St. Maria Magdalena (Tiefenbronn)
The church of St. Maria Magdalena in Tiefenbronn in the Enzkreis ( Baden-Württemberg ) is a Gothic basilica whose most important art treasures include five late Gothic altarpieces , including the Magdalene altar by Lucas Moser .
history
A church in Tiefenbronn is mentioned as early as 1347 in the document with the first mention of the place in 1347. It was originally a Marienkapelle, which received further donations in the late 14th century and was a branch church of the parish church of St. Agapitus in Friolzheim . The right of patronage in Tiefenbronn, like that in Friolzheim, lay with the Hirsau monastery . It stayed that way even after the Tiefenbronn church was detached from Friolzheim in 1455 and made a parish church . The local nobility, since the 15th century the Steinegg line of the lords of Gemmingen , had their burial place in the church .
It is unclear since when pilgrimages to Tiefenbronn took place and which saints were initially venerated. It is certain that the church in its current shape, achieved around 1400, was already laid out as a pilgrimage church due to its spatial size and numerous altarpieces, the dimensions of which go far beyond those of a rural village church.
In 1621, instead of the Virgin Mary, the patronage of St. Mary Magdalene is mentioned for the first time , which was confirmed papally in 1683. At the same time, the parish in Tiefenbronn gradually degenerated into insignificance, so that church goods were sold to the citizens in the 18th century and art treasures had to be sold for the structural maintenance of the "ruinos" church. The art tourism that emerged in the 19th century improved the financial situation of the church to a certain extent, but despite various renovation measures in the late 19th century, the Board of Trustees complained in 1924 that the church continued to be “very neglected, both inside and outside, and sometimes even in a seemingly ruinous condition ”. In the last days of World War II, the church was badly damaged by shelling. From 1947 to 1951 the interior of the church was extensively renovated. The Lucas Moser Werk Foundation, initially headed by Theodor Heuss , has existed since 1952 to preserve the church's precious furnishings. Since then, various major renovation measures have taken place on the structure and equipment.
After a fire in the sacristy in March 2013, the church had to be cleaned at great expense and was closed for several months for this purpose.
architecture
The church is a three-aisled basilica with a two-bay choir with a 5/8 end to the east, to which the tower is added to the north and a sacristy to the east .
The oldest part of the church is the choir, begun around 1340, with Gothic tracery windows and ribbed vaults. The tower base and the long house covered by a flat ceiling were built around 1400, the sacristy was added in 1463 by Balthasar von Horrheim . The large windows on the south side of the nave were broken into in 1719, and the current tower structure was completed in the following years. A former upper floor of the sacristy was demolished in 1783 due to the risk of collapse.
In the west of the nave there is a gallery on which the church organ is located. Various other additions and installations, including a wooden corridor leading from the castle to the church or the patron's box that was once built into the central nave , have not been preserved.
Furnishing
Altars
A total of five late Gothic altarpieces have been preserved in the church, although according to old visitation protocols there were once more altarpieces in the church, the number and location of which changed several times. In 1683, for example, seven altar posts are occupied.
The high altar in the choir is considered a work by the Ulm master Hans Schüchlin from the second half of the 15th century. In the central shrine it shows colored carvings with the Descent from the Cross and Lamentation of Christ , the wings, painted on both sides, show further scenes from the Passion of Christ . In the crack of the altar is a carved sculpture of the crucified. The carvings on the altar could have been given to Hans Multscher by Schüchlin .
The Magdalene altar on the eastern end wall of the south aisle is also a work by Lucas Moser from the 15th century. In the middle shrine there is a carved and colored Magdalen statue, when closed you can see scenes from the legend of St. Magdalena .
The altar of Our Lady in the north aisle, dated 1517 (historically also known as the Marian altar or rosary altar), shows colored figures of Mary , Peter and Paul in the shrine, colored reliefs of Saints Helena and Heraclius on the inner wings and paintings with the saints on the outer wings Ursula and Apollonia . As a top it has a carved crucifixion group.
The cross altar in the south aisle is dated 1524 and roughly corresponds in terms of dimensions and design to the Mother of God altar opposite. The central shrine shows a colorfully carved crucifixion scene, the wings painted on both sides show the baptism of Christ and the beheading of John the Baptist on the inside , and the saints Nicholas of Myra and Catherine on the outside . The inactive wings of the altar show the plague cartridges Sebastian and Rochus .
The family altar under the organ gallery also dates from around 1520 and shows the colorful carved figures of the holy clan in the shrine .
Murals
On the wall to the choir there are a total of four altar murals from around 1400 on both sides of the triumphal arch. On the inside of the triumphal arch, another wall painting from around 1370 showing the judgment of the last time was uncovered. The coat of arms frieze in the nave with numerous coats of arms of the Kraichgau knighthood is also remarkable.
Stained glass
The choir windows have glass paintings from the 15th century with scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary and the coats of arms of the donors.
Tombs
For centuries, the church was the burial place of the Steinegg line of the Lords of Gemmingen , of which numerous tombs and other monuments have been preserved in the church. The most ornate epitaph of the church is that of Otto d. J. von Gemmingen († 1558) on the north wall of the choir. Other artistically significant tombs in the choir are those for Johann Konrad von Gemmingen († 1627) and his wife Margaretha Anna von Stein, in the north aisle for Eitel Dietrich von Gemmingen († 1586), Dietrich IX. von Gemmingen († 1586) and Wolf Dietrich von Gemmingen († 1601) as well as in the south aisle for Bernhard von Gemmingen († 1518) and Dietrich VIII. von Gemmingen († 1542). One of the historically significant tombs is that of the pastor and local researcher Georg Philipp Fordenbach († 1724).
Church treasure
The other art treasures of the church include a monstrance made around 1500, made of silver and partially gilded , which came to Tiefenbronn around 1600. The object is richly decorated with tracery and 49 three-dimensional figures. It is possible that the object was redesigned to make it smaller when it arrived in Tiefenbronn in order to find space in the stone tabernacle from 1463. There are other valuable objects in the church treasury, including a copper-gilded ciborium around 1450 and a silver smoke barrel around 1540.
Bells
The church is the only church in the area that has a completely preserved baroque bell that did not fall victim to the deliveries of the two world wars. The bells of the church go back to old bells from 1418 and 1551, which were re-cast in 1722 by Heinrich Ludwig Gosman in Landau to form today's three bells. The largest of the bells has a diameter of 1154 mm and the strike tone e ', the middle bell has a diameter of 930 mm and the strike tone g sharp', the smallest bell has a diameter of 765 mm and the strike tone h '. All three bells have identical inscriptions that name the year of casting 1722 and the foundryman Gosman as well as the patron saint Johann Friedrich Carl von Gemmingen, the pastor and other notables of the time. In the yoke of the big bell, the year 1723 can also be seen, which indicates the year the chimes were commissioned. The bells are decorated with figurative figures and each show a crescent Madonna and a crucifixion group.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tiefenbronn Church remains closed due to the consequences of the fire , in: Pforzheimer Zeitung of March 27, 2013.
- ^ Ingrid S. Weber : The Tiefenbronner Monstranz and their artistic circle . In: Anzeiger des Germanisches Nationalmuseums 1966, pp. 7–87.
- ^ Mathias Köhler: Historical bells in the Enzkreis . In: The Enzkreis. Yearbook 93/94 , pp. 73–91, here p. 90.
literature
- Hans Rott : The church at Tiefenbronn near Pforzheim , Filser, Augsburg 1929
- Franz Heinzmann: Gothic Basilica of St. Maria Magdalena Tiefenbronn , Schnell & Steiner, Munich and Zurich 1992 (= Art Guide No. 214, 6th edition)
- Mathias Köhler: St. Maria Magdalena Tiefenbronn , Fink, Lindenberg 1998
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 49 '25.9 " N , 8 ° 48' 6.8" E