Alt St. Martin (Düsseldorf)
The Alt St. Martin church is the oldest church in Düsseldorf and at the same time the oldest surviving structure in the state capital. The origins of the former Bilk parish church go back to the Carolingian times. The church, originally built around the year 700 and rebuilt around the year 1000, presumably also served as a parish church for the then neighboring parish of Düsseldorf until 1206. In 1812 Alt St. Martin lost its function as the parish church of Bilk and was no longer used as a church for over a century. After war damage and several extensive restorations, the Catholic parish of St. Bonifatius and the Evangelical Luther Church parish regularly celebrate services in Alt St. Martin today.
history
Based on excavations, the origin of Alt St. Martin can be dated around the year 700. It was a Carolingian style church. It was a rectangular chapel made of “Ratinger slate, greywacke quarry stones and brown coal quartzites”, which was “piled up with red clay and without the addition of mortar”. It is considered to be one of the oldest buildings in Düsseldorf.
The Carolingian building was burned down between 788 and 919 by invaded Saxons , Normans and Magyars . Around 1000 a three-aisled, flat-roofed pillar basilica was built in the same place, integrating the remains of the previous building.
The five-storey tower was built between 1150 and 1200 and the church was expanded to include a semicircular apse and a small rectangular chancel. The vaulting took place around 1200 . The side aisles date from the 15th century and were renovated in brick in the 17th century. At the beginning of the 19th century the church was so dilapidated that one had to think about abandoning it. From 1812 the nearby Loretto Chapel became the new parish church and Old St. Martin was used as a barn and textile manufacture. They looked in vain for a buyer. The district government refused to demolish it, as the tower served as a surveying point that could be seen from afar. The historical value of the church was not recognized until the mid-1850s. A committee of citizens from Bilk was formed, which raised funds for initial conservation measures. The architects Rincklake and Pickel were only able to carry out a thorough restoration between 1879 and 1881. The spire collapsed during a hurricane in 1924. During the Second World War, the spire and the left aisle were again damaged. This damage could be repaired by 1951. Another thorough renovation took place between 1962 and 1974. During this time, the interior furnishings were expanded to include the works of modern artists.
architecture
Old St. Martin in its current form is a simple, early Romanesque three-aisled building. The slim, five-story tower from the early 13th century is striking, and was described by Paul Clemen in 1894 as the most imposing tower in the Bergisches Land . Little remains of the original furnishings of the church, including frescoes from the 13th century in the apse and two other frescoes that originally came from the choir and are now attached to the end walls. The bronze doors at the entrance were designed by the artist Bert Gerresheim , the altar and tabernacle are by Heinz Gernot . The windows were created in 1964 by the glass painter Hermann Gottfried . The semicircular lead glazing above the entrance portal was created in 2006 by Bilker art glazier Uwe Hertel on behalf of the Bilker St. Martins Company (part of the St. Sebastianus Schützenverein Düsseldorf-Bilk). It shows the coat of arms of the French city of Tours, in which the cathedral St. Martin is buried.
Bells
Alt St.Martin in Bilk has only one bell left.
| No. | patron | Nominal | Casting year | Caster |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boniface | h 1-1 | 1961 | Petit & Edelbrock Gescher |
organ
The organ was built in 1970 by the organ builders Gebr. Krell (Duderstadt). The slider chest instrument has 9 registers on two manuals and a pedal . The playing and stop actions are mechanical.
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- Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
literature
- Hermann Smeets: Villa Bilici. Düsseldorf-Bilk then and now . Triltsch, Düsseldorf 1983. pp. 9-26.
- Angela Everts: The oldest church in town . Westdeutsche Zeitung of December 23, 2009
Web links
- Homepage of the parish
- Entry in the monument list of the state capital Düsseldorf at the Institute for Monument Protection and Preservation
Individual evidence
- ↑ rule services in the community of St. Boniface
- ↑ The parish conception of the Luther Church parish in Düsseldorf
- ↑ a b Roland Kanz, Jürgen Wiener (ed.): Architekturführer Düsseldorf , Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1st edition, Berlin 2001, No. 119.
- ↑ H. Weidenhaupt: Little History of the City of Düsseldorf , Triltsch Verlag Düsseldorf, 1975, p. 16
- ^ State capital Düsseldorf (ed.): 125 years of the Düsseldorf professional fire brigade. 1872-1997. Düsseldorf, 1997, pp. 63/64
- ^ Website of the Sankt Martins company Düsseldorf-Bilk: Alt St. Martin. Retrieved on August 30, 2012 ( Memento of the original from January 28, 2016 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: 51 ° 12 ′ 26.6 ″ N , 6 ° 45 ′ 54.9 ″ E