St. Jakobus and St. Clemens (Brehna)

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City and monastery church Brehna (photo from 2012)
Interior view (2017)
Crucifix in the room of silence

The double church of St. James and St. Clemens in Brehna in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld in Saxony-Anhalt is a Protestant church . The size and shape of this extraordinary church result from the three usage histories of the once independent structures now connected there, tower, monastery church “St. Clemens "of the adjacent former nunnery and parish church" St. Jakobus “of the parish Brehna.

history

The town and monastery church St. Jakobus Major and the Augustinerinnen - Chorfrauenstift St. Clemens have offered people the opportunity to hear, pray and sing God's word for almost nine centuries. It is dedicated to James the Elder , to whose grave in Santiago de Compostela people have been making pilgrimages since the 8th century. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the Brehna parish church is a remote station on the Way of St. James and that even in pre-Reformation times people found peace and quiet in the church on their way south. Therefore, after the renovation in 2003, it was also opened to travelers.

Katharina von Bora (painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder , 1526)

The history of the church is closely related to the history of Dietrich I , Hedwig von Brehna and Katharina von Bora. The original part of the church is Romanesque: the west transverse tower from the 10th century, which probably once served as a guard tower or protective castle. The church tower walls are two meters thick. The nave to the east is also Romanesque. It was built as a single-nave quarry stone building.

In 1156 Friedrich I took over the county of Brehna. After his death, his wife Hedwig von Bora founded St. Clemens zu Brehna on August 15, 1201 and made it her widow's residence. The collegiate church was consecrated in 1202. In 1290 a dwelling house for collegiate women was built. The most famous student of the monastery was Katharina von Bora , who was educated there between 1504 and 1508.

After the Reformation , the monastery began to decline. It was destroyed in the 30 Years War. Only the substructure of the chapter house and the collegiate church as half a nave of the entire choir remain. The church tower was raised in the 17th century and collapsed during the great fire in 1713. A year later, the fragments of the four church tower bells were cast into a large bell that has been preserved to this day. The external shape of the church has essentially remained unchanged to this day.

As a symbol for travelers, the scallop shell , which bears its name after the patron of the church, can be found on the patron's box in the western part of the church . The wooden pulpit and the buttresses attached to the nave from the 16th century have been preserved to this day. The parish church was mainly furnished in the 17th and 18th centuries. The late Gothic winged altar decorated with baroque elements is remarkable. The confessionals date from the early 18th century.

The town and monastery church is surrounded by the churchyard, which was used as a cemetery until 1900. There is now a two-hectare park with various tombs from classicism and the Wilhelminian era. The renovation of the town and monastery church is also financed with donations from the town and monastery church association, which organizes regular events every year.

Autobahn Church

Motorway sign on the motorway church Brehna (2009)

The church has also served as a motorway church since May 10, 2003 - it was opened by the then regional bishop Axel Noack . It is located between the Zörbig and Wiedemar junctions at the Halle / Bitterfeld exit (No. 13) on the A 9 . The motorway church can be reached from both directions. In town, federal highway 100 leads towards Halle and towards Bitterfeld to the church. It is open all year round from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

organ

On November 8, 2015, the organ created in 1835 by Friedrich Wilhelm Wäldner was inaugurated after extensive restoration - carried out by Hermann Eule Orgelbau Bautzen . The restoration of the organ was made possible thanks to the earmarked individual donation from Wilfried Wilhelm Anclam.

The organ with 22 registers on two manuals and pedal currently (as of 2018) has the following disposition :

Main work
1. Bordoun 16 ′
2. Principal 8th'
3. Hollow flute 8th'
4th Viola di gamba 8th'
5. Gemshorn 8th'
6th Dumped 4 ′
7th Octave 4 ′
8th. Octave 2 ′
9. Mixture IV
10. Trumpet 8th'
Upper work
11. Reed flute 8th'
12. Flauto traverse 8th'
13. Dumped 8th'
14th Principal 4 ′
15th Flauto amabile 4 ′
16. Spitz flute 2 ′
17th Mixture III
18th Cornett IV
pedal
19th Sub bass 16 ′
20th Violon 16 ′
21st Violon cello 8th'
22nd trombone 16 ′
  • Coupling : Coupling to the pedal, manual sliding coupling, valve to the main unit, valve to the upper unit, valve to the pedal

Bell jar

After the city fire in 1713, in which the church tower collapsed down to the octagonal basement, a new bell was cast by P. Becker from Halle in 1714 - this was repaired in 1999.

Varia

literature

  • Jiri Kocourek, Dirk Eule: Festschrift for the consecration of the restored Wäldner organ (1835) of the town and monastery church of St. Jakobus & St. Clemens in Brehna (November 8, 2015). Editor: Evangelical Church Community, Brehna 2015, 24 pages, A5 format
  • The treasure of the nuns of Brehna and other legends from our homeland - a reading book for children and adults. Ed .: Heimat- und Geschichtsverein Brehna eV, recorded by Lothar Herbst and Willy Winkler, Brehna 1999
  • Alfred Schmidt: History of the Augustinian convent St. Clemens zu Brehna with 10 original woodcuts by Hermann Schiebel, Brehna 1924

See also

BABKirche.svg
RWBA Church.svg


Symbol Autobahnkirche on traffic signs

Web links

Commons : City and Monastery Church of St. Jakobus and St. Clemens (Brehna)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.pfarrbereich-sandersdorf-brehna.de/autobahnkirche/die-kirche.html - accessed on December 26, 2018
  2. ↑ https://www.autobahnkirche.de/abk/autobahnkirchen/24_A9_Evangelische-Autobahn--Stadt-und-Klosterkirche-Brehna.html
  3. ↑ Jiri Kocourek, Dirk Eule: Festschrift for the consecration of the restored Wäldner organ (1835) of the town and monastery church of St. Jakobus & St. Clemens in Brehna (November 8, 2015). Published by: Evangelical Church Community, Brehna 2015.
  4. ↑ Jiri Kocourek, Dirk Eule: Festschrift for the consecration of the restored Wäldner organ (1835) of the town and monastery church of St. Jakobus & St. Clemens in Brehna (November 8, 2015). Published by: Evangelische Kirchgemeinde, Brehna 2015, p. 18
  5. ↑ http://www.lutherweg.de/weggeschichte/sachsen-anhalt/ - accessed on December 26, 2018
  6. ↑ http://spaetgotes-fluegelaltaere.de/brehna.html - accessed on December 26, 2018

Coordinates: 51 ° 33 ′ 25.1 ″  N , 12 ° 12 ′ 48 ″  E