Christ the King Church (Ansbach)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The church seen from the south

The Christ-König-Kirche is a Roman Catholic parish church in Ansbach in Central Franconia ( Bavaria ). The parish belongs to the Archdiocese of Bamberg .

location

View to the west side with the double portal
Bronze door handles on the portal
The cross on the church roof

The church is located in the so-called Rügländer district on Josef-Fruth-Platz, which is named after the doctor of theology, former pastor of St. Ludwig and dean Josef Fruth. He had initiated the construction of the Christ-König-Kirche, but died in 1965 before the building was inaugurated. The walled former Israelite cemetery adjoins the church property in the east .

history

When, in the years immediately after the Second World War, the number of Catholics in the only Catholic parish of St. Ludwig in the otherwise predominantly Evangelical-Lutheran Ansbach rose sharply due to the influx of refugees and displaced persons from the Sudetenland and Silesia , the Ludwig Church of 1840 on Karolinenstrasse / Karlstrasse with its 1000 seats for the believers of the parish district , which also included places in the vicinity of Ansbach, no longer enough space. Thus, at the end of the 1950s, the plan arose to build a branch church in the Rügländer district of Ansbach . Two places belonging to the parish district had already received their own sacred space: Lehrberg in 1949 and Meinhardswinden in 1951.

After a competition in 1961, the Nuremberg architect Peter Leonhardt (1924–2005) was commissioned with the planning. The city of Ansbach approved the plans in October 1962, and construction work began in the spring of 1963. The foundation stone was laid on June 23, 1963 by the Bamberg Cathedral Chapter and later Auxiliary Bishop Martin Wiesend ; the foundations of the new building were solemnly walked around and blessed. On June 13, 1965, the Archbishop of Bamberg took Josef Schneider the consecration in front of the new church. For financial reasons, the archdiocese decided not to build a bell tower; no one was erected later either.

From 1965 to 1967 the branch community of Christ-König received a parsonage with a parish garden, a parish home and a kindergarten with apartments above for sacristans and parish clerks on its 5000 square meter church property. In 1968 an own church foundation was established - this was the prerequisite for the branch parish to become the independent parish "Christ König" on January 1st, 1970.

description

The church is a central building in the shape of a regular octagon as a symbol of a crown. The monumental building has a circumference of 8 by 11 meters, a diameter of 26 meters and a height of 15.5 meters (inside) and 20 meters (outside). It mainly consists of the building materials concrete and glass. Vertical concrete ribs support the four glass-filled window walls; the four ribbed concrete walls in between are closed with shaped stones. Each of the eight side walls is closed off by two triangular gables made of concrete ribs and glass at right angles, which slope towards the center; overall, this design again symbolizes the royal crown of Christ. The golden cross in the middle of the folding roof, which stands out from a symbolic golden crown, has a height of 2.5 meters. Inside, the four closed walls and the ceiling are clad with wood in order to achieve good acoustics . The building has about 320 seats and 470 standing places. There is a double portal on the closed west wall; In addition, this wall carries a gallery with the organ of the Nuremberg organ builder Franz Heinze (1931–2011) in the form of eight pipe towers. On the closed north wall there is a vestibule with the side entrance.

Furnishing

The artistic equipment comes mainly from the Cologne goldsmith Egino Weinert . He designed the window paintings (executed by the Selbach glazier) and created the five enamel paintings (crucifixion scene, Moses, Melchisdek, the multiplication of bread and the Lord's Supper) on the large altar cross in the east of the church and the bronze door handles on the double portal of the west wall. He designed the motifs for around 450 of the 1650 windows of different sizes, including around 200 figurative representations from the Old and New Testament up to the height of the roof , including the Way of the Cross , but also depictions of saints. Weinert also made the tabernacle and the richly pictorial bronze Easter candlestick in front of the south-eastern glass wall, where there is also a font by the artist Franz Hämmerle . Opposite, in front of the central rib of the northwest glass wall, is a Madonna by the Nuremberg sculptor Alois Rauchhuber . Today's ambo in the north-west of the church is not part of the original furnishings. The parish's book of the dead is shown in a glass showcase on the south wall of the church decorated with enamel .

In the south wall, a crucifix from the 15th century is attached halfway up the central concrete rib .

Others

“The crystalline structure stands out from the surrounding large longitudinal blocks of the residential area.” In 2003, the city of Ansbach put the Christ-König-Kirche on the list of protected architectural monuments .

gallery

  • inner space

  • Altar wall

  • Glass painting: Jesus rides into Jerusalem

  • Station of the Cross: Veronica hands Jesus the handkerchief

literature

  • Made of concrete and glass for the glory of God . In: Fränkische Landeszeitung from June 12, 1963, p. 19.
  • Christ the King Church a building for the glory of God . In: Fränkische Landeszeitung of June 24, 1963, p. 8.
  • Archbishop Dr. Schneider celebrated the first mass . In: Fränkische Landeszeitung from June 14, 1965, p. 13.
  • Catholic parish office Christ-König, Ansbach (ed.), Heribert Keh (text): Christ-König-Kirche Ansbach . Ansbach o. J.
  • Rugländer Quarter. District of unusual buildings and stronghold of various types of schools. In: Anblick, city magazine for Ansbach and the surrounding area , June 2015, pp. 9–12.

Web links

Commons : Christ the King Church  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Fränkische Landeszeitung from June 14, 1965, p. 13.
  2. ↑ This section essentially after: http://www.christkoenig-ansbach.de/christkoenig/geschichte/index.html
  3. ↑ Not on June 24th, as can often be read; see. Franconian newspaper of June 24, 1963, p. 8.
  4. ^ Fränkische Landeszeitung from June 24, 1963, p. 8.
  5. ↑ Christ-König-Kirche Ansbach, p. 2.
  6. ↑ a b Fränkische Landeszeitung from June 12, 1963, p. 19.
  7. ↑ Anblick, city magazine for Ansbach and the surrounding area, June 2015, p. 9 f .; Fränkische Landeszeitung from June 14, 1965, p. 13.
  8. ↑ Christ-König-Kirche Ansbach, p. 18.
  9. ↑ Fränkische Landeszeitung of June 12, 1965, p. 19.
  10. ↑ Christ-König-Kirche Ansbach, p. 14.
  11. ↑ Anblick, city magazine for Ansbach and the surrounding area, June 2015, p. 10.

Coordinates: 49 ° 18 ′ 41 ″  N , 10 ° 34 ′ 10 ″  E