Epiphany Church (Berlin)

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Epiphany Church
Church with the parish and parish hall in the background

Church with the parish and parish hall in the background
Construction year: 1906
Inauguration: April 8, 1906
Architect : Jürgen Kroeger
Style elements : Eclecticism , elements in the architectural style of Romanesque , Gothic , Renaissance , Baroque and Art Nouveau
Client: Evangelical Luisen parish Berlin-Charlottenburg
Floor space: 34 × 30 m
Space: 1009 people
Tower height:

40 m

Location: 52 ° 30 '46.8 "  N , 13 ° 17' 5.4"  E Coordinates: 52 ° 30 '46.8 "  N , 13 ° 17' 5.4"  E
Address: Knobelsdorffstrasse 72/74
Westend
Berlin , Germany
Purpose: evangelical-union ; church service
Local community: Evangelical Epiphany Congregation Berlin-Charlottenburg
Regional Church : EKBO
Website: www.epiphanien.de

The building complex in the Knobelsdorffstraße 72/74 in Berlin district Westend the district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf from 1904 to 1906 by Jürgen Kröger built Protestant epiphanies Church and from 1929 to 1930 by Walter and John Kruger built community center is under monument protection . The church, which burned out in the Second World War , was restored and rebuilt in 1957–1960 by Konrad Sage using the old outer walls and the tower, which was simplified by Erich Ruhtz in 1953. The interior of the cross-shaped central building was rotated 90 degrees in north-south orientation and received a new roof.

history

The expansion of Charlottenburg to the west and the long distances that evangelical believers had to travel to the Luisenkirche in the 1890s made a church service room to the west necessary. As early as October 1, 1894, services were held in the Aula of the Realschule in Schlossstrasse . In anticipation of a further extension of Charlottenburg the leased church land for a chapel at Spandauerdamm corner Fürstenbrunner way. This interim church, built by the architects Johannes Vollmer and Heinrich Jassoy for around 20,000  marks , was inaugurated on April 4, 1897. A site near the old Luisenkirchhof in Westend was acquired for the construction of the future church. After completion of the Epiphany Church, the chapel was demolished and rebuilt on Nonnendamm, later it was demolished again and rebuilt as Wichernkirche .

Under the auspices of Empress Auguste-Viktoria , the approval for the new building of the church was granted, the design was determined in an architectural competition . The Empress chose the name Epiphany Church from several proposals. Because the church could only be reached from the north-west via sandy roads, the population gave it the name “Church on the Sandberg”. The estimated construction costs for the church were 350,000 marks, and 470,000 marks were spent. The mother congregation provided the necessary church equipment. The Berlin city synod bore the costs for two pastors .

In 1904, Kantstrasse was extended beyond the Lietzensee and the construction around the lake and in the adjacent streets with stately apartment buildings for the middle class began. The way to the Epiphany Church was too far for him, and she therefore advocated a division of the parish. On April 1, 1913, the independent congregation Epiphanien II (southeast), with around 50,000 members, was established on April 18, 1915, its current name “Kirchengemeinde am Lietzensee”. On April 1, 1957, a third preaching site was separated from Epiphany, for which the Neu-Westend Church was built on Eichenallee and Bolivarallee.

During the attack on Berlin in early May 1945, the Epiphany Church was destroyed and the adjacent parish hall was damaged. The British occupying power took care of the repair of the war damage to the meeting house, but claimed the community hall for their services. She redesigned the parish hall according to the liturgical requirements of Anglican worship. In 1950 the English moved the services to the church of St. George, which had been built in the meantime . Since then, the parish hall of the epiphany parish has been available again as the sole user. The hall was redesigned according to the requirements of the Protestant church service and was given a small organ by Karl Schuke according to the size of the hall .

Old church

Old church

Building description

The cross-shaped central building has a flat choir and a double tower front, in the southwest a two-storey extension was built, in which u. a. the sacristy is located. The masonry structure is faced with red bricks and brown terracotta tiles , the base and the portal , which is located on the tower front, are made of natural stone masonry . The portal porch consists of a keel-arched round arch niche , above a small rose window , the bell chamber has round-arched sound openings, the square tower ends with curved gables and steep polygonal helmets are crowned with baroque hoods . The gables of the transept are decorated. There is an ogival parapet above the main cornice .

Furnishing

A wall painting above the altar depicted Jesus Christ . The good Samaritan and the homecoming of the prodigal son were depicted on the sides of the sanctuary . In the keystone above the altar, God was enthroned between two angels. On the pews had room 1009 persons.

The large windows in the gables of the transept showed Christmas and Easter motifs. In the eight smaller windows the heads of Christian Friedrich Bernhard Augustin , Martin Luther , Philipp Melanchthon , Friedrich Schleiermacher , Monika, Katharina von Bora , Queen Luise and Amalie Sieveking were depicted. Above the choir in which the organ stood there were pictures of Johann Sebastian Bach , Georg Friedrich Händel , Paul Gerhardt and Ernst Moritz Arndt . In the round window above the organ there was a picture of David playing the harp.

New Church

Sanctuary
View into the church, with remains of the old church (old chancel)

The reconstruction of the church building extended over a period of 15 years. On March 27, 1960 Otto Dibelius inaugurated the new church.

Building description

As the first security measure in 1953 the two towers were originally baroque spiers contributed, at a steep gable roof summarized. The reconstruction of the church building according to designs by Konrad Sage and Karl Hebecker took place in two construction phases 1957-1960, in which the roof and interior were redesigned. In addition, the main entrance was relocated from Rognitzstrasse east of the tower, which was canceled in favor of the construction of the city ​​motorway , to the south side of Knobelsdorffstrasse.

The direction of the roof ridge at the tower and the parish hall was transferred to the church roof. The central part in the south-north direction was now regarded as a nave . The western and eastern arms of the cross are designed as low side aisles covered with flat aluminum roofs.

The roof was placed on top of the 15-meter-high old surrounding walls and offers high-level lighting at the upper end of the room, the window openings that were still present could no longer be used. The roof is made of a aluminum - Structural with full, half and quarter pyramids formed. From the inside there is a clear view of the underside of the roof. The glass architecture of the front panels has the shape of diamonds . The self-supporting aluminum roof structure was built by Fritz Scheinecker Aluminumbau in Kriftel / Taunus without a roof structure.

Furnishing

The structure of the interior has been changed. The building axis has been rotated 90 degrees, the altar is now on the north side. The sanctuary forms an upturned square with the altar in the middle, on which the three-part church stalls for approx. 600 people are radially aligned. Baptism is in the extension of the axis. The pulpit is located on the southwest side of the square, and the baptismal font was placed in the extension of the central axis.

organ

View of the organ

The first organ was built by the Dinse brothers as early as 1906 . It should also be able to be used for concert purposes, had 28 registers on two manuals and pedal (two of which were preliminary prints ) and was set up in such a way that two further registers could later be installed without great difficulty.

This organ was dismantled by 1922 at the latest, followed that year by a new instrument from GF Steinmeyer & Co.'s workshop , which they built as their Opus 1344. It had 49 stops (including one transmission ) on three manuals and a pedal with an electropneumatic action . The case and pipe material of the Dinse organ from 1906 were reused. As early as 1929, the builder's workshop expanded to 52 registers. This organ was destroyed together with the church in 1945.

Today's organ was built in cooperation with the Technical University of Berlin in two construction stages: In 1975 the Orgelbau Friedrich Weigle company built an expandable instrument with initially 15 registers, which were distributed over 17 trains . The disposition drafted Herbert Schulze and Karl Theodor Kühn, Hartmut Ising was involved in the design. According to the original plans, the instrument was to receive 44 registers, which were to be distributed over 57 trains.

The second construction stage was carried out in 1995 by the Central German Organ Builder A. Voigt based on a modified plan by Gottfried Matthaei, the church's organist at the time, with 45 registers on 55 slides or rockers . The organ now has a total of 3518 pipes . The game actions are mechanical, the stop action is electric. A special feature of the organ is that the multi-choir registers are distributed over several trains, another that large parts of the main work (except for four registers) and the pedal (except for Principal 16 ′ and Octave 8 ′) are swellable . According to the inscription on the gaming table, the disposition is:

I Hauptwerk (partly swellable) C – a 3
1. Pommer 16 ′
2. Principal 08th'
3. Octave 04 ′
4th Octave 02 ′
Mixture VI – XII, divided into:
5. II 02 ′
6th IV-V 02 ⁄ 3 ′
7th I-V 02 ′
8th. Fifth 08 ⁄ 3 ′
9. third 08 ⁄ 5 ′
10. Seventh 08 ⁄ 7 ′
11. Dumped 08th'
12. Forest flute 04 ′
13. Cubic pipe 08th'
14th Harmonica beat 08th'
15th Trumpet 08th'
Tremulant
II Upper structure (swellable) C – a 3
16. Tube bare 8th'
17th Principal 4 ′
18th octave 1'
Scharff V – VIII, divided into:
19th III 01'
20th II 02 ⁄ 3 ′
21st I-III 04 ′
22nd Wooden flute 08th'
23. Coupling flute 04 ′
24. Nasat 08 ⁄ 3 ′
25th Flageolet 02 ′
26th Cymbels I-IV 02 ⁄ 9 ′
27. Dulcian 16 ′
28. Krummhorn 08th'
Tremulant
III Breastwork (swellable), C – a 3
29 Dumped 8th'
30th Reed flute 4 ′
31. Principal 2 ′
32. Mixture III-IV
Rauschpfeife II, divided into:
33. Fifth 04 ⁄ 3 ′
34. Schwiegel 01'
35. Third flute 08 ⁄ 5 ′
36. None 08 ⁄ 9 ′
37. Aliquot 016 ⁄ 22 ′ + 16 ⁄ 27 ′
38. Rankett 16 ′
39. Triangular shelf 08th'
40. Hopper shelf 04 ′
Tremulant
Pedals (partly swellable) C – f 1
41. Principal 16 ′
42. octave 08th'
Rauschpfeife VI, divided into:
43. Nasat 016 ⁄ 3 ′
44. Octave 04 ′
45. Fifth 08 ⁄ 3 ′
46. octave 02 ′
47. Fifth 04 ⁄ 3 ′
48. Octave 01'
49. Sub-bass 16 ′
50. Gemshorn 08th'
51. Hollow flute 04 ′
52. Pointed flute 02 ′
53. trombone 16 ′
54. Trumpet 08th'
55. Clarine 04 ′
  • Coupling : II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
  • Playing aids : Fixed combinations (S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z (= plenum)), 192-fold typesetting system , sequencer forwards and backwards, register down (= trigger), individual tongue storage
  • The settings of the rocker panels are also saved in the setting system. All tremulants can be adjusted in frequency and amplitude on the gaming table.

Bells

The first ring made of three bronze bells was cast by Franz Schilling .

Beat tone inscription
a ′ OPEN UP AND BECOME LIGHT FOR YOUR LIGHT COMING! ISAIAH 60, 1
d ′ I AM THE LIGHT, WHO FOLLOWS ME WILL NOT WALK IN THE DARK. EV. JOH. 8, 12
f ′ WE ARE NOT PRESSING OURSELVES BUT JESUM CHRIST THAT HE IS THE LORD. 2. COR. 4, 5

The two large bells were melted down during the First World War , the smallest remained. It was used for a memorial in 1926.

The second chime from the 1920s

Weight (kg) Chime inscription
2200 d ′ OPEN UP AND BECOME LIGHT FOR YOUR LIGHT COMING.
1350 f ′ NOBODY HAS A GREATER LOVE THAN THAT HE LETS HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS.
0900 G' WE ARE AFRAID BUT WE ARE NOT DESPATCHED.

was damaged in World War II . The bells rang for another three years until they were silent.

In 1958 a new bronze bell made of four bells was made by Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock .

Weight (kg) Ø (cm) Height (cm) Crown (cm) Chime inscription
1180 135 113 23 e ′ I AM THE VINE, YOU ARE THE VINES.
0810 110 091 18th fis' TEACH AND BAPTIZE ALL PEOPLES.
0450 100 081 16 a ′ I WANT TO BLESS YOU.
0310 080 066 14th H' STOP IN PRAYER.

literature

  • Aluminum, trade journal of the German aluminum industry. 35th year, 1959, issue 2, pp. 66/71.
  • Günther Kühne and Elisabeth Stephanie: Evangelical Churches in Berlin. Berlin 1978.
  • Herbert Schulze and Karl Theodor Kühn: Organ projects 1942 - 1978. Berlin 1979, ISBN 3-87329-066-9 .
  • Klaus-Dieter Wille: The bells of Berlin (West). History and inventory. Berlin 1987.
  • Uwe Pape and Berthold Schwarz (eds.): 500 years of organs in Berlin's Protestant churches. (= Publication by the Society of Organ Friends. No. 134, Vol. 1 + 2). Pape, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-921140-34-X .
  • The parish council of the epiphany parish Berlin-Charlottenburg: history of the epiphany parish . Berlin 1992.
  • Architects and Engineers Association of Berlin: Berlin and its buildings. Part VI. Sacred buildings. Berlin 1997.
  • Christine Goetz and Matthias Hoffmann-Tauschwitz: Churches Berlin Potsdam. Berlin 2003.

Web links

Commons : Epiphanienkirche (Berlin-Westend)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pape and Schwarz, Vol. 2, p. 454.
  2. ↑ Schulze and Kühn, p. 80ff.
  3. ↑ The Epiphany Organ. Evangelical parish epiphany.
  4. ^ Berlin / Westend, Epiphany Church (main organ). Presentation of the development of the Weigle / Voigt organ with an extensive photo gallery in the organ directory Organ Index, accessed on May 19, 2019.
  5. ↑ cf. Photo from Organ Index, accessed May 19, 2019.
  6. ↑ a b from a 1 .