St. Stephanus (Elsen)
| St. Stephen
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| Denomination : | Roman Catholic |
| Patronage : | Stephen |
| Consecration year : | 12th Century |
| Parish : | Pastoral care
Grevenbroich Elsbach / Erft |
| Address: | 41515 Grevenbroich,
Elsen house |
Coordinates: 51 ° 5 '27 " N , 6 ° 34' 7" O St. Stephanus is the Roman Catholic parish church of Elsen , a district of the town of Grevenbroich in the Rhine district of Neuss .
history
The patronage of the Romanesque church was given in 1222 by Theoderich von Millendonk to the Neuss regular lords monastery . In 1263 the patronage of the Kommende Gürath of the Teutonic Order was transferred, which belonged to the Ballei Koblenz . It stayed there until secularization .
Building history
The Romanesque tower of the church is dated to the 12th century, around 1180. During the Thirty Years' War the old church was set on fire in 1642 by Hessian-Weimar troops and burned down completely. Only the church tower remained. The nave was completely rebuilt as a brick hall in 1714/15. The four-storey tower made of tuff is divided on the ground floor by two large round panels , and on the other floors by vertical bars and round arch friezes. Twelve layers of brick were placed over the last round arch frieze in the 18th century, on which the eight-sided spire (onion dome) rested. In 1885 the dilapidated spire was replaced by a spire.
In 1896/97 the choir was expanded, the transept was built and the tower was raised by a fifth, neo-Romanesque floor. A baroque altar from 1718 was used as a high altar in the church until the renovation. After the renovation, this altar was too small for the new church. It was replaced in 1899 by a high altar hall made of Parisian sandstone with a marble tablet. The side altars that are still preserved today date from 1745. The left side altar is dedicated to St. Stephen , the right to St. James .
Elsen was connected to the electricity grid in July 1898. From All Saints' Day in 1898, the church was also illuminated with electric light.
On November 22, 1929, the church burned again. The nave was destroyed by flames, while the church tower and the bells were saved by the volunteer fire brigades in Grevenbroich and Neuss . The church was rebuilt in 1930 under the direction of the architects Paul and Theodor Roß from Cologne.
The choir room of the church was raised by about one meter in 1940 under the then pastor Thomas. All the windows of the church were destroyed during the bombing of the Second World War . Only one window showing a crucifixion group was removed in time and stored in Linnich . It was not until 1960 that the destroyed windows were replaced by foundations.
In 1967 the church had to be renovated. In the course of this, a baroque altar was purchased from the dilapidated church in Bunde . The crucifixion group of the old altar was integrated into the new high altar and a new tabernacle was installed. The color of the two side altars from 1745 was matched to the new high altar.
Bells
The church in Elsen had church bells as early as the 17th century. It is said that the bells melted when the church burned on June 2, 1642. In 1649 two new bells were cast. A large bell with the sound of (approx. 1200 kg, diameter 131 cm) and a smaller one with the sound of es (approx. 950 kg, diameter 110 cm). It was not until 1927 that the bell could be completed. Two more bells with the tone f (approx. 1000 kg, diameter 119 cm) and the tone as (approx. 600 kg, diameter 98 cm) were cast. In 1942 three of the four bells were requisitioned for armament purposes. The 1927 bells were melted down, while the 1649 bell was returned to the community after the war. In 1967 the peal was repeated, but now it has been completed to five bells. The three new bronze bells sound with the tones ges (700 kg, Ø 106 cm), as (480 kg, Ø 95 cm) and ces (330 kg, Ø 81 cm). The bell was cast on July 5, 1967 at the bell foundry Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock in Gescher .
organ
It is not known since when the Elsen church had its own organ . In 1861 an organ from the Mönchengladbach Abbey Church , built in 1705, was purchased for 775 thalers and set up in Elsen. This organ was rebuilt from 1900 to 1902 and expanded to include a separate pedal . The instrument was badly damaged in the church fire in 1929 and was largely lost due to improper storage.
In 1930/31 a new, less valuable multiplex organ was purchased, which could be built on the still existing wooden substructure of the previous instrument. This organ had 24 registers on two manuals and a pedal . According to Vogt, this instrument could only be seen as a makeshift, as it was in no way sufficient for artistic applications.
From 1957 to 1959, a new organ was therefore purchased, financed from donations, which had a total of 39 registers on three manuals and pedal. This organ was consecrated on May 10, 1959 by the Cologne Auxiliary Bishop Wilhelm Cleven .
The current organ was built in 1994, like the previous instrument, by the organ builder Romanus Seifert ( Kevelaer ). The slider chest instrument has 26 stops on two manuals and pedal. The pipe material comes partly from the previous organ. The actions are mechanical.
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- Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
literature
- Paul Clemen (Ed.): The art monuments of the Grevenbroich district (= The art monuments of the Rhine Province. Vol. 3, 5). Schwann, Düsseldorf 1895, pp. 23-25 .
- Karl Emsbach, Max Tauch : Churches, monasteries and chapels in the Neuss district (= series of publications of the Neuss district. 13, ZDB -ID 1357699-9 ). Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1986.
- Franz Hoppe: Chronicle of the parish St. Stephanus Elsen. Catholic parish of St. Stephanus, Grevenbroich-Elsen Grevenbroich 1983.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Pastoral care area Grevenbroich Elsbach / Erft. Retrieved August 7, 2014 .
- ↑ a b c d e Franz-Josef Vogt: The organs of the city of Grevenbroich. In: Contributions to the history of the city of Grevenbroich. 5, 1983, ISSN 0175-4661 , pp. 76-141.
- ↑ More information on the organ , as seen on December 6, 2011.