Alexander Church (Narva)
The Alexander Church ( Estonian Aleksandri Suurkirik 'Alexander-Großkirche') is one of the landmarks of the third largest Estonian city Narva . The Lutheran church was built between 1881 and 1884 as the largest church in Estonia at the time. It was badly damaged in World War II and only fully rebuilt in 1990 after Estonian independence was regained.
history
In November 1879, the Johannes congregation in the city of Narva decided to build its own congregation church. The initiative came from the Baltic German pastor Friedrich Gottlieb Tannenberg. The Baltic German nobleman Georg von Kramer donated the property to the community for the construction of the church.
The location of the future church was chosen deliberately: the city of Narva was then part of the Saint Petersburg governorate . The church grounds, however, lay on the border area of the village Joala (German Joachimsthal ), which was subordinate to the Estonia governorate and thus to the consistory in Tallinn (Reval) .
The architect of the church was the German Otto Pius Hippius (1826–1883) , who lived in Saint Petersburg . He had already designed the Karlskirche (Kaarli kirik) in the Estonian capital Tallinn , consecrated in 1870 .
On June 21, 1881 the cornerstone of the new church in Narva was laid. The construction was largely financed by the owner of the Narvaer Manufaktur Kreenholm , the Bremen cotton merchant Ludwig Knoop (1821-1894). He wanted to create a house of worship that could accommodate all 5,000 Lutheran workers in his factory. 2,500 seats were planned in the church.
The masonry work was supervised by master Luka Tuzov from Kronstadt , the work on the interior was carried out by Jemeljan Volkov. The construction was first supervised by Hippius himself, then the architect of the Kreenholm company , Paul Alisch .
In the year construction began, on March 1, 1881, the Russian Tsar Alexander II was murdered. In a joint decision on October 20, 1883, the Narva City Council and the Estonian Consistory decided to give the new church and parish the name of the deceased Tsar.
On May 28th, Jul. / June 9, 1884 greg. the church building was solemnly consecrated. At that time it was the largest church in Estonia. The first pastor of the congregation was Richard Julius von Paucker from 1885 until his death in 1910.
Church building and furnishings
The building in the style of historicism combines neo-Romanesque and neoclassical elements. The octagonal central building with a ceiling height of 25.5 m is characteristic.
The organ with thirty registers is a work of the German company Walcker . It was completed in 1886. The altar painting by Eduard Gebhardt shows the crucifixion of Christ. It is a gift from the director of the Kreenholm Manufactory , Johann Prowe. In the church there were two plaster copies of sculptures by Bertel Thorvaldsen . They show Peter and Paul.
The church is crowned by an octagonal bell tower. The 800 kilogram bell was cast in Gatchina in 1900 and installed in the bell tower of the Alexander Church in the same year.
Destruction in World War II
In 1944 the city of Narva was badly destroyed in the fighting between German and Soviet troops. The Alexander Church was also severely damaged in the devastating Soviet bombing attack on March 6, 1944, especially the interior and the organ, as well as the bell tower and the dome.
Soviet occupation
With the Soviet occupation of Estonia , the new authorities began to rebuild Narva in line with socialist town planning. Numerous prefabricated buildings were created for a massive influx of Slavic-speaking immigrants from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Only a small Lutheran congregation remained in Narva.
The congregation of the Alexander Church was the only Lutheran congregation in Narva at that time. From 1956 the church was rebuilt. In 1959, on the 75th anniversary of the consecration, the community was able to move back into the renovated church. In September 1962, her ownership of the Alexander Church was withdrawn. The interior was completely destroyed except for a few chandeliers. However, the community managed to hide the church bell.
From then on, the building served as a warehouse and was converted into a concert hall in the early 1980s.
Estonian independence regained
Shortly before Estonian regained independence, the parish was re-established on December 21, 1990. The first service in the Alexander Church took place on July 8, 1994 after a 32-year break.
Since 2003, the church has been extensively renovated with funds from the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELK), the Estonian state and the European Union . In October 2004 eight artistically designed church windows by the Estonian-German artist Dolores Hoffmann (* 1937) were installed. Depending on the perspective and the incidence of light, the words MARIA and NARVA merge into one another.
In August 2007 the spire was reconstructed and in June 2008 the 60.7 m high church tower crowned by a four meter high cross was opened to the public. Since then, the church museum with works of art from the 14th to the 21st century has been housed in the tower. The tower offers a view of the two fortresses of Narva and Ivangorod .
As a result of the considerable costs for the renovation of the Alexander Church, the parish was declared bankrupt in 2015. In March 2016, the creditors announced that they would be auctioning the municipality's buildings. The initial bid for the Alexander Church was 500,000 euros. In April 2016, the Archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELK) , Urmas Viilma , announced that an attempt would be made to buy the Alexander Church out of the bankruptcy property with the support of public and business people in order to use it for worship and cultural purposes to be kept publicly accessible. In June 2016, the Estonian government finally bought the church for 375,000 euros. Half of the amount will be raised by the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELK) .
Web links
- Parish (Estonian and English)
- History of the Church (Estonian)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The village was destroyed between 1918 and 1920 during the turmoil of World War I , the brief Bolshevik rule in Narva and the Estonian War of Independence ; the church was largely preserved except for the windows.
- ↑ http://www.visitestonia.com/de/alexander-grosskirche-in-narva
- ^ Archbishop of Estonian Lutheran church announces fundraising campaign for Narva cathedral Website of the Estonian Radio err . Retrieved April 29, 2016.
- ^ Estonia: The state buys the Lutheran church in Narva . Website of the Gustav-Adolf-Werk . Retrieved July 2, 2016.
Coordinates: 59 ° 22 ′ 14 ″ N , 28 ° 12 ′ 7 ″ E