evangelical-reformed church

The Evangelical Reformed Church in Remigen (Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche, Kirchmatt) is a medieval parish church in the village of Remigen, canton of Aargau, Switzerland. It lies in the Brugg district, roughly three kilometres north-northwest of the town of Brugg, and is a protected cantonal monument.

How old is Remigen's church?

The first building dates to the 11th or 12th century. The western section of the Romanesque south wall still stands and can be seen in places. Around the middle of the 15th century the church grew to the east and north, and around 1460 a tower was added at the west end, with the construction joint still visible. The last major works came in 1957-58, when the nave was widened to the north and given a modern interior.

What will you see?

The design is plain: a rectangular nave with no separate chancel under a steep gabled roof. The tower ends in the shape locally called a "Käsbissen" (a bite of cheese) and has paired pointed-arch bell openings. The east wall holds a two-light pointed window with tracery, renewed in 1958 and fitted with a modern stained-glass piece by W. Kaufmann from the same year. The south wall has two narrow, tall rectangular openings.

Inside, on the south wall, a late Gothic wall painting shows an angel scene, a remnant of a former two-tier cycle on the legend of St Peter. The wrought-iron clock mechanism dates from 1535 and is signed "LLW" (Lorenz Liechti, Winterthur).

Why is it worth a stop?

Aargau placed the church under cantonal protection on 5 July 1948. It is rated priority B (regional significance), and the protection covers the entire building. For anyone interested in village church architecture, it shows nearly a thousand years of layering: a Romanesque wall, a Gothic tower and a 1950s interior.

Where is Remigen?

The village sits in the transition zone between the Folded Jura and the Tabular Jura and covers about 7.9 km². It is first mentioned in 1064, as part of the Rein estate belonging to Murbach Abbey, a Benedictine house in Alsace. About 1,360 people lived here at the end of 2022. The church stands at approximately 47.516 N, 8.187 E.

Frequently asked questions

How old is the church? The oldest parts are from the 11th-12th century, the tower from about 1460, and the present interior from the 1957-58 renovation.

Is it a listed monument? Yes. It has been under cantonal protection since 1948 as a building of regional importance (category B).

What is the most valuable feature inside? The late Gothic wall painting of an angel from the St Peter cycle, and the 1535 clock mechanism.

How do I find it? It stands on Kirchmatt in Remigen, close to the town of Brugg.