St. Katharina (Eglosheim)
The Protestant parish church of St. Katharina in Eglosheim , a district of the district town of Ludwigsburg that was incorporated in 1901 , dates from the 15th century.
description
The Katharinenkirche is a hall building with the internal dimensions of 22 m length and 8.44 m width. The year 1497 appears as the construction number on the arched keystone of the bridal gate. The nave is divided into three bays of 7.03 m × 8.44 m. It is closed with a ribbed vault . The name of the Eglosheim architect is unknown.
Keystones and church sky
In Eglosheim there are eleven keystones and a so-called church canopy in the crown of the vault . On the face of the keystones, the half-figure of an apostle with his attribute is carved out in relief. Judas is missing from the circle of disciples, and Matthias, who was chosen by lot, appears in place of the apostle Thomas. The Peter's keystone is the middle of five keystones in the central yoke. It appears not only in the central position of the yoke, but also of the nave in general. This placement made the prominent "position" of Peter in heaven clear to medieval people with their belief system focused on looking. The images of the apostles vary in quality; the higher quality figure systems appear in the west. This includes the representation of John. His face is finely cut and looks particularly thoughtful. The pointing gesture with which the slender fingers of the right hand, which is placed in the middle of the body just below the face, point towards the chalice, is in keeping with this thoughtfulness. If one looks for comparative examples for a cycle of apostles on keystones, one looks in vain in Swabia. The Hirsauer Marienkapelle has a cycle of apostles in half-figures, which is not on the keystones, but on the services . If one compares the two depictions of John, both show the iconographically prescribed definition: the blond-haired, beardless youth who points to the goblet from which the snake gushes. If the Eglosheim figure conveys the impression of the collection with the hand placed in the middle of the body, the angled arm of the Hirsau figure, which is pushed forward far beyond the middle of the body, is detrimental to its seriousness. A comparison with the Hirsau sculpture as a whole shows that the Eglosheim apostle figures always maintain a more appropriate body language and never slide into an emptied exaggeration, as is sometimes the case with the Hirsau figures. Also to be addressed is the Eglosheim “church sky” in the third vault area from the east. In the middle of the field there is a circular opening that is closed with a removable wooden lid. A carved wreath of clouds is located around the opening, and the sculpted evangelist symbols appear on the four sides. With the exception of the Alexander Church in Marbach am Neckar , Swabia does not seem to have a sculpted “church sky”. In general, the carved church sky is very rare in all of Germany; On the other hand, there are often “church skies” adorned with paintings (e.g. in the Amandus Church in Urach). So it can be said that the keystone cycle and the "church sky" belong to the very rare parts of a sculptural late Gothic church interior.
Half-figures
The Eglosheimer nave has four significant half-figures in the central yoke that carry the ribbed vault. They represent the four great prophets. On the west wall there are two half-figure consoles depicting a stonemason (in the south) and a master builder (in the north). Just like the craftsmen, the prophets cannot be identified with certainty. The fact that the central yoke is actually about depictions of the prophets - and not about the four evangelists - is based on the theological teaching that the New Covenant rests on the Old Covenant. This view was implemented in architecture: the apostles sequence appears at the apex of the vault, the vault ribs in turn are derived from the half-figures of the prophets. So the apostles “lean on” the prophets. The half-length figures in Eglosheim do not all come from a single source. The prophets on the north side are more emotional than their counterparts. So the mouth of the prophet is open on the north-west corner of the nave, as if for complaint and admonition. The fingers are sometimes nervously raised and crossed. In research, this is sometimes referred to as pathetics. It should be noted that the half-figure as a vault bearer is a hallmark of the so-called Urach School around Peter von Koblenz and has found widespread use in Swabia. Eglosheim offers an excellent example of this.
pulpit
It can be described as a fortunate circumstance that the Eglosheim stone pulpit has never been restored since its completion in 1498 - this year appears on the pulpit parapet - despite its damage. The Eglosheim pulpit is something special in several ways. One of these is the pulpit type. It is determined by the parapet fields with tracery, the only figurative decorations of which are the statuettes on the parapet corners. This type is unique in Neckarschwaben. The statuettes stand on angel half-figures. There is no other example of this either. The five statuettes that are crowned by imaginative canopies are decisive for the impression of the pulpit. The central position of the figure of Mary with the child may be related to the former pilgrimage to Eglosheim. At the side of the figure of Mary are two church fathers, on the right Pope Gregory I and probably Ambrosius, on her left Hieronymus and probably Augustine. These church fathers usually appear on the late Gothic stone pulpits in a niche architecture. B. in Urach. There they sit in front of desks, a book in front of them. Her writing was understood as the glorification of God and as a guide for souls to salvation. That is why the book is an indispensable attribute of the Church Fathers. The Eglosheim pulpit master, who dispenses with writing desks, now solves this task in a captivating way: the individual figures of the church fathers are designed in very different ways so that the eye of the viewer catches the book. Reference is made to Jerome as an example. Jerome is said to have healed a lion that was injured in the paw. It shows how the animal reaches up to Hieronymus and pushes up its paw. The vertical that defines this part of the figure is taken up again by the book presented vertically. The book is underlined, as it were. The carcass is lively and powerful, the lion's mane has a fascinating, idiosyncratic movement. Nothing is known about the Eglosheim pulpit master. Research points to relationships with sculpture on the Upper Rhine, but the figure structure of the Eglosheim statuettes also deviates from this style in essential points. The pulpit remains something special not only in terms of its type, but also because of the layout of its statuettes.
Overall, the sculptural furnishings of the nave of the Katharinenkirche in the vaulted type with keystones and church canopy, in the prophet half-figures and in the pulpit are characterized by an originality, the artistic quality of which is astonishing for a village church.
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 54 '29.1 " N , 9 ° 10' 6.1" E