Alexius Chapel (Paderborn)

View from the southwest

Interior (2008)

Alexius Chapel during the Russian Orthodox Christmas Service on January 7, 2013

The Alexius Chapel in Paderborn is a baroque brick building based on the Flemish model. It is located in Paderborn city center at the Abdinghof and therefore in close proximity to both the Abdinghof Church and the cathedral .

The chapel, consecrated to Saint Alexius , is the successor to a Bishop Meinwerk foundation of the same name, which was consecrated in 1017/18 and endowed with asylum rights , and served as a refuge in the 18th century. It was built between 1670 and 1673 and between 1680 and 1692 was given a baroque dome with a lantern . In 1728/29 the octagonal central building was extended to the west to its present form.

After the Paderborn bishopric had remained purely Catholic for a long time since the Counter-Reformation under Dietrich von Fürstenberg , a Protestant parish was formed in Paderborn from 1802 when it was occupied by Prussian troops . After this was initially assigned to the Abdinghof Church, the Alexius Chapel was made available to it for a transitional period until 1817, then the Busdorf Church and from 1863 again and now the Abdinghof Church.

Shortly before the end of the Second World War , the chapel was destroyed except for the surrounding walls in 1945, but was rebuilt by 1957. Due to the destruction, almost nothing of the original furnishings has been preserved, apart from three statues, including a representation of St. Meinolf and one of St. Liborius . Above the gate is the Latin inscription Anno 1014 / Meinwerc / Ep [iscopu] s Pad [erbornensis] Vovit / Deo Optimo Maximo / in Honorem Sancti / Alexii Confessoris (“In 1014 Meinwerk, Bishop of Paderborn, consecrated the most gracious and lofty God in honor of the Holy Confessor Alexius [this chapel]. ")

From 1998 to 2018 the Alexius Chapel was used by the Russian Orthodox community in honor of the icon of the Holy Mother of God "Feodorovskaya" for their services. On February 11, 2018, the Russian Orthodox service took place in this chapel for the last time. As a result, the Russian Orthodox congregation, which was growing steadily over the years, moved to a larger church in Bad Lippspringe .