St. Nicolai (Neuses am Berg)

The church in Neuses am Berg

The St. Nicolaikirche is the Protestant parish church of the Dettelbacher district in Neuses am Berg in the Lower Franconian district of Kitzingen . It is located on Kirchgasse in the middle of the village. In addition to this, the Catholic Nikolauskirche also exists in the place.

history

The history of the Protestant church is closely related to the dual denomination of the place, which emerged in the second half of the 16th century and is the reason for the construction of two places of worship in the village.

Until the Thirty Years War

In 1417 Johann von Stein and the Würzburg Cathedral Chapter founded the vicarie St. Nicolai in the village , which was occupied by Pastor Schikbold from Prosselsheim . A church already existed in the same place as it is today. In the following years it came into the possession of the monastery of Our Lady of Würzburg . In 1512 the rights to the church were exchanged and came into the possession of the Würzburg bishop Lorenz von Bibra .

In 1528 the church came into the possession of the Ansbach margrave Georg the Pious of Ansbach . In the meantime she had risen to the parish church . Under the influence of Margrave Georg Friedrich I , the Reformation was adopted in the town in 1570 . Andreas Imhof has been handed down as the first Protestant pastor. In 1589 the influence of the margraves on the village continued to grow: Georg Friedrich received the church, the rectory and the school as a fief. Simultaneously, a simultaneous use of the church building by both denominations was introduced.

With the Counter-Reformation under the rule of Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn as Bishop of Würzburg, the church received the still-preserved baptismal font in 1600. In the period that followed, the village lords fought for influence in the parish and parish. In 1617, Margrave Joachim Ernst von Brandenburg-Ansbach donated a large bell for the church. The Thirty Years' War ended Lutheran teaching in Neuses am Berg in 1628. Pastor Georg Ludwig Codomann was expelled and the Catholic rite was reintroduced.

Til today

After the religious war, the Nuremberg Imperial Deputation named Neuses am Berg together with ten other parishes in the area as a parish of grace in 1650 . These parishes were empowered to choose their pastors themselves. The church building was again used as a simultaneous church, the Protestant pastor was also employed in Neuses and Schernau . The simultaneous services ended in 1784, when the Wetzlar Court of Appeal awarded the church to the Protestant community.

In the following period the church was renewed. In 1785 the altar was moved further into the nave. A year later, the nave and tower were demolished and rebuilt in their current form. The renovations continued in 1805. After the interior renovation, the large stone staircase and the church gate were built outside. From 1828 Neuses became an independent parish again. Another renovation took place in 1911. Three new bells were hung in the bell room.

After the Second World War , the parish of Neuses also took over Dettelbach's Protestant Christians from 1960 . In the years 1966/1967 the church was completely renovated inside and outside. A ceiling painting of the Holy Trinity fell victim to this renewal. The altar was also rearranged. In 1980 the parish independence of Neuses ended. Again the position was merged with Schernau. Another renovation followed in 2003 and 2006/2007. The Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation lists the church building as a monument under the number D-6-75-117-195. Underground remains of previous buildings are classified as ground monuments.

Building description

The nave of the church

The Nicolaikirche is an east-facing hall building with a choir tower. The slightly elevated church is surrounded by a wall. It goes back to a previous medieval building. The current appearance in the so-called margrave style dates from the years 1784–1786, when the tower and nave were renewed.

The choir tower has four floors and a square substructure. The top floor is octagonal. It is also stylistically different from the rest. The lower floors are only structured by ox eyes , corner pilasters and a small portal, the upper one has corner pilasters and arched windows. The bell chamber is housed on the upper floor of the tower and can also be seen from the outside through sound hatches. A clock interrupts the east window. The church tower has a black-covered onion dome, which is crowned by a tower knob and a simple, golden cross.

In the north of the church building there is an extension with a mansard roof . The nave is oriented to the west and has a gable roof. The south side is divided by two arched windows. Both windows are connected to the portal in the west with a round-arched skylight.

Furnishing

The interior of the church

The interior of the Nicolaikirche is kept relatively simple. The superimposed structure of the altar and organ gallery is typical of a margrave style church.

pulpit

The pulpit of the church can be reached via a U-staircase with a half-platform. It is located on the right side of the chancel arch in the nave and is the most splendid element of the church's furnishings. It was built in 1805 when the church was being restored and it cites the forms of classicism . The railing that leads to the pulpit is kept in plain white. The stair floor is painted blue.

The pulpit shines in white. The round pulpit body is divided by three outer pilasters. An attached wooden element makes the pulpit taper towards the bottom. Painted figures of the four evangelists on outwardly protruding plinths below the body rise above the heads of their attributes . For acoustic cover passes over a law table with the ten bids on the rear wall. Jesus as the Good Shepherd crowns the sound cover.

organ

An organ was first mentioned in Neuses in 1785. At that time it stood on a gallery above the altar in the choir room to underpin its central character for the service. Three years later, in 1788, it received a simple new prospectus , decorated only with golden foliage , which is still preserved. In 1936 the organ was completely renewed.

Bells

A church bell was first mentioned in 1617 as the Joachim Ernst von Ansbach Foundation. In 1784 the Protestant community received the church with all the bells. In 1911 three new bells were hung in the belfry. Two of them fell victim to seizures in the First World War three years later . After the World War, the community purchased four new steel bells that are still hanging in the bell room today. The largest, the Our Father Bell, was marked with the names of those who fell in World War I.

Further equipment

The simple altar was moved into the nave, the lecture crucifix is in the extremely flat choir. It was located in the vestibule of the church until 1966 and now takes the place of the missing altarpiece . The church stalls offer space for all parishioners.

The baptismal font dates from 1600 and bears the coat of arms of other village lords in addition to the coat of arms of the Würzburg prince-bishop Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn . It is blue, has a square shaft and goes over a cornice to the hexagonal baptismal font. There are wooden galleries on the west and north sides of the church, and another, smaller one serves as an organ gallery above the altar. They are supported by tapered columns and can be entered via a staircase in the nave.

literature

Hans Bauer: District of Kitzingen. An art and culture guide. Market wide 1993.
Georg Dehio: Handbook of the German art monuments. Bavaria I: Franconia. Munich, Berlin 1999.
Heinrich Stier: Evang.-Luth. Church of St. Nicolai Neuses am Berg. (Church guide leaflet) 2009.