St Bartholomew's Church, Themar

The parish church St Bartholomew's Church is the town church of Themar in Thuringia. It is dedicated to St Bartholomew. It belongs to the most richly equipped churches of the upper valley of the Werra. It is one of the few buildings of the small town, first mentioned in 796, which outlasted all storms of the time. The Oberkirche (upper church) at the upper gate and the Unterkirche (lower church) at the Werra were the first places of worship in the place. Of the Romanesque Unterkirche there still exist some remainders in the vestry and in both lower floors of the church tower. Pope Sixtus IV gave permission for the restoration of the church on 14 May 1484 with countess Margaretha of Henneberg intermediating.On 3 May 1488 the Chorherr (canon regular) of the Premonstratensian monastery Veßra and minister of Themar Antonius König founded the building of today's church. In 1502 the hall church in late Gothic style was completed.The reformation was introduced to Themar on 5 October 1544 by the count Ernst von Henneberg. After the Protestant Reformation the church received several smaller carved altars from other churches. Since 1541 the church building was frequently converted in the course of the next decades.The barrel vault and the two matroneums were inserted, whose support beams were decorated with beautiful Bartmannsköpfen (sculptures). Similar sculptures can be found in the churches of Rohr and Herpf near Meiningen.At the columns the matroneums were decorated with sculptures of saints and apostles, partially from older Gothic altar works and with famous verses from the bible.