St. Laurentius (Donndorf)

View from the south

View from the north

The St. Laurentius monastery church on the site of the former Cistercian monastery and today's district of Roßleben-Wiehe , Donndorf monastery in the Kyffhäuserkreis in Thuringia belongs to the Eisleben-Sömmerda parish in the Evangelical Church of Central Germany . It is oriented to the southeast, the tower is at the northwest end of the nave.

history

The previous church of St. Lawrence was from the 13th century (about 1270) and was a monastery church for here übergesiedelten Cistercian nuns from Bachra from sandstone in Gothic built style. The church was destroyed by the Swedes in 1641 during the Thirty Years War .

In the years 1746–1754, today's church was built in the same place in the Baroque style and consecrated again to St. Laurentius. The Barons of Werther - Wiehe built as administrators of the monastery under the sacristy of the church a burial site for their family. The crypt is formed by two vaults one behind the other. The raised Werthern coat of arms in fine sandstone is attached above the entrance to the crypt.

The interior of the church is dominated by a pulpit altar with Corinthian columns . The organ on the gallery probably comes from the organ builder workshop Gerhard from Lindig near Kahla and is currently unplayable. The altar and organ are from the 18th century. On the south-western wall of the church there are two memorial plaques from the years 1791 and 1772 that commemorate the death of citizens from Kleinroda . A colored coat of arms of those von Werthern is attached above the southern exit of the church. The grave slab of someone who died in the early 17th century adorns the wall next to the door.

In 2004, for the 250th anniversary of the church, the renovation work by the Donndorf community was completed. Thanks to donations from citizens of Kleinroda and Donndorf, the clockwork and bells in the church tower were repaired, so that on August 28, 2004 the church tower clock sounded again for the first time in many decades.

A 30 m deep old buried well near the tower was rediscovered during renovation work, carefully restored and given a wooden roof.

Since 1995 the parish fair has been held every year on Ascension Day with a large regional church service in the surrounding parishes .