Melsungen town church
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The Protestant town church in Melsungen, a three-aisled hall church , is the oldest existing building in the town. Of the previous Romanesque building , only the church tower built around 1230 remains . The Gothic choir , which was consecrated around 1355, was built before the nave was built. The nave was completed around 1420. The spire was not put on until 1435, it contains the belfry .
Building history
Hermann I , Landgrave of Thuringia, bought Melsungen back in 1194 from Konrad I of Wittelsbach , the Archbishop of Mainz. In the traffic-wise favorable location, the settlement was then expanded as a regular system of streets and building blocks. A section of Salt Road , the space Fritzlar with the salt works of Sooden union, went through the city. He crossed the Fulda in a ford . In expectation of rapid economic growth, a large market square was created alongside the main traffic route, today's Fritzlarer Strasse . It can be assumed that the location of the first church was in the western area of this square. Little is known about their appearance; the Romanesque portal that still exists was probably the entrance to a small basilica about nine to ten meters long . According to dendrochronological studies, the tower in the west is the oldest preserved wing of the church. Its construction from around 1220 to around 1238 is related to the first expansion of the original structure. The roof ridge ran at a height of about 14.50 meters. The incline and height of the former gable roof , hidden by the later higher roof, can still be seen in the old plaster on the east wall of the tower. The upper part of the tower towered over the roof of the nave. Due to the needs of the residents for representation, a hall church was built after around 100 years, the preferred design of bourgeois parish churches in the 13th and 14th centuries. It is possible that a pseudo-basilica was initially planned, as indicated by traces in the building. The ships of the same height were apparently only realized during construction.
As is often the case with medieval church buildings, the choir was built in the east first. After completing the roof work and the subsequent vaulting, it could be used while the building work on the nave continued. After some delays, the roofs were erected over the aisles . In connection with the completion of the building, an altar was set up in the south aisle, it was consecrated to Saint Catherine . The oldest altar was dedicated to the patron saint Mary , a second to the apostles Peter and Paul . On July 1, 1500, an altar of the Holy Cross was added.
In 1526, after the introduction of the Reformation in the Landgraviate of Hesse , the altars were lifted in order to focus on the sole veneration of Jesus Christ . Due to the new form of worship , pews were set up. In order to enable a larger number of believers to participate, galleries were built. This destroyed the original unity of the entire space. Until the major renovation from 1886 to 1891, only minor construction work took place. The walls were whitewashed outside in 1780. From 1794 the roofs were covered with slate . In 1822 the spire was repaired. Between 1886 and 1891 the interior including the furnishings, such as the pulpit , chairs, galleries, doors, window glazing and lighting, were renewed in neo-Gothic forms in keeping with the spirit of the times . During the renovations from 1955, the annoying changes of the 19th century were gradually reduced. Of these, only the galleries, the pulpit, the windows in the choir and the doors of the sacristy and the north portal remain.
Building description
The church stands in the town's former churchyard , which is separated from the surrounding streets by a wall on three sides. However, the tombstones erected on the outer walls of the church come from the cemetery near the owl tower in front of the city wall, which was in use from 1556 . Their basic architectural form can often be found in Lower Hesse city churches of the late Middle Ages.
Nave
A nave is formed by three naves of the same height, each with three bays, as a hall, to which an elongated choir with a five-eighth end is attached. The nave and choir have stepped buttresses on the outside . The windows of the nave and choir are, apart from two smaller ones on the north side, of almost the same height and have simple, sloping walls . An annex in the northeast corner houses the sacristy. The quarry stone masonry is not plastered today. It is complemented by stone at the corners, the windows and doors, the buttresses and the cornices . The roof of the nave consists of two transverse hipped roofs , which are crossed lengthways by a gable roof that extends over the choir. The nave is approx. 20 meters wide and approx. 17 meters long. Rectangular cross-rib vaults are stretched across the three bays of the central nave, and square over the side aisles. The vaults and arches of the nave rest on four round pillars , four half-columns and small consoles on the outer walls. The choir has two vaulted yokes.
tower
The older tower was included in the west.
Building
The tower is about 18 meters high without a helmet and has an almost square floor plan . Below the eaves it has four arched windows , the eastern one is covered by the roof of the nave. His helmet, 20 meters high and tapering on eight sides, was put on him in 1433-34. In 1878 he received four dormers as sound arcades . Behind them is the belfry .
Bells
Two of the four bells probably date from the time the tower was completed. A third bell from this period broke in 1847 and was then cast over. This bell had to be handed in for war purposes in 1917, and the bell that replaced it in 1922 suffered the same fate during World War II .
| Pouring year | Chime | inscription |
|---|---|---|
| around 1435 | a ′ | o maria o rex glorie xpe veni nobis cum pace |
| around 1435 | c ′ ′ | o rex glory ihesu christe veni cum pace amen |
| 1950 | G' | |
| 1950 | H' |
The hour bell is even higher, behind a covered hatch on the east side of the helmet. The main entrance to the interior is a Romanesque step portal in the tower wall to the nave. In the originally vaulted anteroom in the tower, the remainder of the neo-Gothic window glazing from 1893 is shown today.
organ
In 1730 an organ with a richly carved front was installed. In 1798 and again in 1819 it was overhauled by the organ builder Georg Wilhelm Wilhelmy . During the major renovation, the church received a new organ by the Euler brothers . In 1969 the present organ was built by Dieter Noeske . It has 27 registers , two manuals and a pedal . The mechanical action action and the electrical stop action end at the sliding drawer .
literature
- Georg Dehio : Handbook of German art monuments, Hessen I: Administrative districts of Giessen and Kassel. Munich / Berlin 2008.
- Gerd Fenner, Dieter Wolf , Hermann Pohl: The city church in Melsungen. Melsungen 1990.
- Evangelical parish of Melsungen: A tour of the city church. Melsungen without year.
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 7 ′ 51.7 ″ N , 9 ° 32 ′ 34.6 ″ E