Tergaster Church

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Tergaster Church.

The Evangelical Reformed Tergaster Church in the East Frisian Moormerland was built as a hall church in the 13th century .

history

Construction of the church began in the 13th century. Before that, an 8.5 meter high artificial terp was built up. In doing so, the Tergasters used a technique that was previously only found in Altfunnixsiel in East Friesland . In the artificial hill, a layer of neatly laid bricks alternates with a layer of sand about 40 centimeters thick. The church may have had a previous building in the same place. This is indicated by the results of an excavation to secure the tower foundation, during which some remains were discovered.

The original patronage of the church is unknown. It may have been dedicated to the Fourteen Holy Helpers , as indicated by the number of blind niches (empty since the Reformation) in the rood screen, which was built into the church around 1400. In the 14 niches, however, the figures of Christ and the twelve apostles as well as one other figure may have been placed. Probably in the 14th or 15th century, a semicircular apse was added to the church, which later collapsed or was removed. The apse was 8.24 meters wide, while the east gable was 12.50 meters wide. The foundation walls of the apse were 0.77 meters thick. At the top it was closed off by a stepped gable.

After the Reformation, side altars that stood in front of the two outer blind arches of the rood screen were removed. Your former position can still be seen clearly at the places where the altar plates were set into the wall.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the west gable of the church fell in a storm, after which the current bell tower was built. In 1984 the church was extensively renovated. An attempt was made to make the color design of the rood screen partially visible again.

description

The church has a length of 23.9 meters and a width of 11.8 meters and is supported by a saddle roof completed extending in the same height above the drawn-West Tower. In the north wall there are walled-up window niches, in the south wall there are four windows, which were subsequently enlarged, with unstructured reveals . The old portals on the north and south sides were bricked up. The two side altar windows walled on the outside, so-called hagioscopes , are clearly visible inside. Today the church is entered from the north side. The choir was originally vaulted and contained a sacrament niche in the north wall.

The four-arched stone rood screen is a special architectural feature in East Frisia. The niches for the side altars are higher than the two passages in the middle. In the transverse walls of the passage there are deep niches in which a statue or a retable could be placed. The wider niche in the middle bears the inscription "In the beginning was the word" ( Jn 1,1a  LUT ).

Furnishing

Interior of the Tergaster Church

To the right of the rood screen is a wooden polygonal pulpit in blue, white and gold frame . Corner pillars divide the pulpit fields with round arches. The wooden church stalls with panels on the sides leave a central aisle free. A piscina with a segmented arch is embedded in a square niche in the southern choir wall.

Other items of equipment include a goblet made in 1710 by an unknown master, as well as a wine jug and a bread plate, which were probably made in 1928.

organ

A first organ was installed in the church in 1817. In 1939 the gallery was torn down and a new organ was installed. The whereabouts of the old instrument is unknown. Today's work comes from the Reformed Church of Neustadtgödens , for which it was built between 1839 and 1840 by the organ builder Gerd Sieben Janssen from Aurich. In Tergast, the organ builder Puchar from the north, who had his workshop in Emden, together with the long-time organist G. Dirks from Oldersum, serviced the instrument and changed it slightly. In the course of time the instrument suffered mainly from the dry heating air in the church, which is why it was no longer possible to play. In 1999/2000 a comprehensive reconstruction was carried out by Winold van der Putten ( Finsterwolde ) on the basis of the historical material. The organ has seven stops on a manual and an attached pedal and has the following disposition:

Manual Cf 3
Principal 4 ′ J
Dumped 8th' J (treble) / P (bass)
Viola d gamba 8th' J (treble) / P (bass)
Transverse flute 4 ′ P
Octave 2 ′ J
Rauschpfeife II P (partially)
Trumpet B / D 8th' P
J = Janssen
P = van der Putten

See also

literature

  • Hans-Bernd Rödiger, Menno Smid : Frisian churches in Emden, Leer, Borkum, Mormerland, Uplengen, Overledingen and Reiderland , volume 3. Verlag CL Mettcker & Söhne, Jever 1980, p. 46.
  • Insa Segebade: Reformed churches on the Ems . Evangelical Reformed Church, Leer 1999, ISBN 3-00-004645-3 , p. 77-78 .
  • Hermann Haiduck: The architecture of the medieval churches in the East Frisian coastal area . 2nd Edition. Ostfriesische Landschaftliche Verlags- und Vertriebs-GmbH, Aurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-940601-05-6 , p. 211 .
  • Justin Kroesen, Regnerus Steensma: Churches in East Friesland and their medieval furnishings . Michael Imhof, Petersberg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86568-159-1 (translation from Dutch).

Web links

Commons : Tergaster Church  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kroesen, Steensma: Churches in East Friesland. 2011, p. 175.
  2. ^ Ostfriesenelandschaft.de (Gerhard Kronsweide): Photos of the remains of the former apse , seen May 22, 2012.
  3. ↑ Benjamin van der Linde: The families of the parish Tergast (1661-1900). Upstalsboom-Gesellschaft, Aurich 2009, ISBN 3-934508-55-3 , p. 38 (Ostfriesisches Ortssippenbuch, 85; Deutsches Ortssippenbuch, A 554).
  4. ^ Segebade: Reformed Churches on the Ems. 1999, p. 77.
  5. ^ Ingeborg Nöldeke: Hidden treasures in East Frisian village churches - hagioscopes, rood screens and sarcophagus lids - overlooked details from the Middle Ages . Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-7308-1048-4 , p. 124 ff.
  6. ↑ Kroesen, Steensma: Churches in East Friesland. 2011, p. 173 f.
  7. ↑ Kroesen, Steensma: Churches in East Friesland. 2011, p. 140 f.
  8. ↑ Organ on NOMINE eV , seen April 23, 2011.
  9. ↑ Ev.-ref. Parish Aurich (Hrsg.): Organ town Aurich . Self-published, Aurich 2003, pp. 76–78 (Editor: Wolfgang Henninger).

Coordinates: 53 ° 20 '7 "  N , 7 ° 22' 6.3"  E