St. James the Elder (Elspe)
St. Jakobus the Elder is a Roman Catholic parish church in Elspe , a district of Lennestadt in the Olpe district , North Rhine-Westphalia . Church and congregation are part of the Oene-Elspe-Tal pastoral network in the South Sauerland Dean's Office of the Archdiocese of Paderborn .
history
Almost nothing is known about the exact start of construction of the first Elsper church. When the heating was expanded as part of the church renovation in 2003, new sewers were dug. Not only were the foundations of the eastern parts of the late Romanesque hall church demolished in 1882 found , the nave of which has been preserved to this day. It could also be shown that this church was preceded by an older building that had been redesigned at least once, presumably a hall church the width of today's central nave. It could have existed as early as 1000.
Building description
The parish church in Elspe is a Romanesque to early Gothic building. The nave consists of four central nave bays and two four bay side aisles. The organ gallery was built in the first nave yoke. In the east, the Vierungsjoch joins the nave with the two transept arms. The choir has a yoke, a 3/6 polygon and two side choirs.
The total height of the church is 9.20 m. The nave has a length of 42.38 m and a width of 11.30 m. The length of the transept is 19.40 m, the width 6.20 m. The circumference of the pillars is 4.64 m. The windows are 2.85 m high and 0.95 m wide. Outside on the north side of the church there are 2 supporting pillars. Its reinforced dimensions of 1.44 m long and 1.78 m wide extend to a height of 3.53 m.
Furnishing
Miracle Cross Elspe
The so-called miracle cross is a wooden body of the crucified. During examinations in 2006 at the Aalen University of Applied Sciences , virtual sections through the cross and body were made using a technical CT device. These were dendrochronologically evaluated at the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University in Frankfurt . According to this, the annual rings of the body range from 907 to 968, so that a felling date around / after 989 can be assumed. The annual rings of the cross bars begin in 978 and extend to 1154, which indicates a felling date around / after 1175. The test result shows that the corpus and the cross do not match in time. There is a period of more than 180 years between the two.
Cemetery complex
The main area of the Elsper cemetery extends immediately after the church building. The cultural and historical importance of the complex is also expressed in the fact that there are four listed objects in the cemetery. These are the cemetery retaining wall, the central high cross and the two neo-Gothic graves of the former pastors Kayser and Hengstebeck from Elsper.
See in detail: Illustrated list of architectural monuments in Lennestadt (under Elspe)
Opposite the main cemetery is the part of the cemetery with the cemetery chapel on the other side of the street (junction B 55 towards Altenvalbert ). At the beginning of March 2020, a modern ensemble of different elements was presented as part of the redesign of a free area. The center point is a rusted iron cross that was attached to the demolished Elsper hospital (built in 1912/13). It is surrounded in a semicircle by elements made of steel, glass, wood and stone. If the sun falls through the colored glass, the cross shines in a sea of lights. In the semicircle there is also a large natural stone, surrounded by a metal lettering “Faith, Love, Hope”. Lingering at this place (with seating) should encourage pause and prayer.
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Also contribution: sensational installation , in: Sauerlandkurier, newspaper for Lennestadt, Kirchhundem, Finnentrop and the surrounding area, issue of March 4, 2020
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 9 '15.1 " N , 8 ° 3' 31.4" E