St. Marien, Homberg (Efze), HE, D - Medieval Churches on Waymarking.com

The church from the 13th century is one of the most important Gothic architectural monuments in northern Hesse, along with the Elisabeth Church in Marburg. It is of particular importance within Hessian Protestantism: In 1526, Landgrave Philipp the Magnanimous convened the "Homberg Synod", which met in this church and marked the point in time when the Landgraviate of Hesse became Protestant. That is why it is called the Reformation Church of Hesse.

After previous buildings of a Franconian chapel, probably before 900, and a Romanesque church around 1000, the Romanesque basilica, or early hall church, was built in the 12th century. In the first half of the 14th century, a late Gothic conversion or new building was made as a hall church with Hessian-Westphalian characteristics. In 1374 the tower was started. During the Thirty Years' War, after the occupation by the imperial troops under Piccolomini in 1640, the tower and nave were blown up, collapsed and burned. According to a stone plaque on the church tower above the gallery, the church was restored from 1645 to 1746. In 1709 a tower house was built. In 1893 choir windows depicting the Homberg Synod were donated and installed. In 1965, after removing fixtures from the 17th to 19th centuries (stalls, pulpit, galleries), the current state was restored, and the seven-station crossroad was built in that year.

The building shows strong structural similarities with one of the most beautiful early Gothic churches in Hesse, the Elisabeth Church in Marburg. This applies above all to the towering three-aisled hall construction, but also to the details and the tracery of the windows. The vault of the nave rests on six round pillars, each with four services. Two further columns are built into the walls of the choir and the tower. The choir vault is supported by three-part wall services. The keystones in the choir have reliefs of Jesus as the Son of Man, the risen Christ and the Lamb of God. On the north side of the choir is a small sacristy with wall services that rise from the floor. The room is a replica of the nave and choir on a small scale. A baroque crucifix from Franconia hanging in the north aisle shows the crucified Jesus still alive (crocefisso vivo). It is a donation from a deceased Homberg entrepreneur.

The epitaph above the gallery of the south aisle is written in German and is dedicated to the memory of two officers from the family of Lieutenant General de Clement. The plaque of honor, a typical document of the Baroque era, reads in the German text: "Time rushes by with everything, here is the image, the being there, death takes care of every place."

The further text reads: Mortal, who you read this / consider this monument / as a cheap souvenir / Zweyer excellent brothers / and worthy sons / Weyland / of the brave and proven Hessian lieutenant general / Herr Stephani von Clement / who of birth, godliness and heroism / had great advantages in this world / namely / of the brave gentleman / Ludwigs David von Clement / Kayserl. Bavarian Kapitaine / the Anno MDCCXLIV (1744) on July 10th after having endured a heated fever of the souls after having entered the soulful immortality. / Then / of the weyland brave Mr. Karl Ludwigs von Clement / Hessian Lieutenants, the Anno MDCCXXIII (1723) on the 8th. July saw the light of this arguing world / Anno MDCCXLVII (1747) but on the 20th of Martii in Brabant / namely in the meeting near Laffeld, / because he was on the election site and thus on the bed of honor / by a canon ball of temporal life has been robbed / who has come to eternal peace after souls in the midst of strife /.

On the eastern front of the north aisle hangs a plaque that reminds the long-established Homberg noble family von Bardeleben in memory of the brothers Johann Wilhelm Anton Hilmar von Bardeleben, who lost their lives at a young age in the War of the Spanish Succession. The table of Anton Hilmar, who died at the age of twenty-three on November 15, 1703 as a Hessian captain near Speierbach / Palatinate, reported in Latin. His brother Johann Wilhelm, who was one year older than him, was so badly wounded as a captain's lieutenant on August 17, 1704 by a cannonball in the battle of Höchstädt that he died ten days later from the consequences of the wound. The commemorative plaque placed above the gallery on the north side of the aisle keeps alive the honor of the mother Louise Eva de Clement in Latin, it was donated by the daughter Luise Charlotte de Clement.

A grimace, a so-called envy head, is located in the southwest corner of the church.

Source: wikipedia

Building Materials: Stone

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