Hannberg fortified church

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The fortified church of Hannberg

The fortified church of Hannberg is a fortified fortification of the Church of the Birth of Mary in Hannberg (municipality of Heßdorf ), ten kilometers west of the city of Erlangen in Middle Franconia . The place Hannberg already played a strategic role in the 11th century because of its location on the trade route between Bamberg , Würzburg and the royal estates in Büchenbach and Herzogenaurach . Hannberg was first mentioned in 1065 under the name "Hagenberch" in a gift certificate from the Bamberg bishop.

meaning

The fortified church, with its dimensions of 73.5 × 56.2 meters on an area of ​​0.37 hectares, is the third largest fortified church in Germany. Only the fortified churches in Ostheim and Rohr have larger areas.

Another special feature of the weir system is the modern defense concept. While comparable fortified churches relied on battlements and moats at the end of the 15th century , in Hannberg the defense towers were equipped with loopholes on the inside and outside so that the population could also be defended within the complex. As a last resort, an underground passage was built that connected the church building with the outside world. In 2020 the fortified church of Hannberg with its historic Marien-Pilgrimage Church of the Birth of Mary will officially become part of the new Franconian Marienweg of the Archdiocese of Bamberg.

history

A stone chapel can be found in Hannberg since 1300. The first documented confirmation of the chapel dates back to 1348. In this chapel, a sacristan from the neighboring parish of Büchenbach regularly performed services for the believers from Hannberg and the neighboring villages of the Seebachgrund .

Triggered by armed conflicts between the city of Nuremberg and the Margrave Albrecht Achilles von Bayreuth-Ansbach in the First Margrave War in 1449/50, the church had to be fortified. In the period from 1461 to 1486, a weir system that is unique in Franconia and southern Germany was built . In order to prevent the reformation of Catholic churches to Protestantism , Hannberg was raised to a separate parish with the name of the Birth of Mary in 1574. The Church of the Birth of Mary became a heavily frequented pilgrimage church with a Mary with the child and a miraculous image of Mary with folded hands . On Epiphany 1865, a lightning strike in the tower caused a fire in which a large part of the church tower burned down and was restored by 1866.

Historical place of pilgrimage Hannberg

The fortified church of Hannberg has been venerated as a place of pilgrimage since it was built in the 15th to 17th centuries. According to a report by the Jesuit priest P. Gamans from 1653, a Hannberg miraculous image, a Pietà with folded hands, was the main attraction for pilgrims from the area between Hannberg, Herzogenaurach and Büchenbach. The Hannberg image of grace has been on display in a chapel in Hammerbach since 1890.

Weir system Hannberg

Hannberg (Heßdorf) fortified church

The earliest chapel, the so-called Mount of Olives Chapel, had two floors. In 1461 the early mass of Johann Igelthaler was celebrated on the Katharinen altar. With the early mass, the right of patronage for the fortified church was transferred to the city of Nuremberg. At the time of Igelthaler’s early mass in 1464, there is evidence that the parish church does not yet exist, while the church tower was completed in 1486. Thus, within less than 25 years, the fortified church Hannberg was "built from a single source". Due to the patronage law, the financing for the construction of the fortified church lay with the city of Nuremberg.

The builder of the defense system cannot be clearly proven, but several studies indicate that the Nuremberg city architect Hans Behaim the Elder was involved. Ä. down.

The Gothic church tower is 52 meters high and has four floors and an impressive pointed roof. As a five-button tower with four watch towers on the corners, it is a typical regional defense tower from the early 15th century.

The weir system in Hannberg is equipped with a closed ring wall with six meter high walls and a defense concept that was modern for the time. A special feature of the weir system in Hannberg are the three round and one square defense tower, which enable defenses to the outside and inside. Overall, the fortified church with the dimensions 73.50 meters × 56.20 meters represents a unique fortification that is unparalleled beyond Franconia. The church is connected to the gatehouse and places outside the fort by 550-year-old underground passages.

Church of the Nativity of Mary

The current interior of the church is characterized by the Baroque furnishings of the main altar and the side altars. Historically, the first furnishings of the church were determined by late Gothic elements; three stone altars dedicated to Saint Catherine and the Mother of God have not survived. Some valuable late Gothic sculptures such as B. Maria with the child in the main altar, the figure Maria Siegerin on the left side altar and the three saints Katharina, Barbara and Margarethe, who were venerated as the "three girls" in Hannberg and the surrounding area.

Cultural events

Since 2015, the fortified church Hannberg has increasingly developed as a location for cultural events. Above all, the large cultural event in the fortified church, which takes place every year at the beginning of July, invites thousands of guests to open-air events with performances by choirs, big bands or youth bands. Every year on October 31st the event "Night hike on the trail of the saints" takes place, which is considered a unique Halloween alternative for children. Other open-air events such as Faith Day in 2008, 2013 and 2019 help to raise the profile of the fortified church as a place for cultural events.

Picture gallery

  • Hannberg fortified church

  • Courtyard weir system, 1464

  • Entrance gate

  • Church tower, 1425

  • Defense tower, 1464

  • Baroque church interior

  • Mary with Child 1485

  • "The three girls"

  • Saint Catherine, 1475

Web links

Commons : Wehrkirche Hannberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Schaub: The fortified church in Hannberg , 2007
  2. ↑ Thomas Willert: Germany's largest fortified churches , http://wehrkirche-hannberg.de/archive/1629 , 2014
  3. ↑ Robert Noppenberger: Wehrkirche Hannberg - First modern fortification system of the modern age , http://wehrkirche-hannberg.de/archive/1667 , 2014
  4. ↑ https://projektarbeit.kirche-bamberg.de/projekte/fraenkischer-marienweg
  5. ^ Robert Noppenberger, Thomas Willert: Hannberg , 2019, Heßdorf municipality, ISBN 978-3-00-064396-5
  6. ^ Robert Noppenberger, Thomas Willert: Hannberg , 2019, Heßdorf municipality, ISBN 978-3-00-064396-5
  7. ↑ Tilmann Breuer "The Art Monuments of Upper Franconia 6": City of Bamberg 6. Civil mountain town. 2 volumes 1997
  8. ↑ Konrad Bedal: Dorfkirchen in Franken: A picture handbook : Fränkisches Freilandmuseum, 1st edition, 2015, ISBN 9783926834966
  9. ^ Monika Stark: The fortified church in Hannberg , 1972, University of Würzburg
  10. ^ Eduard Rühl, "Kulturkunde des Pegnitz Valley and its neighboring areas", Frankenverlag, Nuremberg 1961
  11. ↑ https://www.kultur-in-der-kirchenburg.de/
  12. ↑ https://www.focus.de/regional/bayern/kinder-im-seebachgrund-erleben-ablebnis-mit-der-heiligen-katharina_id_9845221.html

Coordinates: 49 ° 38 ′ 13 ″  N , 10 ° 54 ′ 4.9 ″  E