St. Johannis (Schweinfurt)
The Church of St. Johannis in Schweinfurt , also called Johanniskirche, is the town church of the former imperial city. Today it is a Protestant parish church and stands on a lofty square north of the market square. It is one of the most important Protestant churches in Lower Franconia in terms of art history . It was planned as a civic church and from 1325 only the council of the city of Schweinfurt had to bear the construction burden. It is consecrated to the evangelists John and John the Baptist . In the men's choir hangs the oldest denomination picture in southern Germany, the Schweinfurt denomination picture .
Building history
The building history of the church begins in the 13th century. Around 1200 the construction of a three-aisled basilica and a small choir began. At the beginning the construction work proceeded quickly. In 1237 the north tower was completed.
The bridal portal on the south side, a landmark of the city, was built in 1240. With the purchase of a quarry in Sömmersdorf , the church was first mentioned in 1325 as "ecclesia", as a parish church . In 1360 the church was in its first form. The south tower had been omitted. In 1364 an early mass was founded.
During a first renovation in 1400, the small choir was torn down and replaced by a larger, Gothic one, and the sacristy was added. In 1411 the new choir was completed. In 1417 the church was first completely built with a cellar. In 1460, the later men's choir was added as the Holy Sepulcher Chapel. The Gothic high altar , which no longer exists today , was created in 1484.
In 1542 the Free Imperial City of Schweinfurt took over the Reformation . St. Johannis became a Protestant town church. During the devastation of the city in the Markgräflerkrieg in 1554 it was badly damaged. Reconstruction began in 1555. At the end of the 16th century the church received wooden galleries in the south. After another renovation in 1604, the stair tower was added to the northwest in 1620 . In 1662 St. Johannis got a baroque organ that is no longer available today.
1707–1739 the church was extensively renovated inside. It was greatly changed by the installation of wooden galleries. The original monopitch roofs were replaced by mansard roofs , the basilica character of the church was lost. In 1744 the construction of the southwest stair tower was completed. In 1888 heating was installed , in 1905 electrical lighting was installed.
During a comprehensive renovation in 1911, Professor Otto Schulz removed numerous baroque additions and uncovered the frescoes and paintings from the Middle Ages. Several new entrances were created and colored glass windows that no longer exist today were purchased. The Second World War did not spare St. Johannis, but from 1942 some works of art could be stored in the newly created, protected archive room in the tower basement.
The immediate post-war period was used for reconstruction. The wooden parts of the church were removed, a wooden ceiling was put in. 1960–1964 the outer walls were renovated . The north portal was converted back into a window. In the years 1984–1992 the interior of the Johanniskirche followed. The tower chapel was reopened inside, the sacristy was given a west entrance. The church is classified by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation under the number D-6-62-000-104.
architecture
Eight centuries with their wars, reconstructions and additions are expressed in architecture. A clear historical classification is therefore difficult.
South side
The front side of the church made of Franconian sandstone is dominated by the mighty gable wall of the transept. Its two-aisle structure can also be seen from the outside. In the middle is the late Romanesque bridal portal, further structures consist of pilaster strips , various friezes and the walls of the round windows. Blind arcades with bud capitals already indicate the forms of the early Gothic. The two pointed windows, which were built in the neo-Gothic style in 1890, are more recent.
The bridal portal is characterized by late Romanesque ornaments with tendrils and several mythical creatures. The master is unknown. In 1891 several parts had to be added in a neo-Gothic style. Joseph Metzger created the pillars of the figures and the figure of the Apostle John on the left. John the Baptist, right, was probably made in the 14th century. The tympanum has been destroyed, the ornamentation of the arches consists of dragons wrestling with lions.
The substructure of the discarded south tower can be seen to the right of the gable . Next to it is the sacristy enlargement from 1411. The roofs, sloping on different sides, were changed according to a drawing made for Matthäus Merian in 1646 . The south side ends on the right with the choir. It has monopitch roofs and front gables and is decorated with finials . To the left of the transept is the small baptistery , redesigned in Baroque style in 1739, with a mansard roof.
The nave south portal with an early Gothic portal arch connects to the left. The garments are decorated with beads, edges and fillets. The outer throat shows oak leaves . In 1962 the mask was added to the parting.
The tympanum is missing, the figures in the inner throat are difficult to decipher. There are probably two animals and two men, one with a sword. Furthermore, fantastic creatures with human bodies can be recognized. The lintel is supported by two consoles with a monkey and a mythical creature. The arch is decorated with a tracery relief. There are grooves to the left of the portal.
West side
The west side of the church appears much simpler than the south side and is only structured by the two stair towers . The northern one was built in 1620 and had to be rebuilt in 1950. The southern tower was built in 1744. The portal, which was built at the same time as the nave portal in the south, is not in the middle of the wall, but is shifted far to the south. It resembles this in shape and size. However, it is hardly decorated. Only a cross in the gable and the St. John's seal from 1963 structure it. The tympanum's support brackets were also created in 1963.
North side
In the north, the Johanniskirche looks like a fortress with a wall thickness of 1.40 m. This is explained by the original proximity to the city wall , which ran parallel. The facade is structured there by the transept, the gentleman's choir and the single tower .
The arched windows in the simple transept gable to the right of the tower date from 1911. On the left side of the tower is the Gothic choir with tall windows from 1411. The colored glass windows mentioned since 1911 were lost in the Second World War.
The gentleman's choir to the right of the transept gable was built in 1562. Its volute gables have Renaissance shapes . Originally vaulted , it was converted to Baroque style in 1762. The walls of the windows have late Gothic shapes. The master, who also worked on the north wall of the nave, has immortalized himself there with his mark .
tower
The tower has six floors and towers over the rest of the building with its 43 meters. The lowest floors are built in the Romanesque style. Inside is the tower chapel. Two arched windows come from the first construction phase of the church around the year 1200. In 1989 the outer door was removed when the tower chapel could be entered again from inside the church. After the Markgräflerkrieg, the three upper floors were rebuilt.
In 1562 the construction was completed, a low dome with a lantern was added. There are four bells hanging on the fifth floor; the tower's apartment used to be on the last floor . The sandstone masonry was only pulled up at the corners. Several cannon balls were walled in. A primitive freight elevator served the last inhabitant of the tower, a shoemaker, to transport his goods.
Inscriptions
Two inscriptions on the east wall of the tower at 18 m describe the reconstruction of the tower after 1554. On the left they read "ANO • 1 • 5 • 54 • IAP • DEM • 1 • MAII" (in 1554, on the day of Jacobi Philippi, the 1st May), which indicates the date of destruction, and on the right “ANNO / 1560 / DEN • 10 • / IVNII” (in the year 1560, on June 10th). This marks the beginning of the reconstruction.
Bells
The bells are tuned to the notes d′-f′-g′-b ′ and follow the Te-Deum motif . Shortly after the tower was rebuilt, the twelve o'clock bell from 1563 was hung in the belfry . This was followed by the eleven o'clock bell in 1574, the Our Father bell in 1767 and the resurrection bell in 1956.
East Side
On the east side of the church, the end of the choir is framed by two tiered buttresses . Parts of the choir are built over, so that a five-eighth closing was created. There is a choir gate there. The exact date of construction is unknown, in the sources it is mentioned with the year 1665.
Inside
The complex external form of the church is continued inside. The transept appears, atypical for the original basilica , much wider than the central nave. The building sculpture with a few consoles by the master of the bridal portal comes from the late Romanesque period. One recognizes "horn consoles" which are reminiscent of Cistercian designs. There are figurative representations (bear, monster, stonemason), buds and tendril capitals .
A few steps lead to the choir. The Romanesque part of the choir is wedged between the tower substructures. Again the work of the master of the bridal portal can be seen in the consoles . In the Gothic, further eastern part, five ogival windows have cap vaults . There are also high-quality consoles, vaulted belts and keystones .
Two construction phases also meet in the sacristy. To the west it connects to the substructures of the un-erected south tower, to the east the extension from 1411 with rib cross vaults follows. In the vaulted consoles, two figures possibly represent the donor couple . The keystone contains a representation of the Lamb of God . A door was added in 1911. In the south there is a piscina in an ogival niche.
The nave is wider than it is long and has wooden flat ceilings . They were last renewed in 1990 based on designs by Hubert Distler . An original bulge can be assumed. Round arches attached in 1739 separate the central nave from the side aisles. The gallery in the nave has a tracery parapet.
Furnishing
Many eras and styles also meet inside the church. The works of art come from different times and represent the changes in the sacred facility.
Transept
The collection of chair labels is located in the north of the transept. They name the owners of the seats until 1911. To the right of the tower chapel, an epitaph created by Peter Dell the Younger, a student of Tilman Riemenschneider , depicts Margaretha von Wenkheim, who died in 1552, with her husband. Both kneel before a damaged crucifix . Her children, including Moritz von Wenkheim, can be seen above the inscription. Above it, a fresco from 1480 shows the Israelites' Mannalese . Another bronze grave plaque is dedicated to Kaspar Senf, who died in 1535, the father of the humanists Kilian and Johannes Sinapius. His two wives are shown next to him.
Tower chapel
Inside the simple chapel , which is one of the oldest parts of the church, there is the so-called sandstone Madonna with the standing Jesus boy. She wears a crown and holds an apple in her hand. It cannot be clearly assigned to any epoch, which is why it is grouped in the transition period from the Romanesque to the Gothic. With its posture and the folds of the skirt, it seems to belong to the late 13th century. Details such as the shawl, her hair and her crown , however, resemble tomb sculptures from the Erfurt Severikirche . Accordingly, it should be classified in terms of style in the second half of the 14th century. An intervention in the sculpture was done by reworking the eyes.
Choir
The high altar in the middle of the large choir, created in 1783 by Materno Bossi , was moved to St. John's Church in 1806 after the secularization of the Heidenfeld monastery . The crucifixion was depicted on the original altarpiece by Oswald Onghers , which was replaced by one by the painter Johann Adam Philipp Stößel . The altar is crowned by the dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit in a halo.
The second altar sheet was lost in the bombing of Schweinfurt in World War II. During the reconstruction, the painter Adolf Kleemann created a third altarpiece in 1959. It shows the mercy and resurrection of Jesus in a modern world . The bright colors of the picture and the more sedate tones of the altar create a contrast.
The altar is framed by four late Gothic figures made of wood with, from left to right, Mary with the baby Jesus, who was originally intended to have its own altar, the apostle John, John the Baptist and a bishop without attributes, probably Kilian . An inscription on the hem of the figure of Mary with the year 1510 reads: "MARIA BIT DEIN KINT FOR VN (S)".
A triumphal cross , probably from 1911, towers over the choir. The date of 1484, when the cross is said to have been part of a Gothic altar, is controversial. Jesus wears real human beard and head hair . The seating in the choir comes from the construction period; later it received a renaissance roof. The dividing grids contain historicizing elements from 1911.
The portrait of Martin Luther on the right in the choir was painted by the deaf painter Wilhelm Bauer in 1811. Opposite hangs the picture Johannes preaching in the desert by Conrad Geiger 1807. Of several frescoes the picture on the south side is to be highlighted, which shows Christ on the cross . He holds three red roses in his left hand and takes a sword from a crowned female figure. The fresco symbolizes the spiritual movement of mysticism .
Valentin von Münster († 1582) and Margaretha von Münster († 1619) of several grave slabs in the choir are depicted on the two on the right . A bronze epitaph on the opposite side shows Balthasar Rüffer, Reichsvogt in Schweinfurt, who died in 1637 . The epitaph painting Raising Lazarus is dedicated to the councilor Georg Ruprecht, who died in 1603. There are also the graves of Paul Brückner († 1622) and Georg Ofner († 1532). A bronze fitting from the epitaph of the bell founder Klaus Zeitlos is set into the wall.
Baptistery
The baptistery was a foundation of the citizen Friedrich Ruckert, whose coat of arms adorns the keystone of the vault. The origin can be dated to the year 1360. In the east, frescoes of the five halls of the Bethesda pond and the baptism of the chamberlain from Mohrenland , possibly by Stephan Brechtel in 1604, are framed with red-gray leaf ornamentation . Opposite is a baroque towel holder.
The octagonal baptismal font in the baptistery has a Latin inscription all around . Overpainted Gothic paintings in the fields depicting scenes from the life of John the Baptist, including his birth, and pictures of the apostles were uncovered in 1911. In the beginning of the 17th century the baptismal font was given a wooden lid with the creed and images of St. John.
Longhouse
The pulpit in the right part of the nave, donated in 1694, is richly furnished. The donor coats of arms of Andreas Tauber and his wife Dorothea above the pulpit door come from an unknown workshop. The structure of the pulpit is similar to that of margrave sculptures. It is eight meters high and rests on a mosquito support . Statuettes of the Evangelists and of John the Baptist are embedded in the pulpit body , from left to right Matthew, Mark, John the Baptist, Luke and John.
The risen Jesus crowns the sound cover , surrounded by putti on acanthus, who carry instruments of torture. On the edge of the lid there are figurative representations of the apostles. Andreas is at the front, which is to be understood as a reference to the founder (Andreas Tauber). The carving, interspersed with putti, is richly decorated. Next to it are the parish altar and lectern from 1990.
From the 14th to the 18th century the church was burial place for the upper class of the city of Schweinfurt, which explains the many tombs in the church. Of the 23 tombs on the walls, the oldest is dedicated to Conrad von Seinsheim , who died in 1369 . The grave slab for Wolff von Steinau dates from 1588 , created by the sculptor Hans Werner , who immortalized himself on the epitaph.
Men's choir
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The men's choir has partially renewed tracery . The cycle of pictures with the life of Jesus begins with baptism and continues on the gallery. The works of art were created in 1711; the painter was Andreas Brückner. The frames were made by Johann Philipp Zehnder. Among other things, the flagellation of Christ is shown.
In the men's choir hangs the oldest denominational picture in southern Germany, probably from the end of the 16th century, referring to the Confessio Augustana of 1530. It is divided into three sections. In the middle is Emperor Karl V , surrounded by princes, from left to right Prince Wolfgang zu Anhalt , Landgrave Philipp of Hesse, Margrave Georg of Brandenburg , Duke Johann of Saxony , Ernst and Franz von Lüneburg and the representatives of the cities of Nuremberg and Reutlingen , shown. About another 500 people can be seen behind it. Small quotes from the Bible in gold are placed throughout the picture. The representations deal with the rites of Protestant worship. For example, the Lord's Supper is shown and explained in both forms. Separate scenes are dedicated to catechism lessons and church music. The skeletons of non-evangelical faiths are allegorically disposed of under the altar table. The picture is the template for the denomination picture of the Eisenach Georgenkirche .
Gallery and organ
The gallery contains further images of the Church's Jesus cycle, beginning in the men's choir. The organ was built in 1992 by the Sandtner company from Dillingen an der Donau. Hans Jürgen Richter created the disposition . The work contains 53 stops on 3 manuals and pedal . The design was done by Franz Lichtblau. The veil boards were made from lime wood by Karl Heinz Hoffmann.
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- Coupling : III / II, III / I, II / I, III / P, II / P, I / P
- Playing aids : 64-fold setter combination, introduction to the mechanical stop action (double action) using lifting magnets, stop crescendo, tutti, pleno, tongues, remo card
- Tuning pitch: 440 Hz at 15 ° C
- Tuning key: equal
Library
The sacristy of the Johanniskirche has housed a historic church library with rich old holdings for centuries since 1574 . This has been a deposit of the parish in the Otto Schäfer library in Schweinfurt since 2014 .
Epitaph Margarethas von Wenkheim
The burial place of Valentin von Münster
Wolff von Steinau's grave slab
Margaretha von Münster's grave
The epitaph of Kaspar Senf
Georg Ofner's grave slab
Part of the chair label collection
"Mannalese" in the transept
Madonna in the tower chapel
The pulpit of the church
See also
literature
- Andrea Brandl: The late Romanesque-early Gothic portal on the southern transept of the Johanniskirche in Schweinfurt . In: Streiflichter Schweinfurt . Schweinfurt 1992.
- Hans Hahn: The Johanniskirche and its predecessor buildings - thoughts on the settlement of the Schweinfurt district . In: Schweinfurt Mainleite . Schweinfurt 1991.
- Erich Saffert: The St. Johanniskirche in Schweinfurt am Main . Schweinfurt 1971.
- Erich Schneider: Evangelical Churches Schweinfurt . Munich 1988.
- Erich Schneider : Evangelical churches in Schweinfurt . In: Great Art Guides . tape 201 . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 1997, ISBN 978-3-7954-1143-5 .
- Wiltrud Wößner: The Johanniskirche. Interesting facts from eight centuries from A to Z. 31 essays on components, furnishings and art . In: Evangelical Lutheran Church Community Schweinfurt (ed.): 450 years of the Reformation in Schweinfurt. Anniversary year fonts . Schweinfurt 1992.
- Wiltrud Wößner: The St. Johanniskirche Schweinfurt . Schweinfurt 1997.
Web links
- Peter Hofmann: Schweinfurt Guide / St. Johannis
- Peter Hofmann: Schweinfurt Guide / St. Johannis in old views
Individual evidence
- ↑ Saffert, Erich: The St. John's church to Schweinfurt am Main . P. 3.
- ↑ Cf. Schneider, Erich: Evangelical Churches. 1997 . P. 8. The 11th century is mentioned here.
- ↑ Wößner, Wiltrud: The St. Johanniskirche Schweinfurt . P. 7.
- ↑ Geodata: ( page no longer available , search in web archives: monument number D-6-62-000-104 ), accessed on July 14, 2013.
- ↑ Brandl, Andrea: The portal of the Johanniskirche . P. 223.
- ^ Cf. Schneider, Erich: Evangelical Churches Schweinfurt .
- ^ Schneider, Erich: Evangelical Churches. 1997 . P. 10.
- ↑ Saffert, Erich: The St. John's church to Schweinfurt am Main . P. 8.
- ↑ Woessner, Wiltrud: The Johanniskirche. 31 essays . P. 183 f.
- ↑ Saffert, Erich: The St. John's church to Schweinfurt am Main . P. 7.
- ^ Parish office Schweinfurt: Baptistery , accessed on July 15, 2013.
- ↑ Woessner, Wiltrud: The Johanniskirche. 31 essays . P. 130.
- ^ Parish office Schweinfurt: Denomination picture , accessed on July 15, 2013.
- ↑ Wößner, Wiltrud: The St. Johanniskirche Schweinfurt . P. 30.
- ↑ Woessner, Wiltrud: The Johanniskirche. 31 essays . P. 199.
- ^ Sandtner Orgelbau: Orgel St. Johanniskirche , accessed on 23 August 2013.
- ↑ Entry on the sacristy library in the manual of the historical book collections online
- ↑ Belongs in the sacristy , press release by Ev.-Luth. Deanery Schweinfurt from September 29, 2014, accessed on November 22, 2014;
Coordinates: 50 ° 2 ′ 46 ″ N , 10 ° 13 ′ 59 ″ E