Christ's Transfiguration (Cologne)

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Exterior view with rose window

Christ's Transfiguration is a Catholic parish church in the Heimersdorf district of Cologne , built between 1957 and 1961 according to plans by the architect Josef Lehmbrock and consecrated in October 1966 . It is dedicated to the transfiguration of Christ and was originally part of the brutalist style .

history

The Heimersdorf district of Cologne experienced a strong population increase in the early 1960s due to the construction of settlements as part of the New Town of Chorweiler . A new pastoral care district was created in this new housing estate from 1962 , which also included older settlements from the neighboring parishes in Weiler , Longerich and Fühlingen . A first emergency church was set up in the attic of a private shop, with the special feature that the evangelical community also celebrated its services here. In January 1963 the rectorate parish of Christ's Transfiguration was founded. The emergency church became increasingly too small for the growing community, so that in 1963 the Düsseldorf architect Lehmbrock was commissioned to plan a church with a hall, youth home, official apartments, kindergarten and library.

The construction work on the parish hall progressed so quickly that a temporary bell tower was built in April 1965 and services have been held in this tabor hall ever since .

In October 1966 the construction of the church was also completed; shortly before the consecration by auxiliary bishop Augustinus Frotz on October 29, the foundation stone was placed in the walls of the building.

In the following years the equipment of the church was expanded, at the end of 1967 with bells, in 1974 with an organ. The crypt received an altar panel found in the north nave aisle of Cologne cathedral during the excavation 1978th The last temporary solution was the ambo, which was replaced in 1979.

Extensive repairs and changes were carried out shortly after completion. The baptistery was renovated in 1998. Between 2007 and 2011 - for four years - the large rose window was renovated and a later second entrance area on the aisle had to be renovated due to sagging floors. The condition of the outer walls is now no longer in their original condition, which has prevented the conservationist from placing them under protection .

Building description

Christ's Transfiguration stands on an axially symmetrical , cross-shaped floor plan that resembles a robe with outstretched arms - a symbol for the outstretched arms of Christ. At the four front sides, slightly inwardly curved, originally unplastered concrete walls with segmented gables rise , three of which have no window opening. Only the nave wall in the southwest opens with an oversized, octagonal rose window , the distinctive symbol of the church. The very flat, arched roof in the style of a low, pointed barrel roof is covered with copper.

The space-forming connections between the front sides consist of closely arranged, vertical concrete slats, between which high white window strips illuminate the church from all sides.

Entrances are at the foot of the nave and (later added) on the left aisle. In front of the nave and connected to the main building is a single-storey baptistery, the floor of which is two steps lower than the surrounding area.

In front of the short choir (upper bar of the "cross") the altar area, which is three steps higher, extends into the crossing, with the benches of the congregation - filling the entire space of the three other "cross arms" - arranged in a semicircle around it. The ceiling space is open like a Zollinger roof and structured with a delicate wooden network that is reminiscent of Gothic reticulated vaults - as well as the general effect of the church through the incidence of light and the verticality of the symbolic language of the Gothic.

Furnishing

The baptismal font set up in the baptistery consists of various stone objects, some of which were made by trainees in Cologne's cathedral building , some of which date from the 19th century. A cross here is the work of Toni Zenz .

The large window rosette with abstract compositions in red and blue was created by Günter Peltzer.

One of the earliest pieces of equipment is a baroque Madonna sculpture, which comes from Aargau in Switzerland and was created around 1750. It has its place to the left of the altar area.

The altar with a vine motif was made by the sculptor Josef Klein from Düsseldorf from black Kattenfels (a tuber lime ). The altar cross above it by Hubert Gülden from 1971 is inspired by Romanesque triumphal crosses and depicts a crowned, royal Christ, surrounded by symbols of the four evangelists. An eagle-shaped ambo was made by the sculptor Paul Nagel . A work by the Cologne sculptor Jutta Osten from 1975 originally served as the tabernacle . At the beginning of the 21st century it was exchanged for the sacrament house with tabernacle from the sister church of St. Markus , which had been sold. The sacrament house is made from a pinnacle of Cologne Cathedral and contains a tabernacle by Paul Nagel.

In 2000, a Russian icon of the Transfiguration of Christ was added to the decor, which was placed on the right side of the chancel. In the same year was - in collaborative work with the community - the collage unfolding of Eva-Marie Degenhardt who dressed up the concrete slats left of the altar in full.

The original organ, a positive with five registers, was clearly undersized for the church from the start and was given to St. Markus in 1974. The second organ from 1974, made by Willi Peter , with its two manuals and 23 registers was still too small for the large church space for financial reasons. In 2010, thanks to great financial efforts, donation campaigns and a grant from the Archdiocese, Johannes Klais Orgelbau was able to renovate and expand the organ , so that the “new organ” could be consecrated on May 22, 2011. It now has three manuals and 46 registers as well as an LED lighting system.

The architect placed no value on a bell tower due to the already vertical effect of the church building, and the municipality decided against it for financial reasons. There are two bells on a bell structure in the outside area, the chimes of which are G sharp 1 and B 1 . The latter is a loan bell from 1669.

Web links

Commons : Church of Christ's Transfiguration (Cologne-Heimersdorf)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ A parish emerges . In: Friends and Patrons of Christ's Transfiguration (ed.): Christ's Transfiguration Yesterday - Today - Tomorrow. Festschrift on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the church fair . Cologne 2016, p. 16-17 ( freundecv.de [PDF]).
  2. ↑ a b Chronicle of Christ's Transfiguration . In: Friends and Patrons of Christ's Transfiguration (ed.): Christ's Transfiguration Yesterday - Today - Tomorrow. Festschrift on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the church fair . Cologne 2016, p. 22–27 ( freundecv.de [PDF]).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g God's house of concrete and light . In: Friends and Patrons of Christ's Transfiguration (ed.): Christ's Transfiguration Yesterday - Today - Tomorrow. Festschrift on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the church fair . Cologne 2016, p. 44–61 ( freundecv.de [PDF]).
  4. ^ Christine Meyer: Kölner Kirchen: A challenge in concrete. May 28, 2014, accessed May 4, 2020 (German).
  5. ↑ a b c Monika Schmelzer: Christ's Transfiguration . In: Manfred Becker-Huberti, Günter A. Menne (Ed.): Churches in Cologne. The churches of the Catholic and Protestant communities in Cologne. Bachem, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-7616-1731-3 , p. 46 .
  6. ↑ Helmut Fußbroich, Dierk Holthausen: Architectural Guide Cologne: Sacred Buildings after 1900 . 1st edition. Bachem, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-7616-1683-X , p. 224-225 .
  7. ↑ Cologne-Heimersdorf, Catholic Church of Christ's Transfiguration. In: glasmalerei-ev.net. Forschungsstelle Glasmalerei des 20 Jahrhundert eV, July 8, 2008, accessed on May 3, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Church music around Taborplatz in five decades . In: Friends and Patrons of Christ's Transfiguration (ed.): Christ's Transfiguration Yesterday - Today - Tomorrow. Festschrift on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the church fair . Cologne 2016, p. 64–68 ( freundecv.de [PDF]).
  9. ^ Gerhard Hoffs: Bells of Catholic churches in Cologne . Cologne 1985, p. 395 ( archive.org [PDF]).

Coordinates: 51 ° 0 ′ 38.3 "  N , 6 ° 54 ′ 17.7"  E