Evangelische Stadtkirche: Gothic Parish Church in Besigheim, Germany
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Duchy of Württemberg, German, Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page13 sections
History
Evangelische Stadtkirche is a Gothic church in Besigheim, Germany, built by the medieval Christian community of the town. It stands at the upper end of the old town, immediately behind the Schochenturm, a historic tower, and may have replaced an earlier Romanesque town chapel. A church at Besigheim was first mentioned in 1279. The present choir dates from 1369, was consecrated in 1383, and was followed by the completion of the nave in 1448.
Medieval church and Catholic dedication
By 1484 at the latest, the church was dedicated to Saint Cyriacus, a Christian martyr traditionally associated with healing and exorcism. Its medieval development continued into the early sixteenth century. Between 1520 and 1529, craftsmen installed the 13-metre-high high altar, whose imagery combines a Late Gothic structure with clear Renaissance elements.
The church then underwent a major religious transformation. Although Besigheim belonged to the Margraviate of Baden, it became a Protestant place of worship during the Reformation between 1555 and 1557. The Reformation was the sixteenth-century movement through which many central European territories adopted Protestant forms of worship and church organization. Changes to the building continued after this transition. The entrance to the Käppele side chapel dates from 1545, the nave was reroofed in 1570, the organ was renewed in 1601, and a new sounding board was acquired for the pulpit in 1612. Access to the sacristy was created in 1685.
Destruction and eighteenth-century repairs
French forces devastated the church in 1693 during the War of the Palatine Succession, a late seventeenth-century conflict involving France and several European powers. The fire destroyed the wooden furnishings, including the altars, pulpit, and seating, while the high altar survived. A replacement organ was installed in 1699, and new seating was completed by 1703. Further repairs followed in 1749.
The building was altered again toward the end of the eighteenth century. Side entrances were opened on the west side in 1791, and the tower beside the choir was raised in 1795. Its pointed roof was replaced by a domed roof because the bells had reportedly been difficult to hear in the town and surrounding fields for about a century. Even after the alteration, the tower remained low in proportion to the church.
Nineteenth- and twentieth-century changes
A substantial reorganization took place in 1847. The church was heightened, the organ was moved from the choir to the west side, galleries were installed, and a new altar and baptismal font were provided. In 1875, the seating in the lower nave was renewed and the rood screen, a partition separating the choir from the nave, was removed. Standing and recumbent tomb monuments had decorated the choir until the nineteenth century, when successive alterations removed them.
The damaged high altar was restored in 1887 under the direction of Heinrich Dolmetsch, a German architect and building inspector, by the wood sculptor Edmund Kiefer. In 1900, coloured glazing was fitted to the choir’s pointed-arch windows. The new glazing reduced the glare produced by the former clear glass and improved the view of the high altar.
In 1913, the church acquired a new organ from the Walcker organ-building firm of Ludwigsburg. It had 32 stops and 1,786 pipes, while parts of the earlier 1699 organ case were reused. After the Second World War, Paul Heim Jr. renovated the church in 1965 and 1966. The congregation now belongs to the Besigheim Church District of the Evangelical State Church in Württemberg, the regional Protestant church body.
Remains
Evangelische Stadtkirche is a single-nave Gothic building arranged on an east-west axis. The choir occupies the eastern end, the nave extends westward, and a tower is attached to the choir’s north side. Pointed arches, tracery windows, rib vaulting, and strongly vertical proportions express the Gothic character of the building. Within this medieval framework are later elements, including the wooden galleries, the Protestant furnishings, the restored high altar, and the twentieth-century organ.
Choir and nave
Choir
The choir has slender tracery windows and a stone rib vault carrying painted decoration. A simple modern altar stands alongside the historic high altar, while a modern pulpit occupies the northern choir arch. Decorative foliage paintings, seven of the twelve original consecration crosses, and several historic epitaphs remain in the choir. Consecration crosses mark places associated with the medieval consecration of a church, while epitaphs are memorial inscriptions or monuments for deceased people.
Nave
The nave is covered by a recessed, saddle-shaped wooden ceiling. A wooden gallery follows the south wall and continues along the west gable. A spiral staircase in the south-west corner provides access to it. The south gallery has one level, while the west gallery has two levels, with the organ placed on the upper level.
Käppele side chapel
The Käppele is a small Late Gothic side chapel inserted into the north wall of the nave. Its Gothic ceiling vault retains historic ornamental painted decoration. The entrance, created in 1545, reflects the continuing alteration of the church’s internal arrangements after its medieval construction.
High altar
The high altar is carved from limewood and rises about 13 metres. It is approximately four metres wide with its wings closed and seven metres wide when open. Although its overall classification is Late Gothic, it incorporates clear Renaissance elements. Its style has been associated with Christoph von Urach, a late Gothic sculptor linked to southern German altarpiece production, and his workshop.
The central image shows Saint Cyriacus healing Artemia, the daughter of the Roman emperor Diocletian, from possession. Finely carved foliage and tendrils surround the scene. Above it are Saint Roch, Saint Martin, Saint George, and Saint Dorothy. Christ appears above these figures as Judge of the World, accompanied by Mary and John the Baptist. Separate plinths beside the central image carry figures of John the Evangelist and John the Baptist.
The predella, the lower section of an altarpiece, depicts Saint Anne with the Christ Child and the Virgin. King David and Bathsheba accompany this group, while King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba appear above it. The two side wings present the Christmas story from the Annunciation to Mary through the Flight into Egypt. Their reverse sides are undecorated. The altar was formerly partly obscured from the nave by the organ and the rood screen.
Medieval wall paintings
A large wall-painting cycle on the north wall of the choir was uncovered in 1954 and restored by W. Hammer of Ulm. Dating from around 1380, during the construction period of the choir, it measures about three metres high and nine metres wide. The paintings are partly fragmentary and faded, but their scenes form a comprehensive biblia pauperum, or “Bible of the poor,” a sequence of biblical images designed to communicate Christian narratives visually.
The first two rows depict the Passion of Christ. Their scenes include Christ as the Saviour of the World, the Throne of Mercy, the enthroned Virgin, the Entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the Washing of the Feet, the Agony in the Garden, the Betrayal of Judas, Christ before Pilate, the Flagellation, the Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross, the Raising of the Cross, the Crucifixion, the Deposition, the Entombment, the Resurrection, Pentecost, and the Ascension.
The third row contains the Nativity and the Presentation in the Temple, as well as eight saints arranged in four scenes, the martyrdom of Saint Erasmus, and four women shown in two scenes. Beneath the paintings is a wall tabernacle with Christ’s head in its arched field and an angel beside it. The cycle’s representations are technically awkward in places, yet together they present an extensive visual account of Christian history.
Crucifixion group
A richly figured Crucifixion group was painted on the right side of the nave’s triumphal arch at the end of the fifteenth century. It served as the reredos, an ornamental image or structure placed behind an altar, for a former side altar. Its position links the painted decoration of the nave with the liturgical furnishings that once stood in the church.
Organs
The present organ was built in 1967 by Richard Rensch of Lauffen am Neckar. It is a slider-chest instrument, meaning that sliding valves beneath the stops control its pipes. The organ has 30 stops on three manuals and pedal. Its key actions are mechanical, connecting the keys to the valves, while its stop actions are electrical. The instrument has the couplers I/II, III/II, III/I, I/P, II/P, and III/P, together with a 2,048-fold electronic combination system.
In 2004 and 2005, the organ builders Scharfe of Ebersbach an der Fils repaired, overhauled, and tonally reconfigured the instrument. It continues a long sequence of organs associated with the church, including the replacement instrument installed after the destruction of 1693 and the Walcker organ acquired in 1913.
