St. Viktor Church

The Guntersblum Protestant church is located in the center of Guntersblum. A few hundred meters to the east is the New Palace, and only a few hundred meters to the south are the Homburger Hof and the first Guntersblum Palace, today's Leininger Palace. On the directly opposite side of the street from the palace, on today's Hauptstraße, is also the Deutschherrenhof. In the immediate vicinity of the Deutschherrenhof was also the old Guntersblum town hall, before it was demolished in 1834 as part of the move to the Leininger Palace. In addition, a few hundred meters to the west is the Polysche Hof and a little further on, the Guntersblum Kellerweg and the Julianenbrunnen. The Guntersblum Synagogue and the Guntersblum Domhof are located a few hundred meters to the southeast.

The construction of the Church of Saint Viktor in Guntersblum is estimated to have begun around the year 1100. Furthermore, in 1995 and 2002, investigations were carried out on wooden beams from the north tower of the church, which revealed that the tree from which the wood was used was felled in the early summer of 1101. It is believed that there was already a church building in Guntersblum long before 1100. Reasons for a new building are said to have included "expansive population growth" and representational purposes. The financing of the church was divided between the Xanten Abbey, which sold its properties to the Worms Cathedral Chapter on January 15, 1237, and which, as the owner of the tithe, was responsible for the choir and the nave (from about 1720, the Worms Cathedral Chapter was responsible for the choir and half of the nave), and the citizens of Guntersblum, who were responsible for the side aisles and the church towers.

The church building at that time was designed as a three-aisled basilica; to this day, little has changed in the length and width of the building. Another fact known about the church in the 12th century was that the church was lit inside. Furthermore, according to a church visitation report from 1496, the main altar of the church was located in front of the choir. In addition, since 1300, the two side altars are said to have stood in front of the eastern outer walls of the building. The left side altar was dedicated to Saint Nicholas and the right side altar to Saint Michael and Saint Margaret. Around the church there was also a cemetery enclosed by a wall. Furthermore, there was an ossuary on the cemetery grounds. In addition, the name of the building, Saint Viktor, was first documented in the church visitation report of 1496. The name probably comes from Viktor of Xanten, to whom the mother church of the Guntersblum church is also dedicated. However, the name and the associated patronage of Saint Viktor were then linked to a condition: the church could only bear the name Saint Viktor as long as Catholics could also celebrate services in the church. When Catholics finally received a new house of worship in the courtyard of the Leininger Palace in the 19th century, the name was also transferred to this building.

Reports on the condition of the church only resume around 1600. For example, the roof of the building, which was by then about 400 years old, was said to be in need of renovation. The Guntersblum community therefore hired a roofer every year from 1595 to 1617 to carry out necessary work on the church roof. In 1618, the nave of the Guntersblum church was finally demolished due to severe dilapidation. Subsequently, the ruling Leiningen counts Johann Ludwig (1579–1625) and Philipp Georg (1582–1627) demanded the wine and fruit tithes from the Guntersblum community to rebuild the nave of the Guntersblum church. During the new construction, the eastern portal with the year inscription 1619 was also inserted. However, shortly thereafter, the Thirty Years' War broke out and also reached Guntersblum, so the reconstruction of the nave had to be stopped. When the Spaniards finally became the occupying power in the Palatinate, the home of the Leiningen counts, and subsequently initiated the re-Catholicization, the Leiningen counts were now indirectly prevented from demanding the tithe revenues from the Worms Cathedral Chapter for the construction of a Lutheran-influenced church. However, after Count Johann Ludwig died in 1625, his son Emich XII. (1612–1658) tried to use the Lutheran-influenced Swedish government in Mainz to pressure the Worms Cathedral Chapter to cede the tithe revenues again. But finally, the Swedish government rejected Emich's request on July 17, 1634, stating that the amount of money currently available was too small for such a construction project.

After difficult times for the Guntersblum population following the Thirty Years' War, the brothers Emich Christian and Johann Ludwig, who had been ruling in Guntersblum since about 1667, finally began to collect the grain from the tithe of the Worms Cathedral Chapter and then sell it on the market in Mainz. In June 1683, the Worms Cathedral Chapter finally allowed the Guntersblum community to use the tithe revenues to pay for the choir and half of the nave; however, the Guntersblum population had to pay the other half for the reconstruction of the nave themselves. In order to finally decide on the construction project and prevent all possible obstacles during the subsequent construction, the Guntersblum community, after two expert opinions from construction specialists, drew up a contract with the Worms Cathedral Chapter, which was finally signed by the court officials Georg Schad, Hans Caspar Reiß and Niclas Adam Greuel, and the Guntersblum citizens Georg Jakob Mantz and Georg Loos on behalf of the Guntersblum population. Subsequently, the contract was also confirmed by the Counts Emich Christian and Johann Ludwig zu Leiningen on behalf of the Guntersblum local lordship. Finally, the new nave was built from 1685 to 1688. A church book reports on the first use of the church for a baptism: "(On) June 13, 1688, Johann Jacob Kissel and his wife Catharina had a young son baptized and named Johann Philipp, this is the first (child) to be baptized in the new church." A novelty was that the church at that time was exclusively open to Protestants; Catholics now attended services in Hangen-Wahlheim and Oppenheim.

Due to the French occupying power ruling in Lutheran-influenced Guntersblum at the end of the 17th century, a Catholic pastor named Matthias Ritter was appointed from December 1688. As a result, the Guntersblum church became a simultaneous church. Subsequently, from shortly before the end of the 17th century, numerous conflicts arose between the two denominations, the consequences of which extended far into the 20th century. In addition, since Catholics now also attended the church, new crucifixes, Marian images, a holy water font, a high altar with an image of Saint Viktor, a large cross in the choir, a confessional, and numerous church banners were acquired, which also caused discontent among Protestants. In 1702, the south tower of the church finally collapsed. Subsequently, important repairs were carried out on the church building, partly necessitated by the consequences of the War of the Palatine Succession. They were financially supported by revenues from the Guntersblum Catholics, who now also had to pay taxes after the war. Thus, from 1698, money was collected for the church windows destroyed in the war, which were finally repaired four years later. In addition, from 1702, after the collapse of the south tower, money was collected for its reconstruction. Furthermore, new church pews were acquired in 1714 from the collected taxes. In addition, the church received an organ in 1719. In 1731, the Guntersblum community was informed that from now on they alone would have to finance the reconstruction of the church. Due to the high indebtedness of the Guntersblum community, only the nave could now be renovated with the tithe revenues; the reconstruction of the south tower had to be temporarily stopped. Nine years later, the entire complex was finally inspected and all damages documented. Among other things, it was concluded that the small wooden turret with a bell on the church was severely dilapidated. On June 17, 1740, the Guntersblum residents finally received permission to fell a new young tree and thus replace the old unstable wood from the wooden turret.

In 1838, a five-year major church renovation finally began, during which the south tower, which had collapsed in 1702, was also rebuilt. At the end of 1840, both Protestants and Catholics confirmed in writing their intention not to celebrate their services together in one church in the future, but to celebrate their services in different houses of worship. On July 28, they finally received "permission to dissolve the simultaneous relationship." Finally, on November 16, 1845, the new Catholic church in the courtyard of the Leininger Palace was consecrated by Mainz Bishop Peter Leopold Kaiser. Since then, the relationship between the two denominations in Guntersblum has significantly relaxed.