St. Martin (Unterkirchberg)

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Parish church of St. Martin with cemetery
Look at the choir

The St. Martin Church is a Catholic parish church in Unterkirchberg , a suburb of the Illerkirchberg municipality in the eastern Alb-Danube district . It belongs to the deanery Ehingen-Ulm in the diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart . The church, built in 1517, is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours ; the patronage festival is therefore celebrated on November 11th .

location

The Martinskirche is visible from afar in an exposed position on a hill in the northeast of the village. The hill drops steeply to the east towards the Iller . The church can be reached via two staircases from the east and the west; a road also leads to the church. The cemetery is arranged around the church building . In addition to the funeral hall built in 1987, the church grounds also include the former morgue from 1954 and a war memorial in memory of those who fell in the two world wars.

The cemetery is surrounded by a wall in the north, east and south, which is partly made of brick .

history

"Founding stone" from 1517

As early as 1194, a predecessor of the Martinskirche belonged to the Wiblingen monastery .

The construction of today's church began in 1517 under the Wiblingen abbot Georg Hacker , who came from Unterkirchberg and had previously been pastor there for 13 years . A foundation stone of limestone with the no longer completely legible inscription "1517 in March this church started" was originally built into the western gable wall of the church, but was admitted to the staircase for the extension work to the northern cemetery wall at the passage 1913th In 2016 this "foundation stone" was moved to the anteroom of the church at the west entrance and has been presented there with an explanatory text ever since.

The new church was built in the Gothic style without a church tower. In 1552 the building, which had been badly devastated by soldiers, was restored. Major changes were made at the instigation of Father Antonius Weickmann in 1731 during a comprehensive restoration of the interior. In the course of these measures, the old wooden ceiling was replaced by one made of plaster , which was then decorated with ceiling paintings and stucco work .

At the instigation of Father Meinradus Hamberger, a church tower was added on the south side of the building in 1784 . Until then, the church bells were housed in a separate (not preserved) bell house, which was about 30 paces away from the church.

Under pastor Amandus Storr, the church had to be repaired again in 1800 after an attack by French soldiers; it received a new pavement, new confessionals were set up and altars replaced. In the period between 1799 and 1818, numerous new oil paintings were acquired.

The last structural change was made in 1913 with an extension on the west side, which enlarged the church space and built in a gallery. When the western wall of the building had to be broken through during this work, the foundation stone from 1517 was exposed. Several columns were erected to support the roofing of the new entrance area. The structural development can be clearly seen today - also due to the different color of the roofs - in the external appearance of the church.

In 2014 and 2015, the church underwent extensive interior and exterior renovations.

Building description

Crucifixion group in the choir

The Martinskirche is a single nave aisle church with a cantilevered ceiling. The building was built in an east-west direction, the choir is faced . The nave has a high, steep gable roof , while the choir and the modern extension to the west are lower.

The main entrance to the church is on the west. A small vestibule, which also serves as a vestibule, leads directly to the nave . Above the entrance area is the gallery with the organ , as well as paintings and a large wooden crucifix . On the parapet of the gallery there are 13 reliefs depicting Jesus Christ and the twelve apostles . There is a walkway between the two stairways to the gallery.

Through an orifice having a circular arc the nave is connected to the chorus, with a three-eighths-circuit is formed. The sacristy can be reached from the choir . On the left side of the arch there is the Marian altar with a radiated Madonna , on the right the Joseph altar . Both altars are optically emphasized by the same light green background color that also surrounds the ceiling paintings, while the side walls of the church are kept white.

The nave and the gallery contain around 500 seats.

The square church tower is 26 meters high and only towers a few meters above the church.

Interior

The interior of the Martinskirche is simple and modern after the current renovation. From the Baroque style state of the 18th century nor the ceiling paintings, the witness Regency - Stuck with the Klosterwappen, the Crucifixion in the choir and the paintings of Weißenhorner painter Konrad Huber.

Ceiling painting

Detail from the central ceiling painting The Assumption of Mary by the Rottweiler painter Jakob Christoph Achert

The ceiling fresco was created in 1731 by the Rottweiler painter Jakob Christoph Achert.

Directly above the choir arch, three coats of arms are shown as a coherent group. The Mohrin with miter comes from the coat of arms of the Fugger von Kirchberg and Weißenhorn. The ostrich with a horseshoe in its beak is the heraldic animal of the church builder Georg Hacker, abbot of the Wiblingen monastery. The double cross is the coat of arms of the Wiblingen monastery.

The central ceiling painting in the nave is dedicated to Mary . It represents the assumption of Mary into heaven . Carried on a cloud Mary floats to heaven. Six further paintings with depictions of saints are grouped around this main picture :

There are two more ceiling paintings in the choir. The larger of them shows the adoration of the Eucharistic Sacrament by the continents of Europe, Africa, America and Asia known at the time of the painting. The smaller picture is a representation of God the Father .

Statues

Bishop Martin of Tours , the namesake of the church

The crucifixion group in the choir was created around 1700. The figure of Christ itself was so badly damaged that it was replaced in 1952/1953. The current figure is a copy of Christ in the cemetery chapel in Söflingen .

The statue of Mary on the altar to the left of the choir arch was made in 1729 in the Hops wood carving workshop in Mietingen . It was later reinforced with a halo .

The Joseph figure on the Joseph altar to the right of the choir arch is from more recent times. The statue of St. Anthony (on the south wall of the nave) was made around 1750. Like the figure of St. Martin with a bishop's staff (also on the south wall) and St. Benedict (on the north wall), it was made in the wood carving workshop of the monastery Wiblingen made.

On the gallery there is a large wooden crucifix from the workshop of the Mietingen wood sculptor Johannes Hops, which was created in 1731.

Oil painting

The majority of the paintings that hang on the walls of the choir, in the nave and on the gallery are by the Weißenhorn painter Konrad Huber . They were painted between 1799 and 1818 at the time of Pastor Amandus Storr. These include depictions of the Annunciation , the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian and the Last Supper .

On the right and left of the nave there are 14 oil paintings depicting the stations of the cross . The pictures painted by Martin Dreyer were created in 1786 and were donated by Rosalia Ketzer, a citizen of Lower Kirchberg.

Pews

The cheeks of the made of dark wood pews are with intricately carved ornaments decorated.

Principals

The metal tabernacle dates from the 1950s. Four animals are represented on it as symbols of Christian beliefs. The phoenix stands for death and resurrection , the pelican for the sacrificial death of Christ , the stag for people who seek God and the lamb for the sacrificial animal, the Lamb of God .

The altar, the ambo and the baptismal font are made of light stone in a uniform appearance.

Exterior fittings

Memorial plaque for Pastor Georg Geisenhof (1819–1861)

Stone relief

There is a large stone relief in the wall above the main entrance to the church . It depicts Saint Anthony who distributes the “bread of Anthony” to the poor. The relief was attached to the existing church in 1913/1914 as part of the western extension. It was donated to the church by the then dean Franz after he had received the main prize in a lottery with a lottery ticket that was forced on him.

Memorial plaques

On the north wall of the church, also on the west extension, a stone plaque embedded in the masonry reminds of Pastor Georg Geisenhof, who worked in Unterkirchberg from 1819 to 1861. Another memorial plaque is built into the south wall of the church in memory of the Unterkirchberg architect Michael Bischof, who was the only soldier in Unterkirchberg to perish in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 in the battle of Champigny .

Tower clock

The old clock tower of the Martinskirche received a new clock board on October 22nd, 1827. The Hörz company, a specialist company for tower clocks and chimes based in Ulm at the time , installed a new size 5 type C electric tower clock in 1930. The clock face from the old clock had a diameter of 1.40 meters. The Hörz watch was exchanged for a fully electric watch in April 1966.

Church tower figure

In the south wall of the church tower there is a stone relief with the motif of the Good Shepherd in a small niche a few meters above the entrance door .

organ

The Reiser organ on the gallery
Detail of the organ (north side)

As early as 1767, a local chronicle mentions a new organ in the Martinskirche, which initially had its place above the sacristy and was later moved to the gallery . This instrument had the following seven registers : Principal, Kopal, Flute, Quint, Octav, Mixtur and Subbass . In 1820 it was repaired and retuned, and Joseph Koetteler from Donauwörth made a new keyboard for this organ. In November 1841 it was sold to Großschafhausen near Schwendi for 50 guilders as "fairly damaged" .

On March 9, 1842, a contract for the construction of a new organ was signed with the organ builder Franz Sales Hechinger , who delivered the finished instrument a year later in March 1843. It cost 558 guilders and according to the contract had the following eight registers: Principal, Octav, Coppel, Flute, Viola, Jubel-Flute, Octavbass and Subbass .

The Hechinger organ was replaced again around 1900 by another instrument with a fundamental sound.

The current organ was built in 1972 by the Biberach organ building company Reiser . Older organ pipes were also used. The instrument with 15 registers on two manuals and pedal has a sound pattern based on that of a North German baroque organ. The playing and stop actions are mechanical.
The disposition is as follows:

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Principal 8th'
2. Covered 8th'
3. Octave 4 ′
4th Nasat 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
5. Night horn 2 ′
6th mixture 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
II subsidiary work C – g 3
7th Reed flute 8th'
8th. Schwiegel 4 ′
9. Coupling flute 4 ′
10. octave 2 ′
11. Sif flute 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
12. Sesquialter II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ + 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
13. Sub bass 16 ′
14th Open bass 8th'
15th Pommer 4 ′

Bells

Bell story

The oldest known bell for the Martinskirche was cast in 1685 in the workshop of Theodosius Ernst in Ulm. It had the Latin inscription Sanctus Martinus Episcopus et Confessor sit pro nobis adud Deum Intercessor ("May the holy bishop and confessor Martinus be an intercessor with God"). There were two more bells in the old bell tower. The smaller of them bore the inscription "In 1745 Gottlieb Korn and Carl Christoph Frauenlob poured me in Ulm". When the small bell burst in 1823, it was cast around and enlarged as part of the repair.

Of the three new bells that were bought in exchange for the old ones in 1891, two were melted down again during the First World War . The Grüninger bell foundry in Villingen cast two new bells for St. Martin's Church in 1935, but two of the three bells had to be given back as "war victims" during the Second World War (1942). Only one of the bells from 1935 has survived. It is dedicated to Saint Sebastian.

In 1954, donations from Catholic and Protestant Christians made it possible to purchase three new bells, which were cast by the Bachert bell foundry in Heilbronn .

Today's bells

The largest of the four bronze bells available today , the Christ Bell, has a frieze all around on the bell shoulder with decorations of crowns and lilies, and in between a sign of victory forming hands. On the flank it bears a representation of Jesus Christ as King on the globe. It rings for the Angelus , at baptisms and on Sundays and holidays for conversion .

The slightly smaller Marie bell is decorated on the bells shoulder between two ornamental bridges with garlands of flowers and flower vases. On her flank, Mary is depicted with a crown and the baby Jesus. Alone, this bell can only be heard on working days for the change.

The third bell is called St. Josefsglocke or Antoniusglocke and is known as the Totenglöckle . On her shoulder she has a surrounding frieze with depictions of lilies, crosses, tablets of the law and tendrils. On its flank, St. Anthony and St. Joseph are each depicted with the baby Jesus in their arms; Antonius also carries a vase with a lily, while Joseph holds a lily in his hand.

The smallest of the four bells is the oldest, the Sebastian bell . The engravings “Unterkirchberg, Württ.” On the bell shoulder are difficult to read. On the flank, Saint Sebastian is depicted half-naked and pierced with arrows in relief.

Bell jar Mass
(kg) 		diameter Chime Bell caster year inscription
Christ bell 980 1160 mm f sharp ' 0-7 * Bachert bell foundry, Heilbronn 1954 "CHRISTVS KÖNIG FVER TIME AND ETERNITY FOR
THE FALLEN AND MISSED YOU PENTED"
Marienbell 560 985 mm a ' 0-8 Bachert, Heilbronn 1954 "JVNGFRAU MVTTER QUEEN FVEHR VNS TO YOUR SON"
St. Joseph's / Antonius bell 390 865 mm h ' 0-6 Bachert, Heilbronn 1954 "ST. JOSEF VND ST. ANTONIVS, IN EMERGENCY VND DANGER SAVED VNS "
Sebastian Bell 270 745 mm cis '' -9 Grüninger bell foundry, Villingen 1935 "S.SEBASTIANE ORA PRO NOBIS"

* Reference tone: a '= 435 Hz, deviations in 16th semitone steps

Until the end of the 1950s, the bells were still rung by hand with ropes. Today all four bell ringing machines of the Concordia super type from Hörz are used. An audio recording of the full bells is available on YouTube .

Epitaphs

During the construction of the so-called “old morgue”, which is located in the southeast of the church building within the cemetery walls, two old grave slabs were set vertically into the wall on both sides of the entrance door in 1954. The right epitaph is the oldest surviving grave monument in the cemetery from 1587, which probably belongs to a member of the Kirchberg count's house. The left epitaph is a commemorative plaque for Baron Johannes Jacobus Herold von Hefflingen , who was buried in the Unterkirchberg cemetery in 1697. This grave slab was located next to the Joseph Altar in the interior of the church until 1953.

Martinusweg

Information board on the pilgrim path Martinusweg

St. Martin's Church in sub-Kirchberg located on the German main line of European pilgrimage Martinusweg that the birthplace of the saint of Tours Martin in Hungarian Szombathely to his grave lay in the French Tours leads. Coming from Burgrieden , a 27 km long section of the pilgrimage route continues via Unterkirchberg to Ulm. The cast iron plaque with the inscription Via Sancti Martini ("Way of Saint Martin") attached to the south wall of the church in Unterkirchberg indicates the pilgrimage route and the patron saint.

use

The Martinskirche is regularly used for services by the Catholic parish. There will be church concerts and performances by choirs instead.

literature

  • Alfred Klank, Sybille Mang, Karl Schlegel, Claus Schrof: St. Martin Unterkirchberg 500 years, 1517–2017. Catholic parish of St. Martin, Unterkirchberg (ed.), Digital print Leibi, 2017.
  • Thomas Vogel: Art and cultural monuments in the Alb-Danube district and in Ulm. Alb-Donau-Kreis and City of Ulm (Eds.) Konrad Theiss, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1901-X , pp. 240–242.
  • Chronicle Erwin Weiss. (1953)

Web links

Commons : St. Martin (Unterkirchberg)  - Collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ulrike Kern: The sculptor family Hops (Hobs) from Mietingen. In: Hohenzollerische Heimat , Vol. 36, No. 1, March 1986, p. 7, hohenzollerischer-geschichtsverein.de, accessed on November 1, 2017 (PDF file)
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Manecke , Johannes Mayr: Historical organs in Ulm and Upper Swabia. Pipe organs in the Alb-Donau-Keis, Ulm, Hayingen and Zwiefalten. Süddeutsche Verlagsgemeinschaft, Ulm 1999, ISBN 978-3-88294-268-2 .
  3. ^ Full bell St. Martin on youtube.com, accessed on March 31, 2017.

Coordinates: 48 ° 20 ′ 22.7 ″  N , 10 ° 0 ′ 27.5 ″  E