Evangelical Church (Bitburg)
The Bitburg Evangelical Church in Bitburg is one of four churches and several prayer rooms of the Bitburg Evangelical Church Community of the Rhenish Regional Church in the church district of Trier. The first sacred building, the Gustav Adolf Chapel , was built for the small diaspora community in 1872. During the Second World War it was destroyed together with the rectory and rebuilt in the same place from 1950–52 but with a different orientation.
history
The Reformation could not prevail in the southern Eifel. Only after the Bitburger Land came to Prussia after the Congress of Vienna did individual Protestant Christians settle there in the completely Catholic region, especially Prussian administrative officials such as gendarmes, prison guards, forest officials, bailiffs and district administrators, etc. In terms of canon law, the (then) district of Bitburg belonged to the parish of Trier, and from 1828 to the newly established parish of Prüm . In 1852/53 the Rhenish Provincial Committee sent itinerant preachers to research the "evangelical situation" in the area. In 1854 the parish, which had grown to 110 members, had its first parish meeting, and the following year the first with a vicar was introduced. As in the following, the church services took place in what was then the Peace Court in Bitburg. In 1867 a house in Oberen Gasse with a meeting room and a vicar's apartment was auctioned.
The Gustav Adolf Chapel from 1872 to 1944
In order to be able to become a parish, a church building was decided in 1872.
Since the small, financially weak congregation, counting 148 souls, was not able to finance the construction of a small church itself, they turned to the church councils from west to east with mass petitions. A house collection in the entire Rhine province brought additional funds. Finally, a donation from the Gustav-Adolf-Verein secured the financing, a donation from the district administrator and a very high gift of grace from the king . The Catholic city council of Bitburg gave the parish a building site very cheaply and also gave it construction timber from the city forest. The royal district builder Krone drafted a building plan for a simple Gothic style church, the later Gustav Adolf Chapel, free of charge.
On April 11, 1875, a certificate, copies of several newspapers and a victory thaler from 1871 were laid in the cornerstone of the church under the doorstep on the right . It was built according to plans by the royal district architect A. Krone and was inaugurated on October 28, 1875. It was a simple neo-Gothic hall building with the west facade facing the street. The west facade was crowned by a roof turret carrying the bells.
On November 11, 1876, the Protestant parish of Bitburg was raised to an independent parish and the vicar was made a parish pastor. With the construction of the Eifelbahn Cologne - Trier in 1871 an economic upswing started. The train also brought many vacationers to the delightful Kyllburg . In 1883 the community had 220 members, 120 of them in Bitburg itself.
Since the building previously used in Oberen Gasse was damaged by moisture, a new parsonage was built next to the church in 1888 according to plans by the Trier architect Reinhold Wirtz with the help of a house collection from Protestant residents in the administrative district of Trier - Aachen - Koblenz - Cologne and, most recently, Düsseldorf built. During the First World War, the community signed a total of four war bonds. In July 1917 the bells were confiscated and made into military equipment.
From November 20, 1924, women were admitted to the presbytery by resolution and in 1926 the first woman was elected to the church council. After the NSDAP came to power , the Bitburg congregation joined the imperial church founded by the German Christians and turned against the Confessing Church , which emerged from the Confessional Synod , whose behavior was characterized as a rebellion . A presbyter then resigned who rejected the leadership principle in the church. The number of parishioners had meanwhile increased to 300.
On Christmas Eve 1944, 85% of Bitburg was destroyed in an air raid by the Royal Air Force and then declared a dead city . The Gustav-Adolf-Chapel was totally destroyed, the rectory was badly damaged.
The current church from 1952
After the church was destroyed, services were celebrated in the hospital chapel. The reconstruction of the church was carried out under the building officer Heinrich Otto Vogel at the old location, but with the orientation rotated by 90 °. The church now stands parallel to the street and faces south to north. The square choir tower on the north side is attached at right angles to the rectory, which was rebuilt the year before . The tower and nave are made of unplastered red sandstone . The interior consists of a short nave and the choir in the basement of the tower. The choir is covered with a flat wooden barrel, the nave is flat. On the south and north sides there are galleries, which, like the pews, are colored. On the altar, a painting by Martin Mendgen shows Christ on a cross of branches. The church building was originally only two thirds of its current length and had a semicircular tower on the south side in alignment with the street side, which reached about the height of the eaves of the nave.
In 1981 the church got an extension in the south, the stump of the tower was removed and the nave was extended to the south. The church space was not enlarged directly, however, because a community hall was set up next to the church space, but it can be connected to the church on festive days. In addition, offices, youth and community rooms were set up. The roof, masonry, windows and a second entrance to the extension were precisely adapted to the existing structure, but the proportions to the tower were changed.
Due to the influx of mainly displaced persons, the number of community members rose to 1,500 after the Second World War in the 1960 / 70s to 2,800, 800 of them in Bitburg. With the influx of over 1000 German-born repatriates, the number of community members rose to over 4400 by the year 2000.
Bells
The bells were given to the Evangelical Church Congregation in 1956 by the American Protestant Airfield Congregation after a large collection campaign. The bells are inscribed: "Presented by United States Air Force Protestant Christians to the Bitburg Protestant congregation in token of our prayers for everlasting unity" ("... as a sign of our prayers for an everlasting unity in faith")
| Surname | image | Casting year | Foundry, casting location | material | Mass (kg) | Chime | Another inscription |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in FAITH | 1956 | Mabilon, Saarburg | bronze | 280 | a 1 | Keep us Lord by your word + Evangelical Church Congregation Bitburg 1956 | |
| in HOPE | 1956 | Mabilon, Saarburg | bronze | 190 | c 2 | Jesus Christ yesterday and today and the same in eternity + Evangelical Church Community Bitburg 1956 | |
| in LOVE | 1956 | Mabilon, Saarburg | bronze | 120 | d 2 | O country, country, country hear the word of the Lord + Evangelical Church Community Bitburg 1956 |
organ
The organ was built in 1957 by the organ company Förster & Nicolaus from Lich (Hessen). The organ has 12 registers, two manuals and a pedal. It is the first organ in the region to be rebuilt with a mechanical action after the war . During the acceptance test on November 22, 1957, the expert from the regional church organ and bell office praised the solidity of craftsmanship, but complained about aural defects. Organ builder Gustav Cartellieri from Wittlich made the following changes in 1966 based on this report: By increasing the wind pressure, the subbass pedal register was given more substance, the Terzian register was replaced twice by the Sesquialter register and the very striking Krummhorn register from 1957 was replaced by a much more subtle one.
use
There is a service in the church every Sunday and on most holidays. It is the only church in the parish with weekly services. The other churches in the parish are in Bollendorf, Kyllburg and Speicher. The parish has a close partnership with the Trier Baptist congregation , which is also reflected in many joint events. Due to the influx of mainly displaced persons, the number of community members rose to 1,500 after the Second World War in the 1960 / 70s to 2,800, 800 of them in Bitburg.
Pastor and community leader
| Surname | Term of office | annotation |
|---|---|---|
| Friedrich Emil Julius Rehorn | 1855-1859 | Parish vicar |
| Kishling | 1859-1862 | Parish vicar |
| Friedrich August Wieben | 1862-1873 | Parish vicar |
| Rev. H. Simon | 1873-1878 | first vicar, from 1876 first pastor of the parish. The construction of the church fell during his term of office, which was paid off at the end of his term of office. |
| Rev.Bone Tusk | 1879-1879 | |
| Rev. Klöppinger | 1880-1882 | Suddenly died on vacation. |
| Georg Mohr | 1883-1911 | The building of the church in Kyllburg falls during his term of office. |
| Wilhelm Fliedner | 1912-1926 | was later superintendent and changed because of the better. Accessibility to Wittlich |
| Willy Ludwig Schmidt | 1926-1949 | |
| Pastor Böttger | 1949-1950 | |
| Heinrich Schroer | 1950-1974 | During his term of office, the rectory and church were rebuilt. |
| Rev. Schiffler | 1978-1984 | |
| Johannes Mann | 1985-1995 | |
| Hans-Ulrich Ehinger | since 1996 |
Web links
- History of the community Wittlich on the website of the church district Trier
- Website of the Evangelical Church Community Bitburg
literature
- Bernd Altmann, Hans Caspary: Bitburg-Prüm district. City of Bitburg, Verbandsgemeinden Bitburg-Land and Irrel (= cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany . Volume 9.2 ). Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1997, ISBN 3-88462-132-7 , p. 78 .
- Michael Berens: The churches and chapels of the Bitburger Land. Contributions to the history of the Bitburger Land. Special issue 8/9 1992.
- Protestant parish Bitburg; Festschrift 100 years Evangelical Church Kyllburg, 125 years Evangelical Church Bitburg ; Bitburg; Bitburg 2000.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Hans Ulrich Ehinger - Internet offer of the Bitburg parish
- ↑ Michael Berens : The churches and chapels of the Bitburger country. Contributions to the history of the Bitburger Land. Special issue 8/9 1992.
- ^ Bernd Altmann, Hans Caspary: Bitburg-Prüm district. City of Bitburg, Verbandsgemeinden Bitburg-Land and Irrel (= cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany . Volume 9.2 ). Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1997, ISBN 3-88462-132-7 , p. 78 .
- ^ Entry on the Evangelical Church in the database of cultural assets in the Trier region ; accessed on January 30, 2016.
- ↑ Festschrift 2000; P. 45
- ↑ Internet offer of the Evangelical Church Community Bitburg ( Memento of the original from June 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
Coordinates: 49 ° 58 ′ 11.8 " N , 6 ° 31 ′ 24.7" E