St. Johannis (Bad Rodach)
The Evangelical Lutheran parish church of St. Johannis in Bad Rodach was first mentioned as a parish church in 1350. The current nave dates from the middle of the 18th century.
Building history
A royal court in Bad Rodach is documented for 899. A chapel that was consecrated to John the Baptist also belonged to this . A first church was built from 1138 and consecrated in 1149 by Bishop Wigbert von Brandenburg. The existence of a parish church with branch churches was mentioned in a document from 1350. The 1457 by Duke Wilhelm III. The new church, approved by Saxony, began in 1471 and probably lasted at least twenty years. The church tower and choir date from this period . The first Protestant Catholic church visitation took place in 1528/29. At the beginning of June 1529, delegates from the evangelical imperial estates met in the church in order to discuss how to proceed together after the second diet in Speyer and to ensure mutual help.
In the course of the Thirty Years' War , on October 5, 1632, a fire started by the imperial troops particularly destroyed the roof of the nave. In 1648, the church tower and the emergency roof over the nave were damaged by a lightning strike. Until 1657 the tower and until 1695 the nave were provisionally repaired. A new building, sponsored by the sovereign Duke Franz Josias , finally replaced the old nave in the middle of the 18th century. The plans were drawn up by the Coburg master carpenter Johann Adam Däumler, the construction was carried out by the master mason Georg Koch and the master carpenter Georg Kiesewetter. The demolition work began on April 20, 1755, followed by the laying of the foundation stone on July 8. The ceremonial inauguration in the presence of the sovereign was on September 21, 1758. The construction costs amounted to around 6707 guilders. They were financed, among other things, by a lottery.
Major renovation work took place in 1858. In 1911 a heating system was installed. Ten tombs were discovered under the chancel, most of which were assigned to the second half of the 17th century. During the Second World War , the church was badly damaged by artillery fire from the US Army on April 10, 1945. The repair was carried out in three construction phases and lasted until 1973. In 2011 the church was extensively renovated and the interior was restored based on the original design.
description
The walls of the church consist of yellowish red sandstone blocks from the Lempertshausen corridor.
The 23 meter long and 15.2 meter wide nave is designed in the Ansbach margrave style. The long sides are each divided by five long rectangular windows and four small square arched windows underneath and a door. The western transverse side is designed analogously with three window axes. There is the main portal, which is framed by Ionic pilasters and cranked entablature with a broken tail gable . Heraldic shields show the initials of the former duke couple FJAS and the Saxon diamond wreath with the ducal crown as the top. The late Gothic , five-sided choir is 11.7 meters long and 7.5 meters wide. Buttresses are arranged between the ogival windows. Late Gothic stonemason marks and a small late Gothic relief of a crucifixion group on the south side are still present.
The rectangular interior of the hall church is characterized by a three-sided, two-storey gallery supported by 16 oak pillars, Corinthian at the top and Doric at the bottom . A flat plastered ceiling with rococo decorations forms the upper end. The triumphal arch between the nave and the choir is in the shape of a basket arch and its pillars have capitals on top. On the northern pillar opposite the prince's estate is the pulpit, which rests on a bell-shaped console and is decorated with rococo scrollwork with shell shapes. A figure of Christ with the globe stands on the sound cover. The Epistle is on the southern triumphal pillar.
The late Gothic choir has a flat, stuccoed ceiling instead of its original ribbed vault . The choir is decorated by three colorfully glazed pointed arch windows. The windows show scenes from the life of Jesus, the blessing of children, the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus' prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. They are the work of the Munich gas painter Franz Xaver Zettler and were donated by Max Roesler in 1908 . The heart and entrails of Duke Franz Josias were buried in the choir in front of the sacristy door. A stone slab with an incised heart marks the spot.
The stone and sculptor Karlheinz Hoffmann redesigned the choir room in 1973 with a Last Supper altar, a baptismal font and a globe cross. The cross stands for ecumenism and has been hanging on the north wall of the sanctuary since 2002.
The three-storey church tower, structured by cornices, stands north of the choir. The sacristy is located on the ground floor and is spanned by a cross vault. A slate-roofed, octagonal tail dome with an arcade top and dome as well as a button and weather vane formed the upper end . On the third floor there is the tower clock, which dates from 1906, and larger pointed arch windows on each side, behind which the belfry stands. In this hang four bells, a 1315 kg bronze bell tuned to the tone Es from 1987, two cast steel bells, which were consecrated in 1959 and a 320 kg bronze bell tuned to the tone H, which was cast in 1649. Inside the church, in front of the north entrance, there is a cast-iron bell that was cast in Apolda in 1920 and had to be removed in 1987 for static reasons.
organ
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The organ is on the upper, western gallery and dates from 1858. It is the work of the organ builder Michael Schmidt from Schmiedefeld and cost 1641 guilders. The organ front and the oak wind chests come from the previous organ from the 18th century. In 1974 the instrument, which has 25 stops with two manuals and a pedal, was restored. In 2018 the instrument with its 1734 pipes received two new bellows.
Clergy
- Christian Hohnbaum (1747–1825), superintendent 1786–1825, poet of sacred songs
literature
- Irmhild Tschischka: The St. Johanniskirche - a striking landmark of the city of Bad Rodach . Writings of the Rückertkreis Bad Rodach e. V., Issue 36, Bad Rodach 2009.
- Irmhild Tschischka: The St. Johanniskirche in Bad Rodach . Church leaders.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Paul Lehfeldt : Architectural and Art Monuments of Thuringia, Issue XXVIII. Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Jena, 1902, p. 58.
Coordinates: 50 ° 20 ′ 31.5 ″ N , 10 ° 46 ′ 47 ″ E