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On January 28, 897 Ammern was first mentioned in a document. For centuries, the place was one of the areas of influence of the Free and Imperial City of Mühlhausen. In 1565 the population in the village Ammera counted 72 man.
In 1802 Ammern fell together with Mühlhausen to the Kingdom of Prussia; from 1807 to 1813 to the Kingdom of Westphalia created by Napoleon (canton of Dachrieden) and was assigned to the district of Mühlhausen in the Prussian province of Saxony in 1816 after the Congress of Vienna.
On March 14, 1995, it was decided on union of the municipalities Dachrieden, Ammern, Horsmar, Eigenrode and Kaisershagen to the municipality Unstruttal,. The incorporation, which has its administrative headquarters in Ammern, became effective on September 2, 1995.
Source: German Wikipedia () |
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Between 1708 and 1712, while he was serving in Weimar, J.S. Bach visited Ammern to examine the new organ built by Johann Friedrich Wender (13 stops and 1 section).
Ammern, located 6 km/4 miles north of Mühlhausen, is now a part of the municipality of Unstruttal. Like other small villages in the vicinity, Ammern commissioned an organ from Johann Friedrich Wender (1655-1729). J.F. Wender built four new organs for Mühlhausen itself: one for the Brückenhof Church (but since relocated to the town of Dörna) and others for the churches of St. Peter’s, St. Martin’s, and St. George's. The latter three churches, all situated just outside the old city walls (but already part of Mühlhausen in J.F. Wender's time), still stand. Their organs unfortunately no longer survive.
The J.F. Wender instruments that played the most important roles in the life of J.S. Bach were the organ in the New Church in Arnstadt, examined in 1703 by J.S. Bach, who then became its first organist, and the renovated organ at St. Blasius's Church in Mühlhausen, for which J.F. Wender incorporated J.S. Bach’s suggestions.
The organ for the St. Vitus Church in Ammern, built mainly between 1703 and 1706, was re-examined by J.F. Wender in 1710 at the church’s request. Further documents reveal that in 1712 the parish made payments to the organ builder and to the organ builder’s apprentice, and other payments for incidental expenses. In addition, a payment of three schock and four groschen was made "for testing the organ" to “H. N. N. Bachen,” that is, Herrn nomen nescio Bach (Mr. Name Unknown Bach; facsimile Kröhner 1995, 88). In the absence of first names, one of two Bachs may have been meant: either Johann Friedrich Bach [29] (1682-1730), the son of the Eisenach organist and "profound composer" Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703), or J.S. Bach himself. J.S. Bach would have had to travel some 84 km/52 miles to Ammern from Weimar in order to examine the organ, whose beginnings he probably observed while he was organist in Mühlhausen. The fee, worth about $250, seems adequate, although no additional payments for travel expenditures are recorded. J.S. Bach's friendship with J.F. Wender, however, and his continued good relations with Mühlhausen after his departure suggest that he was the likely examiner of the Ammern organ.
Literature: Kröhner 1995; Kröhner 2015.
Source: Robert L. Marshall & Traute M. Marshall: Exploring the World of J.S. Bach - A Traveller's Guide (University of Illinois Press, 2016), pp 102-103 |
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St. Vitus Kirche : The Protestant village church of St. Vitus, dating from 1270, still stands. It is constructed as a Chorturmkirche, that is, one whose tower is situated above the chancel at the east end of the church, a Romanesque design not uncommon in Thuringia. A neo-Gothic gallery surrounds the base of the solid tower, which otherwise retains the character of the typical Thuringian fortress church (Wehrkirche). The church was probably renewed in the 18th century. The last renovation of the church took place in the years 1998 to 2000 with funding from the German Foundation for Monument Protection (Deutschen Stiftung Denkmalschutz). Some remnants of paintings are visible on the interior church walls, but nothing survives of the Wender organ. |
