City Church of St. Johannes and St. Martin (Schwabach)
The Church of St. Johannes and St. Martin is the town church of Schwabach and the main church of the Evangelical Lutheran parish of Schwabach. Due to its central location directly at the town hall, it shapes the cityscape of Schwabach. It was built in the 15th century in Gothic style and is dedicated to St. John the Baptist and St. Martin of Tours , the patron saint of Franconia . As the most important sight, it houses the Schwabacher Altar .
history
Edification and preservation
The church was rebuilt in the Gothic style from around 1410. The choir and its roof structure originate from this construction phase (dendrochronologically dated 1418/19). From 1469 to 1495 the nave was built as a three-aisled relay hall . Heinrich Echser (called Kugler) from Nördlingen carried out the planning . During the Reformation as well as during the Thirty Years' War and World War II, the church remained unscathed, which means that almost all art treasures have been preserved in their original condition. Paintings and gold leaf from the 15th / 16th centuries. Century.
Evidence of the admission of religious refugees ( exiles ) from Austria in the 17th century can be found in front of the high altar. A bronze epitaph shows the grave of Agnes Dangrieß, who came from Eferding near Linz and fled with her family to Schwabach via Regensburg in 1625/26. The Dangrieß couple became committed members of the community and successful restaurateurs in their new home. During the Thirty Years' War , which reached Schwabach in the summer of 1632 and during which the town was conquered by Wallenstein's troops, the town church served as a place of refuge for many citizens. In the epitaph mentioned, an inscription shows the death of Agnes Dangrieß only a few months after the end of the war. Another impressive tomb of an exile is to the right behind the high altar. Catharina von Bernerdin, née von Handel, belonged to a group of refugees who had set off from Styria after the war to the “promised land”, that is to the Protestant German principalities and imperial cities.
Refurbishment 2010 to 2014
Since July 2007, the Schwabach community had to deal with the renovation of its city church. A comprehensive report on the damage was prepared by 2009. This was so extensive that the renovation had to be divided into several construction phases over five years. In October 2010 the church council decided to close the church completely from March 2011 to 2014. Only a small construction site chapel was available to visitors during this time. Church and church music events took place in the surrounding Schwabach churches. To support the redevelopment, the initiative group I will help you was founded. In addition, the citizens of Schwabach carried out diverse and creative campaigns to collect donations. The total cost of the renovation is expected to be over five million euros. The current donation level (target one million) is around 560,000 euros (as of January 2012).
The first phase of construction around the tower, which began on June 12, 2010, was completed in early June 2011. The renovation went seamlessly into the second construction phase in the eastern part of the church, for which the church was closed. It includes the Rosenberg chapel, choir, sacristy and library. For this section, scaffolding over ten floors was built in the choir. At the beginning of 2012 the church was voted Church of the Year 2011 by the KiBa Foundation .
present
On December 8, 2019, the ZDF television service was broadcast from the church, and Melitta Müller-Hansen gave the sermon.
Furnishing
Schwabacher Altar
The high altar of the town church is over fifteen meters high and more than six and a half meters wide and is one of the largest late Gothic winged altars. It comes from the workshop of Michael Wolgemut , Albrecht Dürer's teacher, and was completed in 1508. The late Gothic convertible altar with its impressive carvings is a classic example of the use of gold leaf . There is some evidence that Veit Stoss also worked on the polyptych . The altar was a station on the Golden Mile art trail .
organ
The organ was built from 1962 to 1964 by Orgelbau Weigle with the assistance of regional church music director Friedrich Högner from Munich and church music director Oskar Stollberg from Schwabach. It has 51 registers distributed over three manuals and pedal with four free and two pedal combinations.
Bells
| designation | Nominal | Casting year | comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johanna | e 1 +7 | 1415 | |
| Berlefein | g sharp 1 +8 | 16th century | |
| Twelve | ais 1 +8 | 13th century | |
| 911 | h 1 +7 | 14th century | |
| Saint Martin | c sharp 2 +6 | 2010 | The predecessor bell (dis 2 +7) is from 1957 since 2011 at the Bell Museum in the collegiate church at Herrenberg . |
| Kepelle | g sharp 2 +7 | 15th century | |
| ? | ? | 1508 | It is the only one of the bells that is not in the tower, but on the Rosenberger Chapel and is still rung by hand. |
literature
- Pilz, Kurt: The town church St. Johannes and St. Martinus in Schwabach: their history and their works of art . Schwabach 1979, ISBN 3922575005
- Evangelical Lutheran Church Community Schwabach - St. Martin (Ed.): Evangelical City Church Schwabach St. Johannes d. T. and St. Martin . Schnell & Steiner publishing house, Regensburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-7954-8031-8
- Hess, Gunther: "Not because of Gothic". Verlag Schwabacher Tagblatt, Schwabach 2009, ISBN 978-3-9225-7520-7
- Klaus Alter: CD "The bells and chimes of the evangelical inner city churches of Schwabach", presentation of all bells and a multitude of chime combinations from the chimes of the Schwabach town church, Schwabach 2003, self-published by Klaus Alter
- Klaus Alter: CD "Voices of our city church", bell sound, vocal music, organ sounds for the course of the day, life circle, church service, Schwabach 2007, self-published Evang.-Luth. Parish of Schwabach-St. Martin, klaus-j-alter@web.de
- Ursula Kaiser-Biburger: St. Johannes & St. Martin - The Protestant town church of Schwabach. Kunstverlag Josef Fink , Lindenberg im Allgäu 2019, ISBN 978-3-95976-213-7 .
Web links
- www.schwabach.de
- Chronology of the renovation of the Schwabach town church from 2010 to 2014
- Initiative group "I will help you"
- Schwabacher Kantorei - church music in the Schwabach town church
- Websites of the evang.-luth. Deanery Schwabach
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Of people and stones" - nordbayern.de
- ↑ https://www.zdf.de/gesellschaft/gottesdienste/evangelischer-gottesdienst-364.html
Coordinates: 49 ° 19 ′ 44.8 ″ N , 11 ° 1 ′ 18.5 ″ E