Church of the Redeemer (Berlin-Rummelsburg)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Church of the Redeemer

The Erlöserkirche ( listen ? / I ) is a Protestant church in the Berlin district of Rummelsburg , which was built from 1890 to 1892. It stands together with the parish house under monument protection . Audio file / audio sample

history

In 1889 the politically independent rural community Boxhagen-Rummelsburg was established , which was formed from the Boxhagen manor district, the Rummelsburger Heide on the Rummelsburger See and the Lichtenberger Kietz . Around 11,000 people lived here when it was founded. Thus, on May 4, 1890, a separate parish with the evangelical redeemer community was established . On the same day, Empress Auguste Victoria laid the foundation stone for a new church. Two smaller churches had to give way.

The church construction goes back to designs by the architects Conrad Wilhelm Hase and Max Spitta , who, with a large building in the neo-Gothic style, gave the growing parish in the densely populated working-class district of Boxhagen-Rummelsburg a new house, which was inaugurated on October 21, 1892. The architecture museum of the Technical University of Berlin contains the original plans for the church and the parish hall .

The construction costs of the church of around 230,000  marks (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 1.54 million euros) came partly from Kaiser Wilhelm II and his wife Auguste Victoria as well as from donation collections from specially founded associations: the Evangelical Church Aid Association (1888) and a church building association (1890). Baron von Mirbach (also called “Glockenaujust”) quoted Empress Auguste Viktoria ( popularly : “Kirchenjuste”): “I have determined that the apostle church built by Prof. Conrad Hase in Hanover is to be used as a model for the design.”

The Church of the Redeemer is the first of 52 churches to be completed as part of a large-scale church building program. The imperial couple visited this church frequently after its completion. The two splendid chairs they used on their visits are still there and are now used by the newlyweds at weddings.

Since not only the spiritual but also the material hardship of the people had to be alleviated, the parish hall was built next door in the years 1892/1893 in neo-Gothic forms suitable for the church. The plans for this also come from Max Spitta. The community center housed a soup kitchen , an infirmary and - as it was called at the time - an infant care facility that still exists - it is the Protestant daycare center that opened in 1894 and got a new house in 1992.

In the 1980s, the church became known for the activities of the GDR peace movement, which were constantly monitored by the police and state security . In March 1983 Die Toten Hosen played a concert in the church together with other bands without a permit and without a fee. To this end, they entered the GDR as tourists unrecognized. In the fall of 1989, pictures of protest events and intercession services went around the world.

After that it became quieter around the church. The Christian community took care of social issues again, organized concerts and roundtables and founded a choir with its own children's department, which has been actively supported by the Friends of the Erlöserkirche Choir since September 2001 .

Since 2001 the Erlöserkirche has been one of four preaching sites of the Paul Gerhardt congregation in Berlin-Lichtenberg , which belongs to the parish of Lichtenberg-Oberspree in the Berlin district of the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia .

Building description

Church portal
Cross over the church entrance

Exterior

Church of the Redeemer is a handsome brick verblendbau in forms of north German brick Gothic . It is designed as a cruciform basilica with a polygonal choir closure . The octagonal sacristy connects to the east . The upstream rectangular tower with a long six-sided pointed helmet is flanked by four small decorative turrets and has a total height of 60 meters. Inside is the 5.52 x 4.52 m large bell room . The following information can be found in an inventory list of the foundry: The three-part chime made of cast steel , manufactured by the Bochumer Verein , was suspended by means of an anti-friction bearing. The production of the bells including accessories such as clapper, axles, bearings and chime levers cost 5651  marks .

Bell plan
size Chime Weight
(kg)		 lower diameter
(mm)		 Height
(mm)
greatest c 1890 1675 1480
middle it 1213 1440 1275
smallest total 0922 1259 1120

An external renovation of the building took place between 2000 and 2005 with roof and tower renewals and the installation of a new tower clock .

Interior

Inside, the central nave is vaulted with ribs , the side aisles have groin vaults . Through the side aisles as well as in the cross arms and under the northern entrance yoke there is a circumferential, massive gallery on wide, pressed pointed arches .

The furnishings (altar, baptismal font, chalice, pulpit, main portals, bells, stalls) have largely been preserved from the time it was built. The altarpiece depicting the salvation of Peter from the sea (according to the church's own title The sinking Peter ) was created in 1892 by Ernst Koerner . Also worth seeing is the pulpit created by wood sculptor Gustav Kuntzsch , Institute for Church Art , Wernigerode .

In 1892 the first organ was installed, which was placed on the second gallery. It was destroyed in the war. The current organ was manufactured in the years 1940–1943 by the Potsdam organ building company Alexander Schuke and installed in the Church of the Redeemer after the war. Your disposition can be viewed at Orgel Databank .

Restoration of the paint layers in November 2007

As a result of an Allied bombing raid on Rummelsburg, the original altar windows were destroyed on February 26, 1945. Until the installation of new figurative glass windows, slug panes made from shoe polish glasses were placed in the window frames. In 1947/1948 the choir received newly manufactured panes from the Quedlinburg company Müller. For a long time, the artist Paula Jordan was considered to be the author, but references to Mr. Rittberger as an author have emerged in the community archive. In the side aisles, some original colored windows have been preserved showing the coats of arms of old cities (e.g. Bietau).

During the interior renovation in 1967/1968, the original colored ornamentation of the choir and the transept was painted over in white. As part of the total renovation from 2005 to the end of 2007, the original painting, which Spitta had drawn in detail in his plans, could be restored with great effort.

The church received a modern heating system in 1993 and finally the beautiful organ was completely overhauled. The pulpit and the altarpiece were cleaned and repaired. On January 27, 2008, the congregation rededicated its completely renovated church with a service.

literature

  • Ernst von Mirbach: The Empress's three first churches for Berlin. Church of the Savior, Church of the Ascension, Church of Grace. Berlin 1902.
  • Wilhelm Lütkemann: German Churches - Volume 1 - The Protestant Churches in Berlin (Old City) . Verlag für Volksliteratur, Berlin 1926, p. 57 f .
  • Günther Kühne, Elisabeth Stephani: Evangelical churches in Berlin . 2nd edition. Christlicher Zeitschriftenverlag (CZV), Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-7674-0158-4 . P. 414.
  • Institute for Monument Preservation (Ed.): The architectural and art monuments in the GDR. Capital Berlin II . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-362-00138-6 . P. 207 f.
  • Wolfgang Triebler (arrangement): The Church of the Redeemer Berlin-Lichtenberg. 1892-1992. The path of a community from the imperial tradition to the collapse of the Stalinist dictatorship . Parish council of the Erlöserkirchgemeinde, Berlin-Lichtenberg 1992 (= Festschrift).
  • Architects and Engineers Association of Berlin (ed.): Berlin and its buildings , part VI, sacred buildings . Verlag Ernst & Sohn, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-433-01016-1 , p. 89 ff., 370, fig. 195–197 .
  • Flyer The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Berlin-Lichtenberg, 1892–2008 ; Ed. Ev. Paul Gerhardt Congregation, 2008.

Web links

Commons : Erlöserkirche Berlin-Rummelsburg  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ Entries on the Erlöserkirche and the parish hall in the Berlin State Monument List
  2. ↑ Floor plan, inv. No. 16796 .
  3. ↑ gallery, inv. No. 16797 .
  4. ↑ Site plan and cross-section, inv. No. 16798 .
  5. ↑ Longitudinal section, inv. No. 16799 .
  6. ↑ side view, inv. No. 16800 .
  7. ↑ General view, inv. No. 16801 .
  8. ↑ Ernst von Mirbach: The three first churches of the empress for Berlin. Church of the Savior, Church of the Ascension, Church of Grace . Berlin 1902, p. 51 .
  9. ^ Parish hall with three floor plans, inv. No. 16809
  10. ↑ Gunnar Leue: The longing experience of the east concert. In: Berliner Zeitung , July 3, 2010.
  11. ↑ Compilation of the bells delivered to Berlin and the surrounding area ; Bochum Association, around 1900. In the archive of the Köpenick Church of St. Josef, viewed on August 6, 2019.
  12. ↑ The Kuntzsch company also supplied number boards and offering sticks.
  13. ^ Soproni Múzeum, Sopron ( Hungary ), Inventory No. P. 2425 E 251 (Storno Könyvtár): Gustav Kuntzsch folder , not paged.
  14. ^ View of the organ in the plans by Spitta, inv. No. 16810
  15. ^ Organ database
  16. ↑ Painting of the transept, inv. No. 16802
  17. ↑ Painting of the choir, inv. No. 16803

Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 5.1 ″  N , 13 ° 28 ′ 52.4 ″  E