As of: March 1, 2024, 11:59 a.m
By: Markus Schwarzkugler
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An impressive church building: The Nativity of Mary in Wartenberg is 300 years old.
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300 years of the parish church: This anniversary is apparently currently trendy in the district.
Last year there was a big celebration in Bockhorn, this year the time has come in the parish of Mariä Annunciation in Altenerding.
And in Wartenberg, too, the parish church of the Birth of the Virgin Mary is celebrating its 300th birthday. This is being celebrated with a colorful program that starts with a concert this weekend.
Wartenberg – Reinhard Cardinal Marx has also announced his presence in Wartenberg (see box).
So it's high time for an outlook, but also for a look back at the long history of the church.
The Wartenberg Church was built from 1719 to 1724 by Erdinger master builder Anton Kogler - it is even the largest of his churches.
There are two interesting stories surrounding the mighty barrel vault: One says that Kogler allegedly miscalculated the statics and committed suicide out of fear that the vault would collapse when the formwork was removed, but this is demonstrably not true.
The second story tells that convicts from Straubing were brought in to strip the vault - they were assured that they would be free if they survived the work.
This is also not historically certain.
The remarkable interior of the church with its five baroque altars is thanks to Pastor Michael Wiestner (1729–1752), who sold everything he owned of value and died a poor man.
The right front side altar is a donation from the Barons of Fraunberg.
The Bavarian Elector Karl Albrecht, later Emperor Charles VII, paid for the artist's work on the high altar.
That's why the elector's coat of arms, carried by two angels, can be seen above the altarpiece, a copy of Raphael's painting “Assumption of the Virgin.”
Colorful program in the anniversary year
To mark 300 years of the parish church, there are numerous events in Wartenberg.
Lectures/tours
March 16th at 7 p.m. in the Wartenberg parish hall: Lecture by Paul Adelsberger on the topic of “Wartenberger Bells”.
April 21st at 4 p.m.: Church tour (meeting point Nikolaiberg).
June 1st at 4 p.m.: Church tour (meeting point Rockelfing).
July 6th at 7 p.m. in the parish hall: Lecture “Wartenberg Art Treasures”.
October 20th at 4 p.m.: Church tour (meeting point parish church).
Paul Adelsberger leads through the program.
Music
Soloist concert this Sunday, March 3rd, at 6 p.m. in the parish church with Stephanie Weltrich-Streit, Markus Kunzendorf and Christian Rott.
Ensemble concert on April 14th at 6 p.m. in the parish church with the Bruckner Kantorei.
Cantate Domino on April 28th at 6 p.m. in the parish church with works by Schütz, Haydn, Jenkins and others, accompanied by the Flex Camerata orchestra.
Ensemble concert on June 29th at 6 p.m. in St. Georg (Rockelfing) with Stefanie Weltrich-Streit, Brigitte Auer, Markus Kunzendorf and Peter Bisaha.
Men's concert on July 21st at 6 p.m. in the parish church;
“Mass no. 5 aux séminaires” by Charles Gounod, “Ave Maria” by Franz Schubert.
St. Mary's Vespers on September 7th at 7 p.m. in the parish church with the church choir hand in hand.
Church concert on November 24th at 7 p.m. in the parish church with church choir hand in hand, soloists and orchestra with the Great Credom Mass (Mozart) and Gospel Mass (Rott).
Festive service with Reinhard Cardinal Marx on September 8th at 10 a.m. with Haydn's “Theresa Mass”.
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The church tower with its baroque dome was only completed 40 years later by Kogler's successor Johann Baptist Lethner.
The historian Johann Baptist Prechtl reports in his “Brief Chronicle of the Wartenberg Market”: “Since the half-finished tower walls had become very weathered since the church was built, a master mason from Moosburg was brought in to inspect it, who explained flatly that The entire tower had to be demolished because otherwise it would take half the church with it.
The master masons of Freising and Vilsbiburg, on the other hand, claimed that 41 shoes could be safely built on it - which is what happened in 1763.”
Wartenberg's parish church is considered a monument to Bavarian popular piety and Bavarian art from the time of its greatest heyday.
The fact that no well-known artists worked on it shows the great achievement of regional architecture.
Many other interesting details can be read in the booklet “The Churches of the Wartenberg Parish” by the Wartenberg Parish Association and Paul Adelsberger.
As can be seen, among other things, from church archives and the Wittelsbach Chronicle, after the Thirty Years' War, the construction industry in and around Erding became more and more the domain of the master masons Kogler family, which was originally based in Schliersee and provided the Erdinger city masons from 1649 to 1729.
When Anton Kogler died after Kaspar and Hans in 1729, his widow married the aforementioned Johann Baptist Lethner, who developed extensive work as a church builder until his death in 1782.
He and after him Mathias Rösler, who married into the family from Vienna, continued the tradition.
During this dynasty of builders, around 100 churches and chapels were built in Erdinger Land, which are characterized by light spaciousness and towers with wide baroque domes.
Kogler's church buildings are halls with barrel vaults, pilaster structures and a recessed choir.
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