Friedenskirche (Bremen)
The Friedenskirche from 1869/70 serves the Bremen Evangelical Peace Community in the eastern suburb , Humboldtstrasse 175.
The church
Building history
In the course of industrialization , many young people moved from the country to the city of Bremen. The initiative for the construction came from the Inner Mission in 1863 in order to counteract the “Christian and moral decline” in the proletarian milieu of the suburbs and the loneliness and impoverishment in the eastern suburbs.
The neo-Gothic Friedenskirche was therefore built from 1867 to 1869/70 according to plans by Simon Loschen by Johannes Rippe as a brick building in an open field. The central building of the hall church has a 45 meter high tower above the crossing and two lower, octagonal flanking fial towers , as well as a flat, indented choir . The crossing tower was demolished in 1939 during renovation work.
Inside the church has a wooden ceiling. The altar painting is by Pfannenschmidt.
The original bells from 1872 were cast from French cannons, which the Emperor I. Wilhelm were paid to do so.
The parish hall and rectory in Wielandstrasse were inaugurated in 1893.
In 1944 the building was badly damaged by fire bombs and the parish hall was destroyed. The service took place in the Wichernhaus. The reconstruction took place in 1948/49. A new parish hall was built in 1968 and the CaféPax was added in 2006/07
In 2019 the church was extensively renovated (walls, benches, floor). A cinema screen was installed on the rear wall of the altar.
The Peace Community
In 1863 the Inner Mission appointed a deacon for the new development areas in the eastern suburbs and in 1865 a city missionary. In 1868 Pastor Otto Funcke († 1910) became the first mission pastor. The socially oriented pastor served this church until 1904.
The parish was constituted on June 5, 1872 as a uniate parish and named by Funcke as the Peace Church . The congregation belongs to the Bremen Evangelical Church .
The church and parish hall are used for events and meetings. The community has a day care center. She organizes youth and neighborhood work. The Bremen Child Protection Center and the German Child Protection Association are located in the parish hall, the Children Have Rights Association and the Bremen Choir Workshop . The Friedensgemeinde in the district is one of the Bremen parishes where lesbian and gay couples can celebrate a blessing. On the other hand, she refused to make rooms available to the evangelical " Christival ".
Controversy over a theater project
In 2004 the theater project The Ten Commandments by the Austrian Johann Kresnik was premiered in the Friedenskirche . Before that, there was fierce controversy, also in the national media, about artistic freedom and the performance of the scandal-ridden piece in a church. Criticisms were a naked blonde Eva in the chancel, a children's choir with red pointed hats singing the Schlumpflied , six naked seamstresses mending the flags of Germany, but above all a copulation scene on the sixth commandment - “You shouldn't commit adultery”. The performances were secured by the Bremen police ; there were protests from a few demonstrators. Margot Käßmann , who was then Protestant regional bishop in Hanover , had spoken out against the performance of the play in the church.
Literature, sources
- Herbert Black Forest : The Great Bremen Lexicon . 2nd, updated, revised and expanded edition. Edition Temmen, Bremen 2003, ISBN 3-86108-693-X .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Franz Buchenau, The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and its Region , 3rd Edition Bremen 1900, p. 201, archive.org
- ↑ Sigrid Schuer: Pastor: Despite Corona, continue to serve people. Retrieved May 22, 2020 .
- ↑ Blessings for lesbian and gay couples. (PDF; 226.3 kB) Archived from the original on December 2, 2013 ; Retrieved July 3, 2016 .
- ↑ Wolfgang Höbel : Theater: Ach Gottchen - Kresniks Naked in the Church. In: Spiegel Online . January 23, 2004, accessed July 3, 2016 .
Coordinates: 53 ° 4 ′ 26 ″ N , 8 ° 50 ′ 1 ″ E