Christ Church (Hamm)
The Christ Church in Hamm (Westphalia) is a Protestant church and belongs to the Hamm parish of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia . It is located in the western city center on Lange Straße and, together with the neighboring parish hall, forms a special architectural center of this district.
Building history
The west fieldmark, originally a rather rural district outside the city fortifications, began to grow increasingly in the last third due to the industrialization of the district. Mainly due to the settlement of two large iron works, the Westphalian wire industry and the Union, thousands of workers who had moved to the West Fieldmark settled down. The total population of the west fieldmark at this time was almost a third of the total population of the city of Hamm. The way to a suitable place of worship for the evangelical Christians was long, however, the St. Paul's Church in the city center was not up to the large number of new Christians. In 1865 the Protestant West School was built in the west fieldmark, which was now called west suburb. A toddler school was added in 1870. Initially housed in the building on Langestrasse, they moved into a new building on Hobreckerstrasse as early as 1872. Since 1885, Bible studies have been held for Protestant Christians in the toddler school on Hobreckerstrasse. Due to the cramped premises of the toddler school, the services later took place in the hall of the Höver inn opposite. With the establishment of a citizens 'and workers' association in Westenvorstadt in 1897, the desire for a church of their own arose again. A church building committee was soon formed. On February 2, 1898, the west suburb received its own pastorate. With Pastor Dr. Wilhelm Hardung, the citizens 'and workers' association received a great sponsor and advocate for a new building. At all events during this time, people tirelessly collected in order to be able to raise the costs for the construction.
Laying of the foundation stone and construction
When looking for a suitable building site, it was initially thought of buying a building plot on Vorheider Weg, where the Friedrich List vocational college building has been located since the 1960s. However, due to the proximity to the Catholic St. Joseph's Church, these plans were rejected. The municipality received a plot of land on Langen Strasse from the landlord Höver, which was opposite his restaurant and which turned out to be particularly suitable for the planned building project. The building site even left space for the community to later expand the building complex to include a community center. On September 22nd, 1901 the foundation stone for the new church in the west suburb was laid.
On July 5, 1900, Gerhard August Fischer from Barmen was commissioned as the architect, who had already proven himself during the restoration of St. Paul's Church in 1893/94. Fischer built a large number of churches, including the Christ Church Wanne , which he completed in 1886/87. A delegation from the church building committee traveled to Wanne to see Fischer's work for themselves. However, both churches have little in common of the striking steeple. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on July 24th, 1901. A document about the history of the church building project, one copy each of the Westphalian gazette and one copy of the Evangelical Community Service, as well as a couple of Reichsmark coins valid at the time, were walled up in the foundation stone .
The three-aisled nave church has galleries all around , the choir gallery at the front is illuminated by a large rose window . The large tower has been moved to the left for this purpose in order to bring more light into the church. During the construction, concerns arose that the church might have turned out to be too small - the nave was subsequently extended by 3.80 m. The church and tower were completed by winter 1902. The topping-out ceremony was celebrated on July 3, 1902, with great public participation. The inauguration took place on July 2, 1903.
The Christ Church was built in the neo-Gothic style. The three-aisled hall church is flanked at its front on the left by a large west tower. On the right side, the portal is closed by another, smaller tower. A large rose window forms the center of the portal. The 47 meter high church tower has a slate-covered, pointed helmet that is flanked by four small turrets. Four large sound window openings allow the sound of the bells to emerge from the bell chamber. Below the bell level, a large clock tower is embedded on the west and south sides, which is artfully framed by a mosaic.
When awarding the contracts to the individual trades, particular care was taken to ensure that only local masters were considered.
The glazing, which unfortunately is no longer available today, came from the art glazier Wilhelm Franke, Naumburg / Saale. The large crucifixion window in the choir room should be emphasized. The interior painting was a first work by the master painter Nordkemper from Hamm. All woodwork came from the Wilhelm Landmann furniture factory, benches and the openwork gallery parapets, which are still there today, were made by master carpenter Fritz Kaven. A special feature was the electrical lighting system, which was supplied by Electricitäts-AG Schuckert & Co.
The construction of the church was co-financed by the Evangelical Church Aid Association to “Fight the Religious-Moral Emergency”, whose patron was the German Empress Auguste Viktoria . She donated a valuable altar Bible to the church for the inauguration , which she personally signed.
In 1904 Pastor Hardung had to retire early due to a serious illness. He was considered a great preacher, and some of his texts have survived to this day.
Due to a large number of associations, the desire for their own parish hall quickly arose. It was built in 1912/1913 by the architect Hermann Hegemann and, in addition to a large number of meeting rooms, also included a large community hall with a theater stage.
War destruction and reconstruction
On October 2nd, 1944, the Christ Church was badly damaged by bombs. Here the rectory at the rear on Spichernstrasse was hit with the bull's eye. Due to the vibrations, some parts of the vault in the choir collapsed. Due to the effects of the bombs, the valuable glazing was lost and the valuable organ was destroyed. A subsequent order to continue to use the roof tiles of the nave for partially destroyed residential buildings left the Christ Church completely without a roof until its re-consecration on the 4th Advent 1949. Exposed to the weather for years, the rest of the inventory, including the valuable painting, was badly damaged.
The church, consecrated again in 1949, was restored much more simply after the war. The originally two-storey, destroyed sacristy with the organ gallery above was only restored on a single storey. The left area of the choir was transferred to the other side and equipped with simple side windows. Art glass and glass painter Andreas Kohl was responsible for the renewal of the glazing. The hammer architect Rudolf Rullkötter led the reconstruction. Salvaged furnishings such as brass candlesticks and the pulpit were brought from the St. Paul's Church, which was destroyed in the war, to the Christ Church, before new candlesticks were procured in the 1960s. The carved gallery cladding was clad with panels and painted modern. The lost choir window was not renewed and bricked up. A simple wooden cross donated by the confirmation class in 1949 was mounted on the wall. A simple concrete altar found its place below the cross. A simple lectern from the emergency church in the parish hall served as a substitute for the pulpit.
Reconstruction in 1971
Another step towards a modern interior was taken in 1971. The installation of a new heating system with underfloor heating required the removal of the old pews from the construction period. The artistic interior painting of the church was done by the church painter Hermann Oetken from Delmenhorst. The vault has been shining a strong vermilion red since then . The now loosely standing rows of chairs allow a more flexible use of the interior for special events in contrast to the fixed pews.
Storm damage
During a storm on January 2nd / 3rd, 1976 one of the four corner turrets on the southwest corner was hit and fell on the forecourt. The sexton couple living in the sexton's apartment next to the tower got away with the horror that a few meters further to the side the fallen tower would have hit the parish hall. The damaged tower was replaced and re-covered. Another storm damaged the slate roofing of the main tower in December 1982. Despite repair measures, a complete new roofing turned out to be necessary, which took place in 1995 as part of the renovation of the church tower.
In autumn 2002, a particularly severe storm damaged the top of the main tower. The large, several meters high wrought-iron cross from Ernst Blass's workshop threatened to fall down. With the help of a mountaineer, the crown was removed and revised by an art locksmith. The rooster, in whose tail there is a bullet hole from the First World War, was re-gilded as part of the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the Christ Church.
Rebuilt in 1994
Another redesign of the interior took place in 1994. The color scheme of the vault was retained, a large painting by the artist Elisabeth Altenrichter-Dicke from Ennepetal with the title "Jesus Christ - living water" was placed on the front surface in the chancel in place of the historical window . The abstract wave forms take up the colors of the surroundings and flow in the pointed arch on the ceiling into a cloudy horizon. The old wooden cross was revised and hung in a new, gray version in front of the choir painting. The two capitals in the choir room on the left and right were designed in color to match the painting. The desire to be able to celebrate the Lord's Supper in a circle around the altar brought about a redesign of the chancel situation. The concrete altar was removed. The old baptismal font from the construction period of the church, which had previously stood in the left aisle, found its place in the middle of the choir. A new altar, a lectern and a slightly raised pulpit made of light-gray wood were placed on a marble floor in front of the steps of the choir room. The new altar and the other two pieces of equipment come from the workshop of master carpenter Fridtjof Geldermann / Beckum.
Exposure of the historical gallery parapets
During the construction period, the church received an elaborate, carved gallery parapet by the master carpenter Fritz Kaven / Hamm. The parapets are made of dark-stained pitsch pine, which is decorated in the style of historicism. Small window openings in the paneling originally let more light from the gallery into the church. In the middle there is a large, carved decorative element with flower ornamentation. Some elements of Art Nouveau can already be seen here. During the reconstruction in 1949, the gallery was clad with simple wooden panels, the splendid carvings disappeared. During the celebrations for the anniversary in 2003, the question arose whether the old gallery decorations still exist. The random removal of the gray cladding brought a surprise: all the paneling had been preserved completely and undamaged. Initial considerations of reopening the paneling windows from the back as originally did not produce a satisfactory result: the large openings could have been problematic for the guests on the gallery in terms of security. So the paneling was slightly revised and closed from the back with panels of the same color. Of the historic interior, the paneling on the gallery is the only remaining detail from the construction period.
Exposure of the historical interior painting
As part of a repainting, the question arose whether remains of the historical painting can still be found under the current version. Due to the lack of the roof for many years in 1944–1949, however, a large part was lost. Only in the entrance area is there a remnant of the original painting of the church.
Forecourt design
The church, built in 1903, was initially completely free on an arable land. The forecourt was only redesigned and plane trees were planted with the construction of the parish hall. It was surrounded by a wall until 1988. As part of the improvement in the surrounding area, the church square was redesigned and the wall removed. The original small stairs to the church have been replaced by large, semicircular stairs in front of the main portal. Since then, the tower entrance has been made accessible for disabled people with a ramp. The forecourt was redesigned again in 2019 due to fungal attack on the old plane trees and pipes and pipes damaged by roots. The trees were felled and the borders of the beds removed. The lighting situation was also changed. Since then, LED spotlights have been illuminating the facade and the tower of the Christ Church at night.
Furnishing
organ
The church, which was completed in 1903, did not initially have an organ, as there were no more financial means for it. The organ in the neo-Gothic case, delivered in 1904/1905 by the Hof-Orgelbauanstalt Eberhard Friedrich Walcker in Ludwigsburg, found its place in the organ gallery in the front choir area above the sacristy. The architect had not provided an instrument for today's organ loft so as not to lose good seats and not to obstruct the large rose window. No technical details have survived from the Walcker organ. It was badly damaged by the collapse of the choir area during the bombing on October 2, 1944, and was not restored.
After a harmonium was temporarily used, a new organ was purchased in 1956/1957, which came from the Detlef Kleuker company from Brackwede near Bielefeld. It had 24 sounding registers on two manuals and a pedal , whereby the electro-pneumatic grinding drawer construction made of climate-resistant materials such as plastic and aluminum was very fragile. The organ, which cost around DM 25,000, had a free pipe prospect . As more and more malfunctions occurred, it was dismantled in 1986. The disposition was:
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- Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
On November 27, 1984, a new organ was commissioned for the Christ Church. The instrument comes from the organ builder Otto Hoffmann from Ostheim vor der Rhön. The Hoffmann organ also has 24 stops on two manuals and a pedal. Of the 1595 pipes, 348 come from the old Kleuker organ. The action with mechanical slide chests and mechanical registration are less prone to failure and are based on proven principles in organ building. The longest pipe of the Hoffmann organ is 2.50 meters long, the smallest only 6 mm. The inauguration of the Hoffmann organ took place on September 28, 1986. It stands in the same place as its predecessor, the now existing case was adapted to the surroundings. In this way, the large rose window is not adjusted, but rather framed harmoniously by the organ case.
The disposition of the Hoffmann organ is as follows:
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- Coupling: II / I, I / P, II / P
Bells
The first bells of the Christ Church came from the court bell foundry of Franz Friedrich August Schilling in Apolda / Thuringia. Schilling was known for his outstanding bells and specialized in the casting of loud bells. The bells of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin (1894, total weight 32 tons) and the Kreuzkirche in Dresden (1899, total weight almost 10 tons) came from his workshop . The Schilling bells for the Christ Church had a total weight of 2729 kilograms and were rung by hand - with ropes. Openings in the wooden floorboards for the ropes up to the bell house show this. The smallest bell, the Luther bell, was adorned with a portrait of Luther and comes from collections by children in the community. The middle of the three bells, the "Kaiser Wilhelm bell", was donated by a married couple who celebrated their silver wedding anniversary on the day the Christ Church was inaugurated. The bell was adorned with a portrait of the emperor and, according to the foundation contract, on the founding day of the Reich , the day Wilhelm I proclaimed the emperor in Versailles Palace on January 18, 1871, it was rung for at least a quarter of an hour either alone or in conjunction with its sister bells. The big bell was donated by the Gustav-Adolf-Frauenverein. In 1917, the Christ Church was stripped of its bells for the first time and should be poured into war material. Only the Kaiser Wilhelm bell remained in the tower out of respect for the ruling house. They returned unscathed.
In 1944 the bells were confiscated again - this time also the Kaiser Wilhelm bell. All attempts by the then superintendent Torhorst to find the hammer bells in the so-called “ bell cemetery ”, the collection point for the bells removed in Hamburg, were unsuccessful. Only a historical bell from the Pauluskirche returned to Hamm. It no longer reached the burnt-out tower of the Pauluskirche, but was brought to the tower of the Christ Church on October 20, 1945. This bell was cast in 1743 from the fragments of the old bells of the Pauluskirche, which broke during the great fire of April 16, 1741. The inscription on this bell refers to this moment: “Johann Schweys made me, God only honor, Münster in the year 1743. Please note that in the great fire of April 16, 372 houses and the 4 bells in the tower were destroyed from which I existed / was made. Under the reign of King Friedrich II of Prussia; ring the bell (s), others shoot ”. Even today, as a reminder of this terrible event, the bell, which hangs again today in the Pauluskirche, rings for several minutes every day at 9 p.m.
| number | Surname | inscription | Chime | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I. | Gustav-Adolf-Bell | DON'T BE DISCONTINUED, YOU ARE VERY LITTLE | d ' | 1405 kg |
| II | Kaiser Wilhelm bell | THE LORD IS WITH YOU WHEN YOU ARE WITH HIM. AND IF YOU LOOK FOR HIM, YOU WILL FIND YOU (2 Chron. 15, verse 2) | f ' | 813 kg |
| III | Luther bell | A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD | G' | 511 kg |
In 1958 it was decided to replace the old bell with a multi-part chime. The tonal disposition of the bells should match the ringing of the neighboring, newly built St. Joseph's Church, so as not to cause any sonic dissonances . The choice fell on a four-part bronze bell with a tone of d '- e' - g '- a'. For this purpose, the iron belfry from the time the church was built, only for three bells, had to be extensively converted to accommodate the fourth bell. On March 27, 1958, four new bronze bells were manufactured at the bell foundry Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock in Gescher / Westf. commissioned. At that time, the old bell of St. It was later set up on a stone plinth in the entrance area of the Pauluskirche and about 20 years ago the way back to the church tower.
On Saturday, September 20, 1958, the four new bells arrived in Hamm. A long procession led from the school yard of the Protestant West School across Lange Straße, accompanied by the pastors of the Christ Church, Snell and Hirschfelder, as well as their counterparts Müsse and Lütge, the school youth, many parishioners and the trumpet choir brought the trailer with festive garland decorations on the bells Christ Church. Pastor Hirschfelder put the motto of the celebration under the inscription of one of the new bells: "Be happy at all times, pray without ceasing, be grateful in all things" ( 1st Thessalonians 5,16 LUT ). The bells now have a total weight of 4050 kilograms, the largest bell has a diameter of 1.41 m and is large for the rather narrow church tower. Bells II and IV serve as clock bells for the tower clock.
On Sunday, October 5th, 1958, on Thanksgiving, the bells rang for the first time "officially" from the church tower and delighted the parishioners who filled the church to the last seat that day. The organ and bell expert of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia, Wolfgang Auler / Witten, visited the new bell in the tower of the Christ Church in October 1958 and praised the impeccable sound and the excellent casting of the bells. He particularly emphasized the sound of the largest, the d'-bell. He judges: "With the new bells, the Christ Church will receive a first-rate monument to contemporary bell-casting, whose call will undoubtedly not be overheard in the choir of the other bells in the city of Hamm". The installation of the system is still in the delivery state; two of the four bells still hang on historic wooden yokes from the time the church was built. The motors are electro-mechanical and have a clockwork-like construction inside to cause the direction of oscillation to change. The supply of spare parts for these machines is difficult and will require a more expensive conversion to electronic controls in the near future. All the switching electronics are from 1958. At the moment two of the four bells are out of use for an indefinite period due to massive rust damage to the steel bell cage.
| number | inscription | Chime | Weight | diameter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I. | I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE | d '+ 3 | 1750 kg | 1389 mm |
| II ** | O COUNTRY, COUNTRY, HEAR THE LORD'S WORD | e '+ 3 | 1180 kg | 1220 mm |
| III | BE MERRY AT ALL TIMES, PRAY CONTINUOUSLY, BE GRATEFUL IN ALL THINGS | g '+ 3 | 670 kg | 1028 mm |
| IV ** | BE MERRY AT ALL TIMES, PRAY CONTINUOUSLY, BE GRATEFUL IN ALL THINGS | a '+ 3 | 450 kg | 903 mm |
Tower clock
The large tower clock of the Christ Church is one of the last mechanical tower clocks in the city of Hamm and has been a listed building since 1990 . It was built into the newly built church in 1903 by the Johann Friedrich Weule tower clock factory from Bockenem / Harz. The clock system extends over four of the total of six tower days.
The centerpiece is the large, around 800 kilogram clockwork made of cast iron, steel and bronze. The three clockworks, which are mounted together in a cast iron frame, are driven by heavy weights (total weight approx. 450 kilograms) that have to be wound by hand with a large crank every week. The three sub-movements consist of a quarter-hour strike, an hour-strike, and the actual movement for driving the hands, each with a weight as energy storage. The movement has a Graham escapement based on Weule's developments. In the original Graham escapement , the tooth tips are very filigree, the pendulum gets its drive energy from inclined planes of the so-called armature. In order to make the construction more durable and robust, Weule distributed the inclined planes for the drive not only on the armature pallets, but also on the much more massive tooth tips of the gear wheel. The watchmaker Johann Friedrich Weule made the precise, but filigree construction more suitable for tower clocks. Quarter and hour strikes are controlled by a closing disc that determines the number of clock strikes. Via cables it goes up from the clockwork to two hammer hammers in the bell cage, which strike two chime bells from the side.
The quarter-hourly beat is broken down as follows:
| Time | number | Bell jar |
|---|---|---|
| 1/4 quarter past | 1 × | IV |
| 1/2 half | 2 × | IV |
| 3/4 quarter forward | 3 × | IV |
| 4/4 full hour | 4 ×, then number of hours | IV, II (hour strike) |
The angular momentum goes from the clockwork via a cardan shaft to the dials, which are located on the floor above the clockwork. The time information is sent via deflection gears to two dials on the western and southern sides of the tower. The large dials with Roman numerals and the Weule-typical hands made of sheet copper were reconstructed according to historical models during the restoration of the clock system in September 2017. The heavily weathered original dials were replaced by zinc sheet dials in the 1980s. These dials no longer held properly in the masonry, so it was decided to replace the dials from the 1980s. The work took place under the direction of master watchmaker-restorer Christian Schnurbus, who also made the designs for the dials. The clock faces were made by the tower clock factory Eduard Korfhage , Melle / Osnabrück.
Community and community life
Pastor
The municipality of Hamm-Westen has been divided into two parishes since 1922. Pastor Ralph Haitz has been responsible for the parish at the Christ Church since 2000.
| Period | Surname | Parish |
|---|---|---|
| 1898-1904 | Rev. Hardung | |
| 1904-1911 | Rev. Kindler | |
| 1911-1932 | Rev. Lauffher | 1. |
| 1922-1925 | Rev Weinrich | 2. |
| 1926-1928 | Rev. Rübesam / Rev. Engelbert | 2. |
| 1928-1964 | Rev. Snell | 2. |
| 1932-1956 | Rev. Kalle | 1. |
| 1957-1961 | Rev. Hirschfelder | 1. |
| 1961-1976 | Rev. Matzat | 1. |
| 1964-1982 | Rev. Geldermann | 2. |
| 1964-1975 | Rev. Draheim | 3. |
| 1976-2006 | Rev. Bethge | 1. |
| 1983-1999 | Rev. Next | 2. |
| 1999-2000 | Rev. Laabs | |
| since 2000 | Rev. Haitz |
Web links
- Christ Church Hamm. In: evangelische-kirchengemeinde-hamm.de
- Christ Church. In: hammwiki.info
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christian Schnurbus: Historical Altar Bible of the Christ Church - a gift from the Empress . In: Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Hamm (Hrsg.): Congregation letter Christ Church - Apostle Church . 49th edition. No. 100 . Self-published, Hamm Westf. 2018, p. 6-9 .
- ↑ Jörn Funke: Sycamore trees in front of Christ Church were sick: "Tut hurt". In: wa.de. Westfälischer Anzeiger Verlagsgesellschaft , February 22, 2019, accessed on December 27, 2019 .
- ↑ Evangelical Church Community Hamm-Westen (ed.): Festschrift for the organ consecration Christ Church Hamm . Self-published, Hamm / Westf. September 28, 1986.
- ↑ Evangelical Church Community Hamm-Westen (ed.): The Christ Church - their becoming and their consecration . Rudolf Baehr printing works, Hamm, Hamm i. W. 1903.
- ^ Report on the removal of the bells, municipal archive .
- ↑ Ralph Haitz: Bells are silent . In: Evangelischer Kirchenkreis Hamm (Hrsg.): Community letter Christ and Apostle Church . 49th year, no. 103 . Self-published, Hamm December 2019, p. 14/15 .
- ↑ a b Christian Schnurbus: The bell story of the Christ Church Hamm . In: Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Hamm-Westen (Ed.): 100 Years Christ Church Hamm Westen, 1903–2003 . Self-published, Hamm July 2, 2003, p. 33/34 .
- ↑ Jeremiah 22:29 LUT .
- ↑ 1 Thessalonians 5,16 LUT .
- ↑ Juliane Aldag: Time stopped: New dials for the tower clock of the Christ Church. In: wa.de. Westfälischer Anzeiger Verlagsgesellschaft , September 16, 2017, accessed on December 26, 2019 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 40 ′ 14.9 " N , 7 ° 47 ′ 31.1" E