City Church of Aalen
The city church of St. Nikolaus is a Protestant church in Aalen, Baden-Württemberg .
history
Today's Aalen city church is probably the third building at this point in the heart of Aalen's old town. The first building was an early Gothic chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas . When Aalen became an imperial city in 1360, this chapel had already been replaced by the parish church of St. Nicholas, first mentioned in 1340. The cemetery, which was originally located directly at this church, was relocated in front of the city gates to the St.
The first Protestant service in Aalen was held on June 29, 1575. From then until the beginning of industrialization, Aalen was a purely Protestant town. In the Thirty Years' War , retreating troops allied with Sweden set fire to two powder wagons after the battle of Nördlingen. The resulting city fire destroyed the church and large parts of the city.
After the fire of 1634, the church was poorly rebuilt in 1648/49. The young Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart , whose father was a cantor in Aalen , also played on the church's Prescher organ .
For the greater security of the city, the tower was later raised again by eleven meters and thus reached a height of approx. 46 m (160 shoe). Because the foundations were not designed for such a load, increasing damage to the tower became apparent from 1760 onwards; however, the commissioned builder was unable to repair it. The tower collapsed on Pentecost Tuesday, May 28, 1765, at 8:45 a.m. and severely damaged the nave and the choir, shortly before the assembled Aalen councilors wanted to inspect the damage. The crucifix, altar, pulpit and organ remained undamaged in the choir. Even in the Latin school (today Café Rambazamba), which stood directly next to the church, stones penetrated through the windows. Two of the tower keeper's children were killed in the accident.
Today's construction
The collapse of the tower necessitated a completely new building in 1765–1767. One of the rare examples of a Protestant church interior was created in the form of the Baroque . According to the design of the Württemberg master builder Johann Adam Groß the Younger , the builder Johann Michael Keller the Younger created a baroque transverse hall . A comparable building is the Stephanuskirche in Alfdorf , which was also built by Keller based on the Aalen model. However, according to the latest research, both churches can no longer be classified as early and rare examples of Württemberg cross-churches .
The room has a floor area of 36 m × 16 m. With a clear height of 11 m, the church has space for 550 people in the nave and 300 people in the galleries.
Although the church, like its predecessor buildings, is dedicated to St. Nicholas, in parish life only the term city church is used. The building can only be found under this name on city maps and in the media.
Furnishing
The town church is equipped with an altar pulpit group and a pulpit lid with the rising Christ by Thomas Schaidhauf. The altar cross from the 16th century comes from the previous church. The altar grille decorated with the city coat of arms is remarkable. On the ceiling of the room three frescoes by Anton Wintergerst: in the middle the Last Judgment, left and right of it the resurrection and the ascension of Christ.
organ
The church has an organ made by the Vorarlberg company Rieger Orgelbau , which was inaugurated at Easter 2009.
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Pairing :
- Normal coupling: II / I, III / I, I / P, II / P, III / P
- Super octave coupling: II / P
- Sub-octave coupling: III / III
- Playing aids : 10 × 1000-fold typesetting system , four programmable register crescendos
Tower bubbles
Even today, the tower blowing , which is run by members of the Aalen youth band , takes place every working day at 6:00 p.m. On Saturday at 11:45 a.m. at market time, a chorale will be played in all four directions. The tower winds can be heard at 8:30 a.m. on public holidays.
Web links
- Evangelical parish of Aalen
- Aalen City Church Organ Association with information on the history of the church and organ
Individual evidence
- ↑ Torsten Krannich u. a.,: Evangelicals on the Eastern Alb. A journey through the history of the Reformation of the Aalen dean's office . In: Evangelical Church District Aalen (ed.): Evangelical Church Buildings in the Dean's Office Aalen . Einhorn-Verlag, Schwäbisch Gmünd 2016, ISBN 978-3-95747-042-3 , p. 187-196 .
- ^ Karlheinz Bauer: Aalen . Theiss, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-8062-0321-0 , p. 109 ff .
- ^ Günther Memmert: The city church in Aalen and the Stephanus church in Alfdorf. On the type of Protestant cross-hall church in the Swabian Baroque . Dissertation, University of Stuttgart, 2010 - available at [1]
- ↑ On the history of the organs of the town church and the new Rieger organ
Coordinates: 48 ° 50 ′ 15 " N , 10 ° 5 ′ 36.7" E