St. Leo (Bibra)
The Protestant village church of St. Leo in Bibra is a late Gothic church in the Bibra district of the Grabfeld community in the Meiningen-Schmalkalden district in Thuringia . It belongs to the Bibra parish in the Meiningen parish of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany . It is known for its rich furnishings with artistically significant sculptures from the school of Tilman Riemenschneider . The church is one of the few Gothic churches in the region whose architecture is of artistic importance.
History and architecture
The Church of St. Leo in Bibra was largely funded by Kilian von Bibra and continued by Lorenz von Bibra and Albrecht von Bibra . On July 16, 1492 the foundation stone for the building was laid in the presence of several family members of those of Bibra. The church received the patronage of Leo the great . In 1749 the flat ceiling was stuccoed and the upper west gallery built in, in 1768 double galleries were built on the north side, which were removed again in 1957/1958. In 1892 the choir windows were restored, in 1934 the altars were painted and restored. During the restoration in 1957/1958, in addition to the changes to the galleries, the wall paintings discovered in 1934 were exposed and restorations and the sacraments were restored. The altar of the apostles was restored in 1970/1971, the Marian altar in 1985 and the tower in 1990/1991.
The church is a simple late Gothic hall building made of quarry stone masonry with a retracted choir space of two bays, which ends in a five- eighth section. The church tower connects to the choir to the north and the sacristy to the south. Only the choir is closed with ribbed vaults; the nave, which was originally planned as a three-aisled structure, closes with a flat ceiling from the Baroque period. It can be assumed that the nave was not vaulted because, unlike the choir, there are no buttresses on the sides of the nave. Three-lane pointed arched windows with late Gothic tracery illuminate the interior, the west window alone has five lanes. High, tile-covered gable roofs complete the choir and the nave. The tower has been closed off by a baroque onion dome with a lantern since 1731 . The church is accessed through a portal on the west and one on the south side.
Furnishing
The sculptor workshop Tilman Riemenschneider was probably commissioned by Lorenz von Bibra to furnish the church in Bibra. As Bishop of Würzburg, he entrusted Tilman Riemenschneider with the creation of his tomb, which is still preserved in Würzburg Cathedral today.
The main pieces of equipment are three late Gothic winged altars, which show the sensitive, differentiated style of Riemenschneider. They are at least in part attributed to Riemenschneider as personal works. All altars are painted and partly gilded. In 1934 the burst was added to the Marien Altar.
Church father altar
The church patriarchal altar shows Leo the Great in the middle shrine, surrounded by four gold-plated reliefs, which show the doctors of the Church Ambrosius , Augustine , Hieronymus and Gregory the Great , each with an evangelist symbol. Comparisons with other works by Riemenschneider lead to the conclusion that in Leo the Great, Riemenschneider depicted Lorenz von Bibra, who commissioned him, in a portrait-like manner. On the outside there are paintings with representations (from the left) of Saints Timothy , Boniface, Burghard and Martin . On the back of the shrine are fragments of a depiction of the handkerchief of St. Veronica . The burst is lost. The ancestral coats of arms of Lorenz von Bibra can be seen in the predella .
Mary Altar
The altar of Mary in the shrine shows the English greeting in artistic perfection. On the side wings Mary and Elisabeth can be seen, who are related to each other according to Luke 1.36 EU . Elisabeth's hand is a clumsy addition. Outside there are paintings (from left) with the representation of Jesus in the temple, the Annunciation, and the birth, another one is lost. The predella is provided with four painted ancestral coats of arms of the church donors.
Apostle altar
The altar of the apostles is similar to Riemenschneider's twelve messenger altar in Windsheim . It shows the sending of the disciples as missionaries through Christ. Instead of Judas , Mary is shown among the disciples. Three apostles are shown grouped on each of the side wings. On the outside there are paintings with depictions (from left) of the evangelist Mark, the apostles Peter and Paul as well as Saint Hubertus . The burst has not survived, in its place small figures of processional poles are attached. The predella shows paintings of the apostles' excerpt and ancestral coat of arms of Lorenz von Bibra.
Further equipment
The baptismal font is a late Gothic sculptural work in the shape of a goblet, which is decorated with crossed keel arches. The pulpit is also late Gothic and shows tracery ornaments in the fields of the basket and the stairs. A sacrament niche with a lattice door and crowning with a multi-sectioned tower is also richly decorated with late Gothic ornamentation and set into the east wall of the nave.
A crucifix from 1460 is placed on the stone altar under the choir arch; Another from the Riemenschneider area is owned by the church. The organ is the work of the organ builder Michael Schmidt from Schmiedefeld from 1855 with 24 stops on two manuals and a pedal and was restored in 1994 by the Hoffmann Orgelbau company .
Funerary monuments
Numerous early modern tombstones with figurative representations are placed on the walls of the nave. A total of 37 tombstones and memorial plaques are set up in the choir and nave (with two exceptions, all of them for family members of those from Bibra), including the tombstone of Hans von Bibra from around 1500, which is also attributed to Riemenschneider. Georg Dehio describes it as a "repetition of the Schaumberg monument in the Marienkapelle in Würzburg ". The wooden figure of Saint Kilian , which is also considered to be an autograph work by Riemenschneider, is closely related to the corresponding figure from the high altar of Würzburg Cathedral. Among the portrait gravestones are seven from master IH, who can also be traced in the towns of Ellingshausen , Meiningen , Nordheim im Grabfeld and Ostheim vor der Rhön , and five from a master IE.
Peal
The church has a three-part major bell with the notes f ', a' and c '. The oldest bell, the Annaglocke, is a donation from Lorenz von Bibra and was cast in 1513.
window
In the central window of the choir, under a crucifixion scene from 1902, three coats of arms of the three church donors (Lorenz and Albrecht von Bibra, 1503) and Kilian von Bibra from 1892 can be seen.
Albrecht von Bibra coat of arms
Kilian coat of arms of Bibra
Lorenz von Bibra coat of arms disc
literature
- Herbert von Hintzenstern : Village churches in Thuringia. 2nd Edition. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1982.
- Paul Lehfeldt , Georg Voss : Architectural and art monuments of Thuringia . Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen. Volume I, 1st division. Meiningen district. District court district Meiningen. Gustav Fischer, Jena 1909, p. 290 ff . ( Digitized version [accessed April 17, 2020]).
Web links
- The church on the website of the church district. Retrieved April 17, 2020 .
- St. Leo on the Thuringia.info website. Retrieved June 23, 2017 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Georg Dehio : Handbook of German Art Monuments. Thuringia. 1st edition. Deutscher Kunstverlag Munich / Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-422-03050-6 , pp. 132-134.
- ↑ St. Leo (Bibra) on Thuringia.info. Retrieved June 23, 2017 .
- ↑ Information about the organ on orgbase.nl. Retrieved May 3, 2019 .
- ↑ The church bells on YouTube
Coordinates: 50 ° 28 ′ 11 " N , 10 ° 26 ′ 16.6" E