Old Trinity Church (Leipzig)

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South view around 1860

The Alte Trinitatiskirche ( Roman Catholic Provost Church of the Holy Trinity ) was the first new Catholic church in Leipzig since the Reformation . It stood around 70 meters west of today's New Town Hall , was consecrated in 1847 and destroyed in a bomb attack in 1943 . In 1982 the provost church was replaced by a new building elsewhere (see provost church St. Trinitatis (1982) ). In 2015 the provost church of St. Trinity was rebuilt.

Other Trinitarian churches in Leipzig are the emergency churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church in the Anger-Crottendorf district and the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) in the Eutritzsch district . Both were consecrated in 1950.

location

The Trinity Church was located on the property at Rudolphstrasse 1/2 , which is located on the Leipziger Promenadenring west of the former Pleißenburg and the New Town Hall , which has been there since 1905 . The church building stretched from east to west, with the tower on the side facing away from the promenade ring.

Before that, the house of the Leipzig doctor Dr. Wendler, who took care of the poet and freedom fighter Theodor Körner after his severe wound on June 17, 1813 . A memorial stone placed in front of the church reminded of this historical fact.

Since the leveling in 1958, the church property in Rudolphstrasse has been undeveloped. Today there is a green area with a playground. This is part of the schoolyard of the Anna-Magdalena-Bach-Schule, which is adjacent to the west, in Manetstrasse 8, which was built in 1986 using a panel construction.

  • Building situation on a city map from 1847

  • Building situation on a city map from 1884

  • Building situation on a city map from 1905

history

Spatial situation of the Catholic parish in Leipzig until 1847

After the Reformation, the Catholic parish of Leipzig initially did not have its own church. Since June 1710 she has been able to hold her services in a three-aisled room in the Pleißenburg, the so-called riding hall . In July 1841, considerable damage to the vault occurred in this room, which made it impossible to continue using it. The Catholic community was then allowed to celebrate their services in the nearby Matthäikirche .

Planning and church building

East view from 1847

The considerations for building their own church for the Catholic parish in Leipzig go back to the year 1824, when the Catholic King of Saxony, Friedrich August I , had investigations into what possibilities existed for the construction of a Catholic church. However, it was only after the Pleißenburg could not be used for worship purposes that these considerations took shape. At that time, the Catholic parish in Leipzig had grown rapidly due to the influx of workers, especially from southern and eastern Germany, so that the construction of one's own church seemed sensible. A building fund was founded at the instigation of Bishop Franz Laurenz Mauermann . On June 4, 1845, representatives of the parish called for donations to the people of Leipzig. The new building project received great financial support from the Leipzig businessman Franz Dominic Grassi . The land required for the construction of the church in the newly emerging Westviertel was sold to the community by the industrialist Karl Heine on favorable terms. In the purchase contract it was agreed that “no other building but only a church should be erected on the parcel, whereas ... undertakes that this parcel remains surrounded by free public space and street space, specifically in front of the promenade entrance something not pre-built, but the view of the front from the bridge will be kept completely free. "

The Nuremberg architect Carl Alexander Heideloff was entrusted with the planning of the new church building . On July 2, 1845, construction began under the direction of Johann Klug , a student of Heideloff. The Heideloff student Michael Geiger later took over the construction management. The masonry work was done by the Leipzig master masons Purfürst and Siegel , the sandstone work by the Dresden stonemasons Hiller and Einsiedel . The dedication of the church was celebrated on September 19, 1847. It was the first Catholic church that was consecrated in Leipzig after the Reformation. It was also the city's first neo-Gothic church building.

  • Bell winding 1847

  • Interior around 1847

  • Interior in 1875

Changes and destruction in World War II

East view around 1890

The church building was changed in 1888 and 1929. In 1888 extensions were built at the two side entrances according to plans by Hugo Altendorff . In 1929 the church was extended by three extensions designed by Leipzig architect Clemens Lohmer .

Because of the shortage of raw materials in World War I , the two large bells of the church had to be handed in in July 1917. Only on March 22, 1925, three new bells could be consecrated as replacements. The full ring then lasted until World War II . On December 4, 1941, three of the four bells were again removed for the purpose of extracting raw materials for armaments production.

During the devastating air raid on Leipzig in the early morning hours of December 4, 1943, the Trinitatiskirche (as well as the Johanniskirche and Matthäikirche ) were badly damaged by incendiary and high explosive bombs. Of the building, which had been spared war damage, only the outer walls and the church tower remained. In another air raid on February 20, 1944 , the chancel ( presbytery ) was completely destroyed.

  • View from the ruins of the New Town Hall (April 1945)

  • The church tower and behind it the tower of the town hall (1950)

Quarrels about the new church building and demolition

View from the New Town Hall to the ruins of the Trinitatiskirche

After the end of the war, the Catholic parish had grown due to the expulsions from the German eastern areas. Since the destroyed church only had 600 seats, reconstruction was out of the question. Instead, a larger new building was planned at the old location. In 1950, rubble clearing work began on the church property, with the stones from the old church being processed as building material for the new building. The construction plans submitted to the city council were initially viewed with benevolence. However, the city soon announced requests for changes. Because of the closed ring development, which was being planned at the time, the church with its tower was seen as a disruptive dominant feature of urban development.

After numerous plan modifications, the site permit was granted on October 31, 1954. As a result, the ruins of the Trinity Church were blown up in November / December 1954 and an excavation pit was dug. At the beginning of 1955, the approval that had already been given was withdrawn, so that the laying of the foundation stone for the new church, planned for Trinity Sunday 1955, could not take place. In the period that followed, the church property became increasingly neglected.

After the entire new building project was finally rejected in July 1958 and critical voices from the population increased about the condition of the building site, the building material was confiscated by the city of Leipzig, the area leveled and greened until autumn 1958. Then it took until 1982 until the Catholic St. Trinity Congregation on the Rosental was able to open the new provost church .

building

Exterior design

The Trinity Church was about 50 meters long and about 25 meters wide. The height of the central nave was about 20 meters, the height of the church tower about 54 meters. The outer surfaces of the neo-Gothic building were clad with bricks. All jewelry forms were made from sandstone. The tower on the west side of the church had an octagonal upper floor with an openwork pointed helmet. Until the church was destroyed, he set a significant architectural accent in Leipzig's western suburb. The central nave was designed as a three-aisled stepped hall . This opened after a choir closed in half an octagon. Two cross wings were added to the choir to accommodate the sacristies , stairs and prayer rooms.

In a travel guide to the city of Leipzig from 1860, it says about the church building, which was only 13 years old at the time: "If the church is not magnificent, it is a tasteful and noble building for the city."

  • Ground floor plan with vault projection (1847)

  • Longitudinal section (1847)

  • View from the West (1847)

  • View from the southwest (around 1890)

Interior fittings

Altar around 1900

The pillars and vaults of the step hall were made of wood and plastered. The high altar designed by Carl Alexander Heideloff contained four paintings by Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein : a recurring Jesus Christ in the main picture, two evangelists on each side wing and the seven works of mercy on the predella . The main picture was installed in 1862, the side wings only in 1880. The neo-Gothic pulpit on the left choir arch was also designed by Heideloff. It was accessible by stairs from the sacristy. The choir vault was painted as a starry sky. The organ was built in 1847 by the Borna organ builder Urban Kreutzbach . It comprised 26  registers , which were divided between main work , upper work and pedal .

Painting "Christ on the Cross" by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Ä.

On the left side of the chancel was a painting 81 cm wide and 180 cm high by Lucas Cranach the Elder from 1546 showing Christ crucified . The painting was acquired by the parish in the second half of the 19th century. Due to the poor overall condition, a comprehensive restoration was carried out in Dresden between the world wars . At the beginning of the Second World War the painting was outsourced. Since then it has been considered lost.

Remarkably, there is neither a photograph nor any other pictorial representation of the painting. However, the composition of the picture can be reconstructed on the basis of a detailed description of the picture from the former museum director J. Müller from Chemnitz.

Tyrolean Madonna statue

In the church there was also a 1.47 m tall wooden Madonna statue , which was designed around 1800 in Tyrol . Today, like some liturgical implements, this is in the Catholic parish center on Emil-Fuchs-Strasse in Leipzig .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Illustrated guide through Leipzig and the surrounding area. (1930), p. 91
  2. ^ City of Leipzig: Anna Magdalena Bach School - primary school of the city of Leipzig
  3. ↑ Further information on the spatial situation on the website of the Propsteigemeinde St. Trinitatis ( Memento from December 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ See the photograph of the war-torn church ( memento of February 11, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the Propsteigemeinde St. Trinitatis ( overview page ( memento of February 13, 2017 in the Internet Archive )), accessed on February 12, 2017
  5. ^ Weidinger: Leipzig. A guide to the city and its surroundings. P. 137 f.
  6. ^ Weidinger: Leipzig. A guide to the city and its surroundings. P. 138
  7. ^ Friends of Propsteimusik Leipzig eV in Gudrun Schröder Verlag Leipzig (ed.): The Vleugels organ in the Propsteikirche St. Trinitatis Leipzig - Festschrift for the consecration of the organ on September 27, 2015 in Leipzig . Leipzig 2015, ISBN 978-3-926196-73-6 , pp. 36 .
  8. ↑ The disposition of this organ can be found in this work: Friends of Propsteimusik Leipzig eV in Gudrun Schröder Verlag Leipzig (ed.): The Vleugels organ in the Propsteikirche St. Trinitatis Leipzig - Festschrift for the consecration of the organ on September 27, 2015 in Leipzig . Leipzig 2015, ISBN 978-3-926196-73-6 , pp. 42 .
  9. ↑ See Internet presence of the Propsteigemeinde St. Trinitatis ( Memento from December 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

literature

  • Hanns Börner; Niels Gormsen ; Hella Müller: The lost Westviertel. Pro Leipzig, Leipzig 2007, ISBN 978-3-936508-34-5
  • Johann Neudert: Catholic Church Leipzig since 1710 and the Propsteigemeinde. Katholisches Propsteipfarramt St. Trinitatis, Leipzig 1997, reviewed and expanded reprint 2013, edition winterwork, ISBN 978-3-86468-439-5
  • Heinrich Magirius; Hanna-Lore Fiedler: The architectural and art monuments of Saxony. City of Leipzig. The sacred buildings. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-422-00568-4
  • Illustrated guide through Leipzig and the surrounding area. (Woerls travel handbooks), 35th edition, Woerls travel books publishing house, Leipzig 1930
  • Carl Weidinger: Leipzig. A guide to the city and its surroundings. Verlagbuchhandlung JJ Weber, Leipzig 1860 (reprint 1989), ISBN 3-350-00310-9
  • Cornelius Gurlitt : Catholic Church. In:  Descriptive representation of the older architectural and art monuments of the Kingdom of Saxony. 17th booklet: City of Leipzig (Part I) . CC Meinhold, Dresden 1895, p. 192.

Web links

Commons : Alte Trinitatiskirche (Leipzig)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 20 ′ 10.6 ″  N , 12 ° 22 ′ 9.6 ″  E

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on April 25, 2008 .