Old Church (Stockheim)

South view

Gothic choir

The old church is located in Stockheim , a district of the Kreuzau community in the Düren district in North Rhine-Westphalia . Today it serves as the parish hall and youth home for the parish and was the local Roman Catholic parish church until 1937 . In this function she was replaced by the new Church of St. Andrew .

The building is registered as a monument under number 42 in the list of architectural monuments in Kreuzau and until it was rededicated it bore the patronage of St. Apostle Andrew .

location

The old church is located on Kreuzauer Straße in the center of Stockheim at the highest point of the village. Directly behind the old church is the new parish church.

history

On the basis of archaeological finds it could be established that there was a small wooden church in Stockheim as early as the 9th century . This was replaced around the year 1000 by a hall church made of sandstone and Roman bricks. This hall church was provided with a flat wooden ceiling and had a narrower rectangular choir in the east. In the course of the 12th century the church was extended by a south aisle and raised in the 13th century.

A church in Liber valoris from 1308 was first mentioned in writing. Even then, Stockheim was an independent parish .

The greatest structural changes came in the late Gothic period . In 1523 the old Romanesque choir was replaced by a late Gothic choir, closed on five sides, and ribbed vaults were drawn into the entire nave . In addition, the church received the three- story bell tower and a sacristy . Between 1752 and 1764 the interior of the church received a splendid rococo decoration .

At the beginning of the 20th century the old parish church became too small and it was decided to build a new church. Between 1935 and 1937 a new parish church was built right next to the old church according to plans by architect Hubert Hermann from Aachen .

During the Second World War , the old church was destroyed to the ground. The pointed eight-sided tower dome collapsed, as did all the vaults . In 1952 the simplified reconstruction took place according to plans by the Düren architect Heinrich Richartz . He secured the preserved walls and put a flat wooden ceiling in the ship. The bell tower received a simple tent roof . From 1961 to 1963 the old church was expanded into a community hall and youth home.

Building description

The old church is essentially a Romanesque two-aisled complex with a five-sided closed choir in Gothic shapes and a three-story Gothic bell tower with a tented roof . All parts of the building were built from sandstone and Roman bricks. The interior is spanned by a double wooden ceiling, the services and approaches of the destroyed ribbed vaults are still preserved. The nave windows are Romanesque, the choir and bell tower windows are Gothic and have tracery .

Furnishing

Today there is no more equipment in the old church. Up until the war the old church had a rich baroque interior. In the choir there was a baroque high altar, two associated side altars, as well as a pulpit and communion bench . These pieces of equipment were all made between 1752 and 1764.

Web links

Commons : Alte Kirche (Stockheim)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Handbook of the Diocese of Aachen 3rd edition, published by the Episcopal General Vicariate, Aachen 1994, pp. 403–404.
2. ↑ Stockheim Old Church. In: Stockheimer Interest Group website . Retrieved on October 22, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Stockheim Old Church. In: Stockheimer Interest Group website . Retrieved on October 22, 2017 . 

Coordinates: 50 ° 45 ′ 21 ″  N , 6 ° 31 ′ 40.5 ″  E