Christophorus Church (Altona)

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Christophorus Church in Altona

The Christophoruskirche in the Helenenstraße in Altona-Nord is one of three church buildings of the Evangelical-Lutheran congregation Altona-Ost. The church was built from 1882 to 1884 according to plans by Albert Winkler as a chapel for the Helenenstift . The chapel was owned by the nuns until 1955 , when it became the property of the Protestant church and was renamed the Christophoruskirche. In 2009 the church received a new usage concept based on meditation called the Church of Silence . The neo-Gothic brick building is a listed building .

history

The Helenstiftskapelle was built from 1882 to 1884 for the Helenenstift , on whose premises it is located. The architect Albert Winkler also designed the other brick buildings of the monastery. The site of the monastery was on the avenue (today Max-Brauer-Allee ) in the then independent Prussian town of Altona. The chapel is located at the bend in the small and quiet Helenenstrasse, at number 14.

Pastor Konrad Feige was a pastor in the Helenenstift and held Silesian services with the liturgy after 1945 in the chapel of the monastery according to the Protestant Old Prussian agendas . The services were initially so well attended that there was often not enough space in the chapel. Until 1955 Helenenstift and chapel were closely connected, then the chapel went to the Hamburg State Church and was renamed the Christophorus Church . The namesake was the Christophorikirche in Breslau, because from 1949 the Altonaer Christophoruskirche had become a center of the spiritual life of the Silesian expellees in Hamburg.

After Konrad Feige's death, Pastor Wolfgang Meißler, who had looked after the remaining German congregation in Lower Silesia until his expulsion from Poland in 1962 , took over the care of the Helenenstift and in 1967 invited again to a church service after the Old Prussian Agende in the Christophorus Church. Now there were four such church services a year, plus monthly meetings of the “Silesian community”. Pastor Meißler had a brass figure of a grieving woman set up next to the Christophorus Church. On the church wall he left a marble slab with the words “In memory of all victims of war, violence and displacement. Dedicated by the Schlesiergemeinde in the Hamburg area. ”. When Pastor Meißler died in 2006, Pastor Michael Feige (1944–2010) took over the congregation, son of Konrad Feige, for a few months. From 2007 the Christophorus Church was transformed into a meditation church. The Silesian community found a new home in St. Petri , and the memorial and plaque moved to the Diebsteich cemetery .

Church of Silence

In 2006, the three independent parishes of Christophorus, St. Johannis and Friedenskirche merged to form the "Altona-Ost parish". The Christophoruskirche threatened to be sold. The parish pastor Irmgard Nauck then developed the concept for a meditation church without a sermon - instead there is singing and silence. In March 2009 the Church of Silence in Hamburg - Altona-Nord was opened. Day seminars complement the offer. The offer now includes prayers for peace, contemplation days , sung and danced prayer , chants from the Russian Orthodox liturgy, prayers from the heart , exercises in everyday life, Zen meditations, Qi Gong days, mantra singing, body prayer in the morning, meditation in the four cardinal directions , a respite before the evening, Easter Vigil service with Taizé elements, concerts as sound wave meditation. Funding is largely provided through participant contributions. From Monday to Friday, the church is open from 12 noon to 6 p.m. for everyone who wants to withdraw into the silence of the church.

Architecture and equipment

The church was built as a neo-Gothic brick chapel and is therefore quite small for a city church. The chapel, like the organ and the Helenenstift , was donated by Helene Donner , the chairman of the "Patriotic Women's Association I" in Altona. In the 1960s the interior of the church was rebuilt. Colorful glass windows were installed behind the altar.

When the church was converted into a “meditation church” in 2008, the pews, pulpit and altar were removed, and visitors should now sit on cushions or footstools. The pews were given in a symbolic action after the last traditional church service in June 2007, some of the pews are now in the corridors and in the auditorium of two high schools in the neighborhood. The heating of the room was completely redesigned with radiant heaters. The renovation of the church was originally supposed to have been financed entirely through the sale of the pastorate and parish hall of the Christophorus Congregation. The funds generated from this were ultimately not enough, the municipality contributed 400,000 euros from its own funds.

The romantic organ from 1894 comes from the Hamburg organ builder Christian Heinrich Wolfsteller . The neo-Gothic organ prospect is the only remaining wooden part of the original interior of the church. The organ was rebuilt in 1902, 1947 and 1960 according to the respective fashions. In 2000 the original condition was restored by the Alexander Schuke workshop using donations .

literature

  • Anne Gidion, Irmgard Nauck: Giving space to silence: A path for the church in the 21st century . Kreuz-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 2013, ISBN 978-3-451-61124-7 .

Web links

Commons : Christophoruskirche (Altona)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hamburg Cultural Authority: List of monuments as of December 1, 2016, monument no. 13404 (. Helenenstraße o.Nr. south No. 14), p 2017. ( Hamburger monument lists ( Memento of the original June 2, 2015 Internet Archive ) Info: . The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested Please review the original and Archive link according to instructions and then remove this note. ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hamburg.de
  2. ↑ Evelyn Glensk: The reception and integration of the expellees and refugees in Hamburg 1945-1953 . Association for Hamburg History, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-923356-57-9 , p. 305.
  3. ^ A b Gerda Stock: For the 175th time - Silesian church services in Hamburg . In: Schlesischer Gottesfreund , 62nd volume, No. 7 (July 2011), p. 109f. ISSN 1861-9746
  4. ^ Christian Erdmann-Schott: Pastor Michael Feige died . In: Schlesischer Gottesfreund , 61st volume, No. 9 (September 2010), p. 131. ISSN 1861-9746
  5. ↑ epd : "Church of Silence" persists with its concept . In: Hamburger Abendblatt from March 11, 2014.
  6. ^ Church of the Silence - Offers. (No longer available online.) Ev.-Luth. Altona-Ost parish, archived from the original on January 29, 2017 ; accessed on January 29, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / kirche-der-stille.de
  7. ^ Anne Gidion, Irmgard Nauck: To give space to stillness: A way of the church in the 21st century. Kreuz-Verlag, Freiburg i.Br. 2013, chapter "In the beginning a dream" in the Google book search.
  8. ↑ Record 2009548 in the organ database

Coordinates: 53 ° 33 ′ 30.4 "  N , 9 ° 56 ′ 47.4"  E