Sternbach (desert)

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View of today's church from the southwest
Sternbacher Church, view of the nave from the north-west

Sternbach (also Sterrenbach ) is the name of a deserted village in the urban area of Niddatal in the Wetterau district in Hesse . The place probably fell desolate in the 16th century. What remains of him is the former parish church of St. Gangolf, which is now used as the pilgrimage church of Maria Sternbach (also Sternbacher church).

location

Sternbach was at an altitude of 140  m above sea level. NHN on the way between Nieder-Florstadt in the north and Bönstadt in the south at the point where the path to neighboring Wickstadt goes westwards. Today the area is mostly wooded, on the south side below the church there is a pond on the edge of a bay that is open to the west. The brook flowing through the pond is also called Sternbach and flows into the Nidda over two kilometers further southwest between Wickstadt and Assenheim . Street names in Nieder-Florstadt and Bönstadt refer to the desert.

History of the place

The place was mentioned as "Sterrenbach" as early as 778 in a donation from the abbot Beatus von Honau . Further documentary mentions followed in 1231 (twice), 1233 and 1268. There are numerous documentary mentions from the late 13th and 14th centuries. Two main owners are emerging, the Arnsburg monastery and the Isenburg county . The Löw von Steinfurth received church patronage from the counts as a fief , sometimes with the participation of other heirs . The parish was the mother church of the churches in Wickstadt and Bauernheim . In the 15th century, the Arnsburg monastery managed to acquire more and more goods and in 1448 to acquire church patronage. Towards the end of the 15th century, the mentions became less numerous and stopped completely in the 16th century.

Sternbacher Church

Today's Maria Sternbach church dates from different epochs: While the flat-roofed nave is of Romanesque origin, the Gothic choir, as evidenced by a building inscription , dates back to 1455. The vestibule of the nave was not built until the 19th century. The baroque high altar shows an alabaster relief of the church patron Saint Gangolf of the original parish church.

An open chapel southwest of the church entrance probably dates from the first half of the 18th century. Remains of the former enclosure wall can still be seen in the churchyard.

Today the Catholic parish of St. Nikolaus in Wickstadt uses the church for pilgrimages.

literature

  • Wilhelm Braun: Places and farms gone out in the Friedberg district. In: Wetterauer Geschichtsblätter 1, 1952, pp. 1–26, here: p. 4.
  • Georg Wilhelm Justin Wagner : The devastation in the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Volume 1: The Province of Upper Hesse. Publishing house of the historical association for the Grand Duchy of Hesse, Darmstadt 1854, pp. 320–324 .
  • Heinz Wionski: Cultural monuments in Hessen. Wetteraukreis II, part 2: Friedberg to Wöllstadt. Braunschweig and Wiesbaden 1999 (=  Monument Topography Federal Republic of Germany ), p. 844.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sternbach, Wetteraukreis. Historical local dictionary for Hessen. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  2. ^ Georg Wilhelm Justin Wagner: The desolations in the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Volume 1: The Province of Upper Hesse. Darmstadt 1854, pp. 322-324.
  3. State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Wickstadt 20, Catholic pilgrimage church Sternbach In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse
  4. State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Wickstadt 20, Catholic pilgrimage church Sternbach In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse
  5. ^ Pilgrimage in Maria Sternbach

Coordinates: 50 ° 18 '17.2 "  N , 8 ° 51' 39.7"  E