl Moritz 1910
East view of the church.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the church was expanded according to plans by the Cologne architect Carl Moritz by breaking through the north wall of the old church and adding a three-aisled basilica with a transept to the north, a few steps lower . The choir of this new church is located in the north and houses the baroque , artistically carved high altar as well as the altar , ambo and sedile, which were created in 1998 by the sculptor Stefanie Weskott. There are smaller side altars in both side aisles. The sacristy is housed in the east transept . Above is the gallery with the organ . The new church is spanned by a Rabitz ceiling . Stylistically influenced by Art Nouveau , it sets itself apart from the old church, but does not break completely with it. Many of the pointed arch windows typical of the Gothic can be found . The old church is open to the new one and offers places with a view of the chancel, so that the old and new church form a coherent space for masses .

The window

There are no longer any original windows from the old church. The oldest window in the church is an ornamental round window in the south wall of the old church, which was manufactured by the Oidtmann company around 1900 . The remaining seven windows in the old church are pointed arch windows designed by Paul Weigmann in 1989 . Five windows show floral ornaments in gray, while in the other two colorful windows the floral ornaments are complemented by birds. The confessional room also contains two identical, almost rectangular windows with gray, geometric compositions.

In the new church, all of the original Oidtmann windows from 1911 have been preserved. The choir contains four high lancet windows showing Helena, Mary , Joseph and the Archangel Michael . Two further high pointed arched windows with Peter and Magdalena as motifs are located in the front wall of the western transept. In the two side aisles there are six flat pointed arched windows showing the twelve apostles . In the choir as well as in the aisle of the main nave there is a round window with tracery above each pointed arch window . These windows show ornaments, some of which are repeated several times. On the gallery there is still a pointed arch window with Caecilia as a motif. The sacristy also contains two pointed arch windows, one with Alphonsus , the other with Aloysius and Petrus Canisius as a motif.

The organ

The organ is installed in a gallery above the sacristy in the east transept. It was installed in 1968 by the company Orgelbau Romanus Seifert & Sohn in the case of an old organ by Johannes Klais Orgelbau from around 1800. Some of the old registers were taken over. It is equipped with an electric game and stop action and has twelve stops.

1. Manual
1. Principal 8th'
2. Hollow flute 8th'
3. Cornett 4 ′
4th Octave 4 ′
5. Forest flute 2 ′
6th Mixture 3.4 f. 1/3 ′
2. Manual
7th Dumped 8th'
8th. flute 4 ′
9. Principal 2 ′
10. Rohrschalmei 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal (C – C)
11. Sub-bass 16 ′
12. Gemshorn 8th'

The bell

The chime with the motif "Ad te levavi animam meam. (To you I lifted my soul.)" Consists of five bells :

Surname Chime Weight (kg) Caster Casting year metal
Helena f sharp '-4 760 Peter Boitel, Luxembourg, Roermond 1809 bronze
Maria a '-2 580 Derich and Heinrich Overraide 1563 bronze
Joseph h '-1 340 Wolfgang Hausen Mabilon, Mabilon & Co. 1960 bronze
Elisabeth cis '' -2 240 Wolfgang Hausen Mabilon, Mabilon & Co. 1960 bronze
John e '' -1 130 Wolfgang Hausen Mabilon, Mabilon & Co. 1960 bronze

There was still a “big bell” weighing 1250 kg, but it was requisitioned and melted down during the First World War . The Helenaglocke was requisitioned in 1942, but could be returned from Hamburg undamaged in 1947.

Music director Jakob Schaeben from Euskirchen certified the two historical bells as having a "musically moving effect". After the bell was added in 1960, he rated it as "musically rich, largely original and divisible in numerous combinations".

The roof

All roof areas of the tower and church are slated . While the roofs of the main nave and side aisles are on the same level, the roof over the choir of the new church is significantly higher. It is crowned by a small roof turret that has sound arcades but does not accommodate a bell. In addition to the tower ornament, another cross is placed above the choir of the old church. Both tumbled down in the storms of winter 2018/19 and were reattached in autumn 2019.

literature

  • The Mutscheid Association (ed.): Mutscheid 893–1993. Our home town. Westkreuz-Verlag Berlin / Bonn, Bad Münstereifel 1993, ISBN 3-922131-92-1 .

Web links

Commons : St. Helena  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Klaus Moers: Building history of today's parish church in Mutscheid. In: Mutscheid 893-1993.
  2. ↑ a b c d St. Helena, BAM-Mutscheid . Pastoral care area Bad Münstereifel. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  3. ↑ Work of the sculptor . Stefanie Weskott. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
  4. ^ Collection of photos of the stained glass windows of St. Helena . Research center for glass painting. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
  5. ^ Seifert organ St. Helena . Pastoral care area Bad Münstereifel. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
  6. ^ A b Gerhard Hoffs: Bells in the dean's office Bad Münstereifel , bell books of the Archdiocese of Cologne, pdf version , accessed April 10, 2020
  7. ↑ Toni Falkenstein and Johannes Osterspey: History of the church and chapel bells in the Mutscheid. In: Mutscheid 893-1993.

Coordinates: 50 ° 28 ′ 47.7 "  N , 6 ° 50 ′ 49.1"  E