Auenkirche (Wilmersdorf)
The Protestant Auenkirche is a church building in the Berlin district of Wilmersdorf in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district . It is located in the western inner city of Berlin, on the former village meadow of Wilmersdorf and near the Wilmersdorf park .
The Auenkirche was built from 1895 to 1897 according to a design by Max Spitta in the neo-Gothic style of Berlin historicism . The church is a listed building .
prehistory
Originally the Auenkirche was simply referred to as the "Evangelical Church of Deutsch-Wilmersdorf". The church got its current name, which goes back to the location on the former village meadow of Berlin-Wilmersdorf (today: Wilhelmsaue), later. Due to its location on Wilhelmsaue / Dorfaue, the church was simply called Auenkirche at some point. Due to the fact that all other parishes of Wilmersdorf are daughter parishes of the village / Auenkirchen parish, the Auenkirche is also known as the "Evangelical mother church of Wilmersdorf", although the superintendent of the Wilmersdorf parish is not assigned to the Auenkirche, but to another church in the district as a pastor.
The current Auenkirche is the third stone church in the village center of Wilmersdorf. The foundations of the medieval village church (destroyed by fire in 1766) can still be found under the current street surface on the church's property . It was a rectangular hall with a retracted tower. Since the village of Wilmersdorf was laid out with two church hooves, the church was probably built before 1237, as the deed to end the Brandenburg tithe dispute in 1237 obliged the margraves to equip each village with four church hooves. This church will initially have been built in wood, as Feldsteindorfkirchen in the Berlin area can only be proven from around 1250.
The church, which was destroyed by fire in 1766, was replaced in 1772 by a second stone church - the Wilmersdorf village church - a rectangular hall with a stone roof tower on the west gable . The preservation of this successor building was discussed for a while; he had to give way to the current Auenkirche against the opposition of the community due to an order of the government. The subordinate reason for the new building was the poor structural condition of the previous building, but above all the space required for an extremely rapidly growing community.
Building description
The current Auenkirche is a three-nave brick - hall church in neo-Gothic style. This can already be seen on the outside in typical Gothic and neo-Gothic elements, such as pointed arches , buttresses , the suggestion of clinker tracery , the vertical shape of the church tower (height: 63 meters) and the typical Gothic roof turret with weather cock on the gable roof of the church.
The technical dimensions of the structure are:
- Length: 46 meters,
- Width: 24 meters,
- Tower height: 63.15 meters to the top of the cross,
- Height of the nave : 25 meters.
In the architecture museum of the Technical University there are four drawings (floor plans and views of the church building and servants' house).
By using mainly red bricks, the architect leans towards the building of the church in the “North German brick Gothic ” style .
The church has a cruciform floor plan, which is difficult to recognize, and is thus based on the medieval-Gothic church building tradition. However, there is no real transept . On the ground floor of the church, the extension to the short form can only be recognized by widening the nave in front of the apse . Due to the fact that the gallery in the church is completely circumferential, the jumping back of the “transept” is even less noticeable inside, while it is still clearly visible outside through the gable .
Other Gothic style elements are:
- Ribbed vaults in the main nave and in the adjoining rooms,
- Lancet windows and rose windows on the side windows,
- pillar capitals adorned with various plant ornaments ,
- Triumphal arch (Gothic stepped) at the point of transition from the nave to the chancel (apse),
- colorfully decorated oak side walls of the pews of the church stalls ,
- richly carved eagle lectern for worship readings,
- Carvings and gold decorations on the organ front .
In the original version (until an extensive renovation of the church in 1935), the walls of the interior were painted completely ornamentally. Some of the ornaments were covered during the renovation in 1935, while another part was completely removed.
In 1943 the church was damaged during the war , so that it was not possible to use it for worship. The services were therefore temporarily held in the Old Lutheran Church of the Holy Cross (Nassauische Strasse 17-19). In the course of the restoration work after the war, all interior areas of the church were no longer colored, but painted white. In 1967 the Auenkirche was rebuilt according to plans by Karl Wilhelm Ochs , the corresponding materials are in the architecture museum of the TU Berlin .
From 1992 to 1994 the church was restored, whereby the white paint on the wall and ceiling surfaces was retained. This was chosen because the white paintwork gives the church a friendlier appearance overall and because it makes the multifunctional rooms under the side galleries appear brighter.
The coat of arms of the lily is on the portal walls and on the floor (tiles) of the chancel . It alludes to the fact that, according to a legend, a knight "those of Wilmerstorf" King Ludwig IX. is said to have saved his life during his first crusade between 1248 and 1254 at the Battle of Damiette in Egypt. As a reward, he allegedly received the king's coat of arms with the three lilies. Although the royal coat of arms of the Bourbons does not show three golden lilies in the blue field until around two centuries later, this is certainly true: the knightly family "those of Wilmerstorf", who had lived in Wilmersdorf since the 16th century, had the lily coat of arms.
The city of Deutsch-Wilmersdorf adopted it as its city coat of arms in 1906, and the Berlin-Wilmersdorf district, founded in 1920, kept it as the district coat of arms. That is why the repetition of the lily motif creates a reference to the town of Wilmersdorf.
Bells
Four cast steel bells , which were cast by the Bochum Association , hang in the belfry of the bell tower .
| Pouring year | Chime | Weight (kg) |
Diameter ( cm) |
Height (cm) |
inscription |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1921 | h ° | 2301 | 167 | 120 |
Shoulder : GEG. FROM BOCHUMER ASSOCIATION I. BOCHUM. Flank : ONCE DONATED IN BRONZE BY THE BLISSE FAMILY, SACRIFIED IN THE WORLD WAR, WE WERE TO STEEL IN THE DIFFICULT TIME 1921 |
| 1942 | d ' | 1550 | 143 | 116 |
Shoulder : GEG. FROM BOCHUMER ASSOCIATION I. BOCHUM. Edge : GET HER TO ME ALL THAT YOU ARE weary and burdened, I will refresh. MATTH. 11.28. |
| 1942 | e ' | 760 | 133 | 112 |
Shoulder : GEG. FROM BOCHUMER ASSOCIATION I. BOCHUM. Edge : WE HAVE NO PERMANENT PLACE, THE FUTURE WE ARE LOOKING FOR. HEBR. 13.14. |
| 1942 | fis' | 450 | 117 | 102 |
Shoulder : GEG. FROM BOCHUMER ASSOCIATION I. BOCHUM. Flank : BELIEVE IN THE LORD JESUM CHRIST, THAT YOU AND YOUR HOUSE WILL BE BLESSED. ACTS 16:31. |
Further artistic design
The glass mosaic above the main portal is particularly significant from an artistic point of view .
It shows the risen Christ blessing as the ruler of the world ( Majestas Domini , design: Paul Mohn / executed by Puhl & Wagner ). The mosaic consists of around 70,000 different colored glass stones.
The now rare sacred art of the 1970s is particularly well represented in the furnishings of the Auenkirche , and here it blends in harmoniously with the neo-Gothic style of church design. A three-part bronze relief with a crucifix , which was created in 1977 by the sculptor Waldemar Otto especially for the Auenkirche, serves as the altarpiece . The subjects are three scenes from the New Testament . A crossroad sculpture on the font by Joachim Dunkel (1978) is also worth seeing . The expressive altar windows in the apse are by Ilse Wientzeck-Dörner, Hanover (1973).
In addition, the church has two other altarpieces. First of all, the former altar triptych by Helena Starck from 1938–1941, which is now on the side gallery. Reminiscent of medieval altarpieces , it shows three scenes from the life of Jesus . Finally, the sacristy also houses the altarpiece from the earlier village church from 1891.
Music in the Auenkirche
The Auenkirche, whose organ is one of the largest and most important in Berlin, is often used for music events. But beyond the organ, the Auenkirche is also a diverse place for art and culture. The parish of the Auenkirche has several choirs, especially the choir . In addition, the church is also a regular venue for a number of chamber music , sacred and secular music ensembles, which - like the listeners - appreciate the concerts in the Auenkirche primarily because of the above-average acoustics. For this reason, the Auenkirche was also often used for sound carrier recordings and recordings of concerts.
organ
The organ is known as the second largest instrument (after the Sauer organ in the Berlin Cathedral ) in the German capital. The next big instruments are the Seifert organ St. Matthias in Schöneberg and the Jehmlich organ in the Konzerthaus on Gendarmenmarkt. In contrast to the purely romantic sound of the organ of the Berlin Cathedral (the largest in the city), which is now perceived as muffled, the so-called "organ reform / organ movement" has not left its mark on the Auenkirche instrument. In its current tonal interpretation, it can best be described as a "universal organ". Therefore, every organ music can be represented in the original sound form on the organ, from originally baroque church music to late romantic large works .
The instrument was built by the organ tree company Furtwängler & Hammer in the years 1898 (41 stops on two manuals and pedal ) and 1922–1924 (extended to 57 stops on three manuals and pedal). In 1961 a neo-baroque positive was added as a fourth manual. 1986–1989 the instrument was expanded and restored by the organ builder Dieter Noeske , and in 2002 it was equipped with a new console, with a view to further expansion (2006, 2008, 2010). The instrument has 82 registers (around 6000 pipes) on four manuals and pedal. Four registers are currently vacant and planned for later installation.
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- Pairing :
- Secondary register: Zimbelstern, nightingale
- Playing aids :
- Annotation:
- * = intended for later installation
Congregation and Church today
The parish of the Auenkirche, the Auengemeinde, is an active inner city parish in Berlin with around 7,500 parishioners (as of 2007). The community life is characterized by above-average attendance at church services (services also take place during the week) and a strong cultural, social and musical life. As part of the “Open Church” program, the church is also open and can be visited outside of worship times. The Auenkirche belongs to the Wilmersdorf parish of the Berlin district of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia .
literature
- Christine Goetz and Matthias Hoffmann-Tauschwitz: Churches Berlin Potsdam. Berlin 2003.
- Architects and Engineers Association of Berlin: Berlin and its buildings. Part VI. Sacred buildings. Berlin 1997.
- Karl-Heinz Metzger: Churches, mosques and synagogues in Wilmersdorf. Berlin
- Berlin-Wilmersdorf. A city part book . 1981
- Günther Kühne / Elisabeth Stephani: Protestant churches in Berlin. Berlin 1978
- Klaus-Dieter Wille: The bells of Berlin (West). History and inventory. Berlin 1987.
Web links
- Entry in the Berlin State Monument List
- Web presence of the Auenkirche
- Auenkirche near the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district
- Representation of the organ and the interior of the church on the website The largest organs in the world
Individual evidence
- ↑ Four drawings by Max Spitta for the Auenkirche
- ↑ Twelve depictions of the Auenkirche by Karl Wilhelm Ochs
- ↑ More information about the organ of the Auenkirche
Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 5.4 " N , 13 ° 19 ′ 27.7" E