Walpurgis Church (Alsfeld)

Walpurgis Church in Alsfeld

Sheet mask polychrome console in the choir

The Walpurgis Church is the main Protestant church in the town of Alsfeld in the Vogelsberg district in Central Hesse .

history

A pastor for Alsfeld ( Johannes Plebanus de Ailesvelt ) is mentioned for the first time in 1233. In 1521 Martin Luther stayed in the city, which became Protestant in 1525.

Building history

inside view

The building history of the Walpurgis Church was revealed through excavations in 1971/72. The starting point was a relatively small Romanesque transept basilica in the area of today's nave central nave. The core of today's building was an early Gothic transept basilica from the middle of the 13th century, which was initially laid out around the first building, only to be completed after its demolition with three pairs of low pillars. This Gothic church building included a choir, which was replaced from 1393 by the existing late Gothic choir, which was one yoke longer and higher. The console figures attached to the buttresses show a clear influence of the sculptural art of the Prague cathedral builder Peter Parler . On January 25, 1394, the original tower collapsed and was then rebuilt; today's octagon tower with hood was not completed until 1543. The early Gothic nave was expanded from the middle of the 15th century, increasing the pillars inside, into a hall church completed in 1472 , with the remains of the old nave walls being preserved.

In 1963, in conjunction with the architect Theo Kellner , Charles Crodel created the overall glazing that characterizes the church interior in a visual language that matches the architectural forms .

Bell tower of the Walpurgis Church

Inscription about the tower collapse

The tower shaft is in the Gothic style, the octagon and the roof dome in the Renaissance style. The previous tower, which collapsed on the night of January 25, 1394, was built in the last third of the 13th century. A Latin inscription on the tower passage still reminds of the collapse today : anno dm m ccc xciiii i nocte jns s pauli ruit atiq turris eod ano crast die s joh an porta latina n opus ichoat. (In the year of the Lord 1394 on the night of Saint Pauli conversion (January 25th) the old tower collapsed. In the same year the work started on the day after S. Johannis ante portam latinam (May 7th).)

To the left of the stairs of the passage there is a height bolt that indicates a height of approx. 268.5 meters above sea level. Under the outer staircase there is a kind of dungeon from 1558, which was used for disobedient students from the Latin school opposite as well as for disruptive worshipers. Under the passage there is a gap in the ceiling through which a kind of elevator can carry objects up the church tower. Even today, the fir trees are brought up to the tower on Christmas Eve. The surface area is 10.6 * 10.6 m from the outside and 5 * 5 m from the inside. This results in a wall thickness of 2.5 to 2.7 m. The tower has 145 (+18) steps. At that time, a tower keeper lived in the octagon with his family, whose task it was not only to keep the time but also to announce enemy attacks and fire.

The Christkindwiegen has been held annually since 1674. Music is made from three sides. On the fourth page there is a story that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe interweaves in his ballad “The Dance of Death”. According to Alsfeld's saga, a ghost appeared to the singers and musicians who, under threat of violence, prevented playing from this point to this day.

Bells

The Walpurgis Church has a total of seven bells . The four-part main bell rings for the ringing of Sunday on Saturday evening and for the main service on Sundays and has not been changed in its current form since 1617.

The smallest bell is also the youngest and was cast in 1617 by a master from Lorraine . It is called the court bell and earlier called the citizens to clean up the Liederbach stream flowing through the city . Their strike tone is a ¹ .
The storm bell in the strike tone G sharp ¹ comes from 1545 (Jörg Görz and Johannes Schofmann) . Part of their inscription reads:

“The word God remains forever. My name is storm bell ” .

This late medieval bell has a full and at the same time bitter sound due to its extremely heavy rib .

The oldest bell is the midday bell cast in 1333 with the inscription:

“Anno domini MCCCXXXIII fusa est haec campana” (this bell was cast in the year of the Lord 1333).

There is a crucifix under the word “campana” . The bell rings in g ¹ .

The largest bell in Alsfeld is the Sunday bell, which weighs 1,635 kilograms . It was cast by Laux Rucker on July 13, 1582 in the abbey church, which was then still empty. Their inscription reads:

"Servio Christo dum resonando ad sacra verba et pia vota convoco cœtus Christi colarum. MDLXXXII "

("I serve Christ by calling the assembly of Christ worshipers through my sound to holy speeches and pious prayers")

The Alsfeld coat of arms is attached to both sides. In between a dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Your strike tone is the f ¹ . It sounds at 12 noon and in the evening for Feierabend .

In the roof turret still hangs the old Lord's Prayer bell (strike tone c sharp ³ ), probably from the year 1392. It can only be rung with a cable.

The two clock bells in the lantern of the tower helmet were cast in 1920 in tones g ² and b ² by the Buderus company .

Since December 3, 2006, the carillon has been sounding five times a day , donated by a private citizen and cast by the Rincker bell and art foundry .

For the first time on Christmas Eve 1993, the Alsfeld town bells rang out , consisting of the bells of the neighboring Christ the King Church ( tone sequence f ¹ –b ¹ –c ² –d ² –f ² ), the Trinity Church (es ² –g ² –b ² –c ³ ) and the bells of the Walpurgis Church. Since then, it has been ringing at the turn of the year and before major public holidays.

Judgment bell
Storm bell
Yoke and inscription of the storm bell
Midday bell
Sunday bell

Furnishing

View of the organ (case from the 18th century)

The organ was rebuilt in 1982 by the organ builders Gebrüder Hillebrand in the existing building of an instrument from the 18th century. The slider chest instrument has 26 stops on two manuals and a pedal. The playing and stop actions are mechanical.

I Hauptwerk C – g ³
Quintadena	16 '
Principal	08th'
Hollow pipe	08th'
Viol	08th'
octave	04 '
Pointed flute	04 '
Fifth	02 ² ⁄ ₃  '
Octave	02 '
Mixture IV	01 ¹ ⁄ ₃  '
Trumpet	08th'

II Rückpositiv C – g ³
Dumped	08th'
Principal	04 '
Reed flute	04 '
flute	02 '
Fifth	01 ¹ ⁄ ₃  '
Sesquialtera II	02 ² ⁄ ₃  '
Sharp III	01'
Vox Humana	08th'

Pedals C – f ¹
Sub bass	016 '
octave	08th'
Dumped	08th'
octave	04 '
Night horn	02 '
Mixture IV	02 ² ⁄ ₃  '
trombone	016 '
Clairon	04 '

Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P.

literature

Jürgen Michler: The Walpurgis Church in Alsfeld. Your building history and art-historical classification . In: Festschrift for the 750th anniversary of the city of Alsfeld. Alsfeld 1972, pp. 65-100.
Karl Mengel: The Walpurgis Church in Alsfeld. Attempt to interpret the genesis of the main church in Alsfeld. History and Museum Association Alsfeld, Alsfeld 1994, ISBN 3-927284-05-X .
Karl Mengel: The pulpit of the Walpurgis Church in Alsfeld. Your history, description and reconstruction. History and Museum Association Alsfeld, Alsfeld 1999, ISBN 3-927284-19-X .
Evangelical church community, Alsfeld (ed.), Heinrich Dittmar: Bells of Alsfeld . A documentation on MC.

Individual evidence

↑ Information on the organ

Web links

Commons : Walpurgiskirche Alsfeld - Collection of images, videos and audio files

State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Kirchplatz 1 (Walpurgiskirche) In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse
Internet presence of the parish

50.7513 9.2713Coordinates: 50 ° 45 ′ 4.7 ″ N , 9 ° 16 ′ 16.7 ″ E

[1] Information on the organ