City Church St. Marien (Homberg)
The Protestant town church St. Marien stands on the market square in the middle of the old town and is the landmark of the district town Homberg (Efze) in the north Hessian Schwalm-Eder district .
The church from the 13th century is one of the most important Gothic architectural monuments in northern Hesse , along with the Elisabeth Church in Marburg . It is of particular importance within Hessian Protestantism: In 1526, Landgrave Philipp the Magnanimous convened the " Homberg Synod ", which met in this church and marked the point in time when the Landgrave of Hesse became Protestant. That is why it is called the Reformation Church of Hesse .
Building history
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After previous constructions of a Franconian chapel, probably before 900, and a Romanesque church around 1000, the Romanesque basilica, or early hall church , was built in the 12th century . In the first half of the 14th century, a late Gothic conversion or new building was made as a hall church with Hessian-Westphalian characteristics. In 1374 the tower was started. During the Thirty Years War , after the occupation by the imperial troops under Piccolomini in 1640, the tower and nave were blown up, collapsed and burned. According to a stone plaque on the church tower above the gallery, the church was restored from 1645 to 1746. In 1709 a tower house was built. In 1893 choir windows depicting the Homberg Synod were donated and installed. In 1965, after removing fixtures from the 17th to 19th centuries (stalls, pulpit, galleries), the current state was restored, and the seven-station crossroad was built in that year .
The building shows strong structural similarities with one of the most beautiful early Gothic churches in Hesse, the Elisabeth Church in Marburg. This applies above all to the towering three-aisled hall construction, but also to details and the tracery of the windows. The vault of the nave rests on six round pillars, each with four services. Two further columns are built into the walls of the choir and the tower. The choir vault is supported by three-part wall services. The keystones in the choir have reliefs of Jesus as the Son of Man, the risen Christ and the Lamb of God. On the north side of the choir is a small sacristy with wall services that rise from the floor. The room is a replica of the nave and choir on a small scale. A baroque crucifix from Franconia hanging in the north aisle shows the crucified Jesus still alive (crocefisso vivo). It is a donation from a deceased Homberg entrepreneur.
The epitaph above the gallery of the south aisle is written in German and is dedicated to the memory of two officers from the family of Lieutenant General de Clement. The plaque of honor, a typical document of the Baroque era, reads in the German text: "Time hurries with everything, here is the image, the being there, death takes care of every place."
The further text reads: Mortal, who you read this / consider this monument / as a cheap souvenir / Zweyer excellent brothers / and worthy sons / Weyland / of the brave and proven Hessian lieutenant general / Herr Stephani von Clement / who of birth, godliness and heroism / had great advantages in this world / namely / of the brave gentleman / Ludwigs David von Clement / Kayserl. Bavarian Kapitaine / the Anno MDCCXLIV (1744) on July 10th after having endured a heated fever of the souls after having entered the soulful immortality / Then / of the weyland brave Mr. Karl Ludwigs von Clement / Hessian Lieutenants, the Anno MDCCXXIII (1723) on the 8th. July saw the light of this arguing world / Anno MDCCXLVII (1747) but on the 20th of Martii in Brabant / namely in the meeting near Laffeld, / because he was on the polling place and thus on the bed of honor / by a canon ball of temporal life has been robbed / who has come to eternal peace in the midst of the conflict /.
On the eastern front of the north aisle hangs a wall plaque that reminds the long-established Homberg noble family von Bardeleben in memory of the brothers Johann Wilhelm Anton Hilmar von Bardeleben, who lost their lives in the War of Spanish Succession when they were young. The table of Anton Hilmar, who died at the age of twenty-three on November 15, 1703 as a Hessian captain near Speierbach / Palatinate, reports in Latin. His brother Johann Wilhelm, who was one year older than him, was so badly wounded as a captain's lieutenant on August 17, 1704 by a cannonball in the battle of Höchstädt that he died ten days later from the consequences of the wound. The commemorative plaque in Latin above the gallery on the north side of the aisle keeps alive the honor of the mother Louise Eva de Clement, which was donated by the daughter Luise Charlotte de Clement.
A grimace, a so-called envious head , is located in the southwest corner of the church.
Look into the church
Baroque crucifix from Franconia
Keystone in the choir of the St. Marien town church in Homberg (Efze) depicting Jesus the Son of Man
Keystone in the choir of the St. Marien town church in Homberg (Efze) depicting the risen Christ
Keystone in the choir of the St. Marien town church in Homberg (Efze) depicting Jesus as the Lamb of God
Head of envy inside the church
organ
The organ was built by Johann Friedrich Schäffer from Witzenhausen in 1732/33 and added four stops by him in 1735 . Earlier it was Johann Nikolaus Schäfer accepted as the builder. The prospectus is the work of the sculptor and carver Joseph Dietrich Gö (h) ring and is crowned by gilded tendrils in Regency style . Floating putti and angels making music adorn the prospectus. Two upright lions bear a coat of arms with three clover leaves with a lion striding over them. Several mascarons and winged eagles give the prospectus its unique appearance. In 1966 the organ was technically and tonally renewed by Werner Bosch and a third manual was added. In 1988 the organ underwent a complete tonal redesign by the Dieter Noeske company and received its current disposition .
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- Coupling : I / II, III / I, I / P, II / P, III / P
West portal
The Gothic west portal with figural decorations such as lions, leaf masks , angels and probably evangelists is remarkable . Originally the stately west portal with a window tympanum was probably planned as a figure portal, but the canopies remained empty. The stone carvings are attributed to Tyle von Frankenberg , but this has not yet been clearly proven. The church portal is the transition from the world unsettled by devils and demons to the house of God. In this function it should on the one hand scare off evil spirits, on the other hand it should remind the believers who enter that the way into the kingdom of heaven was only possible through the observance of the 10 commandments and a godly life. Due to the importance of the portal, it was usually richly decorated.
Despite the lack of sculptures on the consoles, the Homberg portal has a pictorial program with a large number of faces or grimaces surrounded by foliage. Fourteen sheet masks , faces peeking out of the foliage, adorn the portal. Of these, eight of the grimaces are integrated into the bases of the consoles on the right and left of the portal.
Four figures with tape, two lion-like figures, oak leaves, six leaf masks and an angel with a crown form the climax in the figurative sculpture of the west portal. Eleven consoles and canopies frame the entrance, they do not show any traces of attachment by sculptures.
The gable shows at its base remains of a apotropaeic (warding off evil serving) Figure: At the base of Wimpergs crawls a being with meandering tail in the church, on the opposite side, the figure looks out again. At the time of the iconoclasm, the figure seems to have been destroyed. It could have represented a dragon. Another theory interprets the figures as a winged being (lion) on the right side of the portal and as a dog figure on the left side of the portal.
There are two memorial inscriptions to the right of the portal. A plaque bears the Latin inscription: "In the year of the Lord 1374 on Tuesday (May 16) before Pentecost, this tower was started by Heinrich von Heserode the factory master ." The other inscription, from 1904, refers to the Reformation in 1526.
Church bells
The bell of the Protestant town church St. Marien zu Homberg (Efze) is composed of a sonorous and partly historical five-note bell in the chimes c 1 , es 1 , f 1 , a flat 1 and b 1 . These bronze bells hang on slightly cranked steel yokes in the steel bell cage . They are driven by three-phase motors of different strengths from Hörz.
Special features of the building history
Between the west portal and the bridal portal, there are grinding marks in some places. It is assumed that the scratches or grinding marks were caused by the fact that believers scratched the sandstone with a device in order to be able to take with them something of the holy or salvific energies. It is also reported that people were scraping stone dust from the walls of churches for fear of the plague . Mixed with water, they drank this dust. The scratch marks on the old churches, for example in northern Germany, are therefore called pest cockroaches or pestrilles .
On the tower - at the level of the arbor - there is a sandstone plaque with the inscription:
- ANNO CHRISTI CUI SOLI GLORIA
- HAEC TURRIS
- 1374 EXSTRUI INCEPTA
- 1640 OCCIPATIONE HOSTILI
- CAESARIANORUM
- EXUSTA COLLAPSA
- 1645 REPARARI INCHOATA
- 1745 ET 46 COMPLETA
- ARTE MECHANICA
- GFRAPPOLT
- WOLFFHAGENSIS
- SUB CONSULATU
- IIROHDE
Sundials
In addition to the Strasbourg cathedral, the Homberg town church has a large number of sundials for a single building. Of the previous six clocks, three have survived in large parts and three in remnants.
On the south side of the choir, two canonical sundials are carefully carved, as can also be found in monasteries, to indicate the common times of prayer. A semicircle can be recognized, which is divided into six equally sized segments with Gothic tracery . The lost shadow bars were reconstructed during the renovation of the church. Since the choir was completed around 1340, these sundials are dated to the construction period.
There is another sundial on the south-east pillar of the choir. A sundial is attached to a wooden plaque with a copper plate on the south-west pillar of the nave. The digits 1234 are in Arabic numerals and the remaining digits in Latin numerals. The bundle of rays to the numbers is delimited by an approximately 8 mm wide gold plating, which is limited in the upper part by a round arch. In this field there is a mandorla with three crown-like ornaments. To the right of the south portal of the nave is a rectangular recess in a sandstone on the south-east pillar with the traces of a south-east clock.
The tower's clock is roughly carved on the southeast side of the tower at the level of the gallery. It is dated around 1500. What is remarkable about this sundial is the use of numerals, which were also called carpenter's numbers.
Tower house
The tower has a height of 57.25 m. Directly under the Welschen hood is the tower's apartment, in which the tower's families lived until 1837. It comprises a hall of approx. 13 m 2 , a kitchen with fireplace and open hearth with 8 m 2 as well as two further rooms of 12 m 2 and 19 m 2 . The apartment is surrounded by a 1 m wide walkway, the window of which can be seen from below. As part of guided tours, the tower can be climbed via 217 steps to the tower's apartment and the surrounding viewing gallery. Under the apartment there is another large room at the level of the open tower walkway with balustrade , which probably served as a storage room.
Others
When the Hessischer Rundfunk voted for the most popular building in Hesse, the St. Marien town church came in 19th place out of 100 proposals submitted.
Sources and literature
- Carl Braun: The Homberg sundials. In: Kreisblatt für Fritzlar Homberg. 98th year, October 31, 1968.
- Günter Liebert: The prayer clock of St. Laurentius - a reflection of medieval life in Roßtal. In: Roßtaler Heimatblätter. Announcements of the Heimatverein Roßtal eV issue 44, 2007.
- Otto Bramm : Report and results of an excavation in the town church of Homberg 1961/62. In: Homberger Hefte. Issue 20, 1978.
- Karlheinz Schaldach: "... and five-a-side there under crooked", numbers on the line: a forgotten way of writing numbers. In: Messages from the Heimat- und Geschichtsverein Bergwinkel e. V. Schluechtern. Volume 26, 2009, pp. 39-44.
Web links
- Evangelical parish Homberg (Efze)
- Bells ringing from Sankt Marien in Homberg (Efze) on HR4
- homberg-efze.eu
Individual evidence
- ^ Eckhard Trinkaus: organs and organ builders in the former district of Ziegenhain (Hesse) (= publications of the historical commission for Hesse . Volume 43 ). Elwert, Marburg 1981, ISBN 3-7708-0713-8 , pp. 280 f .
- ^ Franz Bösken : Sources and research on the organ history of the Middle Rhine. Volume 2: The area of the former administrative district of Wiesbaden (= contributions to the music history of the Middle Rhine . Volume 7.2 ). Schott, Mainz 1975, ISBN 3-7957-1370-6 , p. 776 .
- ↑ Heiner Sadler: Sun, Time and Eternity (= The bibliophile paperbacks. Volume 376). Harenberg, Dortmund 1983, p. 80.
- ^ Ernst Zinner: The oldest wheel clocks and modern sundials (= report of the natural research society in Bamberg. Volume 28). Naturforschende Gesellschaft, Bamberg 1939, p. 113 ( online , PDF).
- ^ A b Ernst Zinner: Old sundials on European buildings (= Boethius. Volume 3). Franz Steiner, Wiesbaden 1964, p. 101.
- ↑ Guided city tours (see Reformation and church tour) ( Memento from August 3, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the city of Homberg (Efze)
- ↑ These are the most popular buildings in Hessen. ( hr-online.de ( Memento from October 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ))
Coordinates: 51 ° 2 ′ 2.2 ″ N , 9 ° 24 ′ 19.1 ″ E