Corvinus Church (Hanover)

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Coordinates: 52 ° 24 ′ 29.6 ″  N , 9 ° 39 ′ 41.2 ″  E The Corvinus Church in Hanover-Stöcken was an Evangelical Lutheran church . The building, named after Anton Corvinus , was built between 1960 and 1962 according to plans by the Hanoverian architect Roderich Schröder and redesigned on May 27, 2012. The central building on the plan of a regular pentagon is flanked by a free-standing bell tower with a height of 35 meters. The shape of the building is reminiscent of a tent and thus alludes to the wandering people of God in the desert.

In December 2011, the church and tower were placed under monument protection and entered in the list of monuments, whereas the municipality filed a lawsuit with the Hanover Administrative Court in 2012 due to plans to sell . The court initially released the demolition, while the Lower Saxony Higher Administrative Court overturned the judgment on appeal. After a long dispute, it was decided in June 2017 that the church may be demolished despite being a listed building.

Church structure made of red brick masonry, to the right of it the rising bell tower
Corvinus Church

description

The Corvinuskirche is in an exposed position on the corner property Moorhoffstraße / Hogrefestraße in Hanover-Stöcken. In the geometry of the building, the axes of the tent-like church roof are rotated 36 degrees to the floor plan. The five ridge edges are aligned with the middle of the outer walls and form gable triangles in section with the wall surfaces, the diamond-shaped roof surfaces are towed to the building edges and the changing views create a lively up and down of the eaves. Two of the five sides of the room are open to the edge of the eaves and illuminate the interior through windows made of colorless industrial wire glass , which is set in stepped concrete tracery . The materials - exposed concrete for the supporting structure, brickwork for the infill and dark natural slate for the roof covering underline their respective functions and combine modern with traditional building materials. Decor, cladding and color are completely dispensed with - the building has an effect through the exposed geometry of the supporting structure, which is also visible inside up to the top of the roof.

The bell tower on a square floor plan takes up the design principle of the church roof with a rotated conical roof. The bell house, designed for four bells, carries three bells, which were consecrated in 1949 and were initially housed in a temporary bell tower directly on Moorhoffstrasse. The tower and sacristy are connected to the church via connecting corridors.

Furnishing

View from the gallery of the altar wall in 1964. Here with the original spherical light fittings, which were replaced in 1997 by modern industrial lights.
Interior with organ brochure 1964.
Door handle in the shape of a raven.

The interior is also dominated by the materials used on the outside, complemented by light, natural wood in the ceiling cassettes and the gallery parapet. The pews with wooden covers on concrete cheeks offer space for 350 people. The alignment of the two bench fields, separated by a central aisle, faces each other following the angle of the rear walls and relates to the altar. In doing so, she emphasizes the togetherness of the congregation as well as the focus on the center of worship.

The closed altar wall forms a calm background for the bright sandstone altar, which is flanked on the left by the baptismal font made of the same material and on the right by a simple pulpit - all the furnishings are based on detailed drawings by the architect. Set into the brickwork of the altar wall in the same color, a three-part brick relief by the Stuttgart sculptor Elmar Lindner depicts the Holy Trinity . The floor and chancel pedestal made of dark slate take up the material of the roof covering. Black asphalt was poured in the footwell of the benches, underneath are the warm air ducts for the heating.

The gallery is located in front of the two closed rear walls of the church interior and leaves the window areas completely free. It is based on slender concrete supports that are set back so that there is no obstruction of view. The gallery is accessed by a wooden staircase suspended from filigree steel rods. The organ prospect, latched into the parapet of the gallery, takes up the incline of the ceiling in the south-western corner of the nave. The final left-aligned staggering emerged in several steps from an initially central-axis design. The builder of the organ is Detlef Kleuker , Brackwede , it was consecrated on November 1st, 1964 and completed in April 1967 with 2 manuals and 25 stops . The drawings for the roof cross and the tower cock come from the architect, the bronze handle on the entrance portal in the shape of a raven ( Latin : Corvinus ) was designed by the Hanoverian sculptor Ingeborg Steinohrt .

Design history

The preliminary planning for a new community center with church began in the early 1950s. Until then, the parish hall, which was restored after war damage, designed by Paul Brandes in 1926 , with its parish hall served as an emergency church. In October 1953, Roderich Schröder presented a still very traditional design with steep pitched roofs , which was formally closely based on the existing building structure : In the first construction phase, a courtyard situation was to be created, enclosed in the west by the existing community center, in the north by the kindergarten, in the east by a multi-storey after-work house and second pastor's apartment, to the south, in the second construction phase, a new long nave church, crowned with a turret, was to be completed.

In 1956 the parish announced a limited competition among five architectural firms. The jury decided, even after the vote of the community members, on April 10, 1956, especially because of the completely new urban planning concept for the design by Roderich Schröder: In an exposed position at the sharp corner of Moorhoffstrasse and the corner of Hogrefestrasse, he placed a free-standing central building on the floor plan of a regular pentagon. The solitary bell tower emphasizes the corner situation. The new church building, together with the old building of the parish hall, which has been extended to the east, forms a church square that opens invitingly far to the north.

However, the client expressed concerns about the interior planning of the church: the baptismal font, altar and pulpit share a relatively narrow space in the eastern corner of the room and are lit from behind; the gallery cuts the north and south window walls, four columns stand in the rows of banks. The ceiling is suspended because the light from the window would not reach up into the central top of the ceiling.

  • Isometric Community Center Corvinus, 1953 - first, still very traditional design.

  • Competition draft floor plan, 1956 - baptismal font, altar and pulpit still cramped in the corner of the room.

  • View of the church and parish hall, 1956 - pentagonal structure with attached tent roof.

  • Ceiling soffit and section, 1958 - Suspended ceiling, as the light would not reach the top of the ceiling.

  • Floor plan, 1960 - Altar moved from the corner of the room in front of the center of the altar wall.

  • Views, 1960 - Roof and walls cut in crystalline form.

  • Ceiling soffit and section, 1960 - ceiling opened and free to the top.

The points mentioned were subsequently revised by the architect. The roof geometry was rotated 36 degrees to the floor plan, creating the crystalline structure with the moving eaves edge. The gable surfaces of the outer walls now made it possible to pull the windows up to the top of the gable, the suspended ceiling was opened and reveals a view all the way to the top. By rotating the inner axis, the altar moved from the corner of the room in front of the center of the closed altar wall, thus gaining more space between the baptismal font and the pulpit. In addition, the shortened gallery was now placed in front of the two rear walls, thus exposing the window areas.

This design was realized in the years 1960–62, with the second construction phase followed by 1966 the conversion of the old building, previously used as a church, into a parish hall with an extension of additional parish rooms and two rental apartments and the construction of the rectory.

Church history

With the relocation of the parish from Marienwerder to Stöcken in 1617, church support for the district began. In 1837 a rectory was built on today's Alte Stöckener Strasse. In 1926, at the instigation of Pastor Friedrich Wasmuth, a community center was built. A community hall was created, which was used as an "emergency church" and two smaller rooms for confirmation classes and other community events , which were connected to the large room by double doors. On December 15, 1944, the parish hall was badly damaged in one of the air raids on Hanover . On August 13, 1946, the reconstruction organized by Pastor Schützer began with hundreds of volunteer helpers from the community. From Advent 1947 the service took place again in the newly built church hall. On April 1, 1949, the community became independent; the three bells were purchased and placed in a wooden tower on Moorhoffstrasse.

Foundation stone laid in 1960

Due to the strong industrialization of the district and the extensive housing construction, the idea of ​​building a new church with an expanded community center matured at the end of the 1950s. After the competition, the foundation stone for the construction of the church was laid on June 19, 1960 based on the planning of the architect Roderich Schröder, who also took over the construction management. The church was consecrated on February 11, 1962 by regional bishop Johannes Lilje . The building previously used as a church was then converted into a parish hall, and a rectory was also built.

On March 26, 2006, the Corvinus community merged with the neighboring Bodelschwingh community in Ledeburg . Faced with dwindling church tax revenues and rising Bauunterhaltungs- and energy costs pushed the country church on separating from one of the two churches. Numerous efforts to sell one of the buildings were unsuccessful. It was then decided to acquire the neighboring Catholic St. Christophorus Church, to renovate it, to convert it to meet the requirements of the Lutheran liturgy and to equip it with a bell tower. The Catholic community should be granted rights of use. The necessary financial resources are to be raised through the sale of the Corvinus and Bodelschwingh Churches. At the instigation of the regional church, the church council decided on December 9th, 2011 to divest the Corvinus church on Pentecost Sunday 2012, although almost two thirds of the parishioners come from the area of ​​the former Corvinus parish. The entry of the Corvinus Church in the list of monuments prompted the church council not to reconsider this plan, but to prepare a lawsuit against the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation . As a result, three members of the church council resigned from office in January 2012, but the regional church stuck to the decision to de- dedicate . Numerous parishioners held a vigil on April 8, 2012 for the preservation of the monument as a place of worship. The Corvinus Church has been closed since it was deedicated, and only the Bodelschwingh Church will be used until further notice.

Monument protection

Black-and-white picture of the structure that has not yet grown into trees, on the right the bell tower
View from the south of the recently completed Corvinus Church, 1962

By decision of December 22, 2011, the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation classified the Corvinus Church in Hanover, its interior fittings and the bell tower as an architectural monument worthy of protection. The decision was made in coordination with the Lower Monument Protection Authority of the state capital Hanover. The justification emphasizes that the architectural design of the ensemble, apart from the renewed vestibule, is completely preserved in its original state and that it is of excellent structural fabric. The central building on a regular pentagon with the folded roof shape had a model character far beyond the region in its time. The artistic significance of the church is evident in its design values, which go beyond the traditional forms of construction. The exposed location on the corner lot with the free-standing bell tower was given a new urban quality at the time. After all, the church, with its well-documented building history, is of scientific importance for the largely untapped architectural history of the post-war period in the sense of the Lower Saxony Monument Protection Act .

On January 18, 2012, the board of directors of the Ledeburg-Stöcken community filed a lawsuit with the Hanover Administrative Court against the decision of the monument office because they saw their efforts to sell the building being restricted. In April 2012, the Office for Building and Art Preservation of the Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church in Hanover submitted an extensive statement that confirmed the artistic and architectural quality of the ensemble. The quality of the monument is disputed, however, with reference to the fact that other contemporary church buildings would also use similar building materials, in particular the St. Martin Church in Hannover-Linden, completed in 1957 by Dieter Oesterlen , is cited as exemplary, without, however, referring to the completely different spatial concepts enter into. The aim of the lawsuit is to lift the monument protection for the ensemble in order to make it easier to market the property. In June 2012, the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments submitted a response to the administrative court.

On February 26, 2013, the Hanover Administrative Court upheld the lawsuit and thus approved the demolition subject to the decision becoming final. The state office did not make it clear what the uniqueness of the building was. The court could not recognize a prominent urban development importance. The appeal to the Lower Saxony Higher Administrative Court in Lüneburg was approved.

The Lower Saxony Higher Administrative Court confirmed the monument status of the building at the appeal date on December 4, 2014, which took place in the church itself and thus overturned the judgment of the Hanover Administrative Court. The historical significance of the church, which was built in 1962, would be decisive, as it represented an important intermediate step in the development of church construction in its epoch. The pentagonal central building with the tent-like roof and the separately standing bell tower, as well as the choice of deliberately simple materials, partly based on industrial buildings, were particularly emphasized. An appeal to the Federal Administrative Court was not permitted. On June 15, 2017, the regional church of Hanover announced that the demolition could now take place. The Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony has now "established behavior" with the Hanoverian regional church, the ministry and the Evangelical regional church confirmed to the Evangelical Press Service (epd). All arguments were intensively exchanged and weighed, said a spokeswoman for the ministry in Hanover.

See also

literature

  • Church building association of the Corvinusgemeinde Hannover-Stöcken (ed.): Festschrift for the inauguration of the Evangelical Lutheran Corvinuskirche Hannover-Stöcken . Hanover 1962.
  • Sprengel Stadt Hannover (ed.): New Lutheran Churches in Hannover, postcard edition in a folding box on the occasion of an exhibition in the Henriettenstift in November 1963. With a foreword by Dr. Johannes Sommer and State Superintendent D. Klügel.
  • W. Börner: History of the Corvinus community . In Ev.-luth. Parish of Ledeburg-Stöcken in Hanover (ed.): From Corvinus to Bodelschwingh - from Bodelschwingh to Corvinus . Hanover 2006.
  • Mathias Klein: This is what the new Corvinus Church could look like / Winner's design for the redesign of the listed building presented / Redesign as a community center , in: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung of February 18, 2016, p. 14

Web links

Commons : Corvinuskirche (Hannover-Stöcken)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Decision of the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation of December 22, 2011.
  2. ↑ a b Legal action by the board of directors of the Ledeburg-Stöcken parish of January 18, 2012 against the monument notice before the Hanover Administrative Court (Az .: 4 A 734/12).
  3. ^ Corvinus Church may be demolished . [1] In Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, Stadtanzeiger Nord from June 17, 2017.
  4. ^ Corvinus Church . In: Pipe organs in Hanover . Retrieved May 7, 2013.
  5. ↑ Evangelical community wants to buy catholic house of God . In: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung , October 8, 2011. Retrieved May 7, 2013.  
  6. ↑ Thorsten Fuchs: Dispute over church demolition in sticks escalated . In: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung , January 11, 2012. Accessed May 7, 2013. 
  7. ^ Mathias Klein: No solution in the dispute over the sale of the church . In: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung , January 23, 2012. Accessed May 7, 2013. 
  8. ↑ Kristian Teetz: Corvinus Church is about to be sold . In Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, Stadtanzeiger Nord from April 19, 2012, p. 4.
  9. ↑ Determination of the property as a monument - here: church building . Judgment of the Hanover Administrative Court of February 26, 2013. Online on the Lower Saxony state justice portal. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  10. ↑ Corvinus Church in Hanover is a monument . Judgment of the Lower Saxony Higher Administrative Court of December 4, 2014, online on the website of the Lower Saxony Higher Administrative Court. Retrieved December 26, 2014.
  11. ↑ No demolition: the former church remains a monument . In: NDR.de , December 4, 2014. Archived from the original on December 25, 2014.  

Remarks

  1. ↑ Number of community members (as of June 2012) according to the Evangelical Lutheran City Church Association in the Corvinus community: 2926, in the Bodelschwingh community: 1731.