Evangelical Church Katernberg

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Ev. Katernberg Church (miner's cathedral)

The Ev. Katernberg Church (popularly known as Bergmannsdom ) is a church building in the northern Essen district of Katernberg . The largest Protestant church in Essen is a listed building .

history

The activities of the Zeche Zollverein in the up-and-coming coal mining industry caused the population to increase by leaps and bounds due to the immigration of workers. Many workers who immigrated from eastern parts of the country let the number of Protestant parishioners increase by 1500 at the beginning of the 1870s. The chairman of the mining board of the Zeche Zollverein and Reformed Protestant Hugo Haniel introduced an annual subsidy to the parish salary of 1500 Marks for ten years, which led to the establishment of an independent parish  approved by state and church supervision in 1874. Initially, services were held in a school.

Predecessor church

For a first church building, the mine owners Haniel provided the property on Alte Kirchstrasse , 36,000 marks and bricks at a reduced price . On June 9, 1876, the foundation stone was laid for the building designed by the Essen architect HF Hardung. The building contractor Jonath from Ruhrort built the church. It offered 440 seats and was inaugurated on November 1, 1877. The black-jointed brick building with late Gothic elements was a five-bay long-nave building with three naves and an attached west tower. A small sacristy was located in the northern corner of the choir. In the transverse pore on the tower side, an organ donated by parishioners during the construction period could be installed.

The further increasing number of parishioners could be countered in 1885 with the installation of longitudinal galleries, which increased the number of places to 600. But even that was soon no longer enough. In addition, mountain damage to the building increased and prevented a further structural increase in the number of spaces. As a result, a church building association was founded in 1897. In 1899 the decision was made to replace the church with a new, larger church. After its inauguration, the first Protestant church in Katernberg, which had become too small and partly dilapidated, was laid down in 1903.

Today's church building

After the number of parish members increased to over 6,000 at the turn of the century, in 1900 the Essen architect Carl Nordmann designed the largest Protestant church in Essen to this day. The laying of the foundation stone of the transeptless three-aisled hall church took place on May 13, 1900 at the new location at Katernberger Markt. It is the last completely preserved cast iron columned church in Essen. In addition, the brick building contains simple, late Romanesque forms with details made of sandstone. The church, which seats around 1430, was consecrated on September 29, 1901. To this end, the Haniel family donated the sacrament implements that are still in use today. Wilhelm Sauer built an organ with 29 registers on the first floor of the bell tower . Balcony-like singing stages were built on both sides of the organ. More than fifty percent of the construction costs were borne by subsidies from the surrounding mines.

The damage in World War II was minor. However, a destroyed wheel window let into the back wall of the rectangular choir was replaced by a lancet window after the war .

In 1991 the church was added to the list of monuments of the city of Essen, also because the external original condition is almost unchanged. In 1999 the church was renovated for around 1.6 million euros. The German Foundation for Monument Protection , Sparkasse Essen and the real estate company Viterra took over this total amount .

Web links

Commons : Ev. Church Katernberg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Werner Franzen: Places of worship in change. (pdf (1.73 MB)) In: Evangelical Church Building in the Rhineland 1860–1914. Gerhard Mercator University of Duisburg, accessed on May 9, 2013 (dissertation).


Coordinates: 51 ° 29 '52.2 "  N , 7 ° 2' 50.2"  E