St. Nicolai (Coswig)

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Coswig, St. Nicolai from the northwest

The St. Nicolai Church is a Protestant church in Coswig (Anhalt) . It was the collegiate church of the nunnery founded in 1272 , which was dissolved in 1527. Since then it has been the parish church of the Coswig parish.

history

The Nicolaikirche is the oldest preserved building in the city. The original Romanesque church building, erected in the middle of the 12th century, was destroyed by the Spaniards in the Schmalkaldic War in 1547, but rebuilt in 1564/65 by Prince Wolfgang . The church suffered further damage during the Thirty Years' War . The reconstruction took place in the years 1685 to 1702. At that time the church got its present form. The tower was renewed in 1865 after fire damage in its upper section.

Building description

North side with box doors and portal

It is an elongated hall church with a steep gable roof . The large three-bay long choir and the missing apse can be traced back to a conversion to the mendicant order church in the 13th century. The north wall has numerous doors, from which the small ones led to the private boxes of wealthy families. The largest door was the entrance to the royal house's box.

The slightly pointed arched, three-step main portal dates from the Gothic period . It is over 6 feet tall. The columns on either side of the entrance door have capitals with buds and leaf ornaments.

The tower joins the nave to the west. It rests on a rectangular floor plan and occupies the entire width of the nave in the lower area. The top two floors of the tower were built in the neo-Gothic style in 1867 after fire damage . The middle floor forms an elongated octagon, crowned by a gallery with a gallery. Above it sits a smaller regular octagon, which is closed at the top by a pointed tent roof.

Long choir with altar, galleries and boxes

Inside, the different designs of the nave and nuns' choir are striking. The choir has a ribbed vault, while the nave ends with a flat coffered ceiling. The overall impression is dominated by the two-storey built-in gallery . The galleries on the north and south sides date from the 16th century. During the baroque redesign between 1688 and 1706, the organ gallery was added and in the east the galleries were drawn into the choir room.

Furnishing

Boxes

On the north side there are several boxes of the citizenship and the local nobility, which are separately accessible through external doors. Also on the north side, opposite the pulpit, is the richly decorated princely box with its own fireplace.

Window from 1350

Window detail: Adam and Eve with snake and expulsion from paradise

The window above the pulpit is one of the oldest lead glazing in Anhalt. The Gothic work of art shows four scenes from Genesis:

  • Adam and Eve with the snake
  • Expulsion from Paradise
  • Temptation of Abraham
  • Keeping Isaac

Paintings worth mentioning

This painting from 1556 is next to the pulpit. It shows the crucifixion of Jesus in a rare abundance of details.
  • Image of the Last Supper from the Cranach workshop
This painting hangs in the basement of the tower. Some of the apostles show facial features of people from the regional Reformation history. The old man on the right edge of the picture represents Lukas Cranach the elder , the cupbearer Lukas Cranach the younger.

  • Crucifixion picture by Lucas Cranach the Elder J.

  • Representation of the Last Supper from the Cranach workshop

Other equipment

  • altar
The baroque altarpiece is two-story. Johann Andreas von Düwens († 1716) created the altar portraits. A crucifixion scene can be seen in the middle panel, above the resurrection of Christ. On the predella that's Last Supper shown. The carved figures come from Johann Tobias Schuchhard († 1711)
  • pulpit
The baroque pulpit from 1687 shows various wood carvings that are believed to have originated from the previous pulpit. In the niches of the basket there are sculptures of Jesus and the evangelists . The sound cover from 1681 comes from master Johann Potz. He is crowned by the figure "Christ on the globe".
  • baptism
The font was also created in the baroque period. It was probably created in 1701 by Giovanni Simonetti and donated by the citizens of Coswig. Two angels carry an oval bowl. A circumferential inscription reads:
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
  • Choir stalls
The choir stalls date from the pre-Reformation period (around 1450). It was originally free, but when it was baroque it was integrated into the boxes. In the second half of the 16th century, the stalls were coated like wallpaper with paintings, which presumably came from the Cranach workshop.
  • Epitaphs
Pogk epitaph
The epitaph is for the Cowiger governor Otto von Pogk († 1577). On the central panel, a painting from the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger shows a scene from the Garden of Gethsemane . In the foreground are the donor figures Otto von Pogk and his wife. The upper panel shows the resurrection, the lower picture a pelican, symbol of the sacrificial death of Christ.
Wacke epitaph
The small epitaph is reminiscent of the daughter of the Coswig citizen Wacke, who died in 1631 at the age of 6.
Stammer-Lattorff epitaph
The epitaph with portrait medallions reminds of Hennig Philipp von Stammer († 1745) and his wife Maria Elisabeth von Lattorff († 1758).
  • organ
The baroque organ front has five symmetrically arranged pipe towers. The shape originated in the early 18th century. Today's organ was built by the Bernburg organ builder Kühne in 1864.

Pastor

  • 1540: Matthias Tatius
  • 1543–1555: M. Augustin Deutschbein sen.
  • 1555–1558: Blasius Jünger (Junior)
  • 1558–1572: Fabianus Jünger
  • 1572–1573: Wolfgang Amling
  • 1573–1586: M. Augustin Deutschbein jun.
  • 1586–1603: Johann Buch
  • 1603–1624: M. Joachim Gese (reformed)
  • 1624–1637: M. Andreas Bünböse (reformed)
  • 1638–1644: M. Philipp Beckmann (reformed)
  • 1645–1683: M. Samuel Cnuppius
  • 1683–1697: M. Rudolf Cnuppius
  • 1698–1740: Provost Johann Michael Caletzki
  • 1742–1757: Provost Martin Ernst Richter
  • 1758–1778: Provost Konrad Heinrich Altmann
  • 1779–1799: Provost Friedrich Koltitz
  • 1800–1826: Provost Ludwig Henning
  • 1828–1833: Chief Preacher Heinrich Schmidt
  • 1833–1848: Chief Preacher August Günther
  • 1849–1856: Chief Preacher Ernst Koch
  • 1856–1859: Provost Friedrich Stephan
  • 1860–1864: Provost August Valentiner
  • 1865–1869: Provost Albert Körner
  • 1869–1885: Provost Friedrich Schlick
  • 1885–1914: Chief Preacher Moritz Lucke
  • 1914–1926: Chief Preacher Ernst Werner
  • 1926–1933: Otto Vahlteich
  • 1934–1947: Ernst Donath
  • 1947–1955: Theodor Hensel
  • 1955-1974: Paul Daniel
  • 1975–1996: Hans-Günther Lindemann; Käthe Lindemann
  • 1997-2000: Ravinder Salooja; Tatjana Gressert
  • 2001–2011: Stephan Grötzsch
  • 2011–2018: Holm Haschker

literature

  • Ernst Werner: History of the city of Coswig-Anhalt. Coswig 1929.
  • Herrmann Graf: Anhalt Pastor's Book. The evangelical pastors since the Reformation. Dessau 1996, p. 103 f.
  • Matthias Prasse: City Church St. Nicolai and former and former Dominican monastery in Coswig (Anh.) , Dresden 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-027632-3 .

Web links

Commons : St. Nicolai (Coswig)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Matthias Prasse: Stadtkirche St. Nicolai and former and former Dominican monastery in Coswig (Anh.) , Dresden 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-027632-3 , p. 7 f.
  2. ^ Matthias Prasse: Stadtkirche St. Nicolai and former and former Dominican monastery in Coswig (Anh.) , Dresden 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-027632-3 , p. 12.
  3. ^ Matthias Prasse: Stadtkirche St. Nicolai and former and former Dominican monastery in Coswig (Anh.) , Dresden 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-027632-3 , p. 19.
  4. ^ Matthias Prasse: Stadtkirche St. Nicolai and former and former Dominican monastery in Coswig (Anh.) , Dresden 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-027632-3 , p. 20.
  5. ^ Matthias Prasse: Stadtkirche St. Nicolai and former and former Dominican monastery in Coswig (Anh.) , Dresden 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-027632-3 , p. 10.
  6. ^ Matthias Prasse: Stadtkirche St. Nicolai and former and former Dominican monastery in Coswig (Anh.) , Dresden 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-027632-3 , pp. 12-22.

Coordinates: 51 ° 52 ′ 57 ″  N , 12 ° 27 ′ 30.9 ″  E