Free Church Cemetery Wuppertal

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Free church cemetery
on Republic Square

The Free Church Cemetery Wuppertal is located on the Platz der Republik in Elberfeld . The Elberfeld Free Evangelical Congregation used to be the sponsor . Today it is the Baptist congregations of Wuppertal, Rolandstrasse (church on the Mount of Olives) and Wuppertal, Wartburgstrasse ( Eben-Ezer chapel , also known as “Köbner's church”). The beginnings of the cemetery go back to 1855.

history

In 1855, those responsible for the then still young Free Evangelical Community of Wuppertal were requested by the police authorities to create their own burial site for their members. Since all the cemeteries in the Wuppertal were owned by the various denominations, difficulties arose again and again at the burials of members of free church communities, as the authorities of the traditional churches forbade the preachers of the free churches to proclaim at funeral ceremonies. Hermann Heinrich Grafe , factory owner and one of the founding fathers of the Free Evangelical Congregations , then purchased a 2,000 square meter site at today's Platz der Republik with his own funds and made this property available to his own congregation, but also to the neighboring Baptist congregation.

In 1925, the city of Wuppertal bought part of the cemetery grounds in order to gain a road surface. A cemetery chapel was financed with the proceeds . It offers 75 seats and has a small organ and a lectern.

The Free Church Cemetery has been owned by the Elberfeld and Barmen Baptist communities since 2006.

Important graves

The following personalities are buried in the so-called row of honor :

  • Hermann Heinrich Grafe , silk manufacturer, co-founder of the Free Evangelical Congregations and hymn poet
  • Friedrich-Heinrich Neviandt , first preacher of the Free Evangelical Congregation Wuppertal
  • Friedrich Koch, second preacher and elder of the Free Evangelical Community of Wuppertal
  • Werner Schnepper, well-known preacher of the Free Evangelical Community of Wuppertal-Unterdörnen

In other places of the free church cemetery are buried:

Cemetery administration and cemetery regulations

According to the cemetery statutes, the legal entities and owners of the Free Church Cemetery are in equal parts the Evangelical Free Church Congregations (Baptists) Wuppertal, Rolandstraße and Wuppertal, Wartburgstraße. They form a so-called cemetery community. Each of the two sponsoring communities appoints two legal representatives who together form the cemetery commission. This appoints the cemetery administrator and his deputy, who are advisory members of the cemetery commission.

The graves are "primarily reserved for members of the supporting communities". In exceptional cases, members of other denominations can also be buried there if a Christian funeral service is guaranteed.

There are special regulations for the design of graves. For example, memorial stones may only be erected at ground level. The gravestone inscriptions are subject to approval. According to the cemetery regulations, the following guideline applies to the design of the funeral services and the cemetery: “In this cemetery, Christian communities [...] lay their dead to rest. With the graves they set a visible sign for the transience of man and at the same time they proclaim the message of the resurrection of the dead. Jesus Christ took power away from death and allows all who believe in him to share in his eternal life. The function and design of this cemetery should meet the expectations of such glory. "

literature

  • Arndt Schnepper: Free Church Cemetery Wuppertal. In: Being a Christian today , edition 24/2002

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Cemetery regulations for the free church cemetery at Platz der Republik zu Wuppertal (PDF; 506 kB), § 1; accessed on October 10, 2013

Web links

Commons : Freikirchlicher Friedhof Wuppertal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 15 ′ 55 ″  N , 7 ° 9 ′ 0 ″  E