St. Walburga (Beilngries)

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Exterior view of the parish church of St. Walburga

The Roman Catholic parish church of St. Walburga in Beilngries in the Upper Bavarian district of Eichstätt is an important neo-baroque building with largely original baroque furnishings. The parish belongs to the diocese of Eichstätt and celebrates its patronage on February 25, the day of remembrance of St. Walburga .

history

Today's parish church of St. Walburga had various previous buildings. A church on Pühelkirchen , a mountain spur of the Arzberg mountains, was first mentioned in 1191 . This church served as a parish church for a long time . In addition, there was a second little church in the valley floor within the place "Bilingriez", which had grown around a fortified noble seat, as can be seen from a certificate from 1305. At that time the "tower by the church" was given as a fief . This former house tower still stands today as the northern church tower. It is the oldest part of the parish church, yes the oldest building in the entire city of Beilngries and belongs to the Romanesque period up to the height of the bell storey . Its origin goes back to the second half of the 12th century.

Around 1445 the parish rights were transferred from the Bühlkirche to the local church. At that time this was expanded and the aforementioned tower was included in the structure. In 1458 the new church was first mentioned as the parish church of St. Walburga. Towards the end of the 17th century , the church was no longer sufficient for the rapidly growing population. The Eichstätt prince-bishop Johann Euchar Schenk von Castell (1685–1697) vowed in 1693 the construction of the new parish church in Beilngries. The old building from the 15th century was abandoned except for parts of the outer walls and the tower. According to the plans and under the direction of the master builder Johann Baptist Camesino from Graubünden , a new baroque building was built in 1693/94 . The main facade was located directly on the current main street; the already mentioned church tower stood slightly offset to the side on the west side. At this time the tower should have received its present shape. It was raised by the bell chamber and got the four characteristic pointed gables and the steep octagonal helmet. The Madonna figure on the new fountain in front of the parish church also dates from the beginning of the 18th century .

Towards the end of the 19th century, the church again proved to be too small, and the Beilngries people founded a church building association in 1888 to finance a church renovation. Lengthy and difficult planning delayed the start of construction considerably. The episcopal building authority favored the construction of a neo-Romanesque church with only one tower; the Beilngrieser , however, did not like it. At the instigation of the pastor of Beilngries, the clergyman Hafner, the Munich architect Wilhelm Spannagel designed the plan for a large neo-baroque church in 1906, which was implemented after several changes. In the course of 1910 the old church was demolished and the foundation stone was laid on May 14, 1911. The shell was completed in November of the same year. The construction is a mixture of modern construction technology and traditional craftsmanship. A steel roof truss rests on the strong outer walls. The curved, only 10 cm thick rabbit ceiling is suspended from this, but it is neither accessible nor loadable. Only in this way could the huge interior - the nave is 60 m long, 24 m wide and 20 m high - be spanned cost-effectively and without supports. On the other hand, the large round windows on the sides, for example, are precisely handcrafted stonemasonry from local Jura stone. The nave was moved to the rear; the old church tower was now on the northeast side. This not only gained the space for a representative facade, but also enabled the creation of a free space in the middle of the otherwise very cramped old town. After a short, only two-year construction period, the new church was inaugurated on August 13, 1913; the total construction costs were 295,000 gold marks. In 1963 the interior of the church was completely renovated and larger parts of the interior were removed. The last renovation took place in 1999 and 2000, where attempts were made to almost restore the original condition.

architecture

Exterior construction

The parish church of St. Walburga is centrally located in the old town of Beilngries. The mighty church roof and the two towers protrude far over the neighboring rather sedate Jura houses and shape the appearance of the city. In particular, the pointed roofs of the twin towers, covered with green, yellow and brown glazed beaver tail tiles in various patterns, have become the city's landmark.

A concern in the planning of the new church was the design of a representative facade into which the old church tower should be integrated as unchanged as possible. The architect Spannagel solved this task brilliantly. In the south of the old tower, a second tower of exactly the same size and baroque decorations on the window and door frames was built. Its tip is designed as a lantern with a double cross, a successful addition to the large golden weathercock on the otherwise largely unchanged north tower. Between the two towers, Spannagel placed a two-storey vestibule with an open two-column arcade protruding into the church square. This porch reaches around two thirds of the height of the nave and represents a successful connection between the two towers as well as the excessively high nave.

The large, largely unadorned nave connects to the west . The long sides swing outwards in an arc in the middle. These curves are broken through by a large, dominant wheel window. The end to the west is the semicircular high choir, to which two staircases with baroque ornaments lead up. The southern niche between the choir and nave closes the two-storey sacristy.

inner space

Interior of the parish church of St. Walburga
View of the gallery without organ (taken during the restoration in 2012)

Any visitor who has first viewed the church from the outside will be surprised as soon as they step through one of the doors. The breadth and lightness of the room, the tasteful furnishings that dispense with any superfluous pomp and the harmonious division of the huge wall and ceiling surfaces convey a first convincing overall impression. Two arched bulges on the long sides enlarge the space and break through the huge barrel vault that seems to float weightlessly above the viewer. The vault, the unmistakable Latin inscription, lowers towards the choir

DOMUS DOMINI
SUB PATROCINIO S.WALBURGAE
AEDIFICATA
ANNO MDCCCCXII

proclaims that this church is under the protection of St. Walburga and was built in 1912. The large wall and vaulted surfaces, kept exclusively in graduated white tones, are structured by wall pillars set off with gray stucco marble and wide-span belt arches, the latter adorned with small angel heads and stucco roses between flower and fruit ornaments. The spaces in between are filled by frames made of simple stucco strips. After the death of the architect, the prelate Dr. Felix Mader. The light flows almost unhindered through the numerous windows, especially through the two large round windows at the side, and fills the nave with brilliant light. Modern glass mosaics designed by August Pacher and executed in the workshop of Joseph Peter Bockhorni , both from Munich, are embedded in the arched windows of the nave and the choir room . Scenes and parables from the New Testament are shown, on the left the wise and foolish virgins, the merchant who finds a pearl and in the choir room Martha and Mary, with whom Jesus stops. On the right side are the abundant fishing, the parable of the sower and the miracle of the multiplication of the bread. The very beautiful work was donated by several long-established Beilngries citizens.

Furnishing

Baroque high altar
Baroque pulpit

The view almost inevitably goes to the high altar. Several steps lead up to it and underline its importance as the center of church life. The altar dates from the time the baroque church was built. It is set in shades of blue and has individual gold ornaments. The design of the altar comes from the Eichstätter court architect Jakob Engel , the carpenter was Hans Jakob Bockler; the carvings were made by the Eichstatt family of sculptors, Handschuher. Two pairs of red marbled pillars with golden Corinthian capitals and wide cornices rise from the massive substructure. On it stand two large angel figures on broken round arches, turning towards the vase-adorned altar extract . The donor of the altar has been immortalized there with his coat of arms. The Latin inscriptions on the angels' tablets give another clue. These are translated: "Johann Euchar, by God's grace, Bishop of Eichstätt, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire 1695" . The unsigned altarpiece probably comes from the prince-bishop and later electoral court painter Johann Kaspar Sing . St. Walburga is shown in the Transfiguration before the Holy Trinity, surrounded by angels with the attributes of the oil flow.

The ornate tabernacle on the altar table is crowned by a large standing cross. The larger than life statues of the diocesan saints and brothers of the church patroness Walburga, Willibald (left) and Wunibald (right) were added to adapt the altar to the new, now much larger church interior. They are the work of the Munich sculptor Josef Scheel, carved in 1913 in the style of the new realism.

The rest of the furnishings in the choir are also taken from the old church. It is worth mentioning two beautiful rococo reliquaries on the walls (approx. 1750) that contain relics of Maria Goretti and Johannes Nepomuk Neumann. The paintings on the richly structured and carved choir stalls show scenes from the life of the Holy Family - while praying at grace, when walking (an angel hands the baby Jesus an apple), when the ship is entering and from the life of St. Antonius: the donkey kneels before the holy of holies, the driving out of the devil, sermon to the fish. On the parapets of the side galleries is St. Walburga depicted: abbess consecration, crossing in sea storm, oil flow, helper in heaven.

Since the earlier centuries did not know the concelebration , several altars were needed in the church, on which so-called attachments could be celebrated at the same time. That is why there are four side altars in the church. The two altars on the choir arch, each fitted between gray marble pilasters, have a similar structure to the high altar, but are much more simply furnished. They only have two-pillar structures with golden acanthus tendrils on the sides. The left side altar shows St. Antonis of Padua receiving a rosary from Mary. In front of it stands a newer Madonna figure. The extract contains a relief image of St. George, flanked by figures of putti. They carry a mirror (wisdom) and a pitcher (temperance). Together with the group of angels on the right, they symbolize the four cardinal virtues. In the altar panel of the right side altar is St. Franz Saver shown (around 1841 by JA Engelhardt). A half-relief of St. Josef, the little putti standing next to them are carrying scales (justice) and a palm tree (bravery). The upper parts of both altars had to be replaced during the new installation, the carvings were carried out by the sculptor Scheel.

The center of the altar group is the people's altar, a work by the contemporary Altötting artist Pokorny. Since the liturgical reform of the 2nd Vatican Council, the people's altar has been the place and center for the celebration of the sacrificial meal and redemption. It must always be seen and understood in connection with the high altar. The ambo, a few steps away, is assigned to him as the place and center of the word service. It comes from the same artist. The various crosses in the substructure of the anvil and the popular altar represent the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

organ

Bittner organ (1913)

The organ was built in 1913 by the organ builder Joseph Franz Bittner from Eichstätt; it is the largest surviving instrument from the Bittner family of organ builders. The concept of the organ is quite idiosyncratic: it has pocket drawers , mechanical-pneumatic performance and electro-pneumatic stop action . The symmetrical organ front in black and gold contains portraits of King David with a harp and Saint Cecilia , the patroness of church music , in two medallions in the gables of the outer pipe groups .

Originally, as was common at the time, a pneumatic control was installed, in this case with a so-called " key drawer ". These consisted of a key-shaped wooden plate onto which a leather membrane for controlling the valves is glued . In the case of such register chambers, however, it turned out over time that their maintenance requires a great deal of time and technical effort: In order to get to a defective valve , all pipes of a register must be removed.

For this reason, modifications were made in 1964 and 1992 to remedy these design- related defects. In 1964 the pneumatic valve control was converted to an electric one, in particular the leather diaphragms used to trigger the valve lift were replaced by electromagnets . In 1992 the massive foundation plates of the wind chests were cut out so that the individual valves could be accessed from below without removing any pipe material. However, the wind chests were statically weakened so that larger deformations occurred as a result. In addition, defects in various electrical components appeared after almost 50 years. That is why the organ was thoroughly restored between 2010 and 2012 by Orgelbau Kuhn from Männedorf , Switzerland , and reinstalled with the historic organ case in the gallery in the rear area of ​​the nave. The bowl drawers , which had already been statically attacked, were replaced by tried and tested pocket drawers.

The arrangement of the organ with a total of 44 stops on three manuals and pedal is as follows:

I Manual C-g 3
01. Drone 16 ′
02. Principal 08th'
03. Gamba 08th'
04th Salicional 08th'
05. Reed flute 08th'
06th Octave 04 ′
07th Hollow flute 04 ′
08th. Pointed flute 04 ′
09. Octave 02 ′
10. Mixture V 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
11. Cornett III-V 08th'
12. Trumpet 08th'
II Manual C-g 3
13. Violin principal 8th'
14th viola 8th'
15th Double flute 8th'
16. Aeoline 8th'
17th Vox coelestis 8th'
18th Lovely covered 8th'
19th Quintatön 8th'
20th Flauto traverse 4 ′
21st Prefix 4 ′
22nd Nasat 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
23. Piccolo 2 ′
24. Third flute 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
25th Harmonia aetheria IV 2 ′
26th oboe 8th'
Tremulant
III Swell C – g 3
27. Covered twice 8th'
28. Principal 4 ′
29 Reed flute 4 ′
30th Fifth flute 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
31. Gemshorn 2 ′
32. Mixture III 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
33. Clarinet 8th'
Pedal C – d 1
34. Principal bass 16 ′
35. Violon bass 16 ′
36. Sub bass 16 ′
37. Covered 16 ′
38. Quintbass 10 2 ⁄ 3  ′
39. bassoon 08th'
40. Octavbass 08th'
41. violoncello 08th'
42. Flute bass 04 ′
43. Cornettbass III 05 1 ⁄ 3  ′
44. trombone 16 ′
45. Pedal trumpet 08th'
  1. ↑ Extract from No. 11.
  2. ↑ swellable
  3. ↑ Sub- octave expansion (3 registers)
  4. ↑ keyboard up to f 1
  5. ↑ Extract from No. 43.

Bells

The ringing of the parish church consists of eight bells , six of which form the main ringing . The smallest bell is only used individually as a death bell. A small bell that was once used to ring the parish church was found in the attic of the former Franciscan church a few years ago. In the course of the renovation of the bells of. St. Walburga in 2017 this bell could be installed again on the north tower. The bells in detail are:

No.
 		 Surname
 		 Casting year
 		 Caster
 		 Mass
(kg)		 Diameter
(mm)		 Nominal
(16th note)		 tower
 
1 Trinity Bell 1958 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling 2677 1583 c sharp 1 −7 South tower
2 Holy Family Bell 1958 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling 1602 1321 e 1 −5 South tower
3 Christ or Walburga bell 1505 Konrad Hart 1050 1250 f sharp 1 −1 North tower
4th St. John's Bell 1958 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling 720 1027 g sharp 1 −7 South tower
5 Ave Maria bell 1451 unknown 375 865 c 2 −9 North tower
6th Assumption bell 1675 Johann Gordian Schelchshorn 200 705 c sharp 2 −11 North tower
7th Agnus Dei bell 1500 probably Nuremberg foundry 150 620 g sharp 2 North tower
8th Death bell 1721 unknown 55 450 g sharp 2 -4 North tower

Web links

Commons : St. Walburga (Beilngries)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ^ A b c d Kuhn organ building: Beilngries, Bavaria, Germany - parish church of St. Walburga . Online at www.orgelbau.ch. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  2. ↑ Picture (can be enlarged) on the website of Orgelbau Kuhn, see web links
  3. ^ Parish Beilngries: Bittner organ . Online at beilngries.bistum-eichstaett.net. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  4. ^ Beilngries, parish church of St. Walburga . Online at www.glockenklaenge.de. Retrieved April 22, 2016.

Coordinates: 49 ° 2 ′ 5.6 "  N , 11 ° 28 ′ 23.5"  E