Abterode Church of the Dead
The so-called Totenkirche is the listed ruin of a 14th-century church in Abterode , a district of Meißner in the Werra-Meißner district in North Hesse .
prehistory
Ruthard, abbot of the Fulda monastery , founded the Abbetesrode provost around 1076 , around which the village was formed. The village became Protestant after the Reformation in the Landgraviate of Hesse in 1526 and the church of the now secularized provost, a three-aisled basilica , was united with the village parish in 1544 and now served as the village church.
history
The village had a second church, not far to the east on a small hill north of the Bärenstein . The single-aisled, about 27 m long and 8 m wide building with its compact west tower was built according to tradition in the 14th century and was probably the actual parish church of the village. After the dissolution of the convent, when the church became the village church, it continued to be used for funeral sermons - hence also known as the "Church of the Dead" - and in the summer also for ordinary services. A 1407 cast, 18 quintals heavy bell but was in the neighboring town already in 1544 Vockerode sold.
The churchyard served as the community cemetery until the 19th century . Over time, the building fell into disrepair due to general neglect. The tower was declared threatened with collapse in 1789, and the last sermon in the church took place in 1801. In 1809 the interior was looted and devastated by a band of robbers. In 1814/15 the community council sold the remaining inventory. In 1822, a makeshift repair of the church tower was carried out, but the deterioration could no longer be stopped - probably also due to a lack of finances. Demolition of the church was considered as early as 1824, but not yet tackled. In 1835 the church roof was threatened with collapse and in 1841 it was demolished. In 1847 the tower top collapsed and in 1849 the remains of the tower top were removed. Since then, the ruin, which is now a listed building, has stood in this form.
architecture
The ground floor of the tower is barrel vaulted . The Gothic rectangular choir of two bays with ribbed vaults on consoles is separated from the nave by a construction seam . Originally there were only notch-like openings in the tower and in the side walls of the ship , some of which are still there; this indicates that the building was originally designed as a fortified church . The wall openings for the two tracery windows were not broken until 1523, as indicated by the year above the southern window.
Churchyard
There are numerous gravestones from the 17th to 19th centuries in the churchyard.
Footnotes
- ^ Wilhelm Bach: Church statistics of the Protestant Church in the Electorate of Hesse. Kassel, 1835, p. 270
- ^ Wilhelm Bach: Church statistics of the Protestant Church in the Electorate of Hesse. Kassel, 1835, p. 270
- ↑ Totenkirche Abterode, on the website of the Meißner community
literature
- Georg Dehio , edited by Folkhard Cremer, Tobias Michael Wolf and others Handbook of German Art Monuments , Hessen 1, Gießen and Kassel administrative districts . Deutscher Kunstverlag , 2008 ISBN 978-3-422-03092-3
- Georg Dehio , edited by Magnus Backes: Hessen . In: Handbook of German Art Monuments . First volume. Deutscher Kunstverlag , Munich / Berlin 1966, p. 1 .
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 12 ′ 42 " N , 9 ° 56 ′ 33" E