Evangelical Old Town Church (Gelsenkirchen)

Evangelical old town church Gelsenkirchen

Old Town Church, Ebertstr.

The old town church is the main Protestant church in Gelsenkirchen . Its striking tower is a symbol of the city.

architecture

The church was built from 1955 to 1956 according to plans by the architect Denis Boniver . The reddish, rectangular brick surfaces ornamented by stone setting , separated by gray-white horizontal and vertical concrete strips, determine the external effect . The building opens onto the forecourt with three representative arched portals and an outside staircase . The free-standing, 70-meter-high tower, oriented at an angle to the main building, more than doubles over it and is crowned by three open concrete arch floors with a copper-covered pyramid tip.

Inside, too, the red tone of the brick walls predominates, which focus the view of the pulpit and altar. One of the side walls is occupied by the large organ.

history

Neo-Gothic old town church from 1884

Around the year 1000, a small pre-Romanesque St. George's Church was built on the site of today's old town church as the foundation of the Essen monastery . The surrounding round courtyard was the nucleus of the village of Gelsenkirchen, which grew only slowly over the centuries. The church was enlarged and Gothicized in the 13th century . From the Reformation to the middle of the 19th century (construction of the first St. Augustine Church ), St. George was a simultaneous church for Catholics and Protestants.

With the start of industrial hard coal mining , the population of Gelsenkirchen grew by leaps and bounds. The old village church was replaced in 1882–1884 by a large neo-Gothic building based on plans by Peter Zindel . This was badly damaged in the air raid on November 6, 1944 and initially remained in ruins.

During the reconstruction of the city, the site of the old town church was used for the most part as a public space, the new tower was built in a modern form, in which the new tower was built on the site and incorporating the foundations of the old, while the church space paralleled the new square was moved.

organ

The organ of the old town church was built in 2001/02 by the organ building company Karl Schuke (Berlin). The instrument has 46 registers (3341 pipes ) on three manuals and a pedal . A special feature is the Vox humana 8 ′ in positive, which is housed in its own swell box . The organ has a mechanical / electrical double register system.

I main work C – a 3 1. Principal 16 ′ 2. Principal 8th' 3. Double flute 8th' 4th Salicional 8th' 5. Octave 4 ′ 6th Reed flute 4 ′ 7th Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ 8th. Super octave 2 ′ 9. Cornet V (from f 0 ) 8th' 10. Mixture V-VI 2 ′ 11. Trumpet 16 ′ 12. Trumpet 8th'

II Positive C – a 3 13. Flûte harmonique 8th' 14th Wooden dacked 8th' 15th Octave 4 ′ 16. Flûte traversière 4 ′ 17th Sesquialtera II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ 18th Flageolet 2 ′ 19th Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ 20th Scharff IV 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ 21st Vox humana 8th' Tremulant

II Swell C – a 3 22nd Darling Dumped 16 ′ 23. Violin principal 8th' 24. Drone 8th' 25th Viol (from c 0 ) 8th' 26th Beat 8th' 27. Fugara 4 ′ 28. Double flute 4 ′ 29 Nasard 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ 30th Tierce 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′ 31. Duplicate 2 ′ 32. Mixture V 2 ′ 33. Basson 16 ′ 34. Trumpet harm. 8th' 35. Hautbois 8th' 36. Clairon 4 ′ Tremulant

Pedal C – f 1 37. Stand (No. 39) 32 ′ 38. Principal 16 ′ 39. Sub-bass 16 ′ 40. Octave bass 8th' 41. cello 8th' 42. Bass flute 8th' 43. Chorale bass 4 ′ 44. Mixture V 2 ′ 45. Bombard 16 ′ 46. Trumpet 8th'

• Coupling : II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
• Playing aids : 4000 electronic typesetting system

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The old patronage was not taken over for the new building of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century it was transferred to the Catholic St. George's Church , which was built elsewhere .
2. ↑ Detailed information on the organ of the old town church ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Web links

Commons : Evangelical Church Old Town  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Altstadtkirche on the website of the parish
• Description of the old town church on www.architektur-ruhr.de , last accessed on January 28, 2016 ( Memento from May 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
• Datasheet (kirchbau.de)

Coordinates: 51 ° 30 '37.4 "  N , 7 ° 5' 39.3"  E