St. Jakobus major (Gersthofen)

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St. Jakobus major in Gersthofen
Rear view with Ulrich's Chapel

The catholic parish church St. Jakobus major formerly also St. Jakobus d. Ä. , in Gersthofen , a town in the Swabian district of Augsburg ( Bavaria ), was built in 1854/55 after the previous building was largely demolished and expanded in 1924/25. It is protected as an architectural monument. Since 2006, St. Jakobus major and Maria, Queen of Peace, have formed the Gersthofen parish community.

location

The church rises to the north at the end of the village on a hill, on the edge of a high route over the Lech , which the Via Claudia passed in Roman times .

history

St. James the Elder Ä., 1891

Previous construction

Today's church building has several predecessors. When the old parish church St. Jakobus was demolished in 1854, the remains of a Roman Mercury shrine from the 1st century came to light. It is not known whether the spoils point to a local temple or were only transferred there for the construction of a church. With the settlement of Gerfred around 800 a wooden church was built on the property . In 969 the place was first mentioned as Gerfredeshoua .

The church was replaced in the 12th century by a permanent church in Romanesque or early Gothic style. Around the same time, the church seems to have obtained its parish rights. The patronage of St. James is mentioned for the first time in 1506, but probably dates back to the 10th century. The right of patronage was held by the Augsburg Cathedral Chapter . The church was with Dom - canons and later with diocesan provided.

In 1620, under the direction of the Domkapitel's master craftsman Jakob Aschberger and Michael Birkenberger, the Romanesque west tower, a church that was probably already late in the Gothic style, was renovated . In 1670/71 the nave was enlarged and the tower raised. A new roof structure was erected in 1726. The Gothic pointed spire of the tower was retained. In 1754, the prince-bishop's court architect of Augsburg, Ignaz Paulus, enlarged the single-nave church building, rebuilding the choir and integrating the west tower into the roof structure. In the interior, the walls were structured with pilasters and the ceiling was decorated with stucco . The frescoes and altarpieces created the Augsburg Rococo - painter Johann Wolfgang Baumgartner .

New building

The growth of the parish required further expansion in the 19th century. In 1854, during the tenure of Pastor Wilhelm Zwirg, the decision was made to build a new building in the neo-Romanesque style , including the older tower, according to the plans of the architect Georg von Stengel , with the extensive demolition of the previous building. This was consecrated on September 29, 1864 by Bishop Pankratius von Dinkel . The painter Joseph Kober painted the walls . In 1897 the parish had 948 Catholics. By 1916 the number rose to 2,200.

During the fundamental renovation in 1924/25 under the direction of the architect Michael Kurz , the west tower was replaced by a new tower on the south side. At the same time the nave was extended to the west. This time, the frescoes in the interior were designed by the painter Paul Thalheimer . In 1940 these were removed again. The cemetery surrounding the church was abandoned and a war memorial was erected in its place. The influx of people after the Second World War made it necessary to divide the parish in 1968. In 1984 the Ulrich chapel was added to the north. The Augsburg artist Georg Bernhard redesigned the ceiling frescoes in 1989. An interior renovation took place in 2011. In 2014 the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the consecration of the church began.

architecture

The hall building has a retracted choir , which consists of a short, transversely rectangular front yoke with groined vaults and a semicircular apse . The square tower ends with a pointed helmet .

Furnishing

inner space

The former side altar leaves of Muttgergottes with child and Joachim and Anna meet at the golden gate around 1754/1755, which are attributed to the painter Johann Wolfgang Baumgartner, have been preserved from the furnishings from the Baroque period . They are provided with the donor coat of arms AMPG = Antonius Mark Parochus Gersthofensis . The high altar picture is lost. At the northern side entrance is the figure of St. Anthony of Padua, around 1720 and on the north nave wall on consoles the statues of St. Clare of Assisi, around 1720/30, probably from the circle of the Augsburg sculptor Ehrgott Bernhard Brendel , as well as a large figure of Christ, created around 1750.

The crucifixion group in the vestibule is the work of the Munich sculptor Johann Evangelist Riedmüller from around 1855/60. The 14 station pictures of the Way of the Cross are modern from around 1925. The large crucifixion group in the choir was created around the same time. The pulpit on the south wall of the nave was made in 1925 by the Augsburg master carpenter Ludwig Hotter. The neo-Romanesque wall paintings were removed during the renovation in 1924/25 and the frescoes by Paul Thalheimer were repainted around 1940. The neo-Romanesque stalls were replaced by modern ones in 1966. The ceiling frescos showing a cycle of pictures on the church patron were redesigned in 1989 by the Augsburg artist Georg Bernhard.

Grave slabs

  • Johann Nepomuk Kleber, pastor from Thannhausen († 1787)
  • Matthias Abt, pastor from Diedorf († 1845)
  • Wilhelm Zwirg, pastor from Illertissen († 1866)

Peal

In 1917 the 11th Bavarian Infantry Brigade removed four bells and poured them into cannon fodder. Five steel bells from the Bochum Association for Mining and Cast Steel Manufacturing have been hanging in the tower since 1949 . The largest 25 hundredweight bell bears the inscription: Saint James, help us. The renaissance bell that has been preserved in the tower of the St. Emmeram chapel was probably once part of the ringing of the old church of St. James. The bell has a diameter of 46.5 cm and a height of 40 cm. It was made in 1611 by the Augsburg bell founder Wolfgang Neidhardt . The shoulder inscription reads: WOLFFGANG NEIDHARDT IN AVGSPVRG GOS MICH ANNO 1611 . The reliefs show on the flank a Mother of God in a halo, the church patron Jakobus maior, crown bows and on the front a woman's head with a headscarf.

Monastery courtyard

→ Main article: Klosterhof (Gersthofen)

To the north-east of the church stood the former monastery courtyard until 1995, formerly the rear Maierhof , which was inhabited from 1935 to 1984 by the sisters of the Dominican convent of St. Ursula in Augsburg .

literature

Web links

Commons : St. Jakobus major (Gersthofen)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 25 '43.3 "  N , 10 ° 52' 44.1"  E

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walter Pötzl: Sagas and Legends: Schwänke and Ortsneckereien . Heimatverein für der Landkreis Augsburg eV, 2006 ( google.de [accessed on December 3, 2018]).
  2. ^ Annual report of the historical district association in the administrative districts of Swabia and Neuburg . 1844 ( google.de [accessed on December 3, 2018]).
  3. ^ Wilhelm Neu, Frank Otten: Landkreis Augsburg: by Wilhelm Neu and Frank Otten . Kunstverlag, 1970 ( google.de [accessed December 3, 2018]).
  4. ↑ Walter Pötzl, Neusäss (Germany): Neusäss: the story of eight villages on the long road to a city . Pröll, 1988 ( google.de [accessed December 3, 2018]).
  5. ^ Michael Petzet: Monuments in Bavaria: Swabia . Oldenbourg, 1986, ISBN 978-3-486-52398-0 ( google.de [accessed December 3, 2018]).
  6. ^ Augsburger Allgemeine: Parish community celebrates their church. Retrieved February 29, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Publications of the Swabian Research Association at the Commission for Bavarian State History: Studies on the history of Bavarian Swabia . Verlag der Schwäbische Forschungsgemeinschaft, 1967 ( google.de [accessed on June 4, 2019]).