Epiphany Church (Frankfurt am Main)
The Epiphaniaskirche is the church building of the Protestant Petersgemeinde in Frankfurt am Main . It was built from a church ruin between 1954 and 1956 according to plans by the architect Karl Wimmenauer .
location
The church is located in the northwestern part of the Nordend district , the Holzhausenviertel, a residential area from the Wilhelminian era . The property is surrounded by Holzhausenstrasse in the south, Oeder Weg in the west and Eckenheimer Landstrasse in the east. From the central square of the quarter, Frauensteinplatz , there is an urban view of the church via Falkensteiner Straße .
prehistory
With the development of the residential quarter at the beginning of the 20th century, the “Kirchliche Hilfsverein” built the Immanuelkirche in 1903 according to plans by the architect Aage von Kauffmann in neo -Gothic style . It was so badly damaged during the air raids on Frankfurt am Main during World War II that only the bell tower and the surrounding walls were preserved. The ruin was given to the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau .
architecture
In the early 1950s, the architect Karl Wimmenauer was commissioned to plan a church at the same location. The draft envisaged a new building that included the war ruins that had been handed down. The location and external dimensions of the previous church were adopted for the new building. According to his own statement, the architect tried to achieve a “harmony of opposites”. The foundation stone was laid on October 3, 1954, and on March 11, 1956 the church, which was now called “ Epiphany Church ”, was handed over to its intended purpose. The church building is now a cultural monument due to the Hessian Monument Protection Act . The church was last completely renovated in 2003.
The building is about 30 m long, 18 m wide and 15 m high. The interior floor plan also corresponds to the three-aisled basilica of yore. The undestroyed parts of the building were integrated. The old outer walls form the room border up to a height of about five meters. The preserved historical triumphal arch of the previous church was released. It spans the altar and shows clear signs of destruction. It is a conscious reminder of the destruction of the Immanuel Church. The historic tower has also been renovated.
The new building emphasizes the central nave , which was inserted from the old building. It rests on eight reinforced concrete columns that are connected to one another by gable-like beams. Walkways to the old walls carry the roofs of the aisles on both sides. They are significantly lower compared to the central nave. Above the beams, the gaps between the supports are closed by concrete walls and broken up by vertical, parallelogram -like window openings, so that the room receives a lot of light. The ceiling of the central nave consists of star-shaped beams. The roofs are sloping flat and slightly folded.
The external appearance of the church is characterized by the historical masonry made of shell limestone and the new, light yellow central nave with its ornament-like windows. The changes made in the course of the reconstruction include a representative entrance building with wide stairs in the south, which in turn relates to the old building in terms of the material used. In 1963 the parish rooms north of the church were consecrated. An area east of the church portal, initially used as a community room, has now been redesigned as a chapel . The tower is also to the north of the church.
The bright interior is characterized by the high central nave. The historic walls were plastered inside and painted white. The constructive concrete elements of the new building show the structure of the shuttering boards and are provided with a light gray glaze . The floor in the area of the benches is made of wood, in the entrance and at the altar it consists of gray-blue slate panels .
Furnishing
In the choir there is a copper cross and a rock crystal ball by the artist Gertrud Heim . The baptismal bowl and the copper candlestick were created by the goldsmith Friedrich Gebhart . The north gable wall of the choir closes a stained glass window . Like the aisles, it was designed by Ilselore Bezzenberger and manufactured by the Einhorn glass art workshop in Boppard.
An organ from Förster & Nicolaus Orgelbau is located on the gallery .
The three bells in the tower were cast by the Bochumer Verein and sound in the tones f ', as' and b'.
The windows of the day chapel were designed by Hans Heinrich Adam . He also designed the copper entrance doors, the handles of which are decorated with fish. The replicas of the four evangelists by Tilman Riemenschneider in the right aisle are a foundation from 1983.
local community
In the Epiphany Church the services of the Petersgemeinde take place. The municipal area includes the western Nordend and the northern inner city. The parish office is located on Fürstenbergerstraße .
literature
- Walter G. Beck: Sacred buildings in Frankfurt am Main. Rütten & Loening, Hamburg 1956.
- State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (Ed.), Karin Berkemann : Post-war churches in Frankfurt am Main. (= Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany , cultural monuments in Hessen ) Wiesbaden 2013, p. 174 f.
- Laying of the foundation stone of the Epiphany Church, Frankfurt am Main, October 3, 1954. (Festschrift) Frankfurt 1954.
- Gunda Höppner: Epiphany church new and bright. In: Evangelisches Frankfurt Edition 2/2007. ( online at evangelischesfrankfurt.de )
- Kai Kappel: Memento 1945? Church building from war ruins and rubble stones in the western zone and in the Federal Republic of Germany. (= Art Studies , Volume 145.) Munich 2008. ( Habilitation thesis at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz , 2006.)
- Church council of the Evangelical Lutheran Epiphany Community (ed.): The windows in the Epiphany Church in Frankfurt am Main and a representation of the history of the community . Frankfurt 1981.
- Alexander Klemm: From the Immanuelskirche to the Epiphany Church . Self-published , Frankfurt 2006.
- Uta Meyer: The Epiphany Church in Frankfurt am Main. unpublished master's thesis, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt, 1994.
- Karl Wimmenauer: The transparent chancel. In: Kunst und Kirche , 25th year 1962, pp. 114–117.
- Ulrike Schubert: Epiphany. In: Deutscher Werkbund Hessen, Wilhelm E. Opatz (Ed.): Once praised and almost forgotten. Modern churches in Frankfurt a. M. 1948-1973. Niggli Verlag, Sulgen 2012, ISBN 978-3-7212-0842-9 , pp. 50-55.
Web links
- State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse (Ed.): Epiphaniaskirche In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse
- Website
Individual evidence
- ↑ Berkemann, p. 174.
Coordinates: 50 ° 7 ′ 42.1 ″ N , 8 ° 41 ′ 1.2 ″ E