St. John's beheading (Niederberg)

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St. John's beheading nave

The former Roman Catholic parish church of St. Johannes Beheading is a listed church building in Niederberg , a district of Erftstadt in the Rhein-Erft district .

history

Choir and aisle with entrance

A small early Romanesque hall church from the 11th century with a retracted square choir was found during restoration work. Large parts of the walls of the early Romanesque hall building have been preserved in today's nave . In the case of structural changes in the 14th / 15th In the 18th century, the nave with small round arched windows was extended, a south aisle with pointed arcades and a choir with a polygonal end, whose pointed windows were equipped with Gothic tracery . The choir was vaulted in its present form at the beginning of the 16th century. The church in Niederberg is mentioned for the first time in 1220 in a document from the Archbishop of Cologne, Engelbert , and appears for the first time in 1308 as a parish church as "Berge prope Vrysheim" in the Liber valoris . It was incorporated into the Cologne cathedral deanship until the secularization and the cathedral dean was pastor in Niederberg, but was represented by a priest. For financial reasons, necessary restoration work was not necessary in the 19th century. The generous donation of Anton Guffanti from Cologne enabled the construction of the new church of St. John the Baptist in 1910 . After the steeple of the old church was torn down in 1923 and stones that had broken out of the walls were sold, the building's decay could no longer be stopped. After the Second World War , only the choir, parts of the outer walls, two pillars and an arcade remained. A restoration of the church, which was already a listed building when the new church was built, and which has since prevented its total demolition, began in 1953 after the monument authorities had recognized the value of the old church. The restoration work continued in 1970 and 1990. The outer walls, arcades of the aisle and the roof were added. The restoration of the exposed paintings in the choir, which began in 1953, was also completed.

Building description

The Church of St. John Beheading is located in the former cemetery. Outside, the walls of the small plastered two-aisled church are painted in color , a sill cornice runs over the buttresses of the choir , the Gothic window openings are brightly raised. The entrance is at the eastern end of the aisle. The interior consists of a nave with a restored wooden ceiling, a side aisle and a choir, on the north side of which there is a late Gothic tabernacle . The painting above the sacrament house depicts the birth of Jesus and the adoration of the kings .

  • Sacrament House

  • Birth of Jesus and adoration of the kings

  • Christ as judge

  • John as intercessor

The apse was painted after the rib vaulting of the choir around 1530/40. The vault paintings in the tradition of the Cologne School of Painting represent the Last Judgment : Christ with sword and lily is enthroned on the rainbow, next to him Mary and John as intercessors. Angels with trumpets call for judgment. Under the rainbow the dead rise from the graves, the good are led to Mary by angels, the bad fall into hell. The painting on the south wall, a representation of the beheading of John the Baptist, the parish priest, was partially destroyed by a later installation of windows. The burial place of Metternich zu Niederberg was in the choir . The Metternich shell coat of arms can still be seen on the damaged grave slab .

Todays use

Church services are occasionally still held in the church, but it is also used for non-church events such as concerts and readings.

monument

The church was entered under no. 018 on August 12, 1982 in the list of monuments of the city of Erftstadt. See the list of architectural monuments in Niederberg (Erftstadt) .

literature

  • Peter Simons : Niederberg. History of his Domdechantischen rule and the castle . Euskirchen 1934.
  • Frank Kretschmar: Churches and places of worship in the Rhein-Erft district . Cologne 2005. ISBN 3-7616-1944-8

Web links

Commons : St. Johannes Beheading (Niederberg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Frank Kretschmar: Churches and places of worship in the Rhein-Erft district, pp. 82–84.
  2. ^ Peter Simons: Niederberg. History of the Domdechantischen rule and the castle, p. 26.
  3. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Oediger: The liber valoris. Bonn 1967, p. 48.
  4. ^ Peter Simons: Niederberg. History of his domdechantic rule and the castle, pp. 26–38.
  5. ↑ Building information.
  6. ^ Frank Kretschmar: Churches and places of worship in the Rhein-Erft district, p. 84.
  7. ^ Frank Bartsch, Dieter Hoffsümmer, Hanna Stommel: Monuments in Erftstadt. 1998-2000. Chapter 15.2 Niederberg Old Church of St. John Beheading.

Coordinates: 50 ° 44 ′ 3.6 ″  N , 6 ° 46 ′ 3 ″  E