Methodist Christ Church (Berlin-Kreuzberg)

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Methodist Christ Church

The listed Evangelical Methodist Christ Church is located at Dieffenbachstraße 39 on the corner of Hohenstaufenplatz in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg in what is now the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district . It is part of a building complex consisting of a church, residential building and nursing home that was designed by Georg Pourroy. The neo-Gothic has an effect on his architectural style , but it already hints at the beginning of modernity .

history

The religious services of the Methodist religious community were held first in the deaconesses' rooms at Klosterstrasse 60, and then in a restaurant from September 1888 , although initially only a few people listened to the preacher . The slowly growing community founded a church building association , which on March 2, 1905 acquired the property of 95 square ruten in Dieffenbachstrasse from the Royal Prussian State Railways , which was originally intended for a station on the southern ring of the Ringbahn . This free church congregation was able to build a church directly on the street and not in the courtyard , as was previously the case . After the foundation stone was laid for the church on October 13, 1905 , the inauguration was celebrated on September 16, 1906 . Since the free church community did not receive any funds from the Protestant regional church in Prussia or from the public administration , the church building association had to collect these through donations . United States communities contributed most of the amount required for construction . The construction cost 375,500  marks (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 2.31 million euros). On November 26, 1907, the foundation stone was laid for the neighboring Bethesda Hospital , which is also a listed building.

During the Second World War , the church was damaged by fire bombs as early as 1940 . For propaganda reasons , the damage was repaired at the expense of government agencies. In February 1944 the church was hit again, the roof and windows were completely destroyed. Reconstruction began in 1947 and the necessary sums of money were donated by believers from the United States. A Baptist congregation used the church temporarily .

Building description

The construction site only allowed all building wings to be arranged in a cramped manner. The church stands in a closed perimeter block development on the street, which expands like a square . It is typical for Methodist churches to have next to no jewelry . The masonry building, clad with red bricks , is decorated with plastered panels . The high lancet windows have no tracery , but are provided with leaded glass windows. The octagonal stair tower on the corner has a pointed tent roof topped with a cross . The gable to Hohenstaufenplatz , which is flanked by two towers covered with hoods , also bears a cross. The portal is located in the risalit next to the stair tower. The nave of the hall church is on the second floor of the building. It has a ribbed vault in which there is a skylight . The church does not have a choir , but the sloping walls from the narrow wall at the front to the side walls create an apse . In the middle is the pulpit altar from 1908, on one inclined side are the windows to the courtyard, on the other, above the door to the sacristy , there is a balcony that originally supported the organ . The organ has been standing since 1922, which was built in 1962 by EF Walcker & Cie. was renewed, on a gallery that rests on massive supports . The balcony was closed by the painting of the Prodigal Son moving slightly in the draft. The pews of the church stalls from the time of origin have been retained. Since there are sufficient adjoining rooms, free seating was not necessary.

literature

  • Christine Goetz and Matthias Hoffmann-Tauschwitz: Churches Berlin Potsdam. Berlin 2003.
  • Architects and Engineers Association of Berlin: Berlin and its buildings. Part 6: Sacred buildings. Ernst, Berlin a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-433-01016-1 .
  • Marina Wesner: Kreuzberg and its places of worship: churches-mosques-synagogues-temples. Berlin 2007.
  • Volker Weidermann: Festschrift for the centenary of the Christ Church 1906-2006. Berlin 2006.
  • Michael Roth: Festschrift on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Evangelical Methodist Congregation of the Christ Church in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Berlin 1995.

Web links

Commons : Methodist Christ Church (Berlin-Kreuzberg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 31.7 "  N , 13 ° 25 ′ 12.1"  E