St. John the Baptist (Kronach)
The Roman Catholic parish church of St. John the Baptist is on the south side of Melchior-Otto-Platz in the Upper Franconian town of Kronach . The building, which partly dates back to the 14th century and is now a listed building, is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist .
history
The existence of a parish in Kronach is documented as early as the second half of the 12th century. This also included a church building, which was presumably located on the site of today's St. John's Church and the main building of which collapsed at the beginning of the 15th century. Today's parish church was essentially built in three construction phases. The choir area and the lower part of the tower , which in 1345 reached a height of four storeys, were built in the early 14th century . After the collapse of the previous building in 1404, the three-aisled nave was built between 1406 and 1408 and the construction of the choir-like west building began around 1510/20. Its completion, however, dragged on until 1630, as the construction of the Kronach Johanneskirche - as with many other churches built at this time - was financed by trading in letters of indulgence . The Reformation brought this trade to a standstill, which meant that the necessary funds were lacking. Between 1551 and 1558, master builder Matthes Schmidt added two more floors and a pointed helmet to the church tower. In 1770 a sacristy building was added to the south side of the choir .
The interior of St. John's has been changed several times over the years. Originally kept in the Gothic style according to the construction time of the church , the interior was given a baroque interior in the 1650s and 1660s . Around 1890, these baroque elements were largely removed and replaced by furnishings corresponding to the neo-Gothic style . During the renovation work carried out at the end of the 1950s, these objects , which were disparagingly referred to as carpenter's Gothic, were removed in favor of regotising the church. Some of the neo-Gothic furnishings, however, returned to the church in the course of a renovation of the building that was carried out at the end of the 1970s, with partial redesign of the interior.
In earlier times there was a cemetery around the church, as indicated by numerous inscriptions in the church wall and the grave slab of Amalia Maria von Wolfsthal († 1688) on the east side of the choir. The Anna Chapel, built in the immediate vicinity of the Johanneskirche in the 16th century, served as a cemetery chapel and ossuary for the cemetery until it was replaced in the 19th century by a new cemetery outside the old town of Kronach due to a lack of space. The church itself also served as a burial place for the clergy and the nobility, as evidenced by the finds made during renovation work in 1957.
From the end of August 2018 to the beginning of June 2019, renovation work was carried out on the west facade and on the roof of the nave. Investigations on the sandstone masonry revealed damage that could affect the statics of the building. In the course of renovation measures to stabilize the roof structure in 1976/77, damage to the masonry was only cosmetically removed. The renovation was originally supposed to be completed in November 2018. However, when the eaves were opened, it was found that the work on the roof of the building in the 1970s was not carried out with the necessary care, which led to further damage to the roof structure. Due to the necessary removal of this damage, the renovation of the church building was only completed in June 2019.
architecture
The parish church of St. John the Baptist is a hall church built mainly in the Gothic style from sandstone blocks with a three-aisled nave . To the east of the nave is the retracted choir with a five-eighth end , on the north side of which there is the 35 meter high church tower with a pointed helmet and on the south side a sacristy building . In the west, the nave is adjoined by the choir-like west building. On its north side is the elaborately crafted Johannes portal, which was built by Hans Hartling in 1498 and which was probably added to the western building, which began a good decade later. The ogival portal, flanked by two pinnacles , is surrounded by sweeping keel arches decorated with crabs . On a console in the pediment stands the figure of St. John , which is, however, a replica. The original sandstone figure is on loan from the Catholic Church Foundation in the Franconian Gallery at Rosenberg Fortress . Further, simpler portals lead into the interior on the west side of the west building and on the north and south sides of the nave.
Bells
| No. | Surname | Casting year, casting time | Foundry, casting location | Mass (kg) | Chime |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Mary | 1651 | Andreas Limmer, Kronach | ≈2280 | h 0 |
| 2 | St. Michael | 1652 | Andreas Limmer, Kronach | ≈1100 | e 1 |
| 3 | St. Laurence | 1651 | Andreas Limmer, Kronach | ≈1100 | a 1 |
| 4th | Measuring bell | 1300-1400 | unknown | ≈115 | f sharp 2 |
| 5 | St. Johannes dT | 1789 | I. Keller, Bamberg | ≈53 | a 2 |
Mount of Olives
On the north side of the nave, in a niche to the left of the Johannes portal, there was originally a late medieval chapel-like vault with a representation of the Mount of Olives scene created by the Bamberg court sculptor Johann Nikolaus Resch in 1714 . In 1864 the Mount of Olives was removed from there and moved about 20 meters to its current location directly on the city wall on the west side of Melchior-Otto-Platz. The two statues on the sides of the building, Christ fallen under the cross and Our Lady of Sorrows , did not belong to the Mount of Olives from the beginning; they originally flanked the entrance to the churchyard that used to surround St. John.
swell
- Information boards of the Kronach Lions Club on the church and Mount of Olives
- City parish church of St. John the Baptist. Catholic Parish of St. John, accessed on January 10, 2013 .
- Carolin Polter: Long-cherished wish comes true. Neue Presse Coburg , August 3, 2012, accessed on January 16, 2013 .
- Ludwig Hertel: History of Kronach in street names - A guide through the 1000-year-old Franconian town . 3rd revised and expanded edition. Kronach 2015.
Individual evidence
- ^ Heike Schülein: Damage to the parish church . In: New Press Coburg . September 20, 2018, p. 16 .
- ↑ Heike Schülein: The masonry shows cracks. In: inFranken.de. September 20, 2018, accessed November 3, 2018 .
- ↑ Heike Schülein: Bad surprise in the house of God . In: New Press Coburg . October 26, 2018, p. 11 .
- ↑ Heike Schülein: Old church in new splendor. In: New Press Coburg. June 14, 2019, accessed June 14, 2019 .
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 14 ′ 24.5 ″ N , 11 ° 19 ′ 25.7 ″ E