Evangelical Church Schweinschied

The history of the Evangelical Church of Schweinschied is closely linked to that of Löllbach. In a church book that was started in 1820 for the parish of Löllbach-Schweinschied, the following can be read: "Today, Saturday, May 20, 1825, the foundation stone for this church in Schweinschied was laid, on the site of a church that had already stood there, which, although not yet dilapidated, was too small and too dark due to its construction. No information could be found about when this old church was built." Elsewhere in the church book, it is stated that the chapel in Schweinschied was like the choir in Löllbach. The original tower of the Schweinschied church was probably built no later than the 13th century, and the chapel around the year 1500 at the same time as the choir of the Löllbach church. Since it is known that the people of Schweinschied went to Löllbach for worship at the end of the 18th century, it can be assumed that only official acts, such as baptisms, weddings, and funerals, were held in the Schweinschied chapel. On November 13, 1825, the completed church was consecrated as a Lutheran house of worship (church union only in 1836). It was altered three times internally and twice externally over 150 years. When an organ was ordered from the organ building company of the Stumm brothers in Rhaunen-Sulzbach in 1834, a new space had to be created for it. For this reason, the chancel was "pushed out." The church space was enlarged to the east by one window bay. A gallery was built in the chancel, and the organ was placed on it. The altar, which had stood there, found a place on the south side of the nave next to the pulpit. The civil community built a stately tower in front of the west gable of the church, and with it came new bells from the bell foundry Lindemann in Zweibrücken. The roof rider on the nave was no longer necessary because the ringing of the new large bells could now also be heard in the upper village. The last renovation of the Schweinschied church took place in early 1960. Only two columns of the west gallery remained from the old church. Everything else was renewed. The organ from 1834 was handed over to the instrument museum in Munich and thus preserved for future generations. A new small organ from the organ building company Eule from Bautzen was placed on the west gallery. The nave received new light benches, which were made in the workshop of master carpenter Coerper in Meisenheim. The altar, pulpit, and a stand for the baptismal bowl were also made of wood. The stand for the baptismal bowl features a relief of the baptism of Christ on its front. The pulpit received the image "Moses receives the tablets of the law from God." The altar depicts the twelve apostles, so the Schweinschied house of God could also be called the "Church of the Twelve Apostles."