St. Michael is a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

church and parish in

Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is the Franconia#Towns and cities, s ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, Germany, also called Stadtpfarrkirche St. Michael, indicating that it is the town's most prominent church. Building began in the 12th century. After Fürth became Protestant the building was remodelled in

Baroque style The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (i ...

, including balconies. An organ and stained-glass windows were installed in the 20th century.

History

The present church was built in phases. The was built c. 1100 as the oldest part, but was remodelled often. It is dedicated to Michael the archangel, who has been

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of Fürth from the 13th century. The tower was added in the 1380s or 1390s, with a portal dated between 1390 and 1410, due to comparison with art in Nürnberg.Heinrich Habel:

(= Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege ds. ''Denkmäler in Bayern''. vol. V.61). Karl M. Lipp Verlag, München 1994, , pp. 196ff. The tower was a place of refuge in times of war in a town that had no fortification.Kirche St. Michael und Kirchenplatz
(in German) tourismus.fuerth.info 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 ...

was added around 1480. The

octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

al top of the tower was built around 1530. The church and parish became Protestant following the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

in Nürnberg on 5 June 1524. The date of the first Visitation on 3 September 1528 is usually accepted as the beginning of Reformation in Fürth. As the oldest church building, a Martinskapelle, was probably 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 European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine, or disease, whil ...

, St. Michael was the only church in town until 1824. The church was for centuries the only monumental building in Fürth, and its tower dominated its skyline. The interior was remodelled in

in the 17th century, and balconies in U-shape were installed to seat more people. The only feature from the Gothic period is a housing for the sacrament, created from sandstone by Adam Kraft around 1500. In the 19th century, the interior was converted to neo-Gothic style.

Windows

Hanns Gottfried von Stockhausen, artist and later professor of glass design at the Stuttgart Kunstakademie, created stained-glass windows in the church that were installed between 1958 and 1969, showing Biblical figures and scenes, such as Michael the Archangel, the Crossing of the Red Sea, the

Baptism of Jesus The baptism of Jesus, the ritual purification of Jesus with water by John the Baptist, was a major event described in the three synoptic Gospels of the New Testament ( Matthew, Mark and Luke). It is considered to have taken place at Al-Maghta ...

, and Christ as Judge.

Church music

The main organ was built in 1979 by Ekkehard Simon from

Landshut Landshut (; ) is a town in Bavaria, Germany, on the banks of the Isar, River Isar. Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free state (government), Free State of Bavaria, and the seat of the surrou ...

. It included the Gothic-revival front from 1904. It features 45 stops on three manuals and pedal.St. Michael, Fürth
fuerth-evangelisch-musik.de From 1923 to 1964, the composer Frieda Fronmüller was church musician at the church as the Kirchenmusikdirektorin.

References

External links

*
St. Michael um 1630
In ''Stiftungsbuch'' by Benedikt Köler,

Germanisches Nationalmuseum The ''Germanisches Nationalmuseum'' is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, it houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day. The museum is Germany' ...

Fürth with St. Michael in 1760
in ''Prospecte aller Nürnbergischen Stædtlein, Markt-Flecken, und Pfarr-Dörffern Nürnberg'', 1760, p. 102 {{DEFAULTSORT:Michael, Furth Protestant churches in Germany

History

Windows

Church music

Further reading

References

External links