St. Petrus (Wörth)
The Roman Catholic parish church of St. Petrus in Wörth on the Danube in the Upper Palatinate district of Regensburg in Eastern Bavaria is essentially a medieval church that today has a baroque appearance thanks to extensive renovations in the 17th century.
The church is very interesting from an architectural point of view, as it shows style elements from the Romanesque , Gothic and Baroque periods .
Previous construction
Monks of the St. Emmeram monastery in Regensburg are said to have founded a monastery in Wörth on today's Petersplatz in the second half of the 8th century, the church of which was consecrated to St. Peter . This monastery itself was destroyed in later centuries. In 1234 Pope Gregory confirmed the incorporation of the Church of St. Peter zu Wörth as part of the cathedral chapter in Regensburg.
History and description of the building
The Church of St. Peter has undergone numerous renovations and extensions over the centuries. It is a basilica complex and presents itself with five bays . The main nave is now flat, while the side aisles and main choir are still provided with the original Gothic ribbed vault . The axis of the high choir is shifted towards the south compared to the main nave.
Romanesque building fabric
The current church goes back to a building from the second half of the 13th century. In addition to the main nave, probably only the side aisle with round pillars on the south side was completed during this time . The wider north aisle with the rectangular pillars is likely to date from the 14th century, and the arches between the individual pillars also have different spans.
Extensions in the Gothic period
In the middle of the north side of the church is the four-story tower, in which the Gothic main portal , which is divided into two by a trumea pillar, opens. In the tympanum of the pointed arch is a colored stone figure of the church patron Peter, the console bears the year 1464, probably the year the tower was built. In addition to the year, two coats of arms adorn this probably most valuable figure of the parish church. They refer to two canons of the Regensburg Cathedral Chapter, Johann Goldner and Franz Schlick. The canon or vicar general Goldner was pastor of Wörth, at the same time Schlick was cathedral provost or canon in Regensburg. The ground floor of this Gothic tower also forms the vestibule to the portal. The tower itself rises over four storeys, three of which are provided with Gothic pointed arches. At that time the tower had a pointed roof, as befits the architectural style. The west portal also dates from the Gothic period. Around 1600 the sacristy with its remarkable portal was added and - probably as a replacement for a previously existing smaller one - the choir in its present form.
Baroque
The interior in particular underwent a major redesign from 1710 through stuccoing and from 1717 through large-scale ceiling paintings. The central picture in the choir is by Joseph Anton Merz and shows the Assumption of Mary into heaven, surrounded by scenes from her life: the birth of the Virgin, the Annunciation to Mary, the passage to the Temple, the Immaculate Conception.
The three large ceiling paintings in the main nave, painted by Valentin Reuschl , show motifs from the life of the church patron Peter - from front to back: 1. The release of Peter from prison by the angel. 2. The promise of the power of the keys to Peter through Jesus. 3. The crucifixion of Peter. In the medallions on the side there are events from the life of St. Depicted Peter.
The antependium of the popular altar with rich acanthus leaf carving is dated 1730 . Other woodwork from the Baroque period are the pews with their wood-carved cheeks and two choir stalls. Stonemasons from this period include the baptismal font in the left aisle and the holy water basin by the west portal, both made of red marble in the form of seashells. In 1710 the tower was raised by an additional storey with rounded corners and pilasters and given an onion helmet .
19th century changes
In 1841 the tower fell victim to a fire; instead of the onion, it was now given a 16-meter-high pyramid roof with a three-meter-high iron cross on its top, the bells melted and was renewed in 1844; the tower has been 50 meters high since then. In the 19th century, the interior was modernized in the neo-Gothic style: the baroque wall paintings were whitewashed, a new high altar - the current one - was erected in 1865, and the pulpit was purchased in 1856.
20th century
In 1913, a Lourdes grotto was built on the north side of the church tower. Today this grotto with its two figures Bernadette Soubirous and Our Lady is located south of the parish church; it was restored in 2014. In 1918 the present church organ was installed and in 1930 and 1931 the church was completely renovated. In 1963 the church tower clock, which until then had to be wound up every day, was given a fully automatic movement. In the years from 1965 to 1967 the church was again renovated outside and inside; The ceiling paintings that had been whitewashed in the 19th century were exposed again, and a baroque metal cross was placed above the tabernacle . In 1977 the wooden belfry had to be replaced by a steel structure for reasons of building safety. In 1978 the spire was re-shod with copper and a new cross, also made of copper, was provided. In 1994 the interior of the church was renovated.
21st century
In September 2010 an organ building association was founded in the Catholic parish of Wörth an der Donau in the diocese of Regensburg . The aim is to purchase a new church organ to replace the existing instrument that was consecrated in the church in 1918. The organ was manufactured in 1917 by the organ building company Martin Binder & Sohn from Regensburg → Willibald Siemann . The investment volume is 500,000 euros.
Bells
Two bells had to be delivered during the First World War . Their material was used in the manufacture of war material. In 1924 the bell was completed again. In 1942, during the Second World War , three bells were taken from the tower and donated to metal by the German people . The fourth bell, which was donated by the court owner Josef Thanner (formerly Hungersdorf district) on the occasion of the great market fire of May 29, 1841 in Wörth, remained and was moved to the bell tower of the St. Jakobus branch church in Kiefenholz in 1946 . It is one of the most important church bells in the city of Wörth.
Today's church bells were purchased in May 1946. It was the foundry's first bell made after World War II; the tone sequence is an ideal quartet.
| No. |
Surname |
Casting year |
Foundry, casting location |
Ø (mm) |
Mass (kg) |
Chime |
Specialty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rupert bell | 1946 | Gugg bell foundry, Straubing | 1350 | 1650 | c sharp 1 +11 | Greatly deepened prime |
| 2 | Marienbell | 1180 | 1050 | e 1 +4 | Very deeply recessed prime | ||
| 3 | Peter Bell | 1030 | 550 | f sharp 1 +10 | |||
| 4th | Joseph Bell | 860 | 400 | a 1 +4 |
Details of the equipment
- The image of the Mother of God on the left side altar depicts Mary with the baby Jesus and the rosary, above the inscription: Holy Mafia zu Dorrfen Pray God for us. The place, time and history of the painting are unknown; it was only brought in during the renovation in the 1960s.
- On the choir arch figures of Saints Peter (left) and Paul (right) from the early Baroque era - also only attached here after the renovation.
- Neo-Gothic high altar from 1865. In the middle part, two angels each hold banners with texts from the Lauda Sion on the left and right . The figures between the angels probably show Thomas Aquinas and Bernhard von Clairvaux . The bursting of the altar is decorated with a statue of Jesus and the four evangelists . The altar wings in relief carving show the meeting of Jesus with the two disciples in Emmaus on the left, the sacrifice of Melchizedech and Abraham on the right . The back of the wings show Jesus on the Mount of Olives (left) and the Annunciation to Mary (right) as painted motifs.
- A number of valuable and interesting tombstones and memorial plaques can be found on the outer wall, for example the tombstone of Ulrich Auer (from the Auer knight family) from 1352, as well as inside the church; a Gothic tombstone in the left side choir, which is particularly valuable and well preserved in terms of art history, was only moved from the outside to this place in 1978.
- The oldest civil grave slab in Wörth is on the east side of the church. It is dated 1353 and is made of sand-lime brick.
literature
- Tourist association Bayerischer Vorwald: Bayerischer Vorwald - area Wörth ad Donau Buchdruckerei Eduard Schramm, Wörth / D. 1969.
- Georg Dehio : Handbook of German Art Monuments, Bavaria V, Regensburg and the Upper Palatinate, Munich 2008 ISBN 978-3422030114
- Ludwig Schindler: St. Petrus, Wörth on the Danube. Regensburg: Schnell and Steiner (Small Art Guide No. 2482) 2001, ISBN 3795463831 .
- Ludwig Schindler: Large community of the city of Wörth in the past and present. 1st edition. Wörth ad Donau 2001, OCLC 166027622
- Ludwig Schindler (text author): City guide Wörth. Verlag Attenkofer, Straubing 2008, ISBN 978-3-936511-52-9 .
- Georg Hager: Catholic parish church St. Petrus Wörth on the Danube. Munich: Oldenbourg Verlag (Die Kunstdenkmäler von Oberpfalz and Regensburg, District Office Regensburg 1910) unchanged reprint 1981, ISBN 3-486-50451-7
- Josef Fendl (Red.): Wörth, city between river and mountain. Regensburg 1979, DNB 790673258 .
- Fritz Jörgl: Brief Wörther folklore "10 years of volunteer work at home nurses ". Publisher City of Wörth ad Donau. Oberpfalzverlag Laßleben, Kallmünz 2012, ISBN 978-3-7847-1224-6 .
Web links
- Parish website
- Johannes Frischholz: The parish church of St. Peter.
- Official website of the city of Wörth
- Churches in Wörth on the Danube
- Church bells St. Peter
Coordinates: 49 ° 0 ′ 1.4 ″ N , 12 ° 23 ′ 59.4 ″ E