Christian Church (Gothenburg)
The Christinenkirche ( Christinae kyrka ; also German Church, Tyska kyrkan ) is located in Gothenburg in Sweden . It is the church of the German-speaking parish.
German municipality of Gothenburg
In 1623, two years after Gothenburg was founded, a German parish was formed there. It consisted of immigrant Protestants from the Netherlands , Germany and Scotland who helped build the city.
The congregation had about 900 members in 2017 and is part of the Church of Sweden . Maike and Christoph Gamer, both sent by the Evangelical Church in Germany to Sweden for a period of nine years , have been pastors since 2013 .
Services are held every Sunday at 11:00 am in German in the Christinenkirche and are attended by an average of 80 people. In 2017 the church had around 70,000 visitors. The congregation organizes various groups for toddlers and toddlers with parents, children between the ages of 6 and 9, a Bible discussion group, the choir, the lunch team, etc. Volunteers help with the organization of church services, the preparation of birthday parties and church coffee. Two preachers are active in the community: Christel Gross and Werner Wildfang. Both were trained by the EKD.
The parish council is elected every four years and consists of ten full members and five representatives. Ulrike Firniss has been chairwoman of the parish council since 2014.
Building history
The foundation stone of a stone church was laid in 1634 and it was consecrated in 1648 . Queen Christina had financially supported the construction of the church and on April 28, 1649 granted the German community basic privileges. Hence the church was named after Queen Christina. On May 10, 1669, the entire northern city burned down with the German Church. The church was able to reopen in 1672.
In 1681 Rutger von Ascheberg (1621–1693) built a grave choir for himself and his family behind the altar . King Charles XI. 1683 provided the German community with a sum of money as aid for the construction of a church tower. In 1699 the tower was completed. On January 14, 1746, a major fire again devastated the northern part of the city with the German Church. The German Church was reopened on April 15, 1748. The current church tower was completed in 1783.
The Christinenkirche underwent a renovation between 2000 and 2001. The copper roof of the tower and a large part of the nave were renewed. The walls of the nave were newly plastered on the outside and repainted on the inside.
Interior decoration and renovations
The classical altar of the Christian Church was made after a drawing by Jean Louis Desprez. The pulpit in the same style based on a sketch by Th. Wennberg was inaugurated together with the altar in 1798. The altar and pulpit were made possible by the merchant Johan Petter Holterman through his will. An earlier baroque pulpit by Marcus Jaeger from Stralsund from 1672 was sold to the church in Lysekil in 1797 .
The production and installation of the colored church windows depicting prophets and evangelists were made possible by donations. The first of these stained glass windows date from 1897, and more followed in the years after. In a bomb attack in 1978 on the neighboring town hall, seven church windows were destroyed up to 50 percent, but the damage has now largely been repaired.
The collection chest in the back of the church comes from the early days of the community. The deacons of that time kept the collection there .
During the renovation in 2000/2001, the pews were given a red-brown color. The sacristy was furnished in a contemporary way and a modern loudspeaker system was installed. A kitchen was installed in the former museum. Since then, valuable objects from the former museum have been exhibited in showcases in the back of the church. The rededication of the church after the renovation took place on March 25, 2001 by the Gothenburg bishop Lars Eckerdal.
A carillon with 42 bells has been in the church tower since 1961. It sounds choral melodies three times a day .
organ
The valuable organ was built in 1864 by Marcussen & Søn in Åbenrå , Denmark . The A. Magnusson company completely rebuilt the organ in 1927 and renewed it in 1970. The most recent renovation was carried out in 2003 by the organ building company Tostared. The community organist has been Magnus Kjellson since 2012, whose Gothenburg Baroque ensemble is known far beyond Sweden.
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- Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
- Remarks
- (Å) = pipe material from Åkerman & Lund (1890)
- (M) = pipe material from Magnusson (1930)
Individual evidence
Web links
Coordinates: 57 ° 42 ′ 23 " N , 11 ° 57 ′ 55" E