St. Nikolaus (Ichenheim)

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St. Nikolaus is the Roman Catholic parish church of Ichenheim , a district of the Neuried community in the Ortenau district of Baden-Württemberg . It was built by Hans Voss , a student of Friedrich Weinbrenner , in the style of Weinbrenner's classicism . She is known not least because of the three altar paintings by Marie Ellenrieder . The parish is part of the pastoral care unit Schutterwald-Neuried of the Archdiocese of Freiburg .

St. Nicholas from the Southeast

history

Ichenheim, probably the "home of Icho", belonged to the Lords of Geroldseck in the 13th century , namely their lower lordship, Lahr . In the 15th century it was inherited by the Counts of Moers-Saar Werden , who had to share the rule with the Margraves of Baden . In a real division Ichenheim came in 1628 to the southern, Catholic, part of the margraviate Baden-Baden , the rule Mahlberg .

A parish existed in Ichenheim in the 13th century, and in 1398 there is talk of an "ecclesia parochialis", parish church. It was dedicated to Saint Peter . The Nikolaus patronage is more recent. Ichenheim was a branch church of St. Johannes in the neighboring village of Dundenheim . In 1464 the parish was incorporated into Gengenbach Monastery . After the Reformation , a Protestant clergyman was first attested to in Ichenheim in 1554 , and then "the clergy of the two faiths change in colorful order, depending on whether Catholic or Protestant rule is at the helm." For example, Ichenheim became "Catholic again in 1628 , because Margrave Wilhelm von Baden-Baden had caused a division of the rule Lahr and Mahlberg. Stracks was now restored to the strength of the Catholic religion. <...> However, this acquis was short-lived. With the turn of the fortunes of war, a Swedish garrison came to Mahlberg Castle. The Catholic clergy were quickly chased away again. They were immediately replaced by the Protestant preachers <...> With the battle of Nördlingen, which was unfavorable for the cause of Protestantism , bad times came for the Protestants and their clergy. ”Finally, it was agreed that St. Nikolaus as a simultaneous church , which it remained until a contract between the political community, the Catholic parish - Pastor Eugen Bellert (1921–1992) - and the Protestant parish came to the Catholic community with effect from June 1, 1960. The Church of the Resurrection was soon built for the Protestant Christians .

View from the west with the semi-circular window walled up inside
Vault of the tower ground floor

Building history

In 1674 the "ecclesia parochialis" from 1398 received a new helmet for its tower, a choir tower . By the 18th century at the latest, it became too small for the numerically far superior Protestants. In 1779 there was room for only 317 of 600 Protestants. A solution was fought for decades, including the construction of a new church for the Protestants, until it was decided in 1814 to continue the simultaneous function. "Both parts of the religion were satisfied that only one main altar was to be erected for mutual use and that the cost of this altar and the two side altars, on one of which the statue of the patron saint of the church St. Nicolaus and on the other the statue of Our Lady of sculpture should be placed," The Catholic negotiator, the later Bishop of Mainz Joseph Vitus Burg , obtained the approval of the Ordinariate of the Diocese of Constance . The building plans were designed by the master builder Hans Voss, who was responsible for the Lahr office on the part of the grand ducal government. His teacher, the Baden building director Friedrich Weinbrenner, agreed. The foundation stone was laid in June 1819 and the church was consecrated on September 22, 1822 . In the 1880s to 1890s, the interior was redesigned and painted in a historicist style, in a Renaissance style that already had Art Nouveau elements. The main altar received a renaissance-like structure. The end of the Simultaneum in 1960 was followed by a comprehensive renovation. The curved walls, which had separated Catholic and Protestant sacristies on the side of the high altar , were replaced, an arched window above the high altar was bricked up, the plaster ceiling was replaced by a wooden ceiling, the old gallery was replaced by a new one made of reinforced concrete, and the whole room was painted white. The organ of the Stieffell brothers from Rastatt was restored by the Manufacture d'Orgues Muhleisen .

Inner direction of the choir
Inside towards the main entrance

building

St. Nikolaus is the first of Hans Voss' country churches. It was followed by St. Johannes in Dundenheim from 1822 to 1823 , St. Bartholomäus in Ortenberg from 1823 to 1824 and then many more. You are sober to barren. There is hardly any jewelry. The tower stands in the middle of the entrance side. The shapes are precisely limited, constructed from straight lines and circles. It is the Weinbrenner style , which the Catholics also called "barn style". “On closer inspection you can see that these simplest means often achieve a good spatial effect. It is a type that not only evolves from the baroque house of worship, but also unconsciously falls back on the baroque form with its simplicity and takes up the features of the simple choir tower church that dominated our landscape in the Middle Ages narrower, that Voss retained the existing choir tower and redesigned it as the (eastern) entrance tower. A hall with five axes of arched windows is attached to it, half-embracing it, to the west . The easternmost windows illuminate adjoining rooms on the sides of the tower. The formation of the choir is remarkable . It is the westernmost part of the hall, without setting it against the nave on the outside and on the inside cut out of the overall space by a choir arch . It receives its light through the westernmost pair of windows. An additional semicircular window in the west wall was bricked up inside during the 1960s renovation. Walls to form sacristies were only drawn in later. In the east, the eaves cornice of the nave continues on the facade and forms a triangle with the gables . The slightly protruding old choir tower can be recognized through a pointed arch window with fish bubble tracery. After a cornice, Voss added another storey with round arched sound arcades and a kinked pyramid helmet. A portal with a straight lintel under a triangular roof leads to the ground floor of the tower. It is vaulted with a star , the keystone has a four-part coat of arms, and opens towards the ship in a pointed arch. There is another entrance on each side under the central windows of the ship.

During the most recent renovation, in 1988, the interior painting was renewed. In addition, a way of the cross carved in wooden relief by the company Carl Ludwig, Munich, was attached.

The altar paintings

Initially, “sculpting” was planned for the side altars (see above), but in 1820 it was decided to paint. "With the three proposed paintings, the carving should be made superfluous and these paintings will serve the church as more and more permanent adornment than carved figures and in no way be a hindrance to the evangelical part." Thanks to support from Joseph Vitus Burg, the commission went to Marie Ellenrieder - For the first time in Germany a woman was commissioned to decorate a Catholic church. She asked for a fee of 1650 guilders . First she painted an enthroned Mother of God for the left side altar with a child and three girls bringing flowers and fruit. She exhibited the box in Munich and received unanimous praise. "The original spirit in which the Queen of Heaven is thought of gives, through its grandeur and elevation, a very unique, beautiful contrast to the delicate and graceful expression that animates the girls kneeling on the throne." Artist towards her clients, and the pictures were ready in time for the church fair in 1822. Marie Ellenrieder herself was present at the installation with her father and a sister and felt “huge joy”. Above the right side altar hangs a picture of St. Nicholas, to whom two angels hold up a model of the church, over which he extends his right hand protectively. The largest is the high altar, a resurrection of Jesus .

  • Maria and her child

  • Oil study on the "resurrection"

  • Nicholas

The author of the first œuvre catalog, Friedhelm Wilhelm Fischer (1931–1981), found "life and warmth <...> strangely erased" for all the austere, severe beauty of the body and clothing, with all the dignity and all the painterly skill. Newer analyzes evaluate differently. “The stylistic conception of the three paintings is still clearly inspired by classicism. <...> Above all, the figures of Maria enthroned and St. Nicholas with their strikingly individual and lively designed faces are emphasized three-dimensionally. Their quiet sitting and standing, accompanied by clearly outlined, bright local colors and the architectural backdrop behind them underline their monumental appearance. On the other hand, the resurrecting Christ on the central high altar painting, which today is strongly set back from the original concept, appears small and not very concise, since its light body hardly stands out from the light surrounding it. "The model for Nikolaus" was, as is still known in Ichenheim, an old man of the village of splendid stature, with a magnificent head and beard, moreover, what is characteristic of the progressive way of thinking of the time, a Protestant. "

Coat of arms on the rectory

meaning

The prediction of 1820 that Ellenrieder's pictures would be a permanent ornament to the church (see above) has come true. The art historian Hans Jakob Wörner writes that after the renovation in 1960 they were "left over as the last relics of a bygone era"; Regarding the building, even the radical purification, the sovereign spatial disposition "was not able to destroy the great breath of this classically proportioned room with its sharp cuts". “Whoever enters the church is touched by the simplicity of this interior. It was given to her by the builder, the Weinbrenner student Hans Voss, like all his 'country churches' in our area in 1819 <...>. This simplicity has remained with her to this day, which is not a matter of course. The altar paintings attract the viewer's eye all the more. And rightly so. "

literature

Web links

Commons : Church of St. Nikolaus (Ichenheim)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ Hausenstein 1920, p. 76.
  2. ↑ Hausenstein 1920, p. 68.
  3. ↑ Hausenstein 1920, pp. 70–71.
  4. ↑ Discover regional studies online and RW: Dissolution of the previous Simultankirche Ichenheim. In: Badische Volkszeitung from May 28, 1963
  5. ↑ Dieter Fink: Refurbishment costs almost 200,000 euros. The ravages of time are gnawing at the Protestant Church of the Resurrection in Ichenheim. In: Badische Zeitung from October 20, 2014. Digitized version. Retrieved on February 4, 2015.
  6. ↑ Sauer 1933, p. 186.
  7. ↑ Sauer 1933, p. 188.
  8. ↑ Archbishop's Building Office around 1960, files of the Archbishop's Archives Freiburg im Breisgau.
  9. ↑ Konradsblatt of January 29, 1967.
  10. ↑ Kewitz 1974, p. 97.
  11. ↑ Wörner 1996, p. 235.
  12. ↑ Files of the Archbishop's Ordinariate Freiburg.
  13. ↑ Sauer 1933, p. 189.
  14. ↑ Zimdars 1997.
  15. ↑ Stark 2013, p. 118.
  16. ↑ Edwin Fecker: Marie Ellenrieder. The written estate. Digitized . Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  17. ↑ According to Barbara Stark 2013, the statement, for example in Sauer 1933, that the "Resurrection" was not written until 1827 is incorrect. According to her, the same applies to the statement in Wörner 1996 that the assignment of the pictures to the three altars was originally different.
  18. ↑ Michael Bringmann: Friedhelm W. Fischer (September 27, 1931– August 27, 1981) . In: Journal for Art History . tape 46 , 1983, pp. 227-231 . Digitized. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  19. ↑ Fischer 1963, p. 24.
  20. ↑ Stark 2013, pp. 118–119.
  21. ↑ Maierheuser 1990, p. 98.
  22. ↑ Wörner 1996, p. 236.
  23. ↑ Maierheuser 1990, p. 92.

Coordinates: 48 ° 25 ′ 52.5 "  N , 7 ° 48 ′ 41.5"  E