St. Michael (Gamstädt)

Michael Church

Steeple

The Sankt Michael Church in Gamstädt , Thuringia, is the only sight of the district. It was named after the Archangel Michael and still bears its name today after the evangelical use of the church since 1534.

The parish

The Evangelical Lutheran parish Gamstädt belongs to the parish to association seamounts in the church district Gotha of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany . Other parishes of this parish association are u. a. Grabsleben , Cobstädt and Tüttleben .

History of the church

Interior view with organ

Wall decorations in the community room

Entrance to the tower room

Benches

organ

A stone block on the north-west corner of the church indicates the year 1422, but it is not known whether this is also the year of construction. It is possible that the stone comes from a previous church.

The year the nave was built is also unknown. Various notes in old chronicles suggest that there was originally a nave that was separate from the tower, perhaps even older than the tower. Remnants of this old building, which was about 2 m narrower than the current one and had an apse on its east side , were found during construction work inside the church. In 1672 the nave was widened to its present size and probably added to the tower. The windows were also broken during this time. On the north side there are still clear remains in the late Gothic style of the original entrance. The current view of the church was shaped by renovations in the 18th century. At that time the arched windows , the new entrances, the ceiling and the galleries were added. The original painting from 1792, donated by a wealthy mayor, is still preserved today because the church was not renovated for lack of money.

The church no longer has a churchyard corresponding to its size. Almost nothing is left of the original size of the cemetery around the church. In the 19th century, the cemetery was moved to a plot of land north of the village for reasons of hygiene. After the deedication , parts of the cemetery were sold step by step in order to refresh the community's coffers. Today the land of the neighboring houses is almost everywhere directly adjacent to the church.

Despite being deedicated, a newer grave with fresh flowers can be found in front of the church entrance. In the last days of the war in 1945 , a married couple from Gamstadt who had died in the American artillery bombardment were buried here . Because of the curfew imposed by the Americans, the burial was not allowed to take place in the cemetery outside the village limits.

Access

A paved path leads past a fence to the northeast corner of the church. First you pass a church gate that is not used. Here are two old grave slabs on the church wall, one with a cross and Gothic script and the baroque stone of Pastor Kühn. The story connects him with the fact that in 1720 there was a dispute with the Kleinrettbachers , whom he also looked after, about the Gamstadt rectory building, which they did not want to pay for and therefore refused to attend church. The Kurmainzer authorities eased the request of Kühn for help arrest the Kleinrettbacher council and imprisoned three days. Nevertheless, there were further disagreements, so that Kleinrettbach received his own pastor for a few years. If you continue along the church wall, you pass a walled-up former entrance before you get to the current front door.

Interior fittings

Anteroom, church service room, tower room

If you enter the church through the western entrance door in the north wall, you stand in a small anteroom, which also provides access to the nave, but also to a simple parish and worship room built in 1982. The service usually takes place here. Mass is only held in the large church interior on major public holidays. One wall of this small room is decorated with a plaque with an inscription in the Jewish language . A medieval, iron-studded door in the community room leads into the cross-vaulted tower room, a room for small meetings of the community members. A medieval safe or tabernacle is set into the wall here .

tower

Two steel bells hang in the tower to replace the three bronze bells given for its purposes during the First World War . One of the bells, electrically controlled, rings for prayer. In the first gallery there is an old, preserved striking mechanism , although the church never had a clock.

The organ

The church interior is dominated by the organ from 1790, a work by the organ builder Johann Georg Kummer from Erfurt. As a marble dedication plaque on the organ tells, the organ was renewed and improved in 1890 by the mayor Carl Hess. The white paint and the rich gilding were paid for by his wife Friederike. Unfortunately, the organ is no longer playable today.

The pews

The pews with their original personalized name painting deserve special attention. Not only can you find different names here, but also functionaries who always had the same place in the church, e.g. B. "The pastor", "Anna Elisabetha Ehrlichen". The fact that most names have women's names and that these usually end with “in” is due to the fact that people used to sit separately according to sex. The women sat downstairs, the men in the galleries (except for the rental chairs).

Galleries

In the middle of the first gallery is a marble slab, the text of which reminds us that on February 4, 1816, the pastor and general superintendent Dr. Josias Friedrich Christian Löffler suddenly died while practicing his spiritual profession from a stroke at the age of 64. His daughter, Mrs. Kirchrath Hey zu Gotha , gave the church 100 thalers on condition that the grave will continue to be preserved. It is not known whether this condition was followed.

See also : Löffler Monument