Village church Hermsdorf (Berlin)
The village church Hermsdorf is one of over 50 village churches in Berlin , all of which have been Protestant since the Reformation in Brandenburg in 1539 . In place of the medieval half-timbered church in the middle of the village of anger Alt-Hermsdorf, a half-timbered church was first built to the west of it in Almutstrasse in 1756, before the rectangular plastered building that is present today was built in 1830. In 1909 the baroque church was expanded, with a vestibule to the west and a retracted chancel with a sacristy attached to the east . Damaged in World War II , the church was restored from 1954 to 1955. In 1960 the tower was replaced by a massive new building. The church in the Berlin district of Hermsdorf is a listed building .
history
The village of Hermsdorf was first mentioned as Hermannstorp in 1349 , but was already settled in the Slav period at the end of the 12th century and was taken over by German newcomers around 1230. These will probably have built a wooden church in the 13th century, as is common practice. This wooden or half-timbered church stood on the old village green, the southeast end of the Alt-Hermsdorf street, on the Tegeler Fliess . Location, size and age have been revealed by excavations on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of Berlin. In the land book of Charles IV (1375) neither parish nor church hooves are mentioned; the village was therefore still unspoiled, so that a continued predominantly Slavic population at this time can be assumed. At the site of the old wooden church, a new church was built in the late Middle Ages: It was a poor, rectangular half-timbered house with infills made of wickerwork and clay . A pastor is mentioned for the first time in 1541, after the Reformation.
The settlement policy of King Friedrich II. From around 1750 onwards led to considerable expansions of the villages, which had so far only grown little. Hermsdorf was also enlarged by its "new village" from 1753 to 1756. The new part of the village was created exclusively with half-timbered houses ; in this respect, the new church built in 1756 on Almutstrasse did not deviate from this norm. A view of the village on a picture from around 1820, the original of which is in the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett , shows the church as a half-timbered building, the usual style of the Frederician era. It was a hall church with high arched windows and a western roof tower in baroque shapes.
Nave
In 1830 the existing rectangular plastered building was built in the form of a rectangular nave with three high arched windows in the long sides. In size, style and furnishings, it corresponds to the standard of the official churches of the Prussian rural communities in the second half of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The classicistic elements of the architecture of today's church are typical of the time it was built. The basic structure of the half-timbered church as the previous building was similar to that of the current building made of plastered brick. In 1909 the church was enlarged with a front entrance hall and a separate chancel , which was added to the eastern nave in the form of a retracted choir , to which a small sacristy was added to the north. This measure was necessary because there was no longer enough space in the old church, as the population had risen to over 5,000. Hermsdorf did not receive a second church until 1935.
The entire system consisting of a nave, altar annex, sacristy, vestibule and tower has a few decorative elements such as the spire, tower clock, corner cuboid and pilaster strips .
tower
The new building from 1756 had a wooden roof tower with a square lantern , curved hood and a multi-part top. The tower of the church from 1830 also sat as a rider on the gable roof of the nave. The tower, which had become dilapidated by dry rot, was renewed in 1960 with a massive new building in its old form. Three bronze bells hang in it.
| No. | Caster | Casting year | Chime | Weight (kg) | Diameter (cm) | Height (cm) | Crown (cm) | Inscription on the Schuler | Inscription on brass knuckles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | unknown | 1507 | a ' | 444 | 98 | 74 | 16 | O REX GLOTIE VENI CUM PACE JOHANNES MATHEUS MARCUS LICAS PAULUS MARIA AD M CCCCC VII | STUDENKA. 1507 |
| 2 | Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock | 1960 | H' | 310 | 80 | 66 | 14th | + JESUS CHRIST, YESTERDAY AND TODAY / AND THE SAME ALSO IN ETERNITY. HEBR. 13, VERSE 8. | ESTABLISHED BY THE CHURCH BUILDING ASSOCIATION >> FRIENDS OF THE VILLAGE CHURCH << AD 1960 |
| 3 | Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock | 1958 | cis " | 215 | 71 | 59 | 13 | COME LORD JESUS | + AMEN +
Gescher, AD 1958 |
Interior
The only access to the church is through the classical west portal. Only the sacristy from 1909 has another door. The gallery and tower access is now in the vestibule; before 1909, both were accessible from the nave.
After the triumphal arch-like breakthrough of the old altar wall on the occasion of the expansion to the east in 1909, the former pulpit altar was not re-erected. Today's altar, which stands under a wooden barrel vault , is only adorned by a small crucifix with two brass chandeliers. Little is known about the previous altars. The simple interior of the church hall goes back to the last major renovation in 1955/1956.
On the far projecting into the space gallery above the west entrance of the church is a three-part organ with historicizing landscaped brochure , which was built from 1948 to 1950. The organ, in need of overhaul, was the first organ in Berlin to be built after the Second World War and was considered a masterpiece. The old organ from 1886 was built by the Berlin organ builder Wilhelm Remler and expanded and overhauled in 1909 by another organ builder. Your disposition can be viewed at Orgel Databank .
Literature (chronological)
- Günther Kühne, Elisabeth Stephani: Evangelical churches in Berlin. Berlin 1978.
- Kurt Pomplun : Berlin's old village churches. Berlin 1962 (6th edition 1984).
- Klaus-Dieter Wille: The bells of Berlin (West). History and inventory. Berlin 1987.
- 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, p. 356.
- Christel Wollmann-Fiedler, Jan Feustel: Old village churches in Berlin. Berlin 2001
- Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments. Munich / Berlin 2006 (band 'Berlin').
Web links
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 52 ° 36 '54.2 " N , 13 ° 19' 5.2" E