City Church of St. Wenceslas (Naumburg)
The Evangelical Lutheran town church of St. Wenceslas on the market square of Naumburg is the main church in the town outside the spiritual district of the former cathedral freedom .
Building
As the most distinctive church building and landmark of the council town of Naumburg, the Wenceslas Church is one of the most important buildings on the Saale. The late Gothic building from 1426 received its west portal in 1510/1520 and a baroque interior in 1724 .
The architectural design of the building with a long, single-nave choir and a very short three-nave, two-bay nave is unusual. The choir closes with a polygon of five sides of a decagon, the nave closes to the west with a polygon of five sides of a hexagon. The layout of the roof is also unique: a ring-shaped gable roof runs around the building over the side aisles and the western polygon; a second continuous gable roof over the central nave and choir crosses over the eastern part of the nave with a third, transverse gable roof. This creates deep funnels between the gable roofs above the nave, which are drained to the outside in the attic. A view from the tower or via satellite image services illustrates the arrangement better than a description.
The choir shows the decorative forms of the soft style , which were also partially adopted on the north side of the nave. The windows are exceptionally slim and feature rich fish-bubble tracery. Furthermore, the buttresses and especially the north portal from the first half of the 15th century and the west portal from 1510 are richly decorated with pinnacles and profiles. Another characteristic is the clover-leaf arch frieze with lily ends, which occurs on the eaves and in other places.
The interior is shaped by the redesign in the Baroque period, but takes up the centralizing tendency of the room, which was already laid out in the late Gothic. It does not have a vault, but only received the ceiling in 1724. The baroque high altar from 1680 as well as paintings from the workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder are worth highlighting . Ä. Also noteworthy is the grave slab of August von Leubelfing , page of the Swedish king Gustav II Adolf . The three galleries in the west and the backdrop-like altar give the room a theater-like effect. Nevertheless, the altar structure is a remarkably unconventional work, which with its steep proportions and its openings with cloud glorioles fits well into the formerly Gothic choir. The pulpit is a work from 1725–1729 and was revised again in 1765/66. The choir balustrade is also from 1766.
The steeple of the Wenceslas Church is the tallest tower in the city at 72 meters. He has a publicly accessible viewing platform at a height of 53 meters in his tower house .
organ
The organ by Zacharias Hildebrandt is a jewel of baroque organ building tradition. It was built in 1746 using an older, splendidly decorated with acanthus ornamentation from the years 1695/1697. Johann Sebastian Bach and Gottfried Silbermann took over the examination of this instrument. It was extensively restored from 1993 to 2000 by the company Hermann Eule Orgelbau Bautzen . The later reconstruction of the action was reversed and the original play cabinet was reactivated. The original arrangement of the organ from 1746 has also been restored. The restoration was of particular importance, since this organ realizes Bach's idea of a “quite large and very beautiful organ” like no other.
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- Pair : I / II, III / II, II / P
- Playing aids : check valves (II, III), beat (III), cymbal star
Organists
The following people worked as organists at the Wenceslas Church:
- 1616– ?: Christian Engel
- 1632–1654: Augustin Vocke
- 1654–1694: Johann Leo
- 1694–1715: Johann Magnus Knüpfer
- 1715–1733: Benedict Friedrich Theile
- 1733–1748: Christian Kluge
- 1748–1759: Johann Christoph Altnikol
- 1759–1794: Johann Friedrich Gräbner
(...)
- 1971–2008: Irene Greulich
- since 2008: David Franke
- since 2018: Hans Christian Martin
Bells
Six bells hang in the tower. The three larger ones were cast by Martin Hilliger from Freiberg in 1518 and have been hanging in a massive, late-Gothic wooden bell chair from 1521/1523, restored since 2000. This three-way bell of the Wenceslas Church has national significance due to the fact that it is the only completely preserved medieval bell from a master in Saxony-Anhalt.
The three bronze - church bells are cast of high technical and artistic quality: enter each modified leaf tendrils decor as an ornament, also between ornament strips shoulder inscriptions in capital letters .
With a diameter of 104.5 centimeters and a weight of around 678 kilograms after the restoration, the smallest bell has the Latin inscription: “AVE MARIA GRACIA PLENA DOMINVS TECVM BENEDICTA TV IN MVLIERIBVS ET BENEDICTVS FRVCTVS VEN 1518” (= Hail, Maria , full of graces, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb ).
The next larger bell with a weight of around 1,211 kilograms and a diameter of 126.2 centimeters is adorned with the slogan: O REX GLORIE CRISTHE VENI CVM SANCTISSIMA PACE. AMEN 1518 (= Christ, King of glory, come with your most holy peace! Amen 1518 ).
The bell in the middle position, weighing 2,309 kilograms and 155.4 centimeters in diameter, has a verse from Psalm 112 as an inscription: SIT NOMEN DOMINI BENEDICTVM EX HOC NVNC ET VSQUE IN SECVLVM A 1518. (= The name of the Lord be praised from now on and forever! Amen 1518 ). This bell has two reliefs: on the back you can see the church patron Wenzel with the Naumburg coat of arms, on the front a crowned crescent Madonna in a halo.
The two new clock bells are at home in the lantern of the tower, as is the old school bell that CW Becker cast in Naumburg in 1763 shortly before the end of the Seven Years' War: ANXIO CLAMORE PERII, PACE REDEO (= I jump with fearful war cries, at the peace festival I appeared new. ), above it the relief of the city patron Wenceslas with the city coat of arms.
The two bowls were cast in 2001 by the art and bell foundry Lauchhammer - the hour bell with a diameter of 80 centimeters and a weight of 180 kilograms, the quarter-hour bell with a diameter of 60 centimeters and a weight of 75 kilograms.
In the tower lantern hangs the gate, school and confession bell from 1763 next to two clock chimes .
No. | designation | Casting year | Caster |
Diameter (mm) |
Weight (kg) |
Nominal (16th note) |
Belfry |
1 | 1518 | Martin Hilliger , Freiberg | 1554 | 2309 | of 1 +4 | Bell chamber | |
2 | 1518 | Martin Hilliger | 1262 | 1211 | f 1 −3 | Bell chamber | |
3 | Angelus or Marienbell | 1518 | Martin Hilliger | 1045 | 678 | as 1 −1 | Bell chamber |
4th | Gate, school and confession bells | 1763 | CW Becker, Naumburg | 530 | ~ 85 | ges 2 −5 | Lantern |
Hour bell | 2001 | Art and bell foundry Lauchhammer |
800 | 180 | ~ d 1 | Lantern | |
Quarter-hour bell | 2001 | 600 | 75 | ~ f sharp 1 | Lantern |
literature
- Ursula Dittrich-Wagner (text), Peter Franke (photos): The Wenzelskirche in Naumburg / Saale (DKV art guide; vol. 594). Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 2002.
- Sibylle Harksen: The Wenzelskirche zu Naumburg (The Christian monument; Vol. 97). Union-Verlag, Berlin 1976.
- Karl Schöppe: From the history of St. Wenceslas Church in Naumburg ad p. 2nd edition Sieling Verlag, Naumburg 1930.
Individual evidence
- ^ Walter May: City churches in Saxony-Anhalt . 1st edition. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1979, p. 206 .
- ↑ Winfried Schrammek: Johann Sebastian Bach's idea of a "quite large and quite beautiful organ" . In: Stadt Naumburg (ed.): The Hildebrandt organ in Naumburg, St. Wenzel. Festschrift on the occasion of the re-inauguration after the restoration. Naumburg 2000, p. 27 .
- ^ Organists - Hildebrandt Organ - Naumburg. Retrieved August 24, 2018 .
- ↑ http://www.mv-naumburg.de/die-glocken - accessed on October 2, 2017
- ↑ Constanze Treuber and others: Cast diversity. Bells in Saxony-Anhalt . Hinstorff, Rostock 2007, p. 118, ISBN 978-3-356-01180-7 (+ 1 CD).
Web links
- Evangelical parish Naumburg / Saale
- Naumburg tourism
- Website St. Wenzel Naumburg - Hildebrandt organ
- Detailed presentation of the bells of St. Wenceslas
- Audio sample: Third movement of Johann Sebastian Bach's Sonata 6 in G major, BWV 530 on the Hildebrand organ of the Wenceslas Church
Coordinates: 51 ° 9 ′ 6.2 ″ N , 11 ° 48 ′ 35.1 ″ E