State: Germany, Weimar Republic
Issuer: Arnstadt (city), (SS / Th) Stadt
Location of issue: Arnstadt (city),
Date of issue: 1921 AD., persons and buildings series
Value: 25 Pfennig
Size: 103 x 72 mm
Material: paper
Watermark: -
Serial : -
Serial no. : -
Signature: (1)
Printer: ?, A. Paul Weber (designer?)
Obv.: Notgeld der Stadt Arnstadt / 25 / Pfennig / …. , text, signature and eagle (city arms), r in A r n st a dt shown in red at right.
Rev.: 25 – 25 / Bonifatiuskirche mit Hopfenbrunnen / APW , Bonifatius church (Bach Church today) and fountain, initials APW below.
References: Grabowski/Mehl 43.2-2/6 .
Arnstadt is a town in Ilm-Kreis, Thuringia, Germany, on the river Gera about 20 kilometres south of Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia. Arnstadt is one of the oldest towns in Thuringia, and has a well-preserved historic centre with a partially preserved town wall.
More on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnstadt
The composer Johann Sebastian Bach, whose family lived for generations in the vicinity of Arnstadt, became the organist at the New Church in 1703 while he was still in his teens. He stayed there until 1707. Bach had a high opinion of Johann Friedrich Wender, the organ-builder who had recently constructed the church's organ. While there is some uncertainty about which of his surviving compositions were produced in Arnstadt, there is evidence that the Wender organ, which still survives, allowed Bach to experiment with unusual modulations and harmonies. Many Bach scholars believe his well-known "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" was composed with the Arnstadt organ in mind.
Bach Church is the common name of a Protestant church in Arnstadt in Thuringia, Germany. It was officially named Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Kirche in 1935 because of its association with the composer Johann Sebastian Bach.
It was in this church that Bach played a harpsichord concerto after working for Johann Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Weimar for 7 months.
A church on the premises named after St. Boniface burned down in 1581. A new church was built from 1676 to 1683 and simply named Neue Kirche (New Church). It is a Baroque hall church with three tiers on all sides.
Wender-Orgel
The organ builder Johann Friedrich Wender from Mühlhausen built from 1699 to 1703 on the third tier of the church an organ with two manuals and 21 stops. It was inspected in June 1703 by Johann Sebastian Bach, then 18 years old, who was hired afterwards for the post of the organist at the church, his first position as an organist. He was succeeded in 1707 by his cousin Johann Ernst Bach who held the post to 1728. The organ was changed and restored several times.
More on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bach_Church,_Arnstadt