St. Leopold (Hildburghausen)
The Roman Catholic parish church of St. Leopold in Hildburghausen ( Thuringia ) was originally built for the French Reformed Christians in 1721/22 . In 1829 the Catholic parish acquired the church.
Building history
On the basis of an edict issued by Duke Ernst von Sachsen-Hildburghausen on July 31, 1711, French Protestants who were granted special privileges found asylum in Hildburghausen as religious refugees. In the years that followed, a new district, the Huguenot district, was built in the north, at the gates of the old town . In August 1720, the French Reformed Christians commissioned the construction of their own church for 2000 thalers . The foundation stone was laid on May 5, 1721, and on July 31, 1722, Pastor Jean Caspar Schneider inaugurated the temple in the presence of the entire Hildburghausen court.
Almost a hundred years later, in November 1824, the reformed congregation merged with the Lutheran congregation to form the Uniate Church of the New Town due to a sharp drop in membership . On April 27, 1829 she sold her church for 1200 Rhenish guilders to the Catholic parish. The purchase was financed by donations from around the world, including from Prague Archbishop Wenzel Leopold . In his honor, the church was later placed under the protection of St. Leopold . As a result, the Catholic community had the interior redesigned. Originally the benches were circular and the gallery was arranged around a simple communion table in the middle.
Another redesign of the interior was carried out in 1913. The church tower was renovated in 1989. An extensive restoration of the interior took place in the early 1990s.
architecture
The architecture of the nine-meter-high baroque building , which has an octagon stretching from west to east, about 22 meters long and 14 meters wide and 335 square meters in area, was based on Montauban's “Temple Neuf”, which was destroyed in 1664 . Originally there were twelve windows and four doors, four windows and three doors were bricked up after 1829. The entrance portal on the west side remained. Above the north portal is the "Great Saxon Coat of Arms" in honor of Duke Ernst Friedrich I , who supported the construction. The conclusion is a hipped roof with a wooden roof turret in the middle. The tower has an octagonal floor plan with a curved dome and a button and tower decoration.
Furnishing
The interior with around 150 seats is characterized by the high altar on the east side. It is a gift from Archbishop Wenzel Leopold and comes from the Aschaffenburg collegiate church . In 1864 it was restored and the walnut wood was gilded. The center of the altar is the tabernacle in the lower part , above which the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus and the three wise men are depicted. The figure of St. George and the Jesus monogram in a halo form the upper end .
On the south side there is a Marian altar from 1746, which shows the Assumption of Mary into heaven . The ceiling painting depicting the Transfiguration of the Lord was created by Max Rossmann in 1913. The organ is the work of the Gotha master organ builder Rudolf Böhm , who built the two manual , mechanical slide- in organ in 1955.
Under the galleries and the side church windows is a work of art with a special history: a Way of the Cross , consisting of fourteen station boards and an information board about the background of its creation from 1940/41, created by the glass painting artist Wilhelm Pütz from Munich on behalf of Saarlanders, who were evacuated in Hildburghausen in 1939/40 and who donated the Way of the Cross ex voto.
A bronze bell about 60 centimeters high, 90 centimeters in diameter and weighing 6 centimeters and 38 pounds hangs in the roof turret . It bears Renaissance ornaments on the upper and lower edge, the princely initials, the ducal coat of arms and the inscription "Johann Heinrich Graulich in Hildburghausen poured me 1722".
literature
- Joachim Neubert, Günter Stammberger, Bernhard Großmann, Martin Hoffmann: The churches in the district of Hildburghausen ... nothing but God's house - the gate of heaven ... Verlag Frankenschwelle, Hildburghausen 2006, ISBN 3-86180-174-4 , p. 150.
Web links
- Catholic parish of St. Leopold Hildburghausen
- http://www.insuedthueringen.de/lokal/hildburghausen/hildburghausen/Keine-Gnade-fuer-den-Holzwurm;art83436,2974964
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 50 ° 25 ′ 43.1 ″ N , 10 ° 43 ′ 38.5 ″ E