Bethlehem Church (Hanover)
The Bethlehem Church in Hanover district Linden-Nord is a listed church building in the manner of a basilica . The neo-Romanesque sacred building, inaugurated in 1906, is seen from a monument conservation perspective as a masterpiece of historicism and a building of national importance. Together with the Gerhard Uhlhorn Church, the church belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Parish of Linden-Nord .
building
The structure
The Bethlehem Church building was designed by the consistorial building officer and university professor Karl Mohrmann (1857–1927), a student and later successor to Conrad Wilhelm Hase . It is his main work. He planned the church as a basilica in the style of historicism , the construction of which corresponded to the rules of the Eisenach regulation . The church was built from 1902 to 1906 on the damp and empty Fossefeld. In 1906 the church building was completed; later the parish and parish houses were added, which are connected to the church and form a monastery-like ensemble. Was built with limestone partially also sandstone . The bronze bells were melted down during World War I in 1917 and replaced by steel bells in 1922. During the air raids on Hanover during the Second World War , the church was almost undamaged. There was only one hole in the roof, through which rainwater seeped in and destroyed the old organ .
The building impresses with a mighty west facade and three towering tower roofs. The mighty three-tower facade with the slim central tower (71 m) characterizes the cityscape of Hanover. At the middle and highest copper spire of lights during Advent Star of Bethlehem . This made the Bethlehem Church one of the first electrically illuminated churches in Germany.
Entrance on the west side
Figure group at the entrance portal
Star of Bethlehem in Advent
inner space
Inside, a large are considered the most valuable parts of the original interior and masterpieces chandelier made of brass , the altar and the pulpit. The motifs of the chandelier take up oriental forms and point to Jerusalem . The original painting of the church was painted over white after the Second World War .
Nave
altar
Rose window on the east wall
View from the gallery
organ
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On the organ loft is located since the Second World War, a three-manual mechanical organ with 40 registers the organ builder firm Hammer and Schmidt & Thiemann, built in the years 1957, 1959 and 1964th The manuals have a key range of 56 with a range of C - g3, the pedal one of 30 with a range of C - f1.
Restoration from 2008
The colored design of the church interior was whitewashed or chipped with plaster in the post-war period due to premature deterioration. A restoration was not possible at the time when the reconstruction of the living space destroyed in the war was a priority. After that, for financial reasons, there was no reconstruction of the color in the interior. The idea for this arose at the centenary of the church in 2006 with the will to give the church back its former appearance as a place of prayer and cultural heritage. To do this, the previous color had to be determined first, which was carried out in 2008 through extensive restoration studies with the support of the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation . The restoration was then carried out with the help of the uncovered findings on the walls and ceilings as well as using black and white photographs. Individual parts of the wall have not been restored and left in order to give the visitor an impression of the original. The restoration enables the church visitor to experience the authentic character of the interplay of architecture and color in an outstanding total work of art from the beginning of the 20th century.
To finance the restoration, the State Office for the Bethlehem Church as a national cultural monument submitted an application for federal funds, which the Bundestag member Edelgard Bulmahn supported. After the restoration, the church has been accessible again since Easter 2012 and is open for services. The cost of the restoration of the exterior facade and interior, which began in 2008 and was completed in 2012, amounted to around one million euros. Around 200,000 euros came from the Linden-Nord parish, 250,000 euros were taken over by the Hannover City Church Association and the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation added 60,000 euros. The largest part of the sum of 480,000 euros came from subsidies from the Federal Economic Stimulus Package II .
The wheel chandelier was renovated in the first quarter of 2009.
Architectural style
The building combines different architectural styles in an extraordinary way: Romanesque influences from the Italian, Scandinavian and Saxon areas complement each other in architecture, decor and furnishings. Mohrmann designed the church in the neo-Romanesque style and based on the formal language of the 12th and 13th centuries. He himself classified the style as early Germanic art. In addition to the St. Mark's Church , inaugurated in Hanover in 1906 , the Bethlehem Church stands for the departure from the neo-Gothic style monopoly of the time , the phase of which in church construction was thus ended. At that time, both churches were part of high-ranking building projects in the style of the neo-Romanesque style promoted by the German Emperor Wilhelm II . The Bethlehem Church is an important example of sacred architecture from the Wilhelmine era . Therefore, the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments classified the church as a nationally important and high-ranking architectural monument of national importance.
local community
history
In 1892 the Bethlehem congregation was founded in the still independent town of Linden at the gates of Hanover. It emerged from the St. Martins parish on Lindener Berg . Services initially took place in the school auditorium on Fröbelstrasse. The strong population growth during industrialization soon required a larger church building, which was consecrated in 1906 with the Bethlehem Church. During this time, an average of 300 people attended Sunday services, and up to 1,000 on festive days. At that time the congregation had around 20,000 members. The church struggle also took place in the Bethlehem community: Pastor Heinrich Wiebe - in office until 1949 - was a National Socialist and belonged to the German Christians , the second pastor, Wilhelm Brüdern, developed into a representative of the Confessing Church .
In 2009 the Bethlehem congregation merged with its daughter congregation Gerhard-Uhlhorn congregation of the Gerhard-Uhlhorn church to form the parish Linden-Nord.
activities
In addition to a day-care center, the municipality has:
- Climbing wall in the church tower (7 m high) and outside on the church tower
- Bowling alley
- Soccer team
- at times its own type of beer
Others
Since 1997 it has been possible to climb in and on a church tower in the manner of buildering . Therefore the church is known nationwide as a climbing church. Due to the renovation from 2008, no climbing was possible. Even after the church reopened in 2012, climbing is still not possible due to the lack of fire protection devices. For this the community collects.
The steeples of the church have long served swifts and other birds as a nesting place . In 2012 the environmental organizations BUND and NABU awarded the church for bird protection by putting up plaques.
literature
- Handbook of German Art Monuments : Bremen, Lower Saxony. 2nd edition, Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1992.
- Jochen Günther / Hans-Jörg Hennecke: The Bethlehem book. History of a cathedral in Linden , self-published by the municipality, 2006.
- Stefanie Lieb, Stefan Amt : Neo-Romanesque in Hanover and their medieval models. The Bethlehem Church with the rectory by Karl Mohrmann. in: Festschrift for Günter Binding for his 65th birthday , Darmstadt, 2001 ( Online , pdf)
- Frank Achhammer: Romanic, Germanic, Mohrmannian? On the restoration of the Bethlehem Church in Hannover-Linden , in: Reports on the preservation of monuments in Lower Saxony , 2/2009, ISSN 0720-9835 , pp. 66–70
- Bagus Wijaya: Interior recording and modeling of the Bethlehem Church with a 3D laser measuring system , unpublished master's thesis at the Institute for Cartography and Geoinformatics at the University of Hanover, 2010 ( online )
- Frank Achhammer: Economic development and monument preservation. Interim report on the restoration of the Bethlehem Church in Hannover-Linden , in: Reports on the preservation of monuments in Lower Saxony, 1/2011, pp. 12-16
- Wolfgang Puschmann : Bethlehemkirche , in: Hannovers Kirchen. 140 churches in and around town . Edited by Wolfgang Puschmann. Hermannsburg: Ludwig-Harms-Haus 2005, pp. 12–15. ISBN 3-937301-35-6
- Frank Achhammer: Great moment for the Bethlehem Church in Hannover-Linden after extensive restoration measures in: Reports on the preservation of monuments in Lower Saxony, 2/2012, pp. 66–70
- Frank Achhammer: Hanover-Linden. Bethlehem Church with rectory , Peda Art Publishing House, Passau 2014. ISBN 978-3-89643-939-0
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kurt Pages: Bethlehem Church of March 22, 2005, accessed February 24, 2010
- ↑ Thorsten Fuchs: 400,000 euros for the restoration of the Bethlehem Church , in: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung of June 24, 2009, accessed on February 24, 2010
- ↑ a b Restoration of the Bethlehem Church completed in: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung of June 3, 2012
- ↑ Reports on the preservation of monuments 2012/2
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 22 '21 " N , 9 ° 42' 7.3" E