Langeoog island church
The island church Langeoog is a Protestant church on the North Sea island of Langeoog .
history
Early days
The East Frisian Islands were settled in the 14th century. Not much is known about the beginnings of the church on Langeoog. There is evidence that in 1666 a church stood near the Melkhorn dunes . After its condition was assessed negatively during a church visit in 1700, a new church was built. Construction was completed in 1706, but it is not known where this second structure was located. The church, which was built of stone, is said to have measured 28 by 21 by 12 feet.
This building of the church was destroyed during the Christmas flood in 1717 . Even in the decades before the flood, the islanders led a difficult life, but the island was completely uninhabited from the New Year's flood from 1721 to 1723. In 1740 the islanders were assigned to the Esens Church. A separate church for the island was not built until the late 19th century. From 1828, Vogt Tjark Eiben Gerdes was allowed to hold reading services, services were celebrated in a school opened in 1846, and from 1851 the preacher Karl Heinrich Schaaf worked on the island. Since 1853, preacher Carl Friedrich Ennen was responsible for the island. In the meantime, he applied to the royal consistory of Aurich to obtain a separate church for the island. The construction was financed by house collections on the mainland. On September 19, 1859, the third building was inaugurated. It was 30 to 35 meters long, 13/14 meters wide and had a low tiled roof. But bells and a tower were missing. In 1879 a bell cage can be documented. However, this church building had a space problem, namely it was only designed for 64 visitors and even during the construction the church council had suspected that the building could be too small in the long term. However, the building plans could not be changed.
According to the current state of knowledge, the church is the fifth house of worship in the history of the island and was built on a previously undeveloped dune as a replacement for the predecessor church, which was built in 1859 and located 20 meters to the south. This new building had become necessary due to the increasing number of holiday guests on the island, as the rooms available up to that point were no longer sufficient. The new building was completed in the spring of 1890 and on June 29 of the same year the building was inaugurated by the Hanover Consistorial Council and Abbot to Loccum Gerhard Uhlhorn .
Today's church
Carl Friedrich Ennen was replaced by Peter Friedrich Ludwig Hoffmann as the island chaplain. He left the island again in 1865. In the next few years tourism increased so that the island church became too small again. Friedrich Wilhelm Barkhausen campaigned for a new church to be built, although the community had no money for it. Since he was the curator of Loccum Monastery , which is also present on Langeoog and was very influential there, he organized the monastery to pay for the construction of a new church. In return, however, the monastery board of trustees was allowed to choose the location of the new building and tear down the old church building. After the new church was built, its further financing should then be the responsibility of the community again. The new church was consecrated on June 29, 1890.
With the new church, the clergy stayed longer on the island. Pastor Otto Harms came to the island in 1894 and remained in office until 1939. Heinrich von Osten then served as pastor until 1977, his successor Klaus von Mering stayed until 2001.
description
The 24.5 meter high church building is modeled on the forms of the north German brick Gothic. It has been rebuilt several times since the Second World War and also expanded between 1957 and 1959.
Furnishing
Ships as an equipment feature
Ships can be found in several places on the island church: a sailing ship welcomes you as a door handle at the entrance. Siegfried Zimmer depicted the door handle as a ship's hull, the sails above it and the waves below it. A votive ship "Bethel" hangs above the lectern with the year 1893, which was built by a Langeoog sailor, Caspar Döring, who hangs up after an accident his ship was paralyzed and could no longer go to sea.
Altarpiece
The unusual altarpiece was created by the artist Hermann Buß from Norddeich on the occasion of the restoration of the island church in 1988/1989. It shows a stranded ship as a leitmotif and forms a contrast to the reredos from 1889 that carried the picture.
In the foreground is a table, but only one guest is sitting at it, the other chairs are empty. The ship in the background looks like it has run aground, stranded. In front of it, many people are standing on a large area, as if they were waiting for something, maybe for a ferry. The sloping ship has a cross on the top that protrudes into the bright sky.
“Pictures should help to allow questions to be asked. They are not intended to replace the viewer's ability to imagine and interpret, but rather to set them in motion. ... Anyone who is able to bear the catastrophe of the crucifixion of our founder of religion as a church image without scruples should also be able to bear the 'crosses of the present' in such a place. Our religion teaches that out of the apparently desolate (crucifixion) grows hope (resurrection). Without the dark, belief in God degenerates into a Biedermeier ideyl. "
organ
In the church, which can accommodate about 400 visitors, there is an organ from the organ building company Alfred Führer (Wilhelmshaven) from 1992. The instrument has 24 stops on two manuals and a pedal . The actions are mechanical.
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
Baptismal font
The baptismal font has been in the church since 1958. Gerhard Schwartinsky has engraved on the lid: “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not come in.” The dove is used to touch the lid and open the basin, it comes down straight from above, only the head is horizontal mounted on the lid.
Crucifix by Tisa von der Schulenburg
A crucifix by Tisa von der Schulenburg has been decorating the church above the pulpit since 1989 . It is made from driftwood collected from the beach. The body takes up less than half of the crucifix.
chandelier
The three chandeliers of the island church are modeled on wheel chandeliers , which symbolize the heavenly Jerusalem through the number of lights.
Chandelier and Christ figure
In the back right part of the church there is a candlestick, which arose from the dialogue with a partner church in Saxony at the end of the 1980s, and on the wall is a protective and giving Christ. It, created by Fidelis Bentele (1905–1987), was donated to the Inselkirche in 1978 by Werner Bührdel after his recovery.
Carved reliefs "För 'Uns Inselkark' mokt"
The islander Oskar Peters created four reliefs for the island church from 1980 to 1985. “För 'Uns Inselkark' mokt” is written around the picture. Jesus and the adulteress , a Christ blessing and protecting the island church, the raising of the young man from Naïn and the healing of a blind man are the motifs of these wooden reliefs.
Bells
The bell tower houses five bells . The first with the strike note "c" was made in Zehlendorf b. Berlin poured. After the extension at the end of the 1950s, two more bells were added with the chimes "d" and "f". The fourth bell, striking an "a", was introduced in 1982. In 1990 the oldest bell had to be replaced. Since then, the younger bells have been ringing together for Sunday services and several times a day in different compositions. The old bell that threatened to crack has been striking every full hour during the day since then.
Altar of the church
Back of the church with a war memorial
See also
literature
- Torsten Both, Peter Kremer: The island church Langeoog: Tour through a church for islanders and guests (Langeoog 2007; published by the Evangelical Lutheran parish of Langeoog)
Web links
- Homepage of the parish with explanations of the altarpiece, the candelabrum, the crucifix, the organ, the bells and the history of the building
- Genealogy forum: Langeoog
- Harlingerland Church District: Langeoog Island Church
Individual evidence
- ^ The island church Langeoog , pages 3 to 5
- ↑ The Loccum monastery had the island hospice Langeoog on Langeoog since 1885 .
- ^ The island church Langeoog , pages 6/7
- ↑ Information on the organ of the island church
- ↑ Langeoog Island Church - The Bells
Coordinates: 53 ° 44 ′ 45.5 " N , 7 ° 28 ′ 53.5" E