Berger Kirche is the common name of a church building close to , part of

Brechen Brechen is a municipality in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Brechen lies in the southeastern part of the Limburg Basin between the Taunus and the Westerwald. The sparsely wooded land of loess hills is crossed h ...

in Hesse, Germany. It was first mentioned in 910 and is one of the oldest buildings in the region. It was dedicated to St. George, and remained when the village of Bergen was abandoned. The Berger Kirche is located on top of a rock west of Niederbrechen and northwest of Werschau, close to the Bundesstraße 8, formerly the which connected Cologne and Frankfurt. It serves the cemetery of Werschau which surrounds it, and is a venue for services and concerts.

History

The first certain document dates from 910, when Louis the Child donated the church to Count Konrad Kurzbold, together with the court in Oberbrechen, to found a Georgsstift. A later document from 1652 mentions the church dating from 752, but its authenticity is doubted. While the church was built, probably right after the donation, another building was begun which later developed to the

Limburg Cathedral Limburg Cathedral (german: Limburger Dom, also known as ''Georgsdom'' ("George's Cathedral") after its dedication to Saint George, is located above the old town of Limburg in Hesse, Germany. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Limbu ...

. The Berger Kirche was originally dedicated to St. Martin. In 1232, when it was more closely connected to the Georgsstift, the

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

was changed to St. George. Regular processions to the church were mentioned in 1586, from surrounding villages including

Villmar Villmar is a market village and municipality in the Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany. The community is the centre for quarrying and processing the so-called Lahn Marble. Geography Location Villmar lies in the Lahn River valley betw ...

on the

Lahn The Lahn is a , right (or eastern) tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km). It has its source i ...

and Panrod, supporting the view that the church was a ''Mutterkirche'' (

mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral or a metropo ...

) for a region. It was an early Christian centre in the area, along with the , St. Severus and St. Lubentius, Dietkirchen. The church served as a parish church until 1571, then as a ''Friedhofskirche'' (cemetery church) for the surrounding which belongs to Werschau. From 1933, processions were held on horses at

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers ...

(''Pfingstritt''), with several hundred horses. The Nazis stopped them, but from 1946 to 1968 they were held again. In 1981 a "Freundeskreis Berger Kirche" was founded to take care of the church and organize events. The church is a listed monument. It serves as a chapel for the cemetery of Werschau which surrounds it, and as a venue for services and concerts. It is a ''Geöffnete Kirche'' (open church), opened at regular hours. The Freundeskreis began the 2016/17 season of concerts with a performance of Rossini's '' Petite messe solennelle'' by the Kammerchor Ehrenbach.

Architecture

The Berger Kirche was begun as a hall church in Romanesque style. It was later expanded by a nave to the north, and by a narrow rectangular

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

. In 1967, medieval

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plast ...

s were discovered, showing the patron saint and a crucifixion scene.

Literature

* Hellmuth Gensicke: Aus der Geschichte von Werschau. 44 Seiten, 1985. * Heinrich Eppstein: Die Berger Kirche. Ein Denkmal und Heiligtum im Nassauer Land. 2008.

References

External links

{{commonscat, Berger Kirche (Werschau)
Berger Kirche
(in German) Brechen
Unschätzbare Wandmalereien
(in German) Nassauische Neue Presse 22 August 2011 Romanesque architecture in Germany 10th century in Germany Roman Catholic churches in Hesse Churches in the Diocese of Limburg