St. John the Baptist (Niederreifenberg)
The Church of St. John the Baptist is the Catholic Church in Niederreifenberg . The old church was built in 1887, the new church in 1979. Both the old church and the separate bell tower are under monument protection .
Church history
Niederreifenberg originally belonged to the parish of Schloßborn . Arnoldshain has been parishioners since the 13th century . With the establishment of the parish of Reifenberg (in what is now Oberreifenberg ), Niederreifenberg also belonged to it. On January 1, 1901, it was separated as a parish vicariate. With effect from April 1, 1953 Niederreifenberg was raised to its own parish. Since 2014 Niederreifenberg has been a parish of the parish St. Franziskus and Klara - Usingerland in the Hochtaunus district of the Listum Limburg , which emerged from the merging of the pastoral rooms Neu-Anspach, Usingen and Schmitten into a new type of parish . Parish church is now because of the central location St. Marien in Neu-Anspach.
Old church
With the growth of the population at the end of the 19th century, the desire for Niederreifenberg's own church grew. The way to the Oberreifenberg church was steep and difficult, especially in winter. Above all, the building of the church was opposed to the poverty of the Taunus community. It was only after a long time that the money for the church was raised. The basis was a legacy of 10,000 marks from Elisabeth Ungeheuer, who died on May 3, 1893, and a donation of 2956.13 marks from Mr. Brück. In 1895 the Limburg diocese approved the construction of a chapel . The lack of money meant that the bells were initially not rung. The chapel was built in 1897 by the Limburg architect Fachinger from local Taunus slate . Master baker FJ Ungeheuer (the brother of the founder) had made the property available free of charge. The foundation stone was laid on June 27, 1897, and the first mass was read on July 7, 1898.
In 1898 Georg Pfeifer in Kaiserslautern cast a bell with the strike note e 2 , which was consecrated on July 6th. This bell, consecrated to St. Joseph, was donated by Mayor Ungeheuer and still exists today. A second bell, which was dedicated to Mary on the same day, was delivered on June 27, 1917 and was melted down.
From 1906 the chapel was expanded and converted into a church at a cost of 15,000 marks. Fachinger was the architect again. It now had an organ with 8 registers. This was bought for 300 marks from the Catholic Church in Griesheim . The first mass in the new church was celebrated on June 24, 1908.
In 1939 the church received a new organ. This came from the company Christian Gerhard & Sons in Boppard. It was first recorded on June 24, 1939.
In 1948 the church was rebuilt and consecrated on November 24, 1948.
After the construction of the new church, the diocese wanted to tear down the old church. After the state curator Gottfried Kiesow objected to this, the building was sold. The necessary renovation and conversion for a subsequent use was funded by the Hochtaunuskreis with 25,000 marks and the State Office for Monument Preservation with a total of 100,000 marks. The church has been used as an art studio since 1990.
Bell tower
After the congregation had obtained further funding, bells were to be added to the church tower in 1925. However, it turned out that the statics were not sufficient for this. A separate bell tower was therefore built about 150 meters away on the Johannisstein, which is still in use today. Three chilled cast iron bells made by Ulrich & Weule from Bockenem with the striking tones f 1 , as 1 and b 1 ( Te Deum motif) were hung in it.
In 1990, a programmed control device for operating an electrical bell system was set up on the bell tower as a diploma thesis by two students of communications engineering at the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences . This made it possible to trigger the ringing by telephone through a specially installed telephone line.
New Church
The foundation stone of the new church at Zassenrainweg 6 was laid on June 14, 1979. It was planned by the local architect Engelhardt Hofmann and consecrated by the Limburg auxiliary bishop Gerhard Pieschl on November 30, 1980. The new building of the church became necessary because it turned out with the existing church in the center of the village that the necessary redesign of the sanctuary - according to the liturgical provisions of the Second Vatican Council - was not possible. The statics of the building did not allow a redesign. As the central focal point, the worship room forms the heart of the facility. The sacrament chapel, which is only separated by a wall, is attached to the worship room. It offers space for small groups. The windows were designed by Johannes Hewel, one of the leading German glass painters of the last century.
The community center located in the same building is designed as the “house of the community”. The residential building in connection with the church square is also integrated into the ensemble.
Since the iron bells were damaged by corrosion, three new bronze bells with the chimes d 1 , f 1 and a 1 ( minor chord) were cast by the Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock foundry on December 5, 1997 and consecrated on June 7, 1998. The chimes are coordinated with the bells of the neighboring church of St. Georg in Oberreifenberg.
| No. | Surname | Casting year | Foundry, casting location | diameter | Mass (approx.) | Chime | inscription |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. John the Baptist | 1997 | Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock , Gescher | 1,313 mm | 1,262 kg | d ′ | “Prepare the way of the Lord! Makes its streets even! Every valley should be filled and every mountain and hill removed. " |
| 2 | Maria | 1997 | Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock, Gescher | 1,127 mm | 820 kg | f ′ | "Holy Mary, mother of our brother and Lord Magnificat- My soul makes the Lord great and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." |
| 3 | Hildegard | 1997 | Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock, Gescher | 912 mm | 447 kg | a ′ | "Saint Hildegard Scivias Domini - Know the ways of the Lord" |
| 4th | Joseph | 1898 | Georg Pfeifer , Kaiserslautern | 620 mm | 139 kg | e ″ | "Sancte Joseph, ora pro nobis" |
They were rung for the first time on Midsummer Day, June 24, 1998. The total cost was 150,000 DM , of which the parish has to pay 82,000 marks for the new bells and the 32,000 marks for the associated bell devices, controls and assembly. For this purpose, 80,000 marks were collected in donations. The largest of the old bell stands in front of the church today.
Further buildings of the parish
In 1935 the rectory was built next to the church. In 1951 the sister house was opened for 5 Thuins. After the dissolution of the convent, the building became the property of the civil parish. The nurses' house has been used as Noah's Ark hospice since September 1st, 2003 .
The Catholic kindergarten is located below the new church.
Pastor
Parish vicars (from 1953: pastors) were
- Peter Kilburg (1901–1906)
- Franz Klohmann (1906–1914)
- Anton Kaiser (1914–1917)
- Martin Quirin (1917-1921)
- Johannes Zoth (1921–1928)
- Theodor Hartgen (1928–1966), since 1953: pastor
- Josef Kögel (1966–1987), last pastor who was only responsible for Niederreifenberg
- Albert Dexelmann (1978–1991)
- Heinz Walter Barthenheier (1992–2012)
- Hanns-Jörg Meiller (2000–2012)
literature
- Handbook of the Diocese of Limburg, as of January 1, 1958, page 198 (Oberreifenberg church), 197 (Niederreifenberg church)
- Sandra Kress, Dieter Griesbach-Maisant, State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse (ed.): Monument topography "Hochtaunuskreis". Konrad Theiss Verlag, Darmstadt 2013, ISBN 978-3-8062-2905-9 , pp. 520-565.
- Catholic Community Center St. John the Baptist - commemorative publication on the occasion of the inauguration on the 1st of Advent 1980
Web links
- State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (Ed.): Former. cath. Church of St. John the Baptist In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hessen
- State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hessen (Hrsg.): Bell house with crucifix In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hessen
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Bell archive of the Hessischer Rundfunk: Niederreifenberg ( Memento of the original from March 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Hubert Foersch: Limburg Bell Book . Verlag des Bischöflichen Ordinariats Limburg, Limburg 1997, DNB 957846738 .
- ↑ Grants for "private preservationists"; in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, October 29, 1988, p. 51
- ↑ A monstrous claw for William Forsythe / Former church as a theater workshop: scenery and painting courses in a building that is "worth preserving"; in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, October 17, 1990, p. 48
- ↑ An electronics sexton - microprocessors ring church bells; in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, September 8, 1990, p. 53
- ^ "Kleines Schmittener Stadtgeläut" / Bells consecration of the Catholic parish of St. Johannes in Niederreifenberg; in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, June 9, 1998, No. 131, p. 58
- ↑ Anna-Sophie Schindler: "Working sustainably"; 29th August 2014
- ^ Corina Appel: parish says goodbye to its pastor; in: Taunus-Zeitung from January 31, 2012, online
Map with all coordinates: