"That is the landmark of Friedrichshafen," said Hubert, pointing
to the twin towers of a church as we stood on Friedrichshafen ferry
harbor.
In the distance, we could see the domed towers of Schlosskirche,
or Castle Church, whose history is closely related to the founding
of Friedrichshafen, in southwest Germany.
Although Friedrichshafen is renowned as the city of Zeppelin and
his invention, its landmark building is Schlosskirche, a Protestant
church that has been reconstructed and renovated many times over the
course of time. Built in the Baroque style, its domes are carved out
of Rorschach sandstone.
It is said that one thousand years ago, a small community church
dedicated to St. Andrew stood in the same spot. One hundred years
later, Bertha, the Countess of Buchhorn, found a nunnery nearby to
honor St. Pantaleon.
The nunnery lost its independence after the bloodline of the
counts of Buchhorn came to an end, and the abbots of Weingarten
asked the provost to govern the nunnery. The abbey came to be
popularly known by the name Hofen.
The 30 Year War burnt down both St. Andrew's and St. Pantaleon's
in 1634, and were not rebuilt until the late 17th century, when
Christian Thumb from Bregenz Forest in Austria rebuilt the churches
from 1695 to 1701.
In 1802, the abbey in Hofen, as with all other ecclesiastical
states and possessions in Germany, was secularized, and Hofen later
became part of the Kingdom of Wuerttemberg. King Fredrick I of
Wuerttemberg had the abandoned and crumbling abbey rebuilt as a
castle to be used as a summer residence.
By 1812, the Castle Church had undergone another change, and
served as the parish church of the Protestant congregation of
Friedrichshafen, a year after King Fredrick I founded the city.
The church remained undisturbed until an air raid in 1944
destroyed the woodwork of the roof, the cupola and the interior of
the south tower, as well as the church pews and organs. After World
War II, the church again stood empty for a while.
The original stuccowork by Johann Schmuzer from the school of
Wessobrunn had eroded from dampness, so Joseph Schnitzer and his
sons and assistants recreated and simplified the stuccowork in 1950,
based on the original designs. A year later, the complete renovation
of the church was finished, and the church once again opened its
doors to the faithful.
The recreated stuccowork can still be viewed inside the church,
which continues to provide daily religious services to the residents
of Friedrichshafen to this day. --Wahyuni Kamah
