St. Johannes (Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate)
The Minster St. Johannes (or simply Johanneskirche ) is a Gothic hall church and the most important and largest church in Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate . As a Catholic church, it belongs to the Neumarkt deanery and thus to the Eichstätt diocese . The church is dedicated to John the Baptist and celebrates its patronage on June 24th. The 72 meter high tower shapes the silhouette of the old town. On June 24, 2015, St. John was raised to the rank of minister .
Several Sunday church services from the Johanneskirche have already been broadcast on TV in the worship service series on ZDF .
description
The minster of St. John the Baptist is located in the center of the old town in the immediate vicinity of the town hall on a relatively small church square, which is bordered by the rectory, Hallertorstrasse, Grünbaumwirtsgasse and the town hall. It consists mostly of sandstone that was quarried in the vicinity and to which it owes its striking, reddish hue.
The church building is 58 meters long (from west to east) and 22 meters wide. The outer walls rise to a height of 18 meters, followed by the 16 meter high roof structure. The tower above the west portal has a square structure; only above the gallery is an octagonal tower that continues at the top. Its height is 72 meters, making it the tallest church tower in the Eichstätt diocese and the second tallest building in Neumarkt. It is only towered over by the chimney of the Pfleiderer plant . In the bell chamber there are seven bells, which sound in a double, filled minor chord (d´-f´-g´-a´-c´´-d´´-e´´).
A striking feature of the church is its consistent asymmetry , which is typical for church buildings of this time. The main nave shows a bend to the north and in the interior too, care was taken to break open geometric shapes again and again. This is particularly noticeable, for example, in the struts in the choir room.
If you walk around the outside of St. John's Church and observe the masonry, you will notice that it is composed of two distinctly different building materials: on the one hand, a very colorful, brown and fine-grained sandstone and, on the other hand, a rather light, pale pink and coarse-grained one Sandstone. The extensive destruction - or better - the reconstruction of St. John's Church after the war damage, which - like the city of Neumarkt - also St. John's Church at the end of the Second World War on February 23, on April 11, is documented in these clearly different building materials and suffered especially on April 20, 1945.
The intensely brown-colored iron sandstone documents the original mediaeval structure, but the pink castle sandstone from the Nuremberg area documents the reconstruction after the Second World War. The reason for this noticeable change in building material is that in recent times there have been no active quarries in the surrounding iron sandstone, so this building material was no longer available. It is believed that the original medieval building material was extracted from the Buchberg .
history
Instead of today's minster, there was already a previous building, which has now completely disappeared. Its remains are believed to be under the current church. Her consecration is recorded in the annals of the diocese of Eichstätt in 1190.
Laying of the foundation stone and construction
The construction of the Johanneskirche as a Catholic church, like the construction of the court church and the residence , falls under the reign of Count Palatine Johann , who resided in Neumarkt from 1410 to 1443. Exact dates about the construction time or even the builder are not known, but there are some clues:
- A dendrochronological determination of the age of the beams of the roof structure suggests that these trees were felled in the winter of 1406/1407
- Franz Seraph Seel, who headed the Johanneskirche from 1853 to 1874, also tried very hard to reconstruct the history of the church. He specifies the laying of the foundation stone for the year 1404, the completion took place in 1432.
Construction started before Johann moved into Neumarkt. However, it stands to reason that the Count Palatine, known as a master builder, also supported the construction of the Johanneskirche considerably.
The design and shape of the church give reason to assume that two builders (probably one after the other) directed the construction. One designed the western half of the church with the tower rather gracefully and soberly and was also based on the previous building. The tower in particular bears a striking resemblance to the towers of the Nuremberg Lorenz Church . The second master builder was responsible for the eastern half with the choir , which is much more elegant and splendid.
After its completion, the Johanneskirche had 12 altars , a sacrament house and an organ. It was decorated with numerous paintings, mosaic windows and sculptures.
From the 15th century until today
Just 70 years after its completion, the Johanneskirche suffered severe damage. When imperial troops besieged Neumarkt in the Landshut War of Succession in 1504, the tower in particular came under fire, as it was already integrated into the city's defense system at that time. The tower keeper lived there with his family until 1908 , who in addition to ringing the bells had to do various other activities, including looking out for house fires.
Friedrich II. , Who resided in Neumarkt from 1520 to 1540, became more and more committed to the Reformation and finally initiated the spread of the Protestant denomination in Neumarkt. The next 100 years were marked by a constant change in religious teachings, depending on whether the Count Palatine was a Lutheran or a Calvinist . During this time, of course, all Catholic art objects had to be removed from the church and destroyed.
Only when Maximilian of Bavaria received the electoral dignity in 1628 and the Upper Palatinate went to Bavaria , the Catholic doctrine prevailed again in Neumarkt, if only briefly. Neumarkt became Protestant again in 1633 when Swedish troops occupied the city during the Thirty Years' War and only withdrew in 1635. The same thing was repeated again from 1646 to 1649. After that, Neumarkt finally remained in Bavarian ownership and thus also Catholic.
Local artisans now set about designing the interior in the Baroque style. Under the Bavarian kings Ludwig I and Ludwig II , a phase of return to the old and its restoration began. Pastor Seel was responsible for ensuring that the church was completely freed from the Baroque during a renovation and that it was furnished again in the neo-Gothic style. Further changes took place in 1928 and 1934.
During the Second World War Neumarkt was badly destroyed in American air raids on April 20, 1945. The Americans moved into Neumarkt on April 22nd. The Johanneskirche also suffered considerable damage, but remained standing. It was quickly repaired and completely renovated between 1964 and 1966. The final repairs and the restoration of the current interior and exterior condition then took place in 1972 and above all from 1987 to 1995, when large parts of the exterior facades and the interior were restored.
organ
The organ was built in 1982 by the organ building company Mathis & Söhne (Näfels, Switzerland). The slider chests -instrument has 43 registers on three manuals and pedal . The playing and stop actions are mechanical.
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- Coupling: II / I, III / I, I / P, II / P, III / P
Bells
In total, the St. John's Minster has ten bells. However, three of them were shut down in the course of the purchase of bells in 1971 and are located on the level below the bell chamber. Thus, the following seven bells form today's peal:
| No. | Surname | Nominal |
Weight (kg) |
Casting year |
Foundry, casting location |
| 1 | Christ bell | d 1 | 2250 | 1560 | Christoph Glockengießer, Nuremberg |
| 2 | Marienbell | f 1 | 1381 | 1971 | Bell foundry Heidelberg |
| 3 | Fire bell | g 1 | 1400 | 1349 | unmarked |
| 4th | St. John's Bell | a 1 | 982 | 1971 | Bell foundry Heidelberg |
| 5 | Joseph Bell | c 2 | 574 | 1971 | Bell foundry Heidelberg |
| 6th | Annaglocke | d 2 | 400 | 1971 | Bell foundry Heidelberg |
| 7th | Barbara's Bell | e 2 | 260 | around 1500 | unmarked (probably Nürnberger Gießhütte) |
Münster parish of St. Johannes
The Münster parish of St. Johannes is the largest parish in the Eichstätt diocese with over 13,000 believers. Together with the Neumarkt parishes of Woffenbach and Pölling, it forms a pastoral care unit. The parish also includes the St. Pius branch church in Neumarkt-Hasenheide, the St. Jobst cemetery church, the St. Helena church in the district of the same name and the Mariahilf pilgrimage church .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Happy news from Eichstätt: "We are Münster" Neumarkter Nachrichten on January 2nd, 2015
- ↑ Information on the organ
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 16 ′ 47.6 " N , 11 ° 27 ′ 27.4" E