Wilhelm Engel (cabinet maker)

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Altar in St. Otmar in Akams

Wilhelm Engel (born June 21, 1838 in Babenhausen (Swabia) ; † June 29, 1933 there ) was a German cabinet maker. He equipped numerous churches with altars, etc.

Life and works

Wilhelm Engel was a son of Michael Johannes Engel and Maria, geb. Sable. Maria Zobel was a daughter of the so-called court carpenter Zobel. Engel took over his father's business at a young age and expanded it. In the last third of the 19th century he received numerous orders for church furnishings. Even if his works were later often dismissed as “carpenter Gothic” and removed from the houses of worship, there are still at least 22 churches for which angels created altars, pulpits, choir stalls and communion gates. He drew the drafts himself; Many people were often involved in the execution: at times Engel had 18 journeymen; Before the introduction of electricity in Babenhausen, he worked with a steam engine . He often worked with Wilhelm Stury, who had a "studio for church decoration, barrel and gilding work" and, like Engel himself, was based in Krumbacher Strasse in Babenhausen. After a reconsideration began towards the end of the 20th century, some of Engels’s church furnishings that had been preserved were brought out again. For example, in the collegiate church of St. Philipp and Jakob in Bad Grönenbach, three altars of Engels were put up again. The figures in the side altars, which were lost, were replaced by new works by Christiane and Harald Sandler, who Rupert Mayer and Edith Stein chose as altar figures. Possibly unadulterated angel work can still be found in the churches of Aufheim, Langenhaslach , Herrenstetten , Bebenhausen , the Church of the Assumption of Mary in Westerheim , the churches of Wildpoldsried and Kimratshofen , as well as in St. Otmar in Akams , in the parish church of St. Cornelius and Cyprian von Probstried and in Hopferbach .

In addition to churches, he also furnished mundane buildings, including the tavern of the "Sailer-Bräus". Furniture from the Engels workshop can also be found in Babenhausen Castle and in numerous town houses.

Wilhelm Engel was involved in several associations in Babenhausen; Among other things, he was one of the founding members of the gymnastics club and the loan association, from which the Raiffeisenbank developed.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Dieter Spindler, Master of the artistic pulpits and communion gates , Augsburger Allgemeine, June 29, 2013 ( online )
  2. ↑ Albert Mayr, Catholic Parish Church of St. Otmar Akams , o. O. 2013
  3. ↑ No. 10 on www.dietmannsried.de
  4. ↑ Holger Ihrig and Hans Martin, Some about the history of the church and the parish of Hopferbach on www.untrasried.de
personal data
SURNAME Engel, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German cabinet maker (cabinet maker)
DATE OF BIRTH June 21, 1838
PLACE OF BIRTH Babenhausen (Swabia)
DATE OF DEATH June 29, 1933
Place of death Babenhausen (Swabia)