St. Severi (Kleinrettbach)

Southeast side

The medieval church of St. Severi is the center of Kleinrettbach in the Thuringian district of Gotha . It belongs to the parish of Frienstedt in the parish of Erfurt of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany .

Church from the south

history

It was probably named after Severus von Ravenna , a Catholic saint whose bones are now in Erfurt's Severikirche . The originally Catholic predecessor chapel St. Gallus became Protestant in the course of the Reformation in Thuringia in the 1530s . The current Gothic church was probably built on the foundations of the chapel, which existed until 1537. An indication of this is the year 1580, which is carved into a door lintel on the ground floor of the tower.

On the morning of April 28, 1722, a major fire destroyed 41 houses, barns and stables in Kleinrettbach in just two hours. The church with the four-bell bell also fell victim to the flames.

The church was rebuilt between 1733 and 1736. It consists of a nave built in an east-west direction with a three-sided choir closure in the east and a retracted tower with a lantern in the west. The new building was financially supported with a donation of 50 thalers (roughly equivalent to the purchasing power of 3500 euros) from the Elector of Mainz , Philipp Karl von Eltz-Kempenich , the then lord of Erfurt, to which Kleinrettbach belonged at the time. This is reminiscent of the “ Erfurt Wheel ” contained in the northern lintel , the city's coat of arms, with the year 1734. Duke Friedrich III. von Gotha contributed to the new building with a donation of 12 thalers. The architect was Johann Erhard Straßburger .

The bell

The four broken bells were replaced by three new ones from the Schröder bell foundry in Erfurt. However, one of the bells had a crack, so that a harmonious sound was not possible. It was not until May 20, 1855 that the bell founder Meyer from Ohrdruf received the order to re-cast three bells using the metal of the old bells. However, in 1888 one of the bells had to be replaced by a new one. It came from the Ulrich foundry in Laucha an der Unstrut . In March 1917, two bells had to be given to the armaments industry . On November 29, 1934 the bell was completed again. The supplier was the bell founder Wittrien from Erfurt. In March 1942 two bells had to be delivered again for military use and have not been replaced to this day. What remained was the small bell weighing 116 kg, which still today calls the faithful to worship with its tone E.

The tower and the tower button

During repair work on the tower from July 5 to 12, 1947, the tower button was also removed and repaired. The content of the time capsule stored here with the school chronicle led to an addition to the village chronicle for the years 1928 to 1947. During a storm in 1981 the spire broke off and damaged the church considerably when it fell. The church tower was poorly repaired and in 1982 partially provided with new beams and covered with shingles. The tower was now 5.5 m shorter. In 2009 a new gold-colored tower button with a weather vane was put on, which reminds of the events of 1734.

The organ

It is not known what year the earlier organ came from. However, it is believed that it was made during the rebuilding of the church around 1736 after the great fire (see above). However, it was no longer playable and was used as firewood . That is in the contract with the organ builder Daniel from Walschleben , who built a new organ in the middle of the 19th century. The original of this very detailed contract can be found in the archive of the municipal administration of Nesse-Apfelstädt in Neudietendorf .

As the ringing had the organ under the conditions imposed by the government during the First World War suffer: For example, the notes point to the then parish priest, that during the war, the organ pipes made of tin be delivered had and until 1927 by new pipes to replace tin-plate could.

The organ was playable until the 1960s, but the fan was operated with the feet. In 1955 the organ received an electric wind generator. Today the instrument has 17 stops on two manuals and a pedal .

Others

In 1987 a "winter church" was built on the west side so that the church can also be used during the cold season. A lack of money and material meant that no more work was done on the church for 15 years.

The association founded in 2002 for the preservation of the village church “St. Severi “e. V. about the renovation of the building.

In 2006, the entire church roof was re-covered with state and church subsidies after emergency protection by installing a false ceiling (autumn 2002). Parts of the roof structure were also refurbished and new roof drainage installed. At the beginning of April, the brick retaining wall on the west side of the tower was torn down, and stone carving work began on the tower and nave in September .