St. Martin is the name of a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church and former parish in

Oestrich Oestrich-Winkel () is a town with roughly 12,000 inhabitants in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Oestrich-Winkel, which culturally belongs to the Rheingau region, lies o ...

Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis Rheingau-Taunus is a Kreis (Districts of Germany, district) in the west of Hesse, Germany. Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis is part of the Darmstadt (region), Darmstadt region; its main administrative seat is Bad Schwalbach. Outposted sections of the local ad ...

, Germany. It was built as a

hall church A hall church is a Church (building), church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height. In England, Flanders and the Netherlands, it is covered by parallel roofs, typically, one for each vessel, whereas in Germany there is often one s ...

from 1508 in late-Gothic style. It was destroyed in the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

and rebuilt in simpler style, but restored to its Gothic appearance in 1894. The parish was merged in 2015 to St. Peter und Paul in

Eltville Eltville am Rhein (; from ''Alta Villa'', Latin for "high estate, high town", corrupted to ''Eldeville'', ''Elfeld'' and later Eltville ) is a town in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. It lies on ...

. It is part of the

Diocese of Limburg The Diocese of Limburg () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. It belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Cologne, with metropolitan see being the Archdiocese of Cologne. Its territory encompasses parts of the States ...

Building

History

Oestrich was the seat of the dean of the

Rheingau The Rheingau (; ) is a region on the northern side of the Rhine between the German towns of Wiesbaden and Lorch, Hesse, Lorch near Frankfurt, reaching from the Western Taunus to the Rhine. It is situated in the German state of Hesse and is part ...

region, therefore its church was probably the oldest one there. It is located in the east of the old village and was surrounded by a protected graveyard. A source from 1493 reports that it belonged to the Stift St. Victor in

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

from between 975 and 1011. The present building was preceded by a church in

Romanesque style Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe that was predominant in the 11th and 12th centuries. The style eventually developed into the Gothic style with the shape of the arches providing a simple distinction: the Ro ...

from the first half of the 12th century, dedicated to

Martin of Tours Martin of Tours (; 316/3368 November 397) was the third bishop of Tours. He is the patron saint of many communities and organizations across Europe, including France's Third French Republic, Third Republic. A native of Pannonia (present-day Hung ...

. Foundations of a Romanesque ''Langhaus'' within the present church were discovered during restorations in 1964 and 1994/95. The Romanesque tower, dating back to the first half of the 12th century, was preserved. The present church in late-Gothic style was completed around 1508. The church burned down during the

in 1635. After the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

in 1648, it was rebuilt in simpler form with a flat ceiling instead of the vaults. In 1893/94 the previous Gothic hall with star vaults was restored, supervised by Ludwig Becker from Mainz. A

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

balcony replaced the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

one; the sacristy was enlarged, and two chapels were added. After a fire in 1963, the roof of the tower was restored to its original form.

Modern history

In 2015 the parish was merged, along with other parishes, to St. Peter und Paul in Eltville. It is part of the

Description

The church is a three-aisled

; the nave ends with a slightly recessed

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

in the east. The tower cuts into the southern aisle halfway. The eight-sided tower spire has four corners in late-Gothic form. The

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

is higher than the nave. The south porch dates to 1508, the north porch to 1893/94.

Furnishings

The

high altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

houses in a Gothic Revival shrine six statues, four or them dating to 1500 (

Saint Barbara Saint Barbara (; ; ; ), known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an Early Christianity, early Christian Greek saint and martyr. There is no reference to her in the authentic early Christian writings nor in the origin ...

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

Saint Gregory Pope Gregory I (; ; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great (; ), was the 64th Bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 until his death on 12 March 604. He is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission from Rom ...

and

Saint Boniface Boniface, OSB (born Wynfreth; 675 –5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of Francia during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of ...

). Saint Catherine is from around 1520, and a Gothic Revival

Saint Benedict Benedict of Nursia (; ; 2 March 480 – 21 March 547), often known as Saint Benedict, was a Great Church, Christian monk. He is famed in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lutheran Churches, the Anglican Communion, and Old ...

was added. The Marian altar in the northern side chapel was created around 1500 for the village church of , Thuringia (nowadays a district of

Stadtroda Stadtroda (Roda until 1925) is a town of 6,653 people (2017), located in Thuringia, Germany. Stadtroda lies on the river Roda (river), Roda, a tributary of the Saale. The former municipalities Bollberg and Quirla were merged into Stadtroda in Jan ...

). A

Saint Anna According to apocrypha, as well as Christian and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary, the wife of Joachim and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the Bible's canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's na ...

altar from around 1720 with a marble top shows a sculpture depiction of her teaching Mary to read. A large

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...

in the triumphal arch features statues of Jesus and Mary from the 19th century combined with

John the Evangelist John the Evangelist ( – ) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Gospel of John. Christians have traditionally identified him with John the Apostle, John of Patmos, and John the Presbyter, although there is no consensus on how ...

from c. 1500. A baptismal font of black marble is from the mid-18th century. A Gothic Revival pulpit features the

four Evangelists In Christian tradition, the Four Evangelists are Matthew the Apostle, Matthew, Mark the Evangelist, Mark, Luke the Evangelist, Luke, and John the Evangelist, John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four canonical Gospel accounts ...

Organ

The organ was built by the organ builder from

Lich In fantasy fiction, a lich () is a type of undead creature with magical powers. Various works of fantasy fiction, such as Clark Ashton Smith's " The Empire of the Necromancers" (1932), had used ''lich'' as a general term for any corpse, animat ...

in 1981. The instrument has 26 stops on two manuals and a pedalboard.

Events

Services from St. Martin were broadcast live by

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

on 4 July 2021 and on 11 June 2023.

References

External links

*
Kirche St. Martin in Oestrich
(in German) rheingau.de * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Martin, Idstein Gothic hall churches in Germany Roman Catholic churches in Hesse Buildings and structures in Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis Churches in the Diocese of Limburg 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Germany