Peace Chapel (Aachen)
The Friedenskapelle is a church building of the Roman Catholic Church in Haaren , today a district of Aachen . It is located on the Haarberg and belongs to the Catholic parish Aachen North, Christ our brother. It has been a listed building since 2009 .
prehistory
Since the Middle Ages there had been a chapel from Aachen at the entrance to Haaren, which was under the patronage of St. Valentine . It was thoroughly renovated in 1582 and demolished and rebuilt in 1724–1725. The Valentine's Chapel was located north of the Wurm and thus on Aachen territory, but belonged to the parish of Haaren. That was doubly interesting in the period before 1820, because Aachen then belonged to the diocese of Liège and Haaren to the archbishopric of Cologne . The chapel was built by a foundation, which is why a donors' fair was held regularly. In September 1944, the Valentine's Chapel was completely destroyed by artillery fire and was not rebuilt afterwards because it would have impeded the new traffic management on Jülicher Strasse.
Planning and construction of the Friedenskapelle
In the mid-1950s Pastor Johannes Dupont and the parish director Hans Sturm developed the idea of building a new chapel at a different location to replace the lost chapel. After the terrible war, the new chapel was to be consecrated to peace, and a green area on the Haarberg near the Haarener Kreuz was chosen as the location , because this area was particularly fought over in 1944. However, for a long time there was not enough money available to implement the project. In 1967 the former master baker Karl Josef Schroeder, who was born in Haaren, agreed to donate a larger sum for the construction of the chapel, so that the financing was now secured.
The municipality of Haaren bought the selected property from the waterworks of the district of Aachen , and the architect Paul Stollmann planned the building, the construction of which began at the end of 1968. On November 30, 1969, the consecration of the Peace Chapel could be celebrated. Since then, the Stiftermesse and other masses on special occasions have been held regularly on Ascension Day , including the Aachen Peace Days . Weddings are also held in this special location.
building
The building, which was completed in 1969 according to plans by architect Paul Stollmann, consists of a rectangular nave with a vestibule and a spiral-shaped choir wall. This wall forms a circular space for the sacristy and ends in a spire that is surmounted by a cross. The unusual shape is supposed to symbolize a rolled up war flag in the sense of the founder and stand for peace. The design is made of concrete with a pane architecture made of raw concrete and concrete glass.
The altar cross with the inscriptions "Glory to God in the height" and "Peace on earth to people who are of good will" was created by the artist Ernst Jansen-Winkeln using wood from the Hürtgen Forest, which was fought over in World War II . The bell of the Friedenskapelle comes from Friedrich Krupp AG and bears the inscription "Christ our peace".
swell
- Franz-Josef Heuser: 50 years of the Aachen-Haaren Peace Chapel in issue 34 of the Haaren / Verlautenheide 1984 eV home association, Aachen 2019
- Johannes Dupont: Contributions to the history of the place and the parish from October 13th, 1973 in the text 350 years parish St. Germanus Aachen-Haaren
Coordinates: 50 ° 47 '55.4 " N , 6 ° 8' 23.1" E