the church of saint gumbertus is one of the central city churches of ansbach
in bavaria together with the neighboring saint johannis located in the old town saint gumbertus
is now a lutheran church it all began when gumbert who was later proclaimed as a saint
founded a monastery dedicated to mary in 750 at the intersection of the rezat and
onoldsbach rivers whose monks followed the benedictine rule of the order “ora et labora”
the church contains the oldest structure in ansbach and is considered ansbach city symbol in the
11th century it was converted to a collegiate church and experienced a great time of growth
finally in 1528 a resolution of the state parliament under margrave georg de pious
the church joined the evangelical lutheran reformation together with the margravate of ansbach
under the principle "Cuius regio, eius religio" - whose realm their religion. the monastery
was finally dissolved in 1563 thus began not only the gumbertus but also in the magravate
a well-known and proven history of the evangelical lutheran faith
one of the treasures of the monastery was the gumbertus bible
written in regensburg or salzburg in the late 12th century
in 1195 it was purchased by the monastery it is now an erlangen university library
the interior of the church combines changing architectural styles
the oldest structures in ansbach are found in the crypt around 1040 the pantheon of
the margraves of ansbach and the only surviving parts of the original church
the georgskapelle or saint george chapel dates back to the 14th century the nave was
originally romanesque the choir gothic the choir was transformed in the 16th century to a chapel
Schwanen-ritterkapelle or swan knights chapel housing elaborate epithets and dead
shields of the members of the order of the swan a lay foundation of the margrave albert achilles
since we're already talking about the swan knights chapel let us also talk briefly about the order
it all began with the order of the swan it was a spiritual
chivalric order of princes and nobles ruled by the house of hohenzollern
it was founded on september 29 1440 by the elector friedrich ii of brandenburg
with a reference to the medieval tale of the swan knight the association originally comprised
with elector friedrich at their head with 30 men and seven women united to honor the virgin mary
the order spread rapidly as well as further branches establishment such as the one in
the franconia principality of ansbach and in east prussia along with encouraging more enthusiastic
homage to the virgin mary the order sought to foster perseverance in works of mercy it
was extinguished during the protestant reformation since that movement discouraged devotions to mary
the whole building was changed in 738 to a representative church by charles
william frederich margrave of brandenburg ansbach under architect leopold retty
the nave was remodeled into a preaching hall in a restrained palette of grey and cream built to
cater the lutheran concentration on preaching without the embellishments of the side altars
the marble altar and the pulpit are main attractions of the church
after the dissolution of the margravate in 1791 the former court church became a lutheran
parish church which now serves the three districts in the eastern half of the city
with about 6 000 church members the organ of saint gumbertus was built in 1736-39
by johann christophe wiegleb the original choir had 47 different sounds
it was the largest and most prestigious organ in the region of franconia it was revealed in
1884 by georg frederich steinmeier of the firm steinmeier in romantic style
utilizing materials of the older organ and again by the same firm in 1961 in neo-baroque style
a controversy revolved around the issue as to whether the organ should be retained or restored
to the original Wiegleb design
in 2004 the church council resolved to get the historic organ restored
the restoration work was carried at the cost of 1.5 million euros
with funds raised from private donations and associations friends of the ansbach bach week
it was recommissioned on june 17 2007 during the bach week on the basis of a rich history
and proven faith throughout all historical events saint gumbertus today serves the
people of the city and often visitors with the lively variety of church life can visit
church music performances are known especially because of the
excellent acoustics of the church interior in particular by the ansbacher church music
and the windsbacher boys choir and above all by the international bach week
so that's it for the history of saint gumbertus and the swan nights chapel
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