St. Johannes Baptist (Jena)

Aerial view of St. John the Baptist

The church of St. Johannes Baptist was built in the 9th century in front of the city of Jena as an original parish .

The church was originally a Romanesque hall church with a rectangular choir and a semicircular apse. The ribbed vault in the choir with the head of Christ as the keystone was the result of a first early renovation, the tower was put on around 900 years later.

history

Look into the church

In 937 the original parish was first moved to the Lobdeburg and later to the church of Lobeda . Since Jena built its own church in its center with the Michaeliskirche and the Johanniskirche came to lie outside the city walls with the city development, it received the function of a funeral chapel. The Johannisfriedhof was built around it, the remains of which are now north of the church and the B7 and are worth seeing as a historical park cemetery.

In the course of the Reformation, Jena became completely Protestant. When Napoléon Bonaparte won the battle of Jena and Auerstedt , he awarded the burial church to a small group of Jena Catholics. The petitioner at the time was the French Gabriel Henry , who worked in Jena as a freelance teacher and pastor. After the Wars of Liberation, Gabriel Henry was arrested and deported to Bavaria. The Jena Catholic community was dissolved in 1813 and has been administered from Weimar since 1817. It was only re-established in 1905. The Johanneskirche has been the only Roman Catholic church in Jena since Napoléon's campaign. The Catholic community in Jena with its villages now has around 6,700 members, making it one of the largest diaspora communities in Eastern Germany. Since January 1, 2017, the parish of Camburg, Bad Sulza and Apolda have also been part of the newly founded parish of St. Johannes Baptist, which is administered from Jena. The parish belongs to the diocese of Erfurt .

The first expansion of the church took place in the 13th century north of the choir as a sacristy extension. In 1903 the church was expanded and vested: a transept and a neo-Gothic choir were added in the west and the old choir in the east was converted into an entrance. In addition, a tower was added to the old choir in the east.

During the air raids on Jena there was bomb damage to the church roof and the windows, which were the first to be removed. In addition, the bells had to be handed over to the Wehrmacht, which have now been replaced. Since the number of Catholics in the community area rose to 16,000 due to the influx of refugees, the community applied to the GDR government to expand its church. The permit was granted in 1957 and the renovation work continued until 1960. The church was easted again by restoring the original choir and adding a gallery to the west choir and parts of the transept. An organ was built into the north transept. In addition, today's large windows were drawn in on the south side. In front of the church, a staircase to Wagnergasse was built from the churchyard .

After the Second Vatican Council , the altar was placed in the middle of the sanctuary, the large wooden cross was replaced by the smaller metal cross that is still present today. The statue of Mary came on a pedestal on the north wall. Today's tabernacle was built in its old place . The altar consecration took place on October 7, 1961. The present day establishment of the Marienkapelle was carried out during the renovation in 1987. During the last renovation after the turn of the millennium, the windows were replaced, half of the confessionals were removed and the old confessional chapel was restored. In addition, the statue of the Mother of God was moved from the north side to the south side and the baptismal font moved more into the center of the chancel.

Organs

St. Johannes Baptist has an eventful organ history .

From 1822 to 1910 there was an organ in the church by the organ builder Johann Christian Adam Gerhard from Dornburg , which he delivered for 320 Thaler.

From 1910 to 1957 there was a two-part instrument in the back of the church, which was built by the organ builder Johannes Klais (Bonn). The gaming table was near the altar. The organ was played via an electric action .

In 1959 the organ from the Jehmlich Orgelbau company (Dresden) began its service in the church. During the church renovation in 2002, however, a problem with dry rot came to light, as the church had had problems with penetrating water for many years and the roof could not be properly renovated. The organ was also affected and had to be expanded. Since the restoration would have been very expensive, it was decided to build a new building.

While the Jehmlich organ had to be expanded, the services were accompanied on a digital church organ as a temporary solution .

the cutter organ of the Church of St. John Baptist

The order for the new building was awarded to the organ building workshop Bernhard Kutter - Orgelbau und Audiotechnik . The cost of the new organ of € 320,000 was mainly raised through donations collected by the St. Johann Baptist Organ Builders Association. Work on installing the new organ in the church began at the end of August 2008. After delivery problems, the organ consecration, which was originally planned for November 29, 2008, had to be postponed to January 10, 2009. In 2012 another register (pan flute 8 ') was retrofitted, the pipes of which are made of glass. Some design elements in the organ's prospectus are also made of glass, which creates a reference to Jena as the city of optics.

The roughly 1991  pipes are distributed over 37  registers (including 13  extensions from three rows of pipes and 2 transmissions ) grouped in four works (three manuals and pedal ).

particularities

The Jena Zeiss works, which were located very close to the center at the time, were printed on the GDR's 10 mark note from 1964. At the left edge of the picture the church tower of St. Johannes Baptist was also included. Thus the church was the only one that printed the GDR on its banknotes.

literature

• Catholic parish of St. Johannes Baptist: On the road with Christ through time. Festschrift for the 100th anniversary of the re-establishment of the parish of St. Johannes Baptist Jena . , Jena 2005.
• Herbert Koch : The St. Johanniskirche zu Jena (= monuments of the city of Jena and its surroundings. Issue 1). Vopelius: Jena 1936.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information on the Gerhard, Klais and Jehmlich organs from the organ consecration . Festschrift for the completion of the new organ in the Catholic parish church of St. Johann Baptist Jena. January 10, 2009

Web links

Commons : St. John Baptist  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Catholic parish “St. Johannes Baptist ”in Jena

Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 49 ″  N , 11 ° 34 ′ 57 ″  E