Franz-von-Sales-Church (Düsseldorf)

Franz-von-Sales-Kirche, seen from Siegburger Strasse

The Franz von Sales Church is a branch church of the Catholic parish of St. Maria Rosenkranz in the Wersten district of Düsseldorf on the border with Oberbilk, built from 1969 to 1971 according to designs by the architect Hans Schwippert .

Prehistory and construction of the church

The church stands at the southern end of Siegburger Strasse and directly borders the Südpark . The property on which the Franz von Sales Church was built was previously the location of the Scheidlingsmühle , which was first mentioned in 1435.

The Franz-von-Sales-Kirche is a branch church of the parish of St. Maria Rosenkranz and was built from 1969 to 1971 by the architect Hans Schwippert as a school church for the surrounding schools.

The church was consecrated on October 8, 1971. Its patron is Franz von Sales .

architecture

The striking rotunda by Schwippert, which also revised the furnishings of St. Maria Rosenkranz and rebuilt the Pauluskirche after the war, is made of red brick . Friedrich Kohlmann and Ernst Kayser were also involved in the construction. The round building with an egg-shaped floor plan has three excuses.

A special feature of the listed church is its interior, which is reminiscent of an antique theater or an auditorium: the altar is at the lowest point and the semi-circular benches around it stand on steps that rise towards the rear. Schwippert's idea was the shape of a flatfish with the chancel as a head and the entrances as fins.

The interior is also characterized by its very good acoustics. The inner wall is a masonry with different widths, partially unfilled joints. This naturally amplifies the sound in a directional manner. For this reason and because of the sloping seating, the church is also particularly suitable for concerts and other performances.

organ

The organ was built in 1958 by the organ builder Paul Ott (Göttingen). The slider chests -instrument has 11 registers on two manuals and pedal . The playing and stop actions are mechanical.

I main work C – f ³
1.	Metal pommer	8th'
2.	Principal	4 ′
3.	Mixture III	1 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′
4th	Krummhorn	8th'

II subsidiary work C – f ³
5.	Wooden dacked	8th'
6th	Reed flute	4 ′
7th	Principal	2 ′
8th.	Nasat	1 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′

Pedal C – f ¹
9.	Sub bass	16 ′
10.	Open bass	8th'
11.	Rankett	4 ′

Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P

Use and future

In addition to the school church services on weekdays, the Catholic Polish Mission in Düsseldorf also hosts masses on Sunday eve. In addition, on Boxing Day, on Easter Monday and on three to four other Sundays a year, a special Holy Mass is celebrated with new sacred music . The update service - a new form of worship in which praise and worship songs play a central role - has also found its home here and is celebrated three times a year.

In 2006, the church council decided to sell the building to another Christian religious community for maintenance reasons. In the current pastoral concept, the church has gained in importance. A specific sale is no longer mentioned. Only the future of the Franz-von-Sales-Kirche needs to be discussed further with those responsible for the Archdiocese of Cologne.