St. Laurentius (Meeder)
The oldest parts of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Laurentius in Meeder , the two church towers, date from the 11th / 12th. Century.
history
The parish of Meeder emerged in the 9th or 10th century. Along with the parish of Fechheim, it was the second original community in the Coburg region . The area of the large parish comprised the area between Höhn in the east, Ahorn in the south and Neukirchen in the north. The first church, originally an own church of the Würzburg bishop , was consecrated to the Roman deacon Laurentius . In 1212, the Würzburg bishop Otto I von Lobdeburg handed the parish over to the Veilsdorf monastery . The boundaries of the large parish were then identical to those of the Lauter Centgericht . The Peter and Paul Church on the Coburg Fortress Mountain was also part of the Sprengel until 1217.
The church house was built in several epochs. The oldest parts are the Romanesque church towers from the 11th / 12th centuries. Century. The late Gothic choir was built in the 15th century. Construction activities are recorded for 1412. In the middle of the 16th century a passage was built between the towers and the towers raised. The nave was the youngest construction phase, replacing a previous building, in the Baroque style between 1723 and 1724 under the Coburg master builder Georg Brückner. Restorations took place among other things in 1803 and 1890, a new version in 1870/71. In 1937, among other things, the chancel was renovated and a new window with a representation of Christ on the cross by the glass painter Bringmann was installed.
description
The Laurentiuskirche stands on a small elevation and is surrounded by a former churchyard fortification that closes on all sides. Remnants of the Gaden are still preserved.
The church is the only one in the Coburg region to have two church towers of the same height. These have a square floor plan with an edge length of around four meters and are 1.2 meters apart at the top. The towers have four Romanesque floors, which are separated by cornices . The lower floors show a rough stone bond , the upper round arch friezes between corner pilaster strips and doubled openings. The upper end of the tower is formed by a slate, summarizing half-timbered floor with rectangular windows and a slate hipped roof from which two pointed helmets rise. The interior of the church under the towers, between the nave and the choir, is spanned by a four-meter-wide barrel vault.
The late Gothic, five-sided choir is 10.5 meters long and 6.2 meters wide. As a ceiling, it has two yokes with ribbed vaults , whose grooved ribs are supported by consoles and have keystones with rosettes. Buttresses are arranged between the arched windows. On the outside, a plinth and a windowsill cornice surround the choir. A small door under the second window on the south side has an ogival lintel made from a stone.
The facade of the rectangular, 17.1 meter long and 11 meter wide nave is divided into five high windows on the south side and three on the north side as well as pilasters on the building corners. The saddle roof is equipped with dormer windows. The interior of the nave is characterized by a three-storey, three-sided gallery made of wood, which has parapets that are paneled on the two lower floors and exposed with balusters at the top and stands on strong supports. The ceiling of the nave consists of wooden half-barrels above the galleries and a barrel above the central room.
The pulpit from the early 18th century, standing on the southern tower pillar, consists of an Ionic central column and a basket, which is decorated with allegorical-humanistic female figures. In the presbytery one hangs on the north wall epitaph in the Renaissance style of yellowish sandstone. Below it shows Hans von Sternberg zu Schenkenau, who played a key role in the introduction of the Reformation, and his wife Anna in front of the cross and above the Christ dancing at the resurrection. Other grave slabs, including one on the outer wall on the south-east side, remember the family. Under the altar is the burial place of von Sternberg.
Noteworthy are a modern Pietà and the font from the 16th century as well as a blessing wall.
organ
In 1654 the organ maker Matthias Tretzscher from Kulmbach built a new organ , which in 1672/73 the Eisfelder Christoph Crapp added a new organ . When the nave was rebuilt in 1723, the organ was moved to the west gallery and two stops were added by the Coburg organ maker Paul Daum and a new prospectus was added. In 1733, the case was painted by the painter Johann Heinrich Müller.
In 1811 the community commissioned Johann Andreas Hofmann from Neustadt to rebuild and enlarge the organ. The work on the almost new building with 20 registers took around two years and cost 808 guilders . The Coburg sculptor Johann Heinrich Kaufmann made the carvings for the organ. In 1941 an electric fan was installed. In 1961 a restoration took place with the installation of new registers by the Göttingen organ builder Paul Ott .
The baroque organ has 24 stops on two manuals and a pedal. The five-part prospectus from 1723 has a high round tower, intermediate fields and pointed towers on the side. Above the central tower in clouds and a halo of rays is the symbol of the Trinity with Hebrew characters. Some of the prospect pipes date from 1654 and 1723. Johann Nikolaus Forkel , a native of Meederer, learned to play the organ on the organ.
Parish
After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, Duke Friedrich Wilhelm II established the Coburg Thanksgiving for Peace for all time. The parish of St. Laurentius has celebrated this every year since 1650 on the Sunday after Sebaldi (August 19th). The festival was only canceled in 1944. Since 1971, the community has been inviting the entire region to a great peace festival every ten years. In addition to Meeder, the villages of Birkenmoor , Drossenhausen , Einzelberg, Kleinwalbur , Mirsdorf , Moggenbrunn and Neida belong to the church district . There is a branch church in Beuerfeld .
literature
- 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. 61
- Richard Teufel: Architectural and art monuments in the district of Coburg . Riemann'sche Hofbuchhandlung, Coburg 1956, p. 86
Web links
- In Luther's footsteps through the Coburg region Hiking and pilgrim guides on the Luther Trail through the Evangelical Lutheran Dean's Office in Coburg, p. 24
- http://www.friedensdank.de/html/kirche_meeder.html
Individual evidence
- ^ Rainer Axmann: When Coburg belonged to Meeder . In: Coburger Friedensbuch, Meeder 2001, p. 164 f.
- ↑ a b c Paul Lehfeldt : Architectural and Art Monuments of Thuringia, Booklet XXVIII. Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Jena, 1902, p. 47.
- ^ Hermann Fischer, Theodor Wohnhaas: Alte Orgeln im Coburger Land, Part I. Yearbook of the Coburg State Foundation 1970, p. 198 f.
- ^ Walter Schneier: Coburg in the mirror of history , Neue Presse Coburg, 1985
Coordinates: 50 ° 19 ′ 19 ″ N , 10 ° 54 ′ 20 ″ E