St. John the Baptist (Niederberg)

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

St. John the Baptist

history

The parish's plans to build a new church in place of the old church in need of repair were made possible thanks to the testamentary legacy of Anton Guffanti from Cologne , owner of Niederberg Castle and the Gertrudenhof. In his will in 1904, the wealthy pensioner provided the parish with 50,000 marks for the construction of a new church and new church furnishings. Because the old church of St. John Beheading had been placed under a preservation order and could not be demolished, the parish acquired two plots of land near the old church in 1909, on which the new parish church of St. Johann Baptist was built in 1910/11 has been. In 1912 the cemetery was laid out right next to the new church.

After the Second World War , war damage was makeshiftly removed. Extensive repairs and renovations were carried out in the decades between 1964 and 1996.

Building description

The brick church with its set four-sided stepped west tower, which is flanked by a low polygonal stair tower , was built according to the plans of the cathedral builder Bernhard Hertel in the years 1910–1913 in the neo-Gothic style opposite the old church. On the upper floor of the three-tiered tower with an eight-sided hood there are three ogival triple windows on each side . A stone crucifixion group is attached to the west facade of the tower above the entrance . The church has a groin vaulted nave , a short transept and a rib vaulted 5/8 choir. The ogival windows on the nave and choir with neo-Gothic tracery are equipped with modern stained glass windows. The ribs of the whitewashed groin vault are decorated with green leaf tendrils. On the side wall of the choir there is an enlarged replica of a 20 × 20 cm handkerchief that was formerly in the pastor's possession, the upper part of a bag for the corporal , with a depiction of the birth of Jesus from the Stefan Lochner School , which was painted on in 1931 Parish had sold in 1926 with the approval of the Vicariate General to the Diocesan Museum in Cologne .

Furnishing

  • The high altar is decorated with an altarpiece acquired in 2000, a representation of St. John the Baptist.
  • After the pulpit had been removed, the five carved panels of the pulpit were restored and placed in the anteroom of the church in 1998.
  • The church also has a Johannis bowl, an older, slightly damaged wooden bowl with a replica of the head of John the Baptist, which was exhibited in the old church in earlier times on the day of the parish patronage , on the feast of John's beheading.

organ

Kalscheuer organ

The organ comes from the Geschwister Kalscheuer workshop in nearby Nörvenich . The largely original work from 1850 was restored in the spring of 2016 by the organ building company Hugo Mayer Orgelbau for around € 50,000 and put back into service in May at a festive mass in the presence of master organ builder Stephan Mayer.

literature

Web links

Commons : St. John the Baptist (Niederberg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter Simons: Niederberg. History of his domdechantic rule and the castle pp. 26–38
  2. ^ Frank Bartsch, Dieter Hoffsümmer, Hanna Stommel: Monuments in Erftstadt. 1998-2000. Chapter 15.3 Niederberg New Church of St. John the Baptist
  3. ^ Parish archives Erftstadt-Friesheim: Parish chronicle Niederberg
  4. ^ Frank Bartsch, Dieter Hoffsümmer, Hanna Stommel: Monuments in Erftstadt. 1998-2000. Chapter 15.3 Niederberg New Church of St. John the Baptist

Coordinates: 50 ° 44 ′ 2.2 "  N , 6 ° 46 ′ 5.5"  E