Friedenskirche (Essen-Steele)

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Friedenskirche in Essen-Steele
portal

The Protestant Church of Peace in the eastern Essen district of Steele is a neo-Gothic , three-nave church building that has been a listed building since 1989 . The church was built in 1872 according to plans by the Essen architect Julius Flügge as a successor to a previous church that had become too small on the same ground and is today the parish church of the Evangelical parish of Königssteele, which belongs to the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland .

history

First church building

The abbess Bernhardine Sophia von Ostfriesland and Rietberg of the women's monastery in Essen , to which the then independent town of Steele belonged, did not tolerate any Protestant church on their territory. So the believers turned to Friedrich III. , Elector of Brandenburg-Prussia , who on October 31, 1695 gave permission to build a Protestant church in his territory. In 1697 this first Protestant church was built on the site of the tower of today's Friedenskirche, outside the boundaries of the Essen monastery area.

After the Kingdom of Prussia emerged from Brandenburg-Prussia in 1701 , the Steeles area, which was not subject to the monastery, was named Königssteele . The now so-called Königssteele community was quite poor until industrialization, which began in Steele at the beginning of the 19th century, and had barely 200 community members. The coal mining on the Ruhr gave rise to an industry in Steele that could only function through the immigration of workers. That is why the community grew tenfold by 1865. The first church building with up to 400 seats was no longer sufficient. So the decision was made to build a new and larger church, also because the old building was in need of renovation. The old church was finally demolished on October 10, 1870.

Today's church building

After the architect Julius Flügge, who has been working in Essen since 1869, had received the order to build the new church , the foundation stone was laid on June 18, 1871, the day of the peace festival after the Franco-German war had been won. This gave the church its current name. The new building was intended to match the St. Laurentius Church in the Steeler Center, which was built at the same time and whose predecessor building was also demolished in 1870, reflecting the religious differences of the time. On November 14, 1872, the new neo-Gothic Church of Peace, the first church in what is now Essen's area, which complied with the Eisenach regulatory framework, was opened.

Furnishing

Altarpiece by Adolf Zimmermann: The Adoration of the Shepherds

You enter the three-aisled church through the entrance area in the tower on the west side, even if a door into the south aisle of the church was actually intended as the main entrance. On both sides of the entrance in the tower, stairs lead to the circumferential gallery, which extends from one aisle over the west side with the organ to the other aisle. The oil painting The Adoration of the Shepherds by the artist Adolf Zimmermann (1799–1859), who partly worked in Düsseldorf, hangs above the altar with a Gothic retable in the eastern choir . It comes from the old church and was painted around 1840. The Greek letters Χ and Ρ , the first letters of the Greek word for Christ: Χριστός, are engraved in the vaulted ceiling of the choir . The altar and the pulpit are enriched by carvings made of oak. A lead-glazed opening in the shape of a cross is let into the wall between the sacristy and aisle.

The 56 meter high church tower is built on the west side. The clockwork of the old tower clock can be seen in the back of the church.

More recently, namely in 1980, the church received warm air underfloor heating. In 1990 the font corresponding to the Gothic architectural style replaced a font that had been used up until then. Since the summer of 2000, the church has housed a cast-iron light globe manufactured in 1999 by a German prisoner in Oslo prison . It is intended for lighting candles and lingering.

In 2006 another plaque to commemorate the victims of global war, racial hatred and violence was added to the plaque that existed from the beginning to commemorate the victims of the Franco-German War . The pews made of fir wood had to give way to today's seating in mid-2008 for reasons of age.

Overall, the church measures 38.8 meters in length, 17 meters in width and 11 meters in height without the tower and today offers space for around 500 worshipers. Often there was damage to the church building caused by coal mining. In 1909 the original stone vault, which had to be repaired again and again, was replaced by today's wooden vault.

Peal

The bell tower contains the three bells from 1920, which are designed for the tones D, F and A-flat. The bell tuned to D bears the inscription: A solid castle is our God , the one tuned to F: The word they should let stahn and the bell tuned to As the further words of Martin Luther : The kingdom must stay with us .

organ

In May 2006 a new organ was put into operation by the organ building company Matthias Michael Wagner Orgelbau from Obrigheim (Palatinate) . This initially had 34 registers , which are divided into two manuals and a pedal . Among the total of 2036 organ pipes there were four from the previous organ in the first church, which was built around 1840. In 2013 the four vacant voices were added by the Dutch workshop Verschueren Orgelbouw , Heythuysen . The instrument now has 38 registers.

I main work C–
1. Drone 16 ′
2. Principal 8th'
3. Hollow flute 8th'
4th Flauto traverso 8th' v
5. Viola da gamba 8th'
6th octave 4 ′
7th Flauto minor 4 ′
8th. Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
9. octave 2 ′
10. Mixture IV
11. Cymbel II
12. Cornet IV
13. bassoon 16 ′
14th Trumpet 8th'
II upper structure C–
15th Drone 8th' S.
16. Salicional 8th' S.
17th Quintatön 8th'
18th Unda maris 8th' v
19th Principal 4 ′
20th Flauto traverso 4 ′ S.
21st Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
22nd octave 2 ′
23. third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
24. Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
25th Flageolet 1'
26th Mixture III
27. Krummhorn 8th'
28. Vox humana 8th' S.
29 oboe 8th' v
Pedals C–
30th Principal 16 ′
31. Sub bass 16 ′
32. Quinta grosso 10 2 ⁄ 3  ′ v
33. octave 8th'
34. Dumped 8th'
35. Violon 8th'
36. octave 4 ′
37. trombone 16 ′
38. Trumpet 8th'
  • Notes: in the swell in the swell
v = Verschueren
S = register in swell box

literature

  • Wilhelm Grevel: The evangelical community of Königssteele. (2 volumes) Gütersloh 1909.
  • Rudolf Picard: Festschrift for the fiftieth anniversary of the Evangelical Church of Peace in Königssteele on November 14, 1922. Essen 1922.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ DerWesten.de of April 8, 2015: Journey through the Steeler story ; Retrieved April 10, 2015
  2. ↑ More information about the organ (PDF; 38 kB)

Web links

Commons : Friedenskirche  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 26 '50.2 "  N , 7 ° 4' 47.6"  E