St. Mauritius (Reepsholt)

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Reepsholt Church - side view
Reepsholt Church - frontal view

St. Mauritius is an Evangelical Lutheran church building in the center of the village of Reepsholt , Friedeburg municipality in Lower Saxony from the 13th century. She is named after St. Mauritius named. The church is designated as a monument .

history

Transept and choir

The Romano-Gothic church was built at the beginning of the 13th century and was consecrated to Saint Mauritius from the start. Originally the parish church was the counterpart to the collegiate church of the Reepsholt monastery , but it has not been preserved.

Around the middle of the 13th century, in the course of a second construction phase, a two-storey, vaulted church tower was added on the west side and connected to the nave by a narrow arch. A vestibule and a space in between led to the longship being shortened by almost a yoke .

In a third phase of construction around 1300, the church was removed down to the granite base from a height of 4 meters and rebuilt with bricks and vaulted.

In the fourth construction phase, the east apse was completed by the choir with a 5 ⁄ 10 finish

The tower was destroyed during a siege in 1474, in a feud between the county of East Friesland and Drosten zu Friedeburg. Countess Theda Ukena initiated the siege of Reepsholt in 1474. Her field captain Hero Mauritz von Dornum had the fortified church tower collapse by digging it under. The tower ruin has since become the town's landmark and one of the most famous buildings in the Wittmund district .

During the Thirty Years' War the church was devastated by the troops of Count von Mansfeld , so that almost all of the furnishings had to be re-purchased. Presumably in 1647, the western part was separated from the rest of the church by a drawn-in wall.

It was not until the years 2002 to 2003 that foundations, financial grants, donations and voluntary work enabled the redevelopment of the western part, the “Oll Kark” ( old church ).

Building description

St. Mauritius is a single nave cruciform church . Up to a height of about four meters, the masonry consists of granite blocks , at least on the outside , some of which were implemented when the building was expanded. The masonry above was built entirely from brick in several construction phases.

The tower, as the oldest brick wall, has Romanesque , round-arched shapes inside and out : on the outside there are the friezes on the north and south walls, inside the bricked-up connections to the nave, below a passage, above the inside window of the patronage , on both sides former staircases. The granite outer skin of the first floor was completely replaced on the south side and partly on the north side with modern, small brick.

The almost completely preserved granite plinth (actually significantly more than a plinth) of the nave and transept has three arched portals, the opposite parish entrances to the nave and a small gate under the south gable of the transept. The brick walls above it, which are about a hundred years younger than the bricked-up arched windows to the attic, are consistently designed with Gothic pointed arches , both all the windows, narrow lancet windows on the nave and the arched friezes under the eaves of the nave. The arched friezes are missing on the transept and choir . The mighty round services and the pointed arches are evidence of the vaults erected in the third construction phase .

The southern gable triangle and the southern east wall of the transept are decorated with arched panels, the panel backgrounds of which are designed as brick patterns. The windows in the transept gables are wider than the lancet windows in the nave and are structured by Y tracery .

The granite base of the choir is slightly lower than that of the rest of the church because it is made of converted material. The polygonal 7 ⁄ 10 closure is designed according to Westphalian models and is considered the oldest polygonal choir in the Frisian region. The two westernmost windows of the choir are lancet windows, the remaining somewhat wider tracery windows, still with early Gothic arcatures.

The part of the nave to the west of the side portals is separated from the rest of the church by a modern wall.

Furnishing

Reepsholt Church - interior view

The interior is closed off by a wooden flat ceiling. During a renovation, the painting from 1887 was restored in the old colors. A wrought-iron late Gothic chandelier from the 15th century hangs in the southern wing. Twelve round towers are attached to the hoop, which stand for the twelve city gates of the heavenly Jerusalem . According to tradition, the antlers attached to it come from a deer who sought refuge in the church during a hunt. The Hezilo chandelier , which was donated in 1889, is a replica of the chandelier from Hildesheim Cathedral . The other candlesticks date from the 17th to 19th centuries and represent Flemish work.

The Romanesque baptismal font, which received its wooden paneling around 1650, is one of the oldest furnishings. The wooden door in the chancel, decorated with iron fittings, also dates from the time the church was built. The altarpiece was donated by Drost in Friedeburg in 1647 and was made by Jacob Cröpelin . On the silhouette of the then Reepsholt the Lord's Supper scene and above it the crucifixion is shown. In the area of ​​the altar there is a sacrament house and paintings of Jesus and the apostles. The pulpit, based on Cröpelin's designs, was donated by a family from Hoheesche in 1845.

For the refurbishment of the western part, the “Oll Kark”, a simple round granite basin was made available, which may have come from the abandoned Abickhafe chapel and where it served as a holy water basin. In the western part, the walled-up Romanesque mansion can still be seen.

organ

Wenthin organ from 1789

Johann Friedrich Wenthin built the organ on the north wall from 1787 to 1789 , which has 17 registers on two manuals . The pedal (C – d 1 ) is attached to the Hauptwerk. It is considered to be his best-preserved work and, after various changes, was thoroughly restored in 1992/93 by Bernhardt Edskes ( Wohlen ).

I main work C – d 3
1. Principal 8th' W.
2. Drone 16 ′ W, E
3. Coarse 8th' W.
4th Octave 4 ′ W.
5. Nassat 3 ′ W.
6th Octave 2 ′ W.
7th Mixture IV-VI W.
8th. Dulcian 16 ′ E.
9. Trumpet 8th' W.
II Oberwerk C – d 3
10. Principal 4 ′ W.
11. Gedackt D 8th' E.
12. Flautotrav. 8th' P
13. Smalled up 4 ′ W.
14th Gemshorn 2 ′ W.
15th Cornett III W.
16. Sharp III – IV E.
17th Krummhorn 8th' E.
Tremulant

Remarks:

W = original pipework by Johann Friedrich Wenthin (1789)
P = new pipe work by Karl Puchar in the original scale (1936)
E = reconstructed or new pipework by Bernhardt Edskes (1993)

Church records

The church registers are available from 1633. The year 1639 is missing for the baptisms. The year 1634 is incomplete for the deaths, the years 1635 to 1644 and 1875 are missing. There is a local family book .

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : St. Mauritius (Reepsholt)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Homepage of the parish: A tour , seen September 19, 2011.
  2. ^ Haiduck: The architecture of the medieval churches . 1986, pp. 74f.
  3. ^ A b Haiduck: The architecture of the medieval churches . 1986, pp. 105f.
  4. ↑ Ev.-luth. Harlingerland Church District: St. Mauritius Church Reepsholt , as seen September 20, 2011.
  5. ↑ a b Homepage of the parish: Die Oll Kark , as seen on September 19, 2011.
  6. ↑ a b Kiesow: Architectural Guide Ostfriesland . 2010, p. 352.
  7. ^ Haiduck: The architecture of the medieval churches . 1986, p. 108.
  8. ↑ a b Kiesow: Architectural Guide Ostfriesland . 2010, p. 353.
  9. ↑ Nordwestreisemagazin: Reepsholt, St. Mauritius Church , as seen on September 20, 2011.
  10. ↑ Reinhard Ruge (NOMINE eV): Reepsholt, St. Mauritius - organ by Johann Friedrich Wenthin (1787–1789) , as seen on September 19, 2011.
  11. ^ Organ of St. Mauritius Church on Organ index , accessed on October 1, 2018.

Coordinates: 53 ° 29 '  N , 7 ° 51'  E