St. John the Baptist (Seßlach)
The base of the Roman Catholic parish church of St. John the Baptist in the Upper Franconian community of Seßlach in the Coburg district probably goes back to a choir tower church from the late 13th century. The late Gothic staggered hall church was built in the 15th century and is located in the center of the village.
history
A parish was established in Seßlach in the 9th century. As one of the earliest parishes in the wider area, it is counted among the original parishes and was under the Würzburg Monastery for several centuries . The patron saint, St. John the Baptist , as a missionary saint, refers to the parish's function as a base for the Slavic mission . A pastor, Gunther, was first mentioned in 1296 and the parish church was first mentioned in a document in 1316. The base of the tower is the remainder of a small choir tower, which was probably built in the late 13th century and rebuilt and expanded several times in the following centuries. In the 15th century, the nave was expanded into a relay hall with western and northern extensions. The parish had the choir built to the north next to the tower in the second half of the 15th century, with the result that it was not aligned centrally. In 1694, the north west portal was finally added and a two-storey gallery was built in. The stucco maker Johann Christian Beutner carried out a Baroque renovation of the nave between 1756 and 1764. The ceiling paintings were also created. The spire on the top floor of the tower from 1584 is marked with the year 1759. Neo-Gothic changes were made in 1887/88 during a restoration.
Building
The late Gothic church building has an almost square nave with a length of 22 meters, a width of 20 meters and a height of 12.5 meters. It is spanned by a gable roof . The three-aisled stacking hall has four bays , which are supported by six pillars. The central nave is spanned by baroque basket arch vaults. The interior is shaped by the axis of the choir, which is strongly shifted to the north in relation to the main nave. With a stuccoed curtain to the right of the choir arch, the choir room should appear twice as large and the asymmetry should be concealed. The stuccoing and frescoing was carried out on a drawn-in slatted vault, and two hanging domes were inserted in the eastern yoke of the side aisles.
The choir room is built off-axis next to the old choir tower. The strongly drawn-in choir with buttresses has two bays and a 5/8 end. It is spanned by a neo-Gothic cross - ribbed vault , an ornamental vault made of plaster, over which there is a hipped roof. The 56 meter high, four-story church tower is characterized by an octagonal helmet.
Buttresses and three-lane pointed arched windows with original tracery from the 15th century with nested fish bubbles and rosette shapes structure the facade made of unplastered sandstone blocks. The western gable wall has punched pincer holes.
Furnishing
The neo-Gothic high altar from 1893 shows on two panels next to the high tabernacle with the standing cross the birth of Christ on the left and the Annunciation to Mary on the right, flanked by figures of the apostles John and John the Baptist. The high altar is crowned by the risen Christ.
The altarpiece in the north, left aisle contains a crucifixion group made up of colored wooden figures. Saint Kilian is located above it . Four angels and the Christ monogram IHS crown the altar, which was built around 1470.
To the right of the choir arch in the main nave is an altar with a wooden figure of Our Lady in a free posture. The late Gothic figure comes from the Würzburg school (in the vicinity of Tilman Riemenschneider ) around 1515. According to legend, it was originally in the Watzendorfer church. The Archangel Michael stands above the Madonna in the middle . On the right side there is a depiction of St. Anne with her daughter Maria and the baby Jesus, opposite them Joachim , the father of Maria.
The angel mess altar in the south aisle, a shrine altar, was made around 1500. The sculptures come from the environment of Tilmann Riemenschneider. Around 1890 the frame was changed in the neo-Gothic style. In the central niche there is a figure of Our Lady. The wings are each formed by two reliefs showing scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary.
The ceiling paintings were created around 1760. They were made by Franz Anton Günther from Munich and show God as the Creator of the world in the main nave in front of the choir arch, the sending of the Holy Spirit to Mary and the twelve apostles in the nave center and the Ascension of Christ at the exit portal . In the side aisles, scenes from the life of John the Baptist, the church and patron saint of the city of Sesslach, are shown.
Worth mentioning are also a tabernacle made of sandstone in the choir from the late 15th century, a baptismal font from the mid-16th century in the southern aisle and made of marbled wood pulpit from 1696. Several Renaissance - epitaphs from the 16th century recall the Seßlach noble family von Lichtenstein , who were Würzburg servants and have their burial place in the church.
organ
In 1613 the church received a new organ . Presumably a new organ was erected again in 1694 with the installation of the gallery, which is supported by Tuscan columns. The organ builder from Sesslach, Johann Adam Schöpf, added a positive to the instrument in 1765/1766 and renewed the pedal . Also on the housing major changes were made. The Bamberg organ builder Peter Rett carried out repairs in 1878.
In 1888, as part of the partial re-Gothicization of the church, the upper gallery was dismantled and by 1891 a new organ from the Bayreuth company Wolf & Sohn with a pneumatic cone store , a new pipework and a neo-renaissance case was built. In 1938 the disposition was modernized according to plans by the Bamberg Cathedral Kapellmeister Klein by the Lichtenfelser organ building workshop Dietmann. As part of a renovation, the organ construction company Gebrüder Mann electrified the console in 1982. In 2019, the Coburg organ builder Christian Beck renovated the instrument.
The organ front consists of two halves grouped around the gallery window. Facing the middle is a very slim rectangular tower. Extra-long pilasters and pilasters as well as horizontal cornices close the pipe fields with semicircular ornaments with a little Neo-Renaissance carving. The organ with its 1390 pipes has 21 stops on two manuals and a pedal.
Parish
After the secularization in Bavaria , the church districts were reorganized . The parish of Seßlach was subsequently assigned to the Archdiocese of Bamberg in 1810 . The parish includes Seßlach and the subsidiary parishes Dietersdorf , Dürrenried , Oberelldorf , Rothenberg and Wasmuthhausen . Together with the parishes of St. Sebastian Autenhausen , St. Wolfgang Kaltenbrunn and Mariä Geburt Neundorf , it has formed a parish community with around 5500 Catholics in the Catholic Dean's Office in Coburg since 2007.
The Archbishop of Bamberg, Joseph Otto Kolb, came from the parish of Seßlach.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Lothar Hofmann: Monuments Region Coburg - Neustadt - Sonneberg: Places of contemplation and prayer. Historical sacred buildings. A guide through the churches in the districts of Coburg and Sonneberg . Verlag Gerätemuseum des Coburger Land, Ahorn 2007, ISBN 3-930531-04-6 , p. 65
- ↑ a b History of the parish church in Seßlach
- ^ Georg Dehio: Handbook of German Art Monuments. Bavaria I: Franconia . Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1979. p. 773
- ↑ stadt-sesslach.de
- ↑ a b c d Church leaders
- ^ Hermann Fischer, Theodor Wohnhaas: Alte Orgeln im Coburger Land, Part IV. Yearbook of the Coburg Landesstiftung 1980, pp. 137f
Coordinates: 50 ° 11 '17.2 " N , 10 ° 50' 33.9" E