, native_name_lang = German , image = Kirche in Grossengottern.JPG , pushpin map = Germany , pushpin label position = top , map caption = Location in Germany , coordinates = , location =

Großengottern Großengottern is a village and a former municipality in the Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis district of Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it is part of the municipality of Unstrut-Hainich. Geography Großengottern is located in the norther ...

Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) the districts Eichsfeld, Kyffhäuserkreis, Sömmerda, Gotha, Wartburgkreis and the district Werra-Meißner i ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

, country = Germany , denomination =

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

, previous denomination =

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, status =

Parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

, dedication =

Saint Walpurga Walpurga or Walburga ( ang, Wealdburg, la, Valpurga, Walpurga, Walpurgis, sv, Valborg; c. AD 71025 February 777 or 779), also spelled Valderburg or Guibor, was an Anglo-Saxon missionary to the Frankish Empire. She was canonized on 1 May c. 870 ...

, style = Late Gothic , years built = 15th century St Walpurgis' Church (german: St.-Walpurgis-Kirche) in the upper part of the village of

, Germany, is a Late Gothic

church building A church, church building or church house is a building used for Christian worship services and other Christian religious activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 and 256. From the 11th thro ...

dating from the 15th century. Today, it is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

. St Walpurgis' Church is known for its large

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

organ by the significant organ builder Tobias H. G. Trost.

History and architecture

Like St Martin's Church in the lower part of Großengottern, which is also Late Gothic and was first mentioned in a document in 1318, St Walpurgis' Church is older than the written records indicate. A priest has been resident in Großengottern since 1280. St Walpurgis' Church was first mentioned in a document in 1494 when it was reconstructed and extended. Since 1500, both churches have hardly been changed structurally. The many similarities include the appearance and are applied to the church and village seals. St Walpurgis' Church was built on pre-existing foundation walls and walls of a predecessor church. The vicarage and the gateway to the church are located next to it. The

aisleless church An aisleless church (german: Saalkirche) is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways on either side of the nave and separated fr ...

is built of rubble stone masonry. The rectangular

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

with a three-sided

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 ...

was built in 1478, and the west tower bears an inscription with the date 1494. Alterations were made in the 18th century and 1851–1852. Restorations were carried out in 1952 and 1993–1995. The tower has a pointed arch portal and curtain arch windows, while the nave has pointed arch windows and the choir has

tracery Tracery is an architecture, architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of Molding (decorative), moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the s ...

windows. The interior is finished with a wooden barrel vault and surrounded by a two-storey wooden gallery from 1739.

Interior

In the east is a

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

pulpit altar A pulpit altar or pulpit-altar is an altar in a church that is built together with a pulpit that is designed as an extension above the altar, so the pulpit, altar, and altarpiece form one unit. This type of altar is typical in a Baroque style church ...

with

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...

s and tracery. In the tower room is a Romanesque baptismal font with a round-arched frieze on the basin. There is another baptismal font from 1739 in the choir. A Late Gothic St James altar from the beginning of the 16th century is now set up in the St James chapel at the bottom of the tower. The central shrine of the winged altar shows carved figures of Saints

Nicholas Nicholas is a male given name and a surname. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglicanism, Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the n ...

, James and Walpurgis. The open wings show scenes from the life of St James on their inner sides. In the choir, there are coloured stained-glass windows with biblical motifs from 1908. An altar

crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

was created in the first half of the 18th century. A gravestone for a knight of Großengottern is preserved on the outer northern portal. Großengottern St. Walpurgis 03.jpg, Interior view Großengottern St. Walpurgis 04.jpg, The altar Großengottern St. Walpurgis 07.jpg, The Trost organ Großengottern St. Walpurgis 08.jpg, St James chapel

Organ

Since 1717, the church has had a valuable organ by Tobias Heinrich Gottfried Trost with 26

stops Stop may refer to: Places *Stop, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the United States * Stop (Rogatica), a village in Rogatica, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina Facilities * Bus stop * Truck stop, a type of rest stop for truck dri ...

on two manuals and pedal. A special feature is the arrangement of some of the stops above the manuals. In 1848–1849, Ernst Siegfried Hesse reworked the actions and the manuals and replaced individual stops. In 1878, the organ suffered damage from a lightning strike. Friedrich Petersilie restored the organ and replaced some stops. A proposal for a fundamental change of the organ remained unrealised. In the years 1940–1947, Rudolf Kühn restored the organ under the guidance of Rudolf von Beckerath. In 1999, the organ was restored by Eule Orgelbau Bautzen according to the original stop list, which reads: * ''Effect stop:'' Cymbelstern in C, Cymbelstern in G * ''

Couplers Coupler may refer to: Engineering Mechanical * Railway coupler, a mechanism for connecting rolling stock in a train device ** Janney coupler ** SA3 coupler ** Scharfenberg coupler for multiple unit passenger cars * Quick coupler, used in constru ...

:'': manual coupler, pedal coupler – I, pedal coupler – II. * ''Subsidiary stops and auxiliaries:''

tremulant __NOTOC__ A tremulant (from Latin: ''tremulus'', "trembling"; french: tremblant, it, tremolo, es, temblor) is a device on a pipe organ which varies the wind supply to the pipes of one or more divisions (or, in some cases, the whole organ). Thi ...

, shutoff valve * ''Annotations:'' : (T) = stop wholly or partially by Tobias Heinrich Gottfried Trost (1716) : (H) = stop wholly or partially by Ernst Siegfried Hesse (1849) : (n) = stop wholly or partially new (1997)

Bibliography

References

External links

*
Website of the parish
(in German). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walpurgis, Grossengottern Buildings and structures in Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis Grossengottern Walpurgis Gothic architecture in Germany 15th-century churches in Germany Lutheran churches converted from Roman Catholicism