Christ Church (Frankfurt-Westend)
The Christ Church is a house of God built in the late 19th century in the style of historicism in the Westend-Süd district of Frankfurt am Main . The church building has been used as an ecumenical center since 1978 . The local Evangelical Christ Immanuel Congregation, a Serbian Orthodox Congregation and the Evangelical East African Oromo Congregation in Frankfurt are involved. The building is a listed building by the State of Hesse .
History and architecture
Since the Evangelical Church in the consistorial district of Frankfurt am Main was unable to finance a new church in the Westend district, which was growing rapidly at the end of the 19th century, the Frankfurt merchant and theologian Emil Moritz von Bernus (1843–1913) established a foundation for the church supply of the outer city and a Frankfurt evangelical-church aid association as a staff community . The community cultivated a pietistic piety, in contrast to the regional church, which was shaped by liberal theology . It still exists today as an independent personal parish of Christ-Immanuel .
From 1881 to 1883, the association had the Christ Church built on Beethovenplatz, at the same time as the development of a surrounding residential area in the style of historicism . The building application did not find a majority in the city council , after all, the vote of the then mayor of Frankfurt, Johannes von Miquel, was decisive.
The Danish architect Aage von Kauffmann designed a neo - Gothic three - aisled basilica . The design was based on medieval church buildings in Brittany and England.
The outer walls of the building, made of coarse natural stone, are structured by carved supporting pillars and walls . The roofs of the aisles are drawn down low. The bell tower, under which the main entrance of the church is located, adjoins the main nave, rotated by 45 °. Neo-Gothic tracery windows shape the facade.
The church building was badly damaged in two air raids on Frankfurt on October 4, 1943 and March 18, 1944 during the Second World War and remained in ruins for over thirty years. Services were only held in one barrack . In 1976 and 1977, the church was rebuilt as one of the last Frankfurt war ruins and was consecrated as an ecumenical center on February 28, 1978 . In the former side aisles and in the apse , chapel-like rooms have been set up that can be opened to the central nave . The various religious communities designed the chapels according to their liturgical requirements. The main room in the central nave can be used if necessary by sliding mobile wooden walls to one side. In this way, each of the three congregations in the church can celebrate worship services of its own.
Peal
The three bells from the time the church was built came from the Schilling bell foundry : 1) e 1 , forgiveness of sins , 2) g 1 , resurrection of the dead , 3) h 1 , 291 kg, and an eternal life . The smallest bell was in 1917 as part of the metal donation of the German people of the First World War delivered on armaments. In 1933 the Rincker bell and art foundry cast a new bell: h 1 , 300 kg, Eternal Life . In 1939 the two larger bells had to be surrendered for armaments purposes during the Second World War. The smallest bell survived a fire in the church in 1944 and was hung up again.
literature
- Joachim Proescholdt, Jürgen Telschow: Frankfurt's Protestant Churches through the ages . Frankfurter Societätsverlag 2011, ISBN 978-3-942921-11-4
- State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (Ed.): Ev. Christ Church In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hessen
Web links
- Website of the Ecumenical Center Christ Church (accessed January 28, 2014)
Coordinates: 50 ° 7 ′ 4.8 ″ N , 8 ° 39 ′ 21 ″ E