Garrison Church (Kassel)
The garrison church was a late baroque church in Kassel . It was inaugurated on October 14, 1770 as a preaching site for members of the Reformed Confession in Kassel. After it was damaged in the Second World War and later partially demolished, its ruin still stands not far from Königsplatz in downtown Kassel.
history
In 1731 Katharina Gottschalk, the widow of a Hessian captain , bequeathed her fortune to the garrison community to enable the building of a church. Construction work began in early 1757 under the direction of the military architect Heinrich Christoph Bröckel . Due to the beginning of the fighting during the Seven Years' War in Hessen-Kassel , however, they were soon stopped again. They could not be resumed until 1765. Except for the church tower, the work was completed in 1770. Not until 1780 was a small bell tower built by Simon Louis du Ry .
During the time of the Kingdom of Westphalia (1807-1813), the church was used as a Fouragemagazin . The furnishings were distributed to other communities or outsourced.
The building could not be consecrated again until 1816. Since under Jérôme Bonaparte the Kassel city palace and palace chapel burned down in 1811, the church was also used as the court chapel of Kurhessen . The theologian Hermann Schaff worked in this church.
During the Second World War , the building burned down on the night of October 22nd to 23rd, 1943 during the devastating air raid on Kassel on October 22nd, 1943 after being hit by fire bombs ; Inside the church, hundreds of city residents who had sought protection from the flames died.
The ruin has not been restored. The outer walls were still fully preserved and after 1955 were removed down to the basement. In 1987 the artist Tadashi Kawamata integrated the ruin into his contribution to documenta 8 . After the ruin was used by various small businesses, catering is now under construction.
architecture
The simple rectangular building is 40 meters long and 20 meters wide. The simple basement with the main entrance in the center axis of the longitudinal front and the tower porch are still preserved. The high, arched windows of the nine-axis nave rose above the rectangular windows on the ground floor, separated by a simple cornice. Originally a high tower was planned, but it was never built. The west porch still preserved today shows the massive substructure of a church tower in the middle; However, this porch was only crowned by a roof turret with a bell cage. The bells from the early 16th century came from the Zwehrenturm . The nave was covered by a simple hipped roof. The masonry was made of simple rubble stones and was originally intended to be plastered. The interior was kept puritanical . The church interior was surrounded by two galleries. The tombs of important Hessian soldiers are located under the terrace of the restaurant.
literature
- Piderit: History of the capital and residence city of Kassel . Kassel, 1844
- Alois Holtmeyer: The architectural and art monuments in the Kassel administrative region, Bd. VI . Marburg, 1923
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 18 ′ 55 " N , 9 ° 29 ′ 57" E