St. Johann Baptist (Kendenich)
Kendenich is one of the oldest parishes in the city of Hürth . His church has been dedicated to St. Consecrated to Johann Baptist .
history
Assignments
According to a document from 1159, the Johann Baptist Church in Kendenich was incorporated into the St. Ursula Monastery in Cologne .
The parish Kendenich were under by the year 1304, the parishes Brühl , Kierberg and Vochem . The right of collation was incumbent on the abbess of the Ursula monastery and continued to apply to the three Brühl parishes after they became independent. The parish Johann Baptist still belonged in early times district "Kranzmaar" and until 1953 the parish Kalscheuren , the first time a small wooden church as a dependent in 1925 branch church had received.
Medieval church
Precursors
The early, medieval Kendenich ( Kentenich , Cantenich ) church of Johann Baptist is probably one of the first episcopal baptismal churches. Its foundation as an own church is related to the settlement of the first Fronhof or the first castle (between which the first church was built) of the place. For this also speaks (after Torsy) which extends into the space Brühl reaching tenth justice of the church, which still in the early modern period was.
The bond between the church and the lords of the castle at that time has been evident until very recently. The graves of the Kendenich aristocratic families can still be found today on the south-east side (towards the castle) of the church, based on the former walling of the old churchyard. Several members of the von Kempis family rest there, who have taken over the castle with Philipp von Kempis since 1821. An inscription commemorates him, who was buried there in 1876. Under a high cross there is also a coat of arms-adorned sandstone slab of the von Groote family , whose leading members were also lords of the castle and who held the office of Cologne mayor several times .
A small early Franconian half-timbered building is said to have served as the very first church building . In the first stone building, it could well be a simple hall church with a square choir , which later became a Ostapside was added. This was followed by the single-nave church of the 13th century , built in Romanesque style.
About the year 1375 Ennen reports of a sacrilege caused by a bloody act in the church. The occasion is said to have been Johann Scherfgin, former aldermen and Cologne mayor. Scherfgin, who was feuding with the city of Cologne, escaped arrest by escaping over the city wall . A troop of Cologne city soldiers chasing him suspected him to be his wife , Ida von Kentenich. The Cologne people, who probably did not find him, looted the place and the church on this occasion, and "shot a servant and a maid in the same sore," so that the church was later consecrated again by a Cologne auxiliary bishop .
Building description
The structure that followed the previous buildings of the 9th or 10th century stood on part of the castle area and was made of massive trass stone masonry . The cornices , corners and plinths, as well as some decorations, were made of cut stone . His nave was 32 Prussian feet long and 32 wide, and was joined by a choir 17 feet long and 16 feet wide. The church was misshapen and low, its nave had a flat wooden ceiling and only the choir was provided with a stone cross vault . Overall, the building had only four windows, three of them in the south wall of the nave and one in the choir. One of Brick built sacristy on the north side of the choir was probably added at a later time the building. On the west side the church tower, which was still in use and made of brick masonry, rose. Its measurements were 18 feet long and 16 feet wide, and its height was 80 feet, of which 50 feet was accounted for by the masonry. In this an iron plaque is said to have shown the year of construction 1682. The name of the builder has not been passed down.
The church to be entered through the tower had another entrance on its south side, the "Brühler Kirchenthüre". In ancient times, the Brühl parish walkers used this to enter the church when they followed the “Brühler Kirchweg” via Vochem and Fischenich Kendenich.
Next to the high altar dedicated to St. Johann Baptist, there were two more. The south altar was dedicated to St. Consecrated to Anthony, and the northern to the Virgin Mary .
To further known decoration of the church was in 1682 a gift from Kalscheuren: The parish received from the Half Family of Kalscheurer court a relief of the head of St. John the Baptist on a copper bowl ( Johannis bowl ). It is not known whether the present, which is one of the historical art treasures, was presented for the inauguration of the tower. At Rosellen the names of the halves are also given, he mentions "Leonaed Foeß" and "Mechtildis vom Bergh".
The building obligation for the nave and the choir was incumbent on the St. Ursula Abbey in Cologne until 1802, while the civil parish was responsible for the tower and the wall of the churchyard. The church was demolished in 1859 except for its tower. It was replaced in 1860 by the architect Heinrich Nagelschmidt (1822–1902), who designed it as a building in neo-Romanesque style.
Neo-Romanesque church building
Decision for a new building
In the last quarter of the 19th century, the parishioners thought of building a new church due to the old age of the church and the ever growing parish . Since the church factory had only limited resources, its board of directors started negotiations with the local council . In March 1858, the parties reached an amicable resolution with regard to the costs of a new church building, in which a cost estimate prepared by master builder Nagelschmidt was approved. The costs listed therein amounted to 6,400 thalers. Of this, 5,400 thalers were to be raised by the church treasury for the new building of the nave. This should be made possible in the form of a loan granted by the community if the church, which is obliged to build, would pay off an annual payment of 100 thalers. The manor's owner, Philipp von Kempis, donated another 1000 thalers as a gift. The building land on his property required for the expansion was given to the church with reservations . He demanded that from now on he and his relatives should have a seat in the choir and altar area of the church that they could only use. The church leadership accepted this demand on the condition that this only applies as long as the donor family belongs to the Catholic Church.
The construction was carried out by master mason Simon Weiden from Frechen . After the desecration of the church and its clearing, the demolition of the old nave began in 1859.
A provisional altar set up under the tower made it possible to read a mass every day during the construction period . The foundation stone for the new building was laid as early as May 1859 . In April 1860 the work had progressed so far that a first mass could be celebrated in front of the reconstructed Our Lady altar . On the feast day of John the Baptist on June 24, 1860, the high altar dedicated to the patron saint of the church was consecrated. In total, costs of just over 7769 thalers arose after completion, of which 721 thalers had to be deducted from the proceeds from the sale of the inventory of the old church.
Building description and equipment
The new nave was built with three aisles in neo-Romanesque style. The ships were 44 × 44 feet long and wide, of which the central nave was 20 feet wide. The choir was 27 feet long, the choir and nave were each 36 feet high. Three square pillars with arches resting on them separated the aisles on each side of the central nave.
At the end of the 19th century, a description of the new Kendenich church said: “What it lacks in architectural subtleties, it makes up for with an impressive interior, its decoration is one of the most artistic and beautiful, as it hardly occurs in other country churches. "
This equipment included, for example: A high altar made in Romanesque style, with an altar table made of black marble , the wooden top of which was a finely carved, polychromed work of art created by the Cologne sculptor Richard Moest . The altar could be purchased due to a donation of 3,000 thalers in 1884. The side aisles were each equipped with an altar. These were the St. Consecrated to Joseph and the Altar of Our Lady. Remnants of the latter can be found in the form of two preserved panels as decorative, valuable sights on the pillars of the entrance area on the northwest side of the church. In 1875 the church received an organ . It was made by the organ builder Kalscheuer from Nörvenich , at a price of 1162 thalers. Mr. “von Kempis” subsidized the purchase with 262 thalers.
The old tower hid a ringing with three bells , whose harmonious sound was disturbed in the 1870s. Two defective bells were replaced by the Andreas Rodenkirchen bell foundry in Deutz . Today in the church tower of St. Johann hangs a four-part bronze bell with three bells from the Otto bell foundry in Bremen-Hemelingen (bells 1 to 3) and a bell by Martin Legros from 1773 (bell 4). The bells ring out: e '- g' - a '- e' '- their diameters are:
1223 mm, 1028 mm, 916 mm, 750 mm. The bells have the following weights: 1100 kg, 650 kg, 460 kg, 260 kg.
Parish office, pastorate, churchyard
From the pastorate to the pastorate
Kendenich did not have his own rectory for centuries . In the beginning, the pastor traveled from Cologne, since he mostly worked there as "Vicrius" at St. Ursula. Later, after the village community had grown, he stayed with the local farmers. It was not until the end of the 17th century that the situation changed at the urging of the clergy. In 1682, the then responsible Christianity Bergheim managed to initiate negotiations under threat of suspension of the pastor's office. Secular and spiritual authorities discussed a proportionate assumption of the costs for the establishment of a local pastor's residence, but did not come to an agreement. On a small plot of land across from the church, Christian Kerpen, a licentiate in theology , vicar to St. Ursula in Cologne and from 1697 to 1733 pastor in Kendenich, built a first modest parsonage in Kendenich, some of which was his own.
In 1816 the church council acquired the so-called “church garden” from the “Frentzenhof” of Baron Franz Ludwig von Beissel, an area of ¼ and 18 rods in size adjacent to the rectory . The baron attached the condition to the sale for the price of 100 thalers that this area should only be used as the garden of the pastorate and not be used for any other purpose.
In 1827 a piece of land of four acres was used to maintain the parish . A clergyman from Kendenich earned a steady income by leasing the land. It brought him 8 Reichstaler , from foundations he received a further 14 Reichstaler, 24 Sgr. The property with the pastorate building on today's Ortshofstrasse, opposite the church, was surrounded by a massive wall by the civil parish in 1863 and has been preserved in this form.
Crypt and churchyard
In addition to the pastors, the lords of the castle and their relatives were also buried in the church until the end of the 18th century. The entrance to the grave vault of the nobility was in front of the communion bench , next to the Antonius altar. Records in the Book of the Dead contained (in Rosellen's time) data such as: † 1685, Henricus Stille von Köln; † 1714, Maria, Baroness zu Reusschenberg; † 1760, Franciscus Carolus, Freiherr zu Reuschenberg and Lord in Immendorf and Kendenich.
The church was surrounded by the ancient burial ground of the villagers. A small lawn with gravestones from the 17th century between the tower and the sacristy on the west side of the church commemorates this.
Church views after the extension in 1956
description
In 1956, the Cologne architect Karl Band fundamentally expanded the church, with little of the substance of the previous building from 1860 being taken over. The tower and apse of the former church were preserved.
Main entrance, north side
Nave
Organ gallery, upper west side
The preserved east apse
The new nave was built in a north-south orientation, probably because of the sloping terrain towards the castle. Its roof construction is slightly sloping on the elongated building and widens on the north-east side above the apse, which protrudes at ground level . The same procedure was used on the south-west side, where the roof extends over the protruding sacristy.
Access to the single-nave church is made possible by an entrance hall in front of the building on the north side. Karl Band provided these with three entrances framed by round arches, thus creating a successful transition between the tower from the old days and the nave built in the typical architecture of the 1950s . The interior , which is mainly designed with white walls, is spanned by a wood-paneled ceiling, which extends from its miter angle in the ridge , seamlessly on both sides, over all areas of the interior down to the level of the ground floor. The room receives daylight through partly colored glazed windows in the long walls that are inserted into concrete ribs. The west wall with the organ gallery is designed in brickwork next to and below this between the compartments of the floors . The floor of the church interior is covered with dark stone tiles , over which a carpeted central aisle leads between broad rows of benches to the slightly raised altar area.
Altar cross
Valuable measuring cup
Silver-studded tabernacle made of ebony
Baptismal font
Equipment items (selection)
- The piece of equipment in the Kendenich Church, which art experts consider valuable, is a Gothic forked cross . The Y-shaped representation of the crucifix is also known as the plague cross due to a special form of the depiction of the crucified . As in the case of the Kendenich Cross from the first half of the 14th century, the unknown artist chose the form of a corpus Christi afflicted with plague marks for his work . Rosellen and Paul Clemen already mentioned and compared this cross with the forked cross from the same era in the Maria im Kapitol church in Cologne . The wooden sculpture , which has been painted over several times over the years, was given a new color and preserved in the 1960s at the instigation of the Bonn State Museum by the Brühl restorer Gangolf Minn.
- Two wooden panels of a Marian altar from the 16th century, formerly placed in the right entrance hall;
They are located in the protected showcase next to the east choir (as of 2015). - A baroque monstrance made of brass silver (1747), made by “Apolonia Tapperts” in Cologne
- Johannis bowl from 1682
- A silver-clad tabernacle made of ebony , created by the artist Jakob Riffeler from Köttingem
- A wooden sculpture "Queen of Mary" from the first half of the 19th century
- 17th century tombstones in front of the western outer wall of the church
Parish Association
St. Johann Baptist in Kendenich has been one of four parishes in the Hürth Parish Association since the 21st century. The other three are St. Katharina in Alt-Hürth, St. Martinus in Fischenich and St. Wendelinus in Berrenrath .
literature
- Robert Wilhelm Rosellen: History of the parishes of the deanery Brühl . JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 1887
- Clemens Klug: Hürth - Art Treasures and Monuments , Hürth 1978
Individual evidence
- ↑ Clemens Klug: Hürth - Kunstschätze und Denkmäler , pp. 97, 99. Hürth 1978
- ↑ Clemens Klug, p. 99 with reference to: Jakob Torsy “On the development and history of the Cologne rural parishes”, in the annals of the historical association for the Lower Rhine, issue 160.
- ↑ a b Clemens Klug: Hürth - Kunstschätze und Denkmäler , p. 100. Hürth 1978
- ^ Robert Wilhelm Rosellen, p. 399 f, reference to: Leonard Ennen : History of the City of Cologne , Volume II, p. 739.
- ↑ a b Robert Wilhelm Rosellen, p. 399 f.
- ↑ Clemens Klug: Hürth - Kunstschätze und Denkmäler , p. 101. Hürth 1978.
- ^ Robert Wilhelm Rosellen, p. 400 f
- ^ Gerhard Reinhold: Otto bells. Family and company history of the Otto bell foundry dynasty . Self-published, Essen 2019, ISBN 978-3-00-063109-2 , p. 588, here in particular pp. 345, 555 .
- ↑ Gerhard Reinhold: Church bells - Christian world cultural heritage, illustrated using the example of the bell founder Otto, Hemelingen / Bremen . Nijmegen / NL 2019, p. 556, here in particular 310, 510 , urn : nbn: nl: ui: 22-2066 / 204770 (dissertation at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen).
- ^ Robert Wilhelm Rosellen, p. 400 ff
- ^ Robert Wilhelm Rosellen, p. 409 f
- ^ Robert Wilhelm Rosellen, p. 403.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 51 ′ 51.3 " N , 6 ° 53 ′ 14" E