Cruciskirche (Sondershausen)
| Cruciskirche | |
|---|---|
 Cruciskirche Sondershausen. View of the west side. On the left the former hospice |
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| Data | |
| place | Sondershausen |
| Construction year | 1392 |
| Coordinates | 51 ° 22 '17.8 " N , 10 ° 52' 41.9" E |
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The Cruciskirche (Church of the Holy Cross) from the 14th century is the oldest building in the city of Sondershausen .
history
On the north wall of the church there is an inscription from the laying of the foundation stone on September 7, 1392. The south wall bears a coat of arms stone with the leoparded Schwarzburg-Käfernburger lion, the house coat of arms of the builder family (Count Günther XXIX. Von Schwarzburg). The naming is based on a legend. The church arose from the need to include the developing New Town in church life. A Gothic hall church was built. In the extension of the south wall to the east, the three-tier four tower with a pointed helmet was built. The building material for the church is limestone quarry and sandstone. Seven buttresses were attached to the outside to stabilize the walls . The crypt with a cross vault found its place in the lowest area of the tower . There was a small chapel above it. The hospice building was built to the north of the church . The town fire of 1463 destroyed the church and hospice. For the donors who gave their money to rebuild the church, Pope Pius II issued a ten-year indulgence. The hospice was not rebuilt until 1570.
In a renewed city fire in 1621, the city church of St. Trinitatis was badly damaged, so that the Cruciskirche had to take over the function of the main Evangelical Lutheran church. The construction work to repair the minor fire damage to the Cruciskirche was used to renew the gable roof and the baroque interior. Because of the increased space requirement, the installation of two galleries on the long sides was necessary. This also included the establishment of the royal estate. Since the 16th century, important personalities of the city were buried in the burial chambers under the nave. Cruciskirche served as the main church in Sondershausen until 1691.
Cruciskirche and hospice (orphanage) were spatially and functionally closely connected. With the reconstruction of the orphanage in 1729/30, the church became an orphanage church. When the orphanage later became a penitentiary, the tasks of the church changed until the prison was closed in 1859. With that, the church lost its function and threatened to deteriorate. In 1884, a court decision passed the church from state property to the possession of the Evangelical Lutheran township. After the renovation of the building, which was now possible, the church took over its duties again in 1886. The Catholics also held their services here until their own church was rebuilt in 1908. In 1932 the church's use of the Cruciskirche ended. It was now owned by the city and used as a warehouse.
The structural decline of the church began. In 1972 it had to be blocked due to dilapidation. After the hood and roof of the tower were torn down in 1973 and the church roof collapsed in 1989, only a ruin remained of the church.
Through the establishment of the Cruciskirche Sondershausen e. V. in 2001 a turning point occurred for the preservation of the church. After securing the ruins and the burial chambers and expanding the tower as a viewing and exhibition tower, the Cruciskirche was given a new use as a community center. This redesign was awarded the National Prize for Integrated Urban Development and Building Culture by the Federal Ministry of Transport in 2009 .
Interior decoration
The organ was on the upper gallery on the west wall of the single-nave hall church . An organ that was still in the church in 1885 was created in 1625 by the organ builder Petrus Kramer from Stadtilm . The altar was bordered by two female figures standing between columns. Between the figures, two paintings formed the center of the altar. The pulpit on the south wall rested on a figure of Moses.
tower
The pointed hood attached to the new building was probably replaced by a Welsche hood in 1729/30. Two bells hung in the tower until 1915, which were melted down in 1916 for metal extraction during the First World War . At the initiative of the association, the crypt under the tower was turned into a sacristy that can be used as an exhibition room. In 2006 the church received its pointed tower again and an additional viewing terrace. A spiral staircase leads to the viewing platform.
hospice
The hospice , rebuilt in 1570 , fell victim to the fire of 1621. It was not until 1729/30 that the house, which adjoins the Cruciskirche to the north, was rebuilt. The residents of the orphanage, which in the meantime had its place on Burgstrasse, moved here. At the same time, the house had the function of a reformatory. The orphanage had to close for financial reasons. The reformatory area was expanded into a prison. After the prison was closed in 1859, the now vacant building was converted into a teachers' college for the principality in 1861. The hospice building served as a German advanced school from 1922 to 1934. Then the primary school was housed from 1934 to 1945. After the Second World War until 1954, the building was used as a People's Police Office. It then served as a boarding school for the high school and from 1975 to 1983 as a pioneer house. After it was used again as a boarding school, the "Wippertal" housing and property company took over the house as an administration building in 1993.
source
- Manfred Ohl, Wolfgang Wytrieckus: The Church of St. Crucis . Starke, Sondershausen 2006, ( buildings in Sondershausen 2, ZDB -ID 2147621-4 ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ StadtbauenStadtleben.de: Results> Engagiert für die Stadt Retrieved on December 11, 2011.