Marzahn village church

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Village church from the west

The Protestant village church of Marzahn in the district of Berlin of the same name is a neo-Gothic brick church built between 1869 and 1871 based on a design by Friedrich August Stüler . It is located on the village green of the former Angerdorf and has largely been preserved in its external appearance. As a single monument, like the surrounding ensemble of the village center Alt-Marzahn, it is under monument protection . Even in the 21st century, the church in its original purpose is used by the Protestant parish of Berlin-Marzahn for their services. Concerts are also held regularly in the church.

The predecessor

The previous building, watercolor drawing by Heinrich Wohler; on August 31, 1834

The old village church, a field stone church built in early Gothic form in the second half of the 13th century , surrounded a cemetery surrounded by a field stone wall. The church consisted of a short nave and a barely retracted choir with the same roof ridge height . As the drawing by Wohler in 1834 (see illustration) shows, the field stones were relatively carefully squared . In 1496 a vault was drawn in. The Marzahn parish, which has been verifiable since the 14th century, lost its independence with the Reformation and the conversion of Elector Joachim II to the Lutheran faith . The church was a daughter church of Biesdorf until 1603 and then of Friedrichsfelde until after the Second World War .

The Thirty Years War (1618–1648) reached the Mark Brandenburg in 1626 . The village recovered only slowly from its consequences, depopulation and economic collapse. The settlement policy of Frederick II brought new residents after the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). The colonists from the Palatinate who settled in 1764 brought their Reformed faith with them. Both parishes, the Lutheran parish of Alt-Marzahn and the Reformed parish of Neu-Marzahn, shared the church.

In times of need during and after the Thirty Years War, only repairs were made to the building. As a result, the church showed considerable structural damage in the first half of the 18th century, and in 1756 the ringing of the church bells (bell from 1660) had to be stopped due to the dilapidation of the tower. The desolate state of construction led to the first cost estimate for a new building in 1777 . A stone that fell from the vault during the sermon on Easter Sunday 1782 and almost killed a churchgoer illustrates the ongoing decay; it was dilapidated and in the 19th century its condition was described as "terribly bad". After this incident, church services took place in the school until a wooden roof tower with a belfry replaced the old tower in 1785/1786. Simple repairs had to suffice for the church itself.

On August 25, 1830, the Lutheran and Calvinist parishes united to form the Uniate Church ; the cost estimate from 1831 for a new building, including the old choir , is probably related to this. In 1860 an alternative cost estimate followed for an extension with the renovation of the old church. A cross with an east tower would have resulted from the thoughtful inclusion of the existing building fabric . The new tower would have been “upside down”, which the villagers stubbornly protested against. In 1869 a third cost estimate was finally submitted for the new building, which was then carried out.

New construction of the church and demolition of the previous building

Section through the village church of Marzahn, supplement to the cost estimate from 1869

The cost estimate and the enclosed plans were made by the district building inspector Adolf Bürckner , based on a design dated 1857 by the secret building councilor Friedrich August Stüler, who died in 1865. The draft was created as part of Stüler's official activity as head of the church building department in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Public Works since autumn 1853.

The stone church remained standing for the time being. Construction work on the new building, located east of the old building, began in autumn 1869 under the direction of Bürckner, who was followed by building inspector Krüger in 1871 at the latest. The building material, yellow Herzfelder hard fire bricks, reached the construction site by cart from Rummelsburg . The Ölschläger lime distillery in Erkner delivered 355  tons of slaked lime . The masonry work was carried out by master mason Gerhardt from Altlandsberg . The Berlin master carpenters W. Bruß and H. F. Stöckling were awarded the contract for the carpentry work . The new church building was completed at the beginning of August 1871, and on September 4, 1871, General Superintendent Wilhelm Hoffmann consecrated the church.

The opposite of the two churches lasted only a few years: in 1874 the old stone church was demolished due to dilapidation. The first Prussian preservationist Ferdinand von Quast , appointed by Friedrich Wilhelm IV. “Conservator of the monuments”, had previously tried in vain to save at least parts of the building. Two bells as well as liturgical textiles and implements were reused in the new church. In addition, the Märkisches Museum received some liturgical implements in 1875, including a brass baptismal bowl. The old churchyard existed until 1889 when it had to be closed due to overcrowding. Its function was taken over by the Marzahn village cemetery on Landsberger Allee , which opened in 1893 . The Angerfriedhof was closed in 1930. The war memorial on it was implemented.

architecture

Nave and choir

View of the choir side of the church

The floor plan of the east-facing church is a rectangle 25.18 meters long and 11.28 meters wide. The yellowish brick structure of the church with an eaves height of 7.75 meters rests on a limestone foundation. Stüler's model for the design of the church was possibly the Holy Spirit Church in Teupitz .

The east wall of the nave is crowned by a seven- step stepped gable , decorated with seven blind windows. Like all blind windows, these were brick-exposed in the original design and have only been plastered since the renovation in 1912/1913. The rectangular, inserted choir adjoins the east wall . Its simple gable bears a stone cross. Buttresses and pointed arch windows structure the walls of the nave and choir. A simply crossed ribbon extends under the roof cornice of the ship. This ornamental frieze continues at the same height on the east and west walls and on the choir.

Steeple

Tower side of the Marzahn village church

The 24.85 meter high tower rises in the axis of the nave in the west. The side extensions of the tower with the stairwells to the galleries are designed in the same way as the choir. Their gables were originally crowned by stone crosses, as in the choir. The tower clock below the sound openings on the west side was not installed until 1895/1896.

One of the bells in the tower

The western five-stepped gable of the tower bears an iron cross. The east gable was originally decorated with an iron weather vane that was lost to artillery fire in World War II. Like the east wall of the ship, five originally brick-faced and now plastered windows enliven the wall surfaces below the stairs of the gable. The bell cage with the three bells of the church is hidden behind the two ogival sound openings on each side of the tower, clad with iron blinds . The oldest, cast by Jacob Neuwert in Berlin around 1660 and the smallest with a diameter of 68 centimeters with tone d , comes from the previous church. The two other bells from the bell foundry Franz Schilling and Lattermann in Apolda replaced two bells that were removed and melted down during World War II. The larger one with a diameter of 130 centimeters and a weight of 920 kilograms bears the inscription “Come, because everything is ready” ( Lk 14,17  LUT ) and sounds in tone G. The smaller one with tone B and the inscription “Blessed are who hear and keep the word of God ”( Lk 11.28  LUT ) measures 108 centimeters in circumference and weighs 530 kilograms.

inner space

Nave with a view of the altar side

Five yokes with ribbed vaults cover the single-nave interior of the village church. The walls and ceilings of the nave, the choir and the tower are plastered. The repeatedly renewed plaster and paint no longer correspond to the original condition. Restoration findings, the construction drawings from 1869 and the typical furnishings in other Stülerkirchen speak for a simple design of the nave with an incised ashlar like on the construction drawing. The basic color of the glue paint was a natural stone tone, architectural elements such as the ribs of the vault were possibly colored and the sanctuary was colored and thus distinguished.

The renaissance baptismal font of the field stone church in the shape of a cup dates from 1660 and was made from Saxon sandstone . After the old village church was demolished , the baptismal font was initially placed in the cemetery, but was returned to the church during the renovation in 1912/1913. During the various renovations it changed location several times and was removed from the church during the renovation in 1982/1983. After its restoration, it was given a place in the church again in 2005 and, together with the brass baptismal bowl, on loan from the Märkisches Museum, reminds of the previous building.

Since the church was only connected to the electricity network in 1934/1935, the church was originally illuminated by two gold-bronze candle chandeliers with prismatic hangings in the nave and a three-armed sconce each in the area of ​​the pulpit and the organ. Today's chandeliers came into the church in 1934/1935.

During the Second World War , the glass windows from the time it was built were lost. Only the choir windows were designed a little more elaborately in their original furnishings, as photos from 1939 show. For the remaining windows, diamond- shaped lead glazing framed with colored stripes was sufficient . In 1948 the church nave windows and 1949/1950 the choir windows were re -glazed by the Mahlsdorf glass painter Katharina Peschel based on designs by Eva-Maria Lokies . The figurative representations of the four evangelists , accompanied by their symbols in four windows of the nave, show Matthew with a winged person, Mark with a lion, Luke with a bull and John with an eagle. The crucified Jesus of Nazareth is carved into the choir window above the altar .

In the choir, today's altar table made of veneered ash wood has been in place of the simple block altar of the original equipment since the renovation in 1982/1983 . Interior photos from 1939 document a pedestal with side barriers in front of the altar and on the altar an altar cross, two altar candlesticks and a crucifix made of bronzed cast iron .

In the course of the same renovation, the elaborate neo-Gothic pulpit with sound cover and stairs on the north-eastern nave wall also disappeared . Its function was taken over by the modern pulpit with a pedestal in the same design as the altar. Another piece of sacred furniture purchased in 1983 is the baptismal stand in the axis of the church. It stands roughly at the place of the neo-Gothic baptismal font of the original furnishings, which is now stored in the tower. The lost neo-Gothic interior includes a wooden sacristy extension on the north wall of the nave between the pulpit and stalls, changed during the renovation in 1912/1913 and removed in 1982/1983.

All doors from the time of construction - the outer door and the door to the nave in neo-Gothic shapes and the two gallery doors - have been preserved.

The wooden, three-sided gallery was changed compared to the plan from 1869, presumably for cost reasons. On the parapet , simpler coffered panels, matching the gallery doors, replaced the neo-Gothic panels in the shape of a pointed arch. The stalls also originate from the time of the first building, when the number of pews was reduced during the various renovations and renovations. The color scheme of the galleries and benches has been partially renewed; Siena nature is likely to be the base color of the first coat .

Organ on the gallery

The main parts of the two-manual organ with twelve registers on the gallery dates from 1912. The organ planned in the design from 1869 was probably not implemented for reasons of cost. It was not until 1885 that the church received its first organ from the Dinse brothers with a simplified organ prospect in neo-Gothic form compared to the design . When the organ was rebuilt, also by the Dinse brothers, as part of the church renovation in 1912, the prospectus and parts of the pipework were reused. In 1934/1935 the winch received an electric fan.

Renovations and renovations up to the Second World War

Just a few years after construction, damage to the gable and buttress covers required the first repairs. The first organ as well as work in the 1890s - the installation of the tower clock in 1895/1996 and an anthracite coal heater on the south east wall of the chancel - improved equipment and comfort.

The village church underwent its first comprehensive renovation in 1912/1913. The district building inspector Heydemann had damaged masonry removed and rebuilt on the buttresses' buttresses and the gables of the towers, the stairwells and the east wall, which were heavily exposed to weathering. The construction workers cleaned the masonry and replaced damaged bricks and joints. The plastering in the glazed windows of the gable instead of the previous masonry meant a creative intervention. After the roof trusses had been repaired, the roofs received a new covering . Heydemann added two bat dormers on each side of the roof of the nave .

In the interior of the church, plaster damaged by moisture and humidity had to be removed and replaced. The church interior , the hall under the tower and the stairwells to the galleries received a new ornamental painting with casein paint in the taste of the time. The interior photos from 1939 show stencil paintings along the ribs of the ribbed vaults and in the window reveals or ceiling paintings with stars in the vault caps .

The gallery, the pulpit, the altar and the prospectus of the organ, which was renewed and expanded at the same time, were given a new color version in oil paint .

Since it was connected to the electricity network in 1934/1935, the church has had electric lighting, underfloor heating and the organ windmill has an electric fan.

Repair of war damage, renovations in 1962/1963 and 1982/1983

Artillery fire in World War II caused damage to the eastern tower gable, the bell cage, the gable of the northern staircase and the roof. This war damage was repaired as early as 1946/1947 with the repair of the masonry damage and the new roofing of the nave, whereby the dormers from the renovations of 1912/1913 were removed. The tower received two new bells in the renewed belfry, the windows in the nave and choir were newly glazed.

In 1952 the parish developed plans for the underground installation of a sacristy at the northeast corner and a boiler room at the southeast corner of the nave, as well as the expansion of the attic to accommodate community rooms. These plans were given up again in 1954.

In 1962/1963 the church was extensively renovated under the direction of Fichte, a church building officer , during which a winter church was installed in the western part of the nave . The interior was given a new coat of paint, probably in a new color scheme. A new altar cross and other liturgical instruments of copper designed by engraver master Günter Tigge from Berlin replaced the previous, some of which dated back to the time of construction of the church. In 1966 the nave was re-covered.

Conversion plans developed in 1975 envisaged serious interventions in the building fabric. The neo-Gothic interior was to be completely removed and a reinforced concrete ceiling to be put in at a height of four meters. In the new basement, the parish wanted to set up community and office space as well as toilets and heating. The upper floor should accommodate the new church interior. Since a solution was found for the community's space requirements in another building, the parish dropped the project in 1978.

The renovation in 1982/1983, in addition to a new heating system, a general overhaul of the organ and a new bell system, resulted in losses of equipment that had been preserved from the period of construction. The altar block, the neo-Gothic pulpit and the wooden sacristy , which was changed in 1912, were removed and destroyed. It was replaced by sacred furniture veneered with ash wood . The renaissance baptismal font of the field stone church was removed and stored in a stable.

Renovation 1987/1989 as part of the Marzahn village renewal

On March 28, 1985, the council of the Marzahn district declared the church a monument . The extensive renovation between 1987 and 1989 took place in the context of the “village reconstruction” of Marzahn by the Berlin City Administration . The aim of the renovation was to preserve the village center in its typical elements and to integrate it into the new building area, where the first prefabricated buildings of the large housing estate grew upwards from 1977 .

The drainage of the masonry, the renovation of the roof structure and new roofing, the replacement of the rain gutters and downpipes sealed the building and prevented further damage from penetrating moisture. The facade, washed with hot water, showed the original light yellow color of the bricks again, and the glazed windows on the gables were given a new coat of paint.

The work inside was characterized by the dismantling of previous interventions. The winter church disappeared after the renovations in 1962/1963 and the stove that was only installed in 1984. The installation of the new floor made of Basdorf clinker bricks led to the loss of the wooden pedestals of the pews from the time it was built. After repairs to the plaster, the interior as well as galleries, benches and organ were given a new coat of paint. New lighting and gas heating rounded off the renovations.

After work on the organ in 1992/1993, the restoration of the original outer door in 1994 and the removal of moisture damage in the base zone of the outer walls in 1999, the renovated baptismal font from the previous church was put back in the church in 2005.

literature

  • Kurt Pomplun : Berlin's old village churches . 4th ed. Haude and Spener, Berlin 1973, ISBN 3-7759-0160-4 (=  Berlinische Reminiscences . No. 39), p. 55.
  • Old Berlin village churches. Heinrich Wohler's drawings , ed. v. Renate and Ernst Oskar Petras, Berlin 1988.
  • Markus Cante: Churches until 1618 , in: Berlin and its buildings, Part VI: Sacred buildings. Ed .: Architects and Engineers Association of Berlin , Berlin 1997, p. 336.
  • Matthias Friske : The medieval churches on the Barnim. History - architecture - equipment , Lukas-Verlag, Berlin 2001 (churches in rural areas, vol. 1), ISBN 3-931836-67-3 .
  • Sylvia Müller: The neo-Gothic village church in Berlin-Marzahn. An outline of the history of construction and furnishings. In: The monuments in Berlin, Marzahn district. Districts of Biesdorf, Friedrichsfelde Ost and Marzahn. Edited by the Marzahn district office of Berlin, Lower Monument Protection Authority, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-00-006595-4 , pp. 40–49.
  • Sylvia Müller: The medieval village church of Alt-Marzahn. In: Biesdorf and Marzahn. From the story of two villages. A reader. Edited by Marzahn district office of Berlin, 2000, pp. 27–31 u. Pp. 178/179

Web links

Commons : Dorfkirche Marzahn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry in the Berlin State Monument List for the village ensemble .
  2. ↑ Entry in the Berlin state monument list for the village church .
  3. ↑ Report of the preacher Damerow: "[...] that the church in Marzahn will collapse next and that already during the preaching on the first h. On Easter days a stone that fell from the vault could have killed Colonist Röderjahn if Providence had not so graciously averted it this time, ”quoted from the Marzahn-Hellersdorf district office .
  4. ↑ A. Stüler's drafts and construction work: Kirchen : Zeitschrift für Bauwesen 15, 1865, columns 507–509 digitized (41 MB; PDF) ( Memento of the original from February 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and still Not checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www-docs.tu-cottbus.de
  5. ↑ a b Eva Börsch-Supan, Dietrich Müller-Stüler: Friedrich August Stüler: 1800–1865. , Deutscher Kunstverlag Munich 1997, ISBN 3-422-06161-4 ; Pp. 531/532.
  6. ↑ on Stüler's office as head of department cf. Eva Börsch-Supan, Dietrich Müller-Stüler: Friedrich August Stüler: 1800–1865. , Deutscher Kunstverlag Munich 1997, ISBN 3-422-06161-4 ; P. 150.
  7. ^ A b c Sylvia Müller: The neo-Gothic village church in Berlin-Marzahn. An outline of the history of construction and furnishings. In: The monuments in Berlin, Marzahn district. Districts of Biesdorf, Friedrichsfelde Ost and Marzahn . Edited by the Marzahn district office of Berlin, Lower Monument Protection Authority, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-00-006595-4 , p. 48.
  8. ↑ Institute for Monument Preservation (Ed.): The architectural and art monuments of the GDR. Capital Berlin-II . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1984, p. 248 .
  9. ↑ on the color design of the interiors in Stülerkirchen cf. Eva Börsch-Supan, Dietrich Müller-Stüler: Friedrich August Stüler: 1800–1865. , Deutscher Kunstverlag Munich 1997, ISBN 3-422-06161-4 ; P. 114.
  10. ↑ a b Explanation board on the village green, set up by the BA Marzahn-Hellersdorf. Photographed on March 20, 2011.
  11. ^ Sylvia Müller: The neo-Gothic village church in Berlin-Marzahn. An outline of the history of construction and furnishings . In: The monuments in Berlin, Marzahn district. Districts of Biesdorf, Friedrichsfelde Ost and Marzahn . Edited by the Marzahn district office of Berlin, Lower Monument Protection Authority, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-00-006595-4 , p. 42.

Coordinates: 52 ° 32 ′ 34.6 "  N , 13 ° 33 ′ 42.4"  E