Old Town Nicolaikirche
The old town Nicolaikirche is the oldest church in the original city area of Bielefeld . It is the church of the Evangelical Lutheran Old Town Nicolaikirchengemeinde. The church is named after Nikolaus von Myra . It is located in the Mitte district .
history
The parish was established in 1236 by Paderborn Bishop Bernhard by clearing the parish of Heepen . The forerunner of today's church building was a chapel built around this time. A certificate of a foundation for a church building is dated 1308. The three-aisled hall church was probably built in the 14th century . The patron saint St. Nicholas , patron saint of merchants, was first mentioned in 1317; With the choice of patronage, Bielefeld's character as a trading center was taken into account.
In the course of the Reformation , the first Protestant services were celebrated from 1541. In 1632 the church finally became the property of the predominantly Protestant township. The tower spire was destroyed by a thunderstorm in 1706 and was only replaced in a baroque style in 1739 in a spherical shape with a lantern attached . During the Seven Years' War the church was used as a granary by French troops. From 1847 it was renovated for two years and remained largely in the same condition until the Second World War. A lightning strike in 1880 required renewed renovation work.
The bells had to be handed in in 1943 for the war armor, only the bells, which were cast in memory of Friedrich I's assumption of royal office in Prussia in 1705, were spared. A heavy bombing raid on September 30, 1944 destroyed the church except for the tower stump and the lower part of the outer walls. The reconstruction, which began in 1954, deviated greatly from the original. Construction was completed with the inauguration of the 36-part carillon in 1963.
Architecture and equipment
The originally Gothic church structure was heavily modified as part of the reconstruction in the 1950s. In the floor plan, the polygonal Gothic choir end with its high windows was replaced by a rectangular choir with small windows and a rose window. The vault now lacks the ribs customary in Gothic style. The sacristy built in the southeast is now larger than it was before the war destruction.
The 40 m long and 25 m wide hall structure is attached to the 81.5 m high tower, the massive masonry of which in the lower part is only broken by a few small windows. Only the two upper floors of the masonry stump have six pointed arch windows each. While the modern design of the nave cannot be seen from the outside at first glance, the upper bell storey attached to the tower stump at the beginning of the 1960s was built in a decidedly modern way in reinforced concrete. The pointed spire above sits on an octagonal base without gable panels. The design by the architects Bernhard Hopp and Rudolf Jäger is very similar to the design by the same architectural office for the tower of the main church Sankt Jacobi in Hamburg, which was rebuilt just a year later .
The program-controlled carillon sounds four times a day. One level higher, the six-part bell hangs in the steel bell cage.
The portal was created in 1963 by Gerhard Marcks . The approximately 2.45 m high and 2.24 m wide bronze relief shows four biblical motifs. In the foyer of the church there is a plaque with the names of those who died during the First World War ; a memorial book commemorates those who died in World War II .
The most valuable object in the chancel is the Antwerp carved altar . The altarpiece, 4.50 m high and 6.5 m wide, decorated with 250 wood carvings, was created in 1524 according to the latest findings. The baptismal font was created in the post-war period, whereas the baptismal chalice, the oldest workpiece in the old town of Nicolaikirche, dates from the 14th century. The rose window on the south wall of the choir was designed in 1954 by Karl Muggly , a teacher at the Bielefelder Werkkunstschule . The pulpit was completed in 1989. In the church there are four partially decorated chandeliers from the baroque era . They come from the years 1637, 1663, 1678 and 1707.
Organs
The church has a total of three organs , which come from the house of Rudolf von Beckerath Orgelbau .
Main organ
The main organ was built above the main entrance in 1965. It has 48 stops on three manual works and a pedal.
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- Coupling : I / II, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
- Secondary register: Zimbelstern (I)
- Playing aids :
Fixed combinations (Tutti), 256-fold typesetting system .
Choir organ
The second, smaller choir organ is located on a gallery to the right of the choir. It was installed in 1954. The instrument has 11 registers, divided into 2 manuals and pedal. The disposition is as follows:
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Bells
The six bronze bells were cast by the Rincker bell and art foundry in 1961/62 and form the largest bronze bell of the post-war period in Westphalia that was cast for a Protestant church. Every Saturday at 6 p.m. Sunday is rung in for a quarter of an hour. The clock strikes on bells 6 (quarter hours) and 4 (full hours).
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No. |
Surname |
Diameter (mm) |
Mass (kg) |
Percussive ( HT - 1 / 16 ) |
| 1 | Trinity Bell | 1932 | 4515 | as 0 +4 |
| 2 | Death knell | 1620 | 2393 | c 1 +6.5 |
| 3 | Prayer bell | 1402 | 1800 | it 1 +8 |
| 4th | Resurrection bell | 1255 | 1242 | f 1 +7 |
| 5 | Wedding bell | 1120 | 890 | g 1 +6 |
| 6th | Baptismal bell | 1060 | 798 | as 1 +6 |
See also
- List of architectural monuments in the Bielefeld-Mitte district
- List of religious buildings in Bielefeld
Web links
References
Coordinates: 52 ° 1 ′ 16 ″ N , 8 ° 31 ′ 56 ″ E
- ^ Neue Westfälische , Bielefeld: "Anna's men solve the riddle", August 4, 2006
- ^ Matzner, Florian / Schulze, Ulrich: Barock in Westfalen. Ardey Publishing House. Münster 1997, p. 48
- ↑ More about the organs
- ↑ Information about the choir organ
- ^ Bielefeld, Altstädter Nicolaikirche, plenum on YouTube .
- ↑ Claus Peter: The German bell landscapes. Westphalia . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-422-06048-0 , p. 72.
- ↑ Harald Propach: The bells of Bielefeld. Voice of the Church. Cultural asset and work of art . Publishing house for regional history, Bielefeld 2008, pp. 138–140.