Friedenskirche (Hürth)

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The Friedenskirche is a church of the Protestant Matthäus-Kirchengemeinde Hürth in the Hürth district of Efferen . Since the renovation in 1994 it has been called the Friedenskirche and was previously only known as the Evangelical Church in Efferen . The "two-aisled church under a saddle roof with a retracted tower", built in 1952/53, is described as "typical of the architecture of the Protestant church building of the 1950s", and the location of the small church in the center, but away from the main road, can for this diaspora - Postwar churches are considered typical. Since the closing of the Protestant Church of Thanks in Knapsack on October 5, 1975 and the subsequent demolition, it has been the oldest Protestant church in Hürth.

Peace Church in Huerth-Efferen

history

prehistory

Before there was a Protestant congregation and a church in Efferen, the few Protestant Christians there were members of the Lindenthal congregation in Cologne. The first pastor for the community, Emil Schmick, was hired here in 1892. In addition to the entire western district between Lindenthal and Bayenturm, he also looked after the Protestant Christians in Efferen and Rondorf . At that time, the parish had a total size of 48 km 2 , but still had just under 1,500 parishioners.

From May 1911 Schmick organized his first Bible studies in Efferen, in a private house of the August Weckwerth family on Steinstrasse. In 1924, on the initiative of the Lindenthal church master Friedrich Knäpper, who lived in Efferen, the first prayer room was set up in a barrack on his property at the Knäpper bread factory in what was later to become Kaulardstrasse (today Kreissparkasse). It also consisted of a sacristy and a small apartment for the sexton, Mrs. Weckwerth. A service and a children's service were held here every 14 days. Like the Catholic Church of St. Mary's Birth , this was completely destroyed in a bomb attack on October 11, 1944. The congregation then held its services in the Balkmann restaurant on Lindenplatz, while the Catholic congregation was able to make do with an emergency church, in which the Protestant congregation was later given hospitality. In 1946 the parish diakon and later pastor Paul Mader took over the parish of Efferen, while the presbyter Hermann Zimmermann represented Efferen's interests in the presbytery in Lindenthal. The acquisition of a piece of land on today's Martin-Luther-Strasse, on which the new parish hall and then the Protestant church were built, is due to his commitment.

Church building and design

Parish hall and church

On April 5, 1949, the decision was made in the Lindenthal presbytery to build a separate church for the Evangelicals in Efferen. The municipality right outside the gates of the city of Cologne had grown very rapidly, especially after the Second World War, due to refugees , displaced persons and industrial workers' families who had moved there. First, on July 13, 1952, a small parish hall with a 35 m² assembly room was inaugurated as a youth home and parish hall. By this time the district had grown to over 1,200 Protestant church members.

The foundation stone for the planned church building was laid at the inauguration; this was directly connected to the community room. Jürgen Körber from Cologne was chosen as the architect , the son of the architect Martin Körber of the now demolished Church of Thanksgiving in Knapsack . In the same year he opened his own office in Cologne and was able to publish his building plans for the church in the architecture magazine Kunst und das Schöne Heim . As early as December 22, 1953, the church, which was built with numerous personal contributions by the members, was inaugurated by the Düsseldorf senior church councilor Gustav Boué . The first bell, which weighs 151 kg, is the heaviest of today's three-part peal with the inscription “Be happy in hope!” ( Rom 12.12  LUT ) was brought into the tower on October 26, 1954. The other two bells followed on November 16, 1956. The larger one with the saying “Lord, your eyes see to faith” ( Jer 5,3 LUT 1912, also known from the Bach Cantata BWV 102 ) and the smaller one, as a day - and used the prayer bell with the dedication “Pray without ceasing” ( 1 Thess 5:17  LUT ).

On May 18, 1957, the mosaic windows designed by the glass painter Ernst Otto Köpke were installed, and on May 23, 1965, the small church organ built by the Berlin organ building company Karl Schuke was inaugurated . It has two manuals , a pedal and eight registers . The metal cross and the iron baptismal font were made by parishioner Elio Vogel in 1968. In 1967, the rectory was built next to the church. Due to the fact that the community room quickly became too small and could no longer accommodate all of the various working groups, Hans Joachim Reich made initial plans in 1985 for an expansion of the building ensemble. The work could not begin until 1993, but was then completed very quickly in the following year. The main part of the extensions is the new single-storey parish room, which is laid out at right angles to the church. Furthermore, the entrance area was equipped with a small anteroom and two sanitary rooms. The new extensions were deliberately designed in such a way that they reveal a separation between the original church and the extensions.

Naming

The church in Efferen was only known as the Evangelical Church of Efferen until 1994 . After the major renovation, it was named Friedenskirche . The name was given based on the annual motto of the Ecumenical Working Group for Biblical Reading (ÖAB) for 1994 : "Christ is our peace." ( Eph 2,14  EU )

architecture

The church building is aligned parallel to Bodelschwinghstraße and set back a little into the property on the corner of Bodelschwinghstraße and Martin-Luther-Straße. In the immediate vicinity is the green area of ​​the Ahl Schul , the listed old school on the busy Bachstrasse, which is now used as an adult education center. The Catholic Church is not far. In this respect, the church is in the center of the village, albeit a little in the background. The eastern gable side with the round altar window faces Martin-Luther-Straße, while the western side with its very low square tower is at the end of the building facing away from the street. At right angles to this is the community hall, completed in 1994, on the front half of the north side, while the entrance room is laid out like a side aisle on the south side parallel to the church interior.

Gallery and organ, the open roof beams are clearly visible

The tower located to the west at the rear of the church is surrounded by the gable roof of the church interior. On the three largest tower walls rising from the gable roof, it has large rectangular windows made of basalt lava , each with 30 circular sound openings. The tower is closed off by an obtuse-angled pyramid roof.

Compared to the entrance area on the south side, the room is delimited by three round pillars, the community rooms on the north side can be connected to the church interior via folding doors, which enables this area to be enlarged.

The interior is plastered white and is characterized above all by the high, open roof, which contrasts in dark brown. This wooden saddlecloth rests laterally on a frame beam, while the struts reach freely through the room. In the west there is a recessed gallery above which the organ is installed. The altar area is slightly raised by a two-step staircase. There is no choir in the strict sense of the word, but the single-storey flank of the entrance area, which only extends to the altar area, and the narrow colored side window create a separate area with the character of a choir. The altar area is also visually emphasized by a large colored round window above the altar. A recurring iconographic symbol of the altar area is the triangle. With the triangular gable, the triangular assembly of cross and altar plate, and a triangular engraving in the altar base, it is present in three places and symbolizes the Trinity .

Decorative windows and interior

Altar area of ​​the Friedenskirche with altar cross, baptismal font and mosaic window

The interior of the Friedenskirche has a very simple design and is mainly characterized by the altar area and the gallery with the organ. The church pews consist of light wooden chairs and simple ceiling spotlights and lamps hanging in the church are used for lighting.

Long window on the south side, exterior view
Altar window on the east side, exterior view

The colored mosaic windows in the altar area were designed by the Düsseldorf glass painter Ernst Otto Köpke. They bathe the altar area in a colored, diffuse light. The color effect of the round main window is enhanced by the narrow side window. In the round window, the Majestas Domini is shown in an abstract way , in which Jesus Christ is enthroned in the middle of the so-called Viergetier on a rainbow or an arch of heaven. The Viergetier consists of the symbolically represented evangelists Matthew , Mark , Luke and John , who are represented by four winged symbolic beings: a person symbolizes Matthew, the lion Mark, the bull Luke and the eagle John. Below the representation of Christ is a flying angel with a trumpet , which symbolizes the return of Jesus Christ at the Last Judgment ( Parousia ).

In the side window, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is shown in the form of a Christ hanging on the cross in the foreground, to whom several angels hurry to help from heaven. The circular shape is also taken up again in the side window. It is reflected in the halo of Christ as well as in the circle around his legs, which is understood as the earth and contains a chalice, grapes and ears of wheat as symbols of the Lord's Supper . The representation is directly related to the round window and shows that the death of Jesus is the prerequisite for his exaltation and second coming. The pastor at the time, Paul Mader, described the windows in a sermon in 1982:

"A narrow long window next to the pulpit, a circular window in the front wall above the altar, one of the crucified - who incidentally bows his head towards the community - the other of the exalted and glorified, so that the two windows taken together result in the Christian creed of the church: 'He was obedient to death, yes to death on the cross. Therefore God also exalted him and gave him the name that is above all names' "

The altar itself is made of bluestone . It is elevated by a modern, steel altar cross , which has no noticeable decorations. It represents a unit with the also steel baptismal font , the lid of which is decorated with a rock crystal .

Church history

The district of the Cologne-Lindenthal parish was merged on January 1, 1957, together with the parishioners in Fischenich , Hermülheim and Kalscheuren , who had previously belonged to the Brühl parish , to form the Hürth evangelical parish , which had emerged from the Knapsack evangelical parish . This consisted of the districts of the Protestant churches in Knapsack , Hermülheim, Gleuel and Efferen.

On April 1, 1966, the Johannes-Kirchengemeinde Hürth-Gleuel and the Martin-Luther-Kirche in Gleuel separated from the Evangelical Matthäus-Kirchengemeinde Hürth. This still consists of the parishes of the Friedenskirche Efferen and the Martin Luther King Church in Hermülheim, the Nathan Söderblom Church in Kendenich was closed on June 15, 2008 due to a lack of funds and is now used for private purposes. The associated parish was divided between the two remaining districts. Both communities plan to reunite.

  • Martin Luther King Church Hermülheim

  • Nathan-Söderblom-Church, Kendenich (deducted)

  • Martin Luther Church, Gleuel

The first pastor for the Efferen parish was Paul Mader, who served there from 1946 to 1982. In 1983 he was succeeded by Pastor Thomas Hennig, who is still active today. He celebrated his 25th anniversary with the company in September 2008.

literature

  • Helmut Fußbroich, Günther A. Menne, Christoph Nötzel (eds.): Friedenskirche Efferen. In: Fußbroich et al .: Evangelical churches in Cologne and the surrounding area. JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 2007; Pages 258-260. ISBN 3-7616-1944-8 .
  • Thomas Hennig, Paul Mader: The history of the Protestant church in Efferen. Hürther Heimat volume 74, year 1995; Pages 36-40
  • Clemens Klug: Hürth - art treasures and monuments. Heimat und Kulturverein Hürth, 1978; Pages 63-64.
  • Ulrike Mader: The Protestant Church Efferen from an art-historical point of view. Hürther Heimat volume 74, year 1995; Pages 41-46.
  • Frank Kretzschmar: Churches and places of worship in the Rhein-Erft district. JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 2005; Page 119. ISBN 3-7616-1944-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Heinz Firmenich: City of Hürth , series: Rheinische Kunststätten , Cologne ² 1981, p. 17
  2. ↑ Hans Duell: 2000 years Efferen , edited by the local community Hürth-Efferen, o. J. (1990), p. 108ff
  3. ^ Walter Boysen (pastor in the Lindenthal parish of Klettenberg since 1932, to which Efferen belonged as a suburb): The newly formed parish of Hürth. Folder 1957.
  4. ↑ a b after Hennig & Mader 1995
  5. ↑ after Klug 1978
  6. ^ Jürgen Körber: Small village church near Cologne. In: Art and the beautiful home, vol. 54, issue 6, 1956, pp. 236–237. (Documented in the NRW architecture database of the University of Dortmund , accessed on March 11, 2012)
  7. ↑ Jeremiah 5: 3 LUT 1912
  8. ↑ a b c from Hennig & Mader 1995 and Fußbroich et al. 2007
  9. ^ Opus list - Church organs ( Memento from January 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) KARL SCHUKE Berlin organ building workshop, accessed on March 11, 2012
  10. ↑ Hans Duell: 2000 years Efferen , edited by the local community Hürth-Efferen, o. J. (1990), p. 106 ff
  11. ↑ a b c d e f g h according to Fußbroich et al. 2007
  12. ↑ a b after Mader 1995
  13. ^ Extract from a sermon by Paul Mader, 1982; quoted in Mader 1995
  14. ↑ a b Helmut Fußbroich, Günther A. Menne, Christoph Nötzel (eds.): Evangelical Matthäus-Kirchengemeinde Hürth. In: Fußbroich et al .: Evangelical churches in Cologne and the surrounding area. JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 2007; Pages 255-256. ISBN 3-7616-1944-8
  15. ^ The newly formed parish of Hürth. Folder, 1957.
  16. ↑ Engelbert Broich: Farewell to the Nathan Söderblom Church in Hürth-Kendenich ( Memento of the original from February 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kirche-koeln.de archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Evangelical Church Association Cologne and Region, accessed on September 29, 2008.
  17. ↑ Bernd Rosenbaum: Hope lies in ecumenism. Kölnische Rundschau, September 16, 2008, accessed on April 25, 2017
  18. ↑ Community Gazette Evangelisch in Hürth No. 1, 2012

Web links

Commons : Friedenskirche (Hürth)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on March 19, 2012 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 53 ′ 54 ″  N , 6 ° 53 ′ 53 ″  E