Village church Giesensdorf (Lichterfelde)
The Protestant village church Giesensdorf in today's Berlin district of Lichterfelde is one of over 50 village churches in Berlin . The eastern part of the simple hall church was built around the third quarter of the 13th century from carefully worked, the western part around the second half of the 14th century from less well-shaped field stones . In 1943 the church burned down. It was restored from 1955 to 1956. The church is a listed building .
history
When the village was founded - probably around 1230 - the immigrants probably first built a wooden chapel. Only later was a church built from erratic boulders , this building material was found in large numbers on the fields to be reclaimed, the second smallest of all medieval village churches still in Berlin . During the Thirty Years' War between 1632 and 1646, the village was plundered and sacked several times, with the church being badly affected. During the Second World War , during the fighting for Berlin , the village church burned to the ground in April 1945. During the reconstruction, the interior and exterior design was based on the late Middle Ages, the reconstruction of the tower and the galleries in the interior were not carried out.
Building
The eastern half of the building, which is only around seven meters wide, was probably started around 1250. Perhaps it was originally intended as a drafted choir. The altar was erected here, which was roughly where the altar table still stands today. At that time, the granite boulders were carefully carved into a cuboid. The western part, however, is characterized by the more careless stone carving of the 14th century. The field stones were squared less carefully so that the joints had to be pinched out with stone splinters. Therefore, a clear joint can be seen on the outside between the two parts manufactured at different times. Inside, an offset can be seen in the longitudinal walls, because the eastern half of the structure has considerably thicker walls than the western half. The church received narrow windows that were not glazed at the time, but possibly had wooden shutters.
The east gable contains two segmented arched windows . Together with the windows on the long sides, they were only produced in this size in 1609, after the congregation's narrower Gothic church windows were no longer sufficient for exposure, especially when reading the hymn books that emerged with the Reformation. At that time, however, the new openings were given basket arches , which was more in keeping with the Baroque style than the segment arches made in 1955. Since the restoration of the church, a pointed arched window from the 14th century with a brick wall has been restored on the south side since 1609 . Two windows on the north side east of the sacristy annex are only present as ogival niches.
On the north side of the church, a late Gothic pointed arched door has been hidden behind the rebuilt sacristy made of plastered brickwork since 1975. The destroyed sacristy was not designed like the original. The portal west of the sacristy, which serves as the main entrance to the church, also has a late Gothic arch. The church originally had a boarded roof tower , which was demolished in 1953. During the reconstruction, the destroyed west gable was built from field stones, following the example of the preserved, medieval east gable. Instead of the tower, the church was given a field stone bell carrier above the gable, which is absolutely atypical for Brandenburg village churches. The roof was covered with the traditional monastery roofing with monk and nun . In addition to this church, the Schmargendorf village church is covered with such a roof.
tower
Because of the low wall thickness of the western part of the church, it cannot be assumed that a massive tower was planned as early as the Middle Ages. From 1686 until the Second World War, however, the church had a double-stepped, wooden roof tower above the west gable, which rose above the boarded gable field above. Above a short bell storey with sound openings there was initially a simple gable roof , which was later replaced by a pyramid roof on which a square lantern with a high, four-sided tip was located. A clock tower was housed in the lantern .
During the reconstruction, the west gable was raised to an open bell gable made of field stone for a bell. One of the bells of the early classicist Berlin garrison church on Spandauer Strasse, which burned down in 1908, hangs there . Its diameter is 55 cm, its height 40 cm plus a crown of 8 cm. The weight is 94 kg. The inscription reads: "THERE IS NO HEALING IN ANY OTHER AND ME GOSS GUSTAV COLLIER IN ZEHLENDORF."
inner space
Men and women in the church listened to the Catholic mass, separated by the aisle. There was another barrier between the congregation and the priest celebrating Mass. That changed with the introduction of the Reformation in Brandenburg in 1539. Between 1600 and 1615 the interior of the church was redesigned several times. The church received a brick cafeteria and solid church stalls. The church floor got wooden floorboards and a stone-paved central aisle.
The interior was radically changed in the 19th century. In 1873 the narrow church space was given a longitudinal gallery , and in 1878 another one opposite. On the occasion of the reconstruction, they were not rebuilt in favor of the spatial effect. For today's seating, oak chairs with straw cushions were purchased, and wrought-iron candlesticks were made on the ceiling and walls for the lighting. The pulpit altar, created in the 19th century, which however had no artistic value, was destroyed in the Second World War. Today's altar is made of oak.
The first organ, a very small instrument, was given to the village church in 1836. During this time, the village churches were equipped with such instruments to support the singing of the community. During the First World War , the prospect pipes , i.e. the pipes that are visible from the front and also important for the organ in terms of sound, had to be handed in for the production of ammunition. In 1927 it was decided to build a new organ. The small church got a larger instrument from the organ builder Steinmeyer . Like the previous instrument, the organ was set up on a gallery. In the spring of 1945 this organ was destroyed. When the church was rebuilt in simple forms in 1956, it only received a simple organ from the Berlin organ builder Schuke .
Lichterfelde-Giesensdorf cemetery
The cemetery is currently in use and burials are taking place. Like many denominational cemeteries, it was built in the area between the property wall and the church. On the western side of the church there is a collective grave for the victims of war and tyranny of the community. 21 victims of the Second World War rest in this war cemetery . A memorial cross made of stone with the inscription: "The victims of the Second World War" stands at this grave site.
Literature (chronological)
- Kurt Pomplun : Berlin's old village churches. Berlin 1962, &. 1984 edition.
- Günther Kühne, Elisabeth Stephani: Evangelical churches in Berlin. Berlin 1978.
- Old Berlin village churches. Heinrich Wohler's drawings , ed. v. Renate and Ernst Oskar Petras, Berlin 1988.
- Hans-Jürgen Rach: The villages in Berlin. Berlin 1990.
- Matthias Hoffmann-Tauschwitz: Old Churches in Berlin. Berlin 1991.
- Markus Cante: Churches until 1618 , in: Berlin and its buildings, Part VI: Sacred buildings. Ed .: Architects and Engineers Association of Berlin , Berlin 1997.
- Ernst Badstübner : Field stone churches of the Middle Ages in Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Rostock 2002.
- Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments. Band Berlin. Munich / Berlin 2006.
Web links
- Ev. Parish Petrus-Giesensdorf - Village Church Giesensdorf
- Entry in the Berlin State Monument List with further information
- Medieval village churches in Teltow - village church Giesensdorf
Individual evidence
- ↑ SenUVK III C 231 (Ed.): Graves of the victims of war and tyranny. Existence of individual graves and collective graves . Berlin January 3, 2019, p. 12 .
Coordinates: 52 ° 25 ′ 15.7 " N , 13 ° 18 ′ 41.8" E