St. Stefan (Sonneberg)
The Roman Catholic parish church of St. Stefan in Sonneberg ( Thuringia ) was born on 13 July 1903 by the Würzburg Bishop Ferdinand of Schlör ordained .
Building history
The first Catholic service after the Reformation was introduced in Sonneberg in 1525 was held on December 26, 1887 in a room of the old trade school. A pastoral care center was set up in 1892. The community founded a church building association in 1901. The construction of the church took place in 1902/03 in a striking urban development in the Lower City, which was built between the founding years and the First World War , at the intersection of Rathenau and Juttastrasse. The design for the basilica came from the Berlin government architects Reimarus & Hetzel. On July 13, 1903, the church was consecrated by the Würzburg bishop Ferdinand von Schlör . The interior of the church was painted by Kaspar Schleibner in November 1913 and the organ by master organ builder Willibald Siemann was first heard in July 1913.
In 1919, new chilled iron bells cast by the Ulrich brothers in Apolda replaced the bells melted down during the First World War.
On February 1, 1923, the curate was raised to a parish in the diocese of Würzburg . Damage from the Second World War led to a redesign of the interior of the church in 1951. Here the old painting was given up. In 1954 a memorial chapel for the victims of the world wars was set up on the first floor of the west tower. In 1962, the community arranged for the organ building company Lothar Heinze from Stadtilm to convert the organ to 23 registers, two manuals and a pedal. In the mid-1960s, following the general renewal of the liturgy, the sanctuary was redesigned. The old high altar, the side altars, pulpit and communion bench have been removed and an altar has been set up in the front part of the choir in a modern form. In 2002 the sanctuary was redesigned and enlarged. The altar , ambo and tabernacle as well as the lighting were newly created and the color scheme of the church was renewed. In 2005 the community had the bell cage repaired and three bronze bells were cast in a bell foundry in Passau to replace the damaged iron chill-cast bells that were consecrated in 2006. A new organ by the organ builders Claudius Winterhalter and Thomas Jann was consecrated by the Erfurt Auxiliary Bishop Reinhard Hauke on September 29, 2013 .
layout
The neo-Romanesque , cross-shaped, three-aisled vaulted basilica has a transept. The church, which is around 31 meters long and a maximum of 17.5 meters wide, has around 180 seats. The side aisles lead into the northwestern tower basement. To the south is the 31 meter high, four-story bell tower with a rhombic roof and a square floor plan, and to the north is a smaller, round, two-story tower with a conical roof. The main entrance with a column portal is located between the towers. A triangular gable with a relief depicting the Adoration of the Lamb and a rose window are arranged above it. There is a staircase in front. A retracted, single-bay choir with a semicircular apse flanked by extensions forms the south-eastern end. The roofs are covered with slate and the white plastered facade is structured with sandstones.
The church interior is completely vaulted. A small organ loft spans the nave between the towers. The sandstone baptismal font, the statues of saints in the side altars and the triumphal cross in the choir as well as the 14 stations of the cross in the side aisles are still present in the construction time. The latter are works by the Würzburg sculptor Heinz Schiestl . The lead glazing , except for the choir, comes from the Wilhelm Franke workshop in Naumburg and shows geometric shapes as well as figurative and ornamental stained glass. The organ has in 1185 pipe 17 stops, two manuals and pedal.
literature
- Thomas Schwämmlein: Cultural monuments in Thuringia. Sonneberg district . E. Reinhold Verlag, Altenburg 2005, ISBN 3-937940-09-X , p. 404 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Festschrift with disposition "The St. Stefan Sonneberg Organ" ( Memento from October 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
Coordinates: 50 ° 21 '38.2 " N , 11 ° 10' 44.6" E