Dorfkirche Wengern: A Historic Evangelical Church in Wetter, Germany
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- German, Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page12 sections
History
Dorfkirche Wengern is a protected historic church in Wetter (Ruhr), Germany, with medieval origins and a Gothic enlargement dating to 1264. Today it is used by the Evangelical congregation of Wengern, which belongs to the Hattingen-Witten church district of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia.
Medieval origins
The church was first mentioned in 1246, when it was dedicated to Saint Liborius, a Christian bishop whose relics had been transferred to Paderborn Cathedral in 836. A chronicle associated with the Boele congregation indicates that the church may already have held parish status near the end of the eleventh century, under Segevinus, the archbishop of Cologne. This suggests that a small stone church probably stood here during the eleventh century, perhaps preceded by a wooden chapel.
The congregation also connects the church’s beginnings with the Saxon Wars of Charlemagne around AD 800 and with the Christianization of the region. It associates this tradition with the dedication to Liborius and the place-name Opfersiepen. Known architectural and archaeological evidence does not support that early foundation theory. The medieval building itself was a simple Romanesque hall church, a basic church form associated with the Romanesque period, before it was enlarged in the Gothic style in 1264.
Reformation and parish life
In 1543, under Pastor Hildebrand Schluck, almost the entire congregation adopted the teachings of Martin Luther. The Reformation was the sixteenth-century religious movement that led many western European congregations to separate from Roman Catholic institutions. Wengern consequently became one of the first congregations in the County of Mark, a medieval and early modern territory in the Lower Rhine-Westphalian region, to leave the Roman Catholic Church.
The medieval dedication remained in use for a long time. The name Liborius Church continued to appear in church registers until 1792. It was later transferred to the Catholic sister congregation in Wengern and eventually to its church, which was dedicated in 1915. The Wengern congregation has remained Evangelical Lutheran since 1543 and serves the districts of Wengern and Esborn.
The Fabricius services
A distinctive episode in the church’s history occurred during a plague outbreak in Wengern in 1636. Parishioners from nearby Bommern avoided worship in the church because of the risk of infection. Pastor Johannes Fabricius, then 91 years old, responded by holding services outdoors at the Deipenbecke, a stream about halfway between Wengern and Bommern, allowing the congregation to be reached without gathering in the church.
A memorial stone commemorating Fabricius’s service was erected at the site in 1843. It later sank into the floodplain soil and was rediscovered in 1921, after which it was set on a permanent base. Two commemorative plaques were added in 1936. Since 1924, the now separate Evangelical congregations of Wengern and Bommern have held an annual joint Fabricius service there.
Tower and nineteenth-century enlargement
An inscription above the tower door gives October 18, 1678, as the date associated with the construction of the lower part of the church tower. A clock was installed in 1740, followed by a slate-covered spire in 1743. The building was extensively altered and enlarged in 1891, when two transepts and a second small tower were added. Because the transepts are asymmetrical, the resulting church has only an incomplete basilica form. A basilica is organized around a central nave with lower side spaces, an arrangement not fully realized here.
Twentieth-century changes
Further interior and visual alterations took place in 1936 and 1937, followed by additional changes in 1959. Repairs to the southern and western exterior walls in 1937 revealed several niches containing remnants of embedded skullcaps. Their age and precise meaning could not be established because the remains were lost during the Second World War. The most plausible interpretation is that they formed a particular kind of memento mori, a reminder of human mortality.
In 1972, an old clock mechanism from a tower clock in Wetter town hall was installed in the church tower. Extensive renovation followed in 1994 and 1995. In 2012, the congregation had approximately 3,800 members and two pastoral posts.
Remains
The church stands only a few meters above the stream in the Elbsche valley, close to the confluences of the smaller Opfersiepen and Schmalenbecke streams. Its repeatedly enlarged form combines a medieval hall-church core with the 1891 transepts and second small tower. Exposed Ruhr sandstone masonry gives the building a consistent material character despite its many alterations. Nearby are the Leimkasten and the Mühlchen, which houses the Henriette Davidis Museum.
Church tower and bells
The lower section of the tower belongs to the building phase associated with 1678. Its slate-covered spire was added in 1743. Four bells remain in the tower. The Kleiner Anton was cast in 1521. The Kyrie and Gloria bells were cast by the Rincker bell foundry in 1952 and are tuned to d” and h’. The Kinderglocke was cast by Rincker in 1826 and first served as a school bell at the nearby Sandberger School before being moved to the church tower in 1952. The tower also contains the older clock mechanism transferred from Wetter town hall in 1972.
Baptismal fonts and altar furnishings
A Romanesque baptismal font, probably made before 1250, survives inside the church. It is accompanied by a second font made in the Baroque style by the master builder Hagedorn in 1689. Other Baroque furnishings include a carved altar from 1714 and a pulpit from 1746. A wooden lectern made by Hildebrand Rebein in 1688 carries a symbolic pelican figure and was intended as a stand for reading religious texts.
Cross, paintings, and gravestones
Above the altar hangs a triumphal cross, the large cross traditionally placed at the boundary between the nave and chancel. Although Romanesque in style, this cross was probably made during the fifteenth or sixteenth century after an older model. Remnants of late medieval wall paintings also survive. Several old gravestones, probably taken from the former churchyard, remain inside, including a grave slab dated 1565.
Ceiling, organ, and statues
The nave has a painted wooden coffered ceiling installed in 1936. Its recessed panels are decorated with floral designs. The organ facade dates from 1892, while the instrument behind it is a Steinmann organ from 1975, installed within the case of an older Sauer organ. Two wooden statues of unknown age were rediscovered in the rectory attic in 1976. One represents Saint Peter, and the other shows Christ Pantocrator, the traditional image of Christ as the all-ruling or almighty figure.
Skull niches
The skull niches discovered in the southern and western exterior masonry in 1937 remain visible. After their discovery, they were left open and then replastered around the openings. The embedded skullcap remnants were lost during the Second World War, so the niches cannot be dated and their original purpose remains uncertain. Their placement and form have nevertheless led to the interpretation that they may have served as a reminder of human mortality.
