St. John Baptist (Legnica)

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View from the Ring to the Johanneskirche
Detail of the facade

The Church of St. Johannes Baptist (also Johanniskirche or Johanneskirche , Polish Kościół św. Jana Chrzciciela ) is a Roman Catholic Baroque church building in the Lower Silesian town of Legnica (German Liegnitz).

location

The Church of St. John the Baptist is located in the old town of Liegnitz, northwest of the Ring at ul. Ojców zbigniewa i michała .

history

A first church building stood in the same place as early as the 11th century. Around 1284 the church and the adjoining monastery were given to the Franciscans . From 1294 the building was replaced by a Gothic church. The church was destroyed in the great city fire of 1338. Under the Liegnitz Duke Wenceslas I , the church was rebuilt and expanded from 1341 onwards. During the Reformation , the church came into the possession of the Protestants from 1522. From 1566 it belonged to the Calvinists . From 1629 the church belonged to the Lutherans again .

The Piast mausoleum was built between 1677 and 1679 as a foundation by the Duchess Luise von Anhalt-Dessau . The figures, including the last Duke Georg Wilhelm († 1675), were created by Mathias Rauchmiller . In 1695 the church was given to the Jesuits .

Today's construction

Drawing of the church around 1750 by FB Werner
Interior with a view of the main altar

A first plan to rebuild the church was made around 1700, but it was rejected. First of all, the Jesuit College was built between 1700 and 1706 to the west under the Wroclaw master builder Johann Georg Knoll in collaboration with Martin Frantz . Between 1714 and 1720 the church was rebuilt in the baroque style. The church of St. Nicholas in Prague served as a model . The construction was probably carried out according to designs by Christoph Dientzenhofer and his son Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer .

In 1744 part of the vault collapsed. After the Jesuit order in Liegnitz was dissolved in 1773, the church fell into disrepair. As a result, the roof and the vault collapsed completely in 1793. Between 1801 and 1824 the church was rebuilt and then used as the Catholic parish church of the city of Liegnitz.

In 1947 the church and the adjoining monastery were taken over by the Franciscans. In the 1960s the church was extensively renovated. Since 1992 the church has belonged to the newly established Legnica diocese .

architecture

The church has a rectangular plan with a semicircular presbytery to the north. The main facade is dominated by two towers.

literature

  • Hans Lutsch, Josef von Golitschek: Silesia art monuments - illustrated book . Adam Kraft Verlag, Mannheim 1979.
  • Wolfgang Scholz: St. Johanneskirche zu Liegnitz - history of church life. (= Contributions to the history of Liegnitz. Published by the Historical Society Liegnitz eV, Volume 30.) Annual edition 2000, Henske-Neumann Verlagsges.bR, Hofheim / Taunus 2000, ISBN 978-3-9806-6401-1 .

Web links

Commons : Church of St. John Baptist (Legnica)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jan Harasimowicz (ed.): Enthusiasm and freedom thinking: Contributions to the art and cultural history of Silesia in the early modern period . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar, 2010. ISBN 9783412206161 , p. 359
  2. ^ Johanneskirche - Liegnitz.pl (Polish)
  3. ↑ a b Monuments in Legnica (Polish)

Coordinates: 51 ° 12 ′ 32.6 ″  N , 16 ° 9 ′ 31.5 ″  E