St. Thomas (Freiburg-Betzenhausen)
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The Catholic Church of St. Thomas is located in the Freiburg district of Betzenhausen and is a branch church of the Catholic parish of the Holy Family (district of Mooswald ). It was built in 1767/68 by the baroque master builder Johann Baptist Häring . It is dedicated to Saint Thomas , the doubting apostle .
history
Betzenhausen was since 1391 a branch of the Freiburg western parish of St. Peter; the Betzenhausen local chapel is mentioned for the first time in 1447. A late Gothic culinary goblet (16th century) from Betzenhausen is in the town's Augustinian museum . In 1702 Betzenhausen complained to the Freiburg magistrate,
"That in pre-imperial: times we had the community at Betzenhausen an own pastor, and the same from the now ruined parish churches St: Petri all here in Freiburg and the branch churches St: Thomae zu Betzenhausen invested and received income; but because of the ruin of the churches and the loss of funds, such a parish was incorporated into fiefdom on an interim basis and for better times. "
When the French army under Marshal François de Créquy conquered Freiburg (together with the associated villages such as Betzenhausen) on November 16, 1677 and placed it under the French crown in 1679, the new masters soon began to tear down the suburbs and develop Freiburg into a strong outpost of France . The parish church of St. Peter also fell victim to those fortification measures. After being assigned to the parish of St. Cyriak in Lehen , Betzenhausen tried to preserve pastoral care for the village. In addition to worrying about income for “a pastor”, it “also had the St. Thomas branch church completely renewed and built at this end”. However, the efforts brought neither the detachment from fiefs nor the assignment of a pastor of their own.
The church building was damaged during World War II and was threatened with demolition at times. Thanks to the commitment of the parish priests Fuchs, Dannenmayer and Schweizer and many others such as restorer Michael Bauernfeind, the conservation and renovation measures were completed in 1986.
Description and equipment
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The Thomaskirche and the surrounding cemetery are located in the traffic-calmed center of Alt-Betzenhausen. The simple village church is divided into the following components with pilaster strips in a warm yellow-red version: the rectangular nave, the semicircular closed, recessed choir and a strong choir side tower with a slightly bent gable roof. Above the vertical window structure of the tower, a floor flange marks the bell storey with sound openings and dials of a tower clock with Roman numerals on the gable ends of the tower. A breeding basket for the traditional stork's nest was placed on the church tower roof.
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During the restoration work, some unusually massive rubble stone foundations and (under different layers of paint) the now restored tones of the exterior paint came to light. The foundations and size of the older church became visible in the excavated church floor. Their shorter length and height can be seen in the walled-up door opening in the southern side wall and the traces of dark gray half- pilaster painting on the nave walls . The construction of the new choir and tower, the extension and elevation of the church space by the city master builder Häring gave rise to the structural design and spatial appearance of today's St. Thomas Church in 1767/68.
Interior
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The church interior is located behind the simple main portal shielded by a canopy. The clear nave with three window axes extends behind a baroque-style protective grille. In the entrance zone under the organ loft there is a baroque confessional (from Unterbaldingen ) and the Scourged Savior , a baroque statuette of the miraculous image that the Wieskirche made popular, acquired by the parish . Behind the gallery parapet with a painted scene of the adoration of the Infant Jesus by the Three Kings in the main field, and corresponding views of the St. Thomas Church and Freiburg with the Minster Tower in the side fields, is placed Eduard Stadtmüller's small organ from 1862. It is the second oldest organ in Freiburg with six registers on one manual and one register in the pedal . It was renovated in 1982 by the Freiburg organ builders Hartwig and Tilmann Späth .
In the nave, the painted crosses of the Apostles (a tulip-like cross with golden flames, green wreaths and forged candle holders) support the rhythm of the church. Opposite the simple pulpit ( Friedrich Steinkeller ) , probably from the church building in the early 18th century, is the large altarpiece of St. Thomas on the south wall. Christ stands in the center of the picture, surrounded by his apostles. The unbelieving Thomas puts his hand in the right side wound of the risen One. A beardless man stands out among the apostles at the edge of the picture. Rudolf Morath interpreted this head of the apostle as a self-portrait of the Freiburg painter and copper engraver Peter Mayer , to whom the altar sheet for the choir altar was paid for in 1771. Together with one of Johann Baptist Sellinger carved from Hochdorf acquired tabernacle , cross, statue of the Madonna and canopy-like painted on the back wall curtain was a time high altar designed. When the mahogany wood colors of the carved rococo frame of the Thomas picture were removed, not only the old gilding of the frame came to light, but also the engraved coat of arms of the Counts of Schauenburg , for whom the picture frame was obviously created , in the top cartouche . Because the city of Freiburg, as local ruler of Betzenhausen, provided the "existing framework", the city coat of arms still covers the original coat of arms.
The Stations of the Cross (18th century), acquired by the Freiburg Poor Clare Monastery in 1786 , whose multi-figure station pictures (in original frames) have now been brought back from the granary to the church, provides evidence that attempts were made in the 18th century to dissolve the Betzenhausen village church with art To equip Freiburg monasteries cheaply. The small baroque statues of St. Fridolin and the cattle patron St. Wendelin were also brought back from the church warehouse. The choir arch cross with the assistant figures Maria and Johannes are just as much part of the old inventory of the St. Thomas Church as the baptismal font dated 1704 . The Baroque Anabaptist group of the baptismal font, acquired by the parish, could only be added in 1978.
Standing at an angle to the choir arch, the framed baroque side altars form a transition from the nave to the sacred area of the high altar and tabernacle. The side altars probably also come from a women's convent in Freiburg. On the south side, the altar panel shows a monastic theme with the rare combination of Immaculata ( Immaculate Conception ) and Mary's temple passage, while the other side altar depicts the Annunciation .
High altar
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The eye-catcher of the church interior is the Scagliola high altar built in 1978 . From the excreted former parish church of Illingen near Rastatt, which was converted into a factory warehouse , it was possible to acquire the baroque altar, which even experts ignored. What clung literature and oral tradition Illingens, confirmed a 1937 discovered in the sanctuary building certificate: The valuable altar structure "earlier in the high chapel in the monastery to Schuttern stand" was, in July 1850 by the Iffezheimer plasterer and altar Bauer Erhard Oesterle in the chorus of Illingerstraße Church has been moved. When removing layers of paint on this Scagliola altar, not only high-quality stucco marbling (on the pillars with silver, copper and brass veins) came to light, but also the coat of arms of Abbot Placidus II. Hinderer in the cartridge above the central figure niche. With this document about the monastery superior of the Benedictine Abbey Schuttern , who ruled from 1708 to 1727 , the date of origin, the commissioner and the origin of the altar were secured. Because Abbot Placidus II also had the tower of his Shutterian abbey church rebuilt in 1722/23 (see coat of arms on the tower) and a capella Ecclesiae nostrae sub turri sita is mentioned there in 1772 , it can be assumed that the choir altar now built into the St. Building context comes from. Due to building repairs, the “plastered marble” altar of the so-called high chapel in rubble was removed in 1847 and the components were given to the plasterer Erhard Oesterle von Iffezheim at the demolition price of fifty guilders. So Illingen came into possession of the baroque altar three years later.
Scagliola (a technique that only wealthy clients could afford during the 18th century) created artistically processed, brightly colored ornamental surfaces, pictures and decorations thatlooklike inlays in the stucco marble layers of the altars. For example, on the antependium of the Betzenhausen altar table, a contrasting color image of the Entombment of Christ, ribbon and foliage, flower garlands, angel children and the instruments of suffering can be seen on a dark surface. The smaller areas of the predella are similarly worked with flowers and depictions of birds (paradise motifs). The client's coat of arms shows a golden unicorn on a black shieldwith a silver-red-silver diagonal band in the base of the shield. Since Abbot Placidus II. Hinderer came from Baden-Baden , it can be concluded that he had committed himselfto an altar maker after Schutternfrom the circle of artists whocreated the Scagliola worksin the pleasure palace Favorite for Margravine Sibylla Augusta . Further components of the former Scagliola altar from Schutter are the old Mother of Sorrows , baroque statuettes of Saints Thomas and Laurentius , a copied image of the Holy Trinity and a non-original tabernacle. In the main niche,a beautiful Madonna (around 1430) has found a new suitable framewith the mother donatedby Kreszentia von Brandenstein under the cross (baroque crown as an ingredient). Canopy painting on the choir wall (renewed in 1862) and the former Unterbaldinger choir stalls (rural baroque work, dated 1734 on the reverse) integrate the Scagliola altar.
Bells
The tower of St. Thomas is equipped with four bronze bells, three of which were cast in 1961 by the Heidelberg bell caster Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling . Bell No. 2 dates from 1785 and was cast by Sebastian Bayer in Freiburg.
| No. | diameter | Weight | Strike tone HT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 912 | 503 | a ′ ± 0 |
| 2 | 770 | 350 | b ′ + 2 |
| 3 | 755 | 289 | c ″ +2 |
| 4th | 670 | 199 | d ″ ± 0 |
The bells from 1961 with a striking mechanism are used to indicate the time, bell number 1 for the hour strike, bells 3 and 4 for the quarter-hour strike.
literature
- Hermann Brommer : Parish Church of the Holy Family and Filial Church of St. Thomas, Freiburg i. Br.-West . Fast and Steiner, Munich 1986, pp 11-22 ( Digitalisat ( Memento of 6 April 2012 at the Internet Archive )).
Web links
proof
- ↑ orgel-verzeichnis.de: Freiburg / Betzenhausen - St. Thomas - Picture and Disposition
- ↑ Bell inspection of the Archdiocese of Freiburg - Catholic Filialkirche St. Thomas in Freiburg-Betzenhausen
Coordinates: 48 ° 0 ′ 34 " N , 7 ° 48 ′ 28" E