St. Jakobus (Germersheim)
The St. Jakobus Church in Germersheim is one of the last remaining Gothic church buildings in the Palatinate . Today it is the seat of the parish of the same name and is a listed building .
history
A castle chapel was mentioned for the first time in 1280. Between 1286/87 and 1291 the Servite Order founded a monastery here. On December 12, 1474, Elector Friedrich the Victorious received permission from the Speyer bishop to attend the service in Germersheim. In 1487 the Germersheim bailiff Keckhans von Gemmingen was buried in the church, and in 1479 his wife Brigitta von Neuenstein was also buried there. The Servite monastery was converted into a secular monastery in 1527. Due to the introduction of the Reformation , the Canons' Monastery was given up in 1556. After that there were several user changes: until 1563 the Lutherans, until 1577 the Reformed, until 1583 again the Lutherans, followed again by the Reformed. In 1680 the Catholics were given the right of joint use again, in 1697 they were authorized for sole use. Just two years later a monastery was founded again, this time by the Franciscans , who were expelled by the French revolutionary troops in 1793. Today the church is the seat of the Deanery of Germersheim of the Diocese of Speyer and the parish of Sankt Jakobus Germersheim.
The construction
The church was built in the architectural style of a three-aisled Gothic basilica, the choir with colorful, two-part , pointed arched windows typical of the Gothic style is only located in the central nave. Due to the fact that a similar construction already occurs in Kusel around 1300, it can be dated to 1325/30 with a clear conscience. Today's central nave is likely to be oriented a little differently than the former, as the entire building was oriented somewhat differently when the church was rebuilt at the end of the 17th century. Directly at the main building are connecting corridors to the buildings of the parish office and home; these were formerly the buildings of the order. In the inner courtyard that this creates, there is a fountain that is no longer in use today, as well as the tombstone / grave cross of a pastor from Germersheim from the 19th century. The tower, which is around fifty meters high, has a walk-in gallery, which is located just below the bell slots of the church clock, and from which the town chapel has blown several times on New Year's Eve. A weathercock sits on the ridge .
crypt
The church's crypt was rediscovered in 1977 during renovations . It lies under the central nave. In its wall there are coffin niches in which the monks used to be buried. Today their graves have been "moved" under the floor, there are only four memorial plaques on the side. The chancel of the crypt, which is now furnished, is bordered by walls, behind which there are cavities on the right and left; you don't know what's behind it. To the front it goes to today's entrance and exit, at the back is the former entrance, which is now concreted over and used to be in the front third of the central nave of the main church.
Building history
The time of the first construction is unknown, but it can be assumed that it was in the first half of the 14th century. In the middle of the 15th century the church was considerably expanded, especially in 1480 the construction of the tower was granted. In the Palatinate War of Succession , the church was almost completely destroyed in 1674, but was rebuilt by King Louis XIV between 1682 and 1697 . An exception was the tower, which was only completely rebuilt from 1861 to 1863, even if a more poorly-built “replacement tower” made of wood was mentioned as early as 1741. The church was completely renovated for the last time in 1976/77. The crypt , believed to be lost, was also rediscovered (see there).
Equipment and decoration
There are about forty pews in the church, arranged in two rows. The rear ones are on the same step, so they are a little higher. The organ towers over them. The holder for the candles of the deceased is usually at the back of the left central nave (seen from the main entrance). The altar is in the middle of the choir. On the walls of the choir are the choir stalls that are used by the altar boys today. Above the right choir wall there are two wall paintings by the Schiestl brothers in 1899 with corresponding ( Textura ) inscriptions. The picture on the right by Rudolf Schiestl shows the legend of “ Rudolf von Habsburg and the Priest ”, according to which Rudolf von Habsburg gave his horse to a priest while hunting. This is an allusion to the fact that Rudolf von Habsburg raised the village of Germersheim to the rank of a Free Imperial City in 1276 (more details can be found in the city article). To the left of this is a picture of Matthäus Schiestl , on which Emperor Karl IV. Presents the seven forefathers of the Servite order with the certificate for the use of the Germersheim church as a monastery. To the right of the tabernacle is a cross with a relic of St. James the Elder, the namesake of the church.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Jürgen Keddigkeit, Martin Wenz, Matthias Untermann: Germersheim, St. Maria, later St. Jakobus Servitenkloster, later collegiate monastery, then Franciscan recollect monastery. In: Keddigkeit, Jürgen (ed.), Pfälzisches Klosterlexikon. 1. AG. Handbook of the Palatinate Monasteries, Stifts and Comingos. ( Contributions to Palatinate History 26.1) Kaiserslautern 2014, pp. 591–609, Kaiserslautern 2014 ISBN 978-3-927754-76-8
- ↑ Konrad von Busch , Franz Xaver Glasschröder : choir rules and younger sea book of the old Speier cathedral chapter. Historisches Museum der Pfalz, Speyer 1923, p. 627
Coordinates: 49 ° 13 ′ 9.8 ″ N , 8 ° 22 ′ 12.7 ″ E