Kapernaum Church (Hamburg-Horn)

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The Kapernaum church in Horn had been empty since 2004. Photo 2013 with a cross on the top of the tower
Choir window, 2014

The Kapernaum Church (from the end of 2018 Al-Nour Mosque ) is a former Evangelical Lutheran church in Hamburg-Horn, which is under monument protection . After a community merger in 2004, it was divested and, after years of vacancy, was bought by an Islamic mosque association in 2012 . It was the first church building of the EKD and the second in the Hamburg city ​​area that was converted into a mosque . It reopened as a mosque in autumn 2018.

history

Church building

The Kapernaum church was completed between 1958 and 1961 based on a design by Otto Kindt and was one of several new churches in the then rapidly growing district of Horn.

The building at Sievekingsallee 191 was built as an approximately oval nave with a structurally separate tower , as is typical of the time . The tower was designed to be particularly high with a height of 44 m so that it could assert itself against the neighboring residential buildings. The walls of the tower and nave consist of a mixture of diamond-shaped concrete elements with classic bricks. In the nave, the concrete elements are closed with glass , in the tower they are open and in the upper area formed the sound openings for the belfry . The two parts of the building are connected by a low building with an entrance hall and ancillary rooms.

The windows of the nave were the dominant element of the interior and made it possible to illuminate the room more and more towards the altar area. The wall zone behind the altar was completely filled with glass elements. They were coordinated by Claus Wallner with the clear architecture of the interior and designed as colorful, abstract forms. The load-bearing concrete elements were visible on the ceiling and pillars, forming a kind of modern star vault towards the ceiling . The star shape can also be seen in the exterior view of the copper-covered folding roof with its gable-shaped elements.

On the gallery above the entrance there was an organ from Alfred Führer’s workshop . The front of the gallery to the altar had inlays by the artist Georg Engst, which showed scenes from the Gospels. The crucifix was the work of Klaus-Jürgen Luckey .

Profanation and vacancy until 2013

At the turn of the millennium, declining membership numbers and church tax revenues forced many Hamburg parishes to merge and give up locations. This also affected the Capernaum Church, where the last service took place on December 26, 2002. After the end of its use as a church, the organ was transferred to the neighboring Methodist Christ Church in Hamm , and the three bronze bells went to the Ansgar Church in Hamburg-Langenhorn .

The Hamburg-Horn congregation, which was newly established in the course of the restructuring, closed the Kapernaumkirche in 2004, had the neighboring congregation buildings demolished and sold part of the property. Rental apartments and a retirement home were built on the sold parts . The congregation's day-care center was planned in the church building, but this was not implemented. The building was empty, the covered areas in the outdoor area were temporarily used by the homeless as a place to sleep.

Conversion as a mosque

Spire at night in January 2016 already with the Arabic lettering "Allah".

In November 2012, the building was sold by the new owners to the Mosque Association Islamic Center Al-Nour eV , who had it converted into a mosque.

The association "Al-Nour", which has existed since 1993, previously used a disused underground car park in the Hamburg-St. Georg as a prayer room. In 2013 the association stated that it was the "largest Arab mosque in Northern Germany" with around 600 members and regular visitors from over 30 nations. He is a member of the Council of Islamic Communities in Hamburg eV , an association of various mosque associations. The mosque is also a member of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany (ZMD) and is one of the founding members of the regional association in Hamburg.

Reactions to the changed situation

There were different reactions from circles of the Christian churches. Both the then Chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany , Nikolaus Schneider , and the Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Hans-Jochen Jaschke from Hamburg called the sale a "mishap". The statement of Helge Adolphsen , the former Michel chief pastor, who initially spoke of a "dam break" caused controversial discussions . Other representatives of the Evangelical Church expressed themselves neutral to positive.

Political reactions were also divided. The church political spokesman for the CDU citizenship parliamentary group criticized the project, and SPD citizenship MPs called for “interreligious dialogue”.

Remodeling

The golden tower cross was replaced in the summer of 2015 by golden Arabic writing “ Allah ”, which is illuminated by a spotlight. The former bell chamber has since been illuminated in green , the color of Islam . In the interior of the nave, the former choir loft was replaced by a new, larger loft to create two separate prayer areas for men and women, and the entire floor was renewed. Due to the renovations, the room can be used for up to 300 people. A new connecting building was built between the former nave and the tower, in which seminar and washrooms are housed.

The need for renovation turned out to be significantly higher than expected. The project was mainly financed by donations and grants from the state of Kuwait , and the preservation of the nave was subsidized by monuments . The renovation was completed in autumn 2018 and the building has been used as a mosque since October of the same year.

Photographs

  • Entrance area in early 2013

  • Interior early 2013

  • Interior view with new gallery, in October 2018

  • newly designed east wall with the Imam's prayer niche

See also

literature

  • Ralf Lange: Architecture in Hamburg . Edition Axel Menges, Hamburg 1995, ISBN 978-3-930698-58-5 , p. 288 .
  • Gertrud Schiller : Hamburg's new churches 1951–1961 . Ed .: Evangelical Lutheran Church Hamburg. Hans Christians Verlag, Hamburg 1961, p. 64, 79 .
  • Karin Berkemann : tomorrow's architecture! Ed .: Monument Protection Office Hamburg. Dölling and Galitz Verlag, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-937904-60-3 , p. 70 f .

Web links

Commons : Kapernaumkirche  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes

Remarks

  1. ↑ See list of former Evangelical Lutheran. Churches in Hamburg .
  2. ↑ A direct sale to a Muslim community would not have been in line with the official position of the Evangelical Church in Germany , which has been in effect since 2007 , see Gernot Knödler: Neue Normalität . In: the daily newspaper , Hamburg part . February 5, 2013 ( online [accessed December 18, 2018]). and press release of the Evangelical Church in Germany from June 12, 2012

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Felix Neumann: Allah on the church tower roof . On April 4, 2017 from kathisch.de, accessed on July 22, 2017
  2. ↑ a b Hansjörg Schmidt's position on the conversion of the Kapernaum church into a mosque. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  3. ^ Mosques for Wilhelmsburg. In: Hamburger Abendblatt . Abendblatt.de, March 6, 2007, S. Harburg-Teil , accessed on November 2, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b Nico Binde: How a Protestant Church became a mosque . ( Abendblatt.de [accessed on September 26, 2018]).
  5. ↑ Section SZ. (PDF, approx. 1.35 MB) Sievekingsallee 191. (No longer available online.) In: List of recognized monuments according to § 7a Hamburg Monument Protection Act. hamburg.de, November 7, 2011, archived from the original on December 16, 2011 ; Retrieved July 22, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Horn: The Kapernaumkirche becomes a day-care center , in: Hamburger Abendblatt of March 22, 2005, accessed on January 11, 2013.
  7. ↑ a b c Kristiana Ludwig: Temple remains temple . In: the daily newspaper , Hamburg part . February 5, 2013. online
  8. ^ Message on the website of the Islamic Center Al-Nour . Retrieved February 5, 2013.
  9. ↑ Hasan Gökkaya: Rush to the refugee mosque . On November 26, 2015 from mopo.de, accessed on July 22, 2017
  10. ↑ al-nour.de about us ( Memento from October 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Zentralrat.de / ZMD press releases / 09/16/2019 New ZMD regional association founded in Hamburg - CEO of the Al-Nour mosque Daniel Abdin was elected as the first and new chairman of the Hamburg regional association. Retrieved October 17, 2019 .
  12. ↑ tagesspiegel.de February 26, 2013: Turn churches into mosques
  13. ↑ a b c d Sale of the Kapernaum Church causes a stir
  14. ↑ Adolphsen relativized the statements later hamburg-journal ( memento from March 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) on NDR television from March 21, 2013.
  15. ↑ Kristiana Ludwig, Andreas Speit: Crescent Neighbors . In: the daily newspaper , Hamburg part . March 23, 2013.
  16. ↑ Horn welcomes mosque in old church . In: Hamburger Abendblatt . 22th of March 2013.
  17. ↑ Kristiana Ludwig: The last ones kneel outside . In: the daily newspaper , Hamburg part . February 12, 2013 ( online ).
  18. ↑ Press release from “Al-Nour e. V. “for the planned start of the renovation in January 2014. Accessed on January 3, 2014.
  19. ↑ Hamburg's church becomes a mosque . On September 21, 2015 from faz.net , accessed on July 22, 2017
  20. ↑ a b Frank Pergande: How a Protestant Church became a mosque . April 27, 2016 from faz.net, accessed July 22, 2017
  21. ↑ Simone Pauls: Bad surprises when converting to a mosque . On September 12, 2014 from mopo.de, accessed on July 22, 2017
  22. ↑ Monika Dittrich: When the church becomes a mosque . On June 7, 2017 from deutschlandfunk.de, accessed on July 22, 2017

Coordinates: 53 ° 33 ′ 23 "  N , 10 ° 4 ′ 53"  E