Wieselburg parish church

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North view of the (old) church

The Roman Catholic parish church Wieselburg is located in the Lower Austrian town of Wieselburg . It is consecrated to St. Ulrich and subordinate to the deanery Ybbs . Parts of it represent the oldest upright church building from the Babenberg era.

history

The church of Wieselburg initially belonged to the parish of Steinakirchen. The two churches were first under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Regensburg . In 1107, Bishop Hartwig I von Spanheim donated the Wieselburg branch including the Steinakirchen parish to Mondsee Monastery . In 1235 Wieselburg first appeared as a separate parish and in 1291 the first pastor was named. In 1706 the Mondsee Monastery ceded the Wieselburg parish to the Passau bishop . When the diocese of St. Pölten was founded in 1785, Wieselburg became a princely parish.

In 976, Emperor Otto II authorized Regensburg Bishop Wolfgang to build a castellum (Fliehburg) at the confluence of the Great and Small Erlauf . A church building in the form of an Ottonian central building with a square floor plan and attached octagon (Wieselburger Oktogon) was built within this refuge, which was consecrated between 993 ( canonization of Saint Ulrich) and 994 (death of Saint Wolfgang). In the period around 1500/1555, the existing central building was converted into a choir and a nave and tower were added on the west side . A major fire broke out in 1952 due to a lightning strike. During the subsequent general renovation, it was discovered that the oldest part of the church, which had previously been interpreted as a Romanesque Karner , is an independent Ottonian building from the pre-Romanesque period. In addition to the general renovation, an extension or a new church was added to the south-facing longitudinal wall of the old nave between 1953 and 1958 and on 18/19. Consecrated October 1958. An extensive church renovation took place in 1991 on the 1000th anniversary of the death of St. Wolfgang on October 31, 1994 (church consecration 993/994).

After a new cemetery was inaugurated west of the church in 1877, which was expanded in 1961 and 2001, the old cemetery around the parish church was finally closed in 1902.

The Ottonian central building

The octagonal dome of the Ottonian central building; in the lower part of the picture the transition to the Gothic nave

The sacred building, erected at the end of the 10th century, has a square floor plan with 8.7 m side length and cross arms in front, which open arched to the interior of the church. The 13.5 m high central dome is supported by an octagon. The building was entirely decorated with wall paintings from the first half of the 11th century. These frescoes were uncovered in 1952/57 and are among the oldest monumental paintings of the Middle Ages in Austria. The concept of the picture program corresponds to the Byzantine church paintings. The cosmic-universal rule of Christ is personified by the figure of the world ruler and dominates space. The choirs of angels, the writers and heralds of the Gospel and its harbingers are represented in a strictly hierarchical order.

Today only five sides of the once eight-sided central church are preserved, the remaining three were removed in the course of the construction of the Gothic nave. In the 1950s, the foundation walls were excavated and are marked in color in the new floor covering, but are partially obstructed by the desks in the pews.

Across from the octagon, under the tower, reconstructions of the entire fortified church complex and the fresco decorations of the octagon are exhibited.

The Gothic Church

Around 1500/1555 the west side of the central building was opened and a late Gothic, two-aisled nave was added, with the original central building being adapted as a presbytery . Three sides of the octagon were removed. The four-bay nave with ribbed vaults on slender octagonal pillars or wall templates is 20.5 m long from east to west and 10.5 m wide and 10.5 m high.

In the course of the construction of the nave, a church tower was added to the west of the nave. The lower part dates from this time and the upper part in its current form with the lozenge roof was built in 1873. The tower has a total height of 47.5 meters.

The new church

East view of the extension or the new church
Interior view of the extension or the new church

After the major fire in 1952, an extension or the new church was built from 1953 to 1958 according to plans by the St. Pölten architect Franz Barnath. The nave of the Gothic church was opened on its south wall by four arches and a 28 m long and 15 m wide hall with a north-south axis was added. The ceiling is divided by four zygomatic beams made of reinforced concrete. The detached rectangular presbytery has a flat-arched apse and is open to the hall through a semicircular triumphal arch. To the east of the new building, the sacristy and parish rooms and above the organ gallery were added.

The organ is the work of the organ builder Gregor Hradetzky from Krems and was built in 1959. It has 16 stops on two manuals and a pedal and is the first instrument from Hradetzky's workshop to have a mechanical action .

literature

  • Bundesdenkmalamt (Ed.): Dehio manual. The art monuments of Austria. Lower Austria, south of the Danube. Part 2. Verlag Berger, Horn / Wien 2003, ISBN 3-85028-365-8 , pp. 2684f.
  • Church guide: City parish church of St. Ulrich - Wieselburg (= Christian art centers in Austria. No. 547). Verlag St. Peter, Salzburg, 2013 ( online version )

Web links

Commons : Pfarrkirche Wieselburg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Wieselburg parish: Parish church of St. Ulrich Wieselburg on the Erlauf. accessed on Sep. 15 2013.
  2. ^ Ostarrîchi - Austria 996-1996. People, myths, milestones. Catalog of the Austrian national exhibition in Neuhofen an der Ybbs and St. Pölten. Edited by Ernst Bruckmüller and Peter Urbanitsch. Catalog of the Lower Austrian State Museum. NF 388. - Horn: Berger 1996 ( excerpt in the form of a PDF file )
  3. ↑ a b c Church guide: City parish church of St. Ulrich - Wieselburg: history. accessed on Sep. 15 2013.
  4. ↑ Church guide: City parish church of St. Ulrich - Wieselburg: Around the church. accessed on Sep. 15 2013.
  5. ↑ List of works by Gregor Hradetzky on the website of Orgelbau Hradetzky. Retrieved November 18, 2011 .

Coordinates: 48 ° 7 '39.4 "  N , 15 ° 8' 12.9"  E