Fortified church of St. Arbogast

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Fortified church of St. Arbogast
The fortified church with the northern gate tower

The fortified church with the northern gate tower

Creation time : around 400
Conservation status: receive
Place: Muttenz
Geographical location 47 ° 31 '20.6 "  N , 7 ° 38' 43.9"  O Coordinates: 47 ° 31 '20.6 "  N , 7 ° 38' 43.9"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred fifteen thousand five hundred eighty-four  /  two hundred and sixty-three thousand five hundred thirty-six
Fortified church St. Arbogast (Canton Basel-Country)
Fortified church of St. Arbogast

The fortified church of St. Arbogast ( reformed ) in the municipality of Muttenz in the canton of Basel-Landschaft is the only church in Switzerland that is completely enclosed by an almost circular curtain wall . This type of church is called a fortified church .

location

The church district is located in the upper village of Muttenz and forms the core of the old village, which spreads radially in the shape of a ray , which is bordered by the Rütihard to the west and the Wartenberg to the east .

history

Predecessor churches

The history of the church goes back a long way; the Alemanni built a wooden church on the foundations of an abandoned Roman building in the 5th century .

A permanent building was built in the 8th or 9th century and was replaced around 1000. When the village of Muttenz came into the possession of the diocese of Strasbourg as a Dinghof shortly afterwards , the church was consecrated to Saint Arbogast and he became its patron saint .

In the middle of the 12th century a fiefdom had the church rebuilt in Romanesque style, but the building was never fully completed.

Destroyed by earthquake in 1356

In 1356, the great Basel earthquake also destroyed parts of the church. So the north wall and the vault collapsed and the tower also suffered.

Reconstruction, expansion

From 1359 the fiefdom holder Konrad Münch-Löwenberg began with the repair and completion of the church. Therefore one finds his coat of arms, consisting of the monk and the lion, in different places in the church. Around 1420 Hans Thüring Münch-Eptingen raised the church tower and as protection for the residents of the village of Muttenz, the church was expanded as a refuge and surrounded by a wall. In 1504 the nave was increased. In 1630 the ship received larger windows and a gallery , the tower was raised by an additional storey and got its distinctive pointed helmet.

Intended demolition of the fastening

In the middle of the 19th century, the Muttenz municipal assembly decided to demolish the fortification, but thanks to the efforts of the citizens who were conscious of the monument, especially the Zurich art historian Johann Rudolf Rahn , it was prevented.

description

Church of St. Arbogast from the north

investment

The fortified church of St. Arbogast consists of the church and its churchyard, which is secured by an approximately 7 meter high circular wall with battlements and two gate towers . The wall is broken through in the north and south by the gate towers, which are designated according to their location. Within the walls, next to the church with nave, vestibule, altar house and the tower in the north corner, there is only the ossuary built in 1513 .

On the outside of the wall, next to the north tower is the guard house built in the 17th century and next to the south tower is the Sigristenhaus built in 1553 .

church

The free-standing church faces east and consists of a nave, vestibule and altar house . The church tower is on the north side, at the level of the antechamber. The nave has a late-Gothic wooden floorboard ceiling by Ulrich Bruder from 1504. The church has an organ by Neidhart & Löthe , which is located on the gallery that was newly built in 1973 . The Romanesque vestibule is raised by three steps and has a ribbed vault with a capping stone with the Münch-Löwenberg coat of arms from 1359. Here you can also find the baptismal font from 1618 and the pulpit body from the 18th century. On the north wall of the chancel, which is spanned with vaulted ribs from the 14th century, there is a late Gothic tabernacle and is the place of the stone table altar from 1805.

Murals

The paintings found in the church during the renovation in 1880 date back to 1450. Mainly, however, they were created around 1507 by Martin Schongauer and show representations from the legend of Arbogast and Nicholas , scenes from the life of Christ , Mary , the apostles and, in the ossuary, the legend of the grateful dead . Watercolors and pauses were made from the paintings and then forgiven again. Only the painting of the Last Judgment was left and restored.

It was not until the overall restoration in 1973–1975 that all the pictures in the church and in the ossuary were made visible again and preserved.

gallery

  • Exterior view

  • inner space

  • Late Gothic fresco

  • Last Judgment fresco

  • Choir window

  • Ossuary

  • Interior of the ossuary

literature

  • Muttenz - the face of an up-and-coming urban settlement ; Canton of Basel-Country, 1968
  • Werner Meyer : Castles from A to Z - Burgenlexikon der Regio . Published by the Castle Friends of both Basels on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. Klingental printing works, Basel 1981, p. 108.
  • Hans Georg Wehrens: The dance of death in the Alemannic language area. "I have to do it - and don't know what" . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2012, p. 40, ISBN 978-3-7954-2563-0 .
  • Jürg Ewald: The St. Arbogast Church in Muttenz near Basel: a medieval fortified church . Reprint from: Chateau Gaillard 8/1976, 1979 ( OCLC 602213781 ).

Web links

Commons : Wehrkirche St. Arbogast  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files