Georgskirche, Protestant church in Kleiningersheim, Germany
The Georgskirche is a white-walled Protestant church with red-tiled roofs, standing on a sloped site above the castle in Kleiningersheim. Its main house has an almost square plan and a gabled roof; the narrow chancel tower to the east turns from a square base into an octagon below the belfry and is crowned by a slate onion dome with a small golden cross. Grey stone quoins and ocher-yellow window surrounds mark the corners and openings, and a clock face sits on the tower.
Kleiningersheim had a castle chapel by the 11th century, and in 1591 the village of about 200 inhabitants received its own pastor, prompting a new church built in 1601. The date appears on the chancel arch keystone and carved into the capitals of the two oak posts carrying the gallery; two small north-side windows bear 1587 and likely come from the predecessor building.
The choir frescoes, painted in the 18th century, survive only left of the altar: the four Evangelists with their symbols and the inscription "Der Prophet gilt nichts in seines Vaters Stadt". Opposite, the faded Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan carries the words "Dies ist mein geliebter Sohn". The choir vault shows sun, moon, stars and a jagged lightning bolt from an old bell-rope opening.
The church stands in the elevated historic centre of Kleiningersheim, slightly above the castle, and its tower is visible from the Neckar valley. The choir received its window only in 1967, so the interior is lit mainly from the nave; the frescoes left of the altar are faint. The building is a cultural monument and an active Protestant parish church of the Besigheim district.
The choir had no window until 1967, when a coloured pointed-arch window was installed, donated by the Ehmer siblings, children of a Kleiningersheim family that had emigrated to the United States. The two small windows on the north side, dated 1587, are older still and probably come from the predecessor church.
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