St. Michael (Volkach)

The Chapel of St. Michael

The portal from the 15th century

The figure of Saint Michael on the cemetery wall

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Michael stands on the edge of the old town of Volkach . The Obere Markt lies at her feet, and behind her is the municipal cemetery .

history

In 1404 the Counts of Castell built the church in front of the walls (Latin extra muros ) of the city of Volkach, from then on it was the center of the Upper Suburb . The church was under the patronage of Mary . From the year 1420, the Würzburg prince-bishops and the counts jointly took over the church building. The construction began to be neglected, due to a lack of money and a lack of donors. In 1419 the city Volkach therefore established the benefice a B. M. V. extra muros (Beatae Mariae Virginis). Now the chapel received several donations. One of the founders was Konrad Zollner, the lord of the Hallburg .

At the beginning of the 16th century, the church was also the hospital church of the citizens' hospital in the neighborhood. From 1544 it was used as a cemetery chapel. This went hand in hand with structural decline, which can be explained by the lack of income. Only 15 guilders, 2 pounds, 3 pfennigs and 3 loads of wine were available to the chaplain. After the amalgamation of all the city's benefits in 1595, the maintenance of the chapel was financed from the income from the pilgrimage church Maria im Weingarten . In 1612 the church was dilapidated. In Hieronymus Degen's description, missing windows and the disdain for the population are emphasized.

A renovation of the church was started in the 1630s, but failed because of the devastation in the Thirty Years' War . Renewal of the building did not begin until 1684. The topping-out ceremony was held on May 10, 1686. In total, the new building cost around 1200 guilders. In 1707, a lightning strike in the roof destroyed the new church, so it had to be rebuilt by 1739, when the patronage was changed to Archangel Michael .

With the secularization of 1803 a demolition of the church was discussed. However, this plan was soon rejected. After a major fire, the chapel had to be rebuilt in 1862–1864. Now it presented itself in the neo-Gothic style. From 1977 the chapel was used as a church by the growing evangelical community. After a renovation , it was leased to the community for ninety-nine years in 1982. The Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments has included the church as a monument under the number D-6-75-174-84; the archaeological findings are listed as a ground monument.

Architecture and surroundings

In his first description of the Church of St. Michael in 1504, the town clerk Niklas Brobst names a choir , a stone nave and an attached ossuary. A wooden tower housed two bells. Inside there was an altar, a gallery and the pulpit. In 1680, before the new building, a new high altar with John the Baptist and St. Dorothea was donated to the church.

During the reconstruction in 1739, the chapel received different altars. The high altar was in turn consecrated to John the Baptist and St. Dorothea. St. Michael was added. The side altars received the patronage of the Holy Virgin and St. Lazarus . In 1760 a new organ was purchased. The interior of the church was completed in 1800 by the suffering stations.

When the chapel was built for the third time from 1862 to 1864, the hall church was expanded and a new high altar was built. Today it has a retracted polygonal choir . The church is crowned by a roof turret . Only the portal tympanum has been preserved from the medieval church . It shows the crowning of Mary and is probably a replica of a similar relief on the Marienkapelle in Würzburg. The Vesper picture from the 15th century is now in the Mainfränkisches Museum .

In the 16th century a cemetery was laid out behind the chapel, which still serves as a burial place. A figure of St. Michael from 1737, which was erected there in 1865, sits enthroned above the cemetery portal from 1604.

Bells

There are two bells in a steel bell cage on the roof turret of the Michael's Chapel

Surname	volume	Caster	Casting year	Weight	diameter
Prayer bell	c ''	Bachert	1983	341 kg	810 mm
Baptismal bell	it''	Bachert	1983	206 kg	680 mm

literature

• Gerhard Egert, Gerhard Gellmann, Victor Metzner: St. Michaels Church in Volkach. Festschrift for the inauguration . In: Volkacher Hefte No. 3. Volkach 1982.
• Victor Metzner: The Protestant community in Volkach becomes independent . In: Feuerbach, Ute: Volkach 906-2006 . Volkach 2006.
• Karl Treutwein : From Abtswind to Zeilitzheim. History, sights, traditions . Volkach 1987.

Web links

Commons : St. Michael  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Evangelical parish : St. Michael Volkach

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gerhard Egert (among others): St. Michaels Church in Volkach . P. 3.
2. ^ Gerhard Egert (among others): St. Michaels Church in Volkach . P. 6.
3. ^ City of Volkach: Church of St. Michael , accessed on March 19, 2013.
4. ↑ See: Gerhard Egert, Gerhard Gellmann, Victor Metzner: St. Michaelskirche in Volkach .
5. ^ Gerhard Egert (among others): St. Michaels Church in Volkach . P. 8.
6. ↑ Geodata: Monument number D-6-75-174-84 ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 19, 2013. 
7. ^ Karl Treutwein: From Abtswind to Zeilitzheim. P. 101.
8. ↑ Church tower inspection and YouTube video

Coordinates: 49 ° 51 ′ 50.5 ″  N , 10 ° 13 ′ 39.1 ″  E