St. Nikolai (Geschwenda)

Geschwenda Church

The St. Nikolai Church is the Evangelical Lutheran village church in Geschwenda in the Ilm district in Thuringia .

prehistory

The town center is dominated by the large, well-preserved Nikolaikirche , built in the late Baroque style from September 11, 1741 (laying of the foundation stone) by Gottfried Heinrich Krohne , as well as the 300-year-old rectory. The plans for the church go back to 1732. The "old castle" and the previous building had to give way for the new construction of the single-nave hall church. The baptismal font still comes from this, which had been expanded several times and only received a new church tower in 1655. The church had collapsed due to its disrepair.

financing

The building owner was the then church patron, imperial baron and Württemberg privy councilor and chief stable master HRG von Röder. He also owned the Molsdorf Castle near Arnstadt. Röder's picture hangs in the church to the right behind the pulpit at the level of the first gallery and bears this verse as a caption:

Honor, Schwende, your Röder,

kiss his gentle hand,

which this house of God

given so much grace.

A stone coat of arms of the Röderschen family can be seen above the main entrance to the church and at a height of about 10 meters on the tower.

The new building of the church cost 6603 guilders. Added to this were the costs for the pictures on the ceiling, which depict the eye of God above the pulpit, then the ascension, resurrection and transfiguration of Christ, with the other paintings a total of 150 Reichstaler. The quarries in Geschwenda, Martinroda and Graefenroda supplied the building material for the church.

Building description

After the topping-out ceremony of the new church had already been celebrated on May 6, 1741, the construction progress was prevented by the collapse of the not yet completed church tower in May 1743. This collapse completely destroyed the school next door, which was rebuilt in 1750, slightly larger than the old one. After the importance of the east facing of a church was lost in the Middle Ages , we see a church here whose tower with the main entrance is in the east, but the chancel is in the west.

Nave and tower

The church has a hipped, slate-covered mansard roof and a retracted, square tower in the east, completed in 1746, with four clock faces above which the tower construction begins and which have round arches. The tower - according to the church chronicle "66 Schuh" high, corresponds to about 20 m - has a stepped tail dome with a lantern and a top that is interrupted by three cornices . The tower ball and the weather vane rise above it . A small baroque porch with a portal is attached to the tower, the portal crowns the coat of arms of the builder Freiherr von Röder.

A wooden staircase was originally built on the west wall of the ship, leading to the "Röderschen Adelsstand" (also "Herrenstand") inside. Only sparse remnants of this can be seen on the wall.

Interior

Baptismal font

In the white, gray and gold interior of the church, the baptismal font from 1617 with a brass bowl is particularly worth seeing. It was set up to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Reformation. As already mentioned, it comes from the previous church.

altar

In addition, the interior of the church captivates with a magnificent pulpit altar, which probably also comes from the previous church, and a richly decorated organ front by Johann Michael Gutjahr from Seebergen from 1744 to 1748. On the wall to the right of the altar in the first gallery is a portrait of the baron to see. In 1747 the entire church was completed.

organ

An organ was installed in the old church in 1647 by Sebastian Wätzschele from Seebergen, which was renewed in 1673 by Caspar Lehmann from Suhl. In 1744 Johann Michael Gutjahr from Seebergen created an organ for the newly built church for around 620 thalers. Today's two-manual organ was made by Guido Knauf in 1882; Knauf used the old registers during construction. The composer Johann Peter Kellner , who is close to Johann Sebastian Bach , developed the arrangement for the organ .

Ceiling painting

Gottfried (father) and Christian Gottfried (son) Wunderlich , Arnstadt court painters, designed the ceiling paintings of the middle barrel of the nave on canvas. They show scenes from biblical history. The Röder patronage box was also designed by Wunderlich. On the west wall there are portraits of the pastors from 1533 to 1768.

Table of the post-Reformation pastors

On the left side behind the pulpit hangs a high picture panel of the post-Reformation pastors of the church until 1742. The pictures are numbered on the panel, column-wise from top to bottom, then next column to the right: