Garrison Church of Metz

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Garrison church Metz, tower portal
Garrison church Metz, back of the tower with the remains of the demolished nave
Garrison church Metz, tower octagon
Bridge of the Dead (Pont des Morts) over the Moselle, from left to right: St. Vinzenz Abbey, Garrison Church Metz, Metz Cathedral; around 1900

The garrison church in Metz (French: Temple de Garnison ) is located in Metz on the Square du Luxembourg (formerly French: Place du Saulcy; formerly German: Weidenplatz) on the large Moselle island . The neo-Gothic nave was blown up after a fire in 1946, but the tower was preserved. The church formed an architectural ensemble in the neo-Gothic style with the Mathildenstift built between 1886 and 1889 (today Hôpital Belle Isle) . The tower has been a listed building since 1972 .

history

After the annexation of the city of Metz in the Franco-Prussian War , the city became an important station for numerous military personnel. The garrison had a strength of over 7,000 soldiers. Even before the first German barracks were built, the Military Building Directorate built a Protestant garrison church between 1875 and 1881 on the western Glacisfeld of Metz , which, with 2400 seats, was one of the largest of its time. 400 places were reserved for civilians. The construction had become necessary because the Protestant military had no access to the Catholic cathedral of Metz and most of the other churches in the city were Catholic . The small Protestant church in the building of the Trinitarian Oratorio only held a little over 300 people. Until the construction of the garrison church, the military service had taken place provisionally in a riding hall that had been converted into a prayer room .

Architect Buschmann created the drafts for the new building of the garrison church on behalf of the Berlin Military Building Directorate. Garrison building inspector Rettig was in charge of site construction. The three big bells of the tower came from captured French cannons from the Franco-Prussian War. The solemn dedication of the church took place on July 4, 1881.

With the withdrawal of German troops in 1918 after the First World War and the transfer of the city of Metz to France according to the provisions of the Versailles Treaty, the garrison church was practically no longer used. Only a few church services took place between the two world wars of the 20th century. The building was slightly damaged in the Second World War .

The Metz city ​​council discussed the future use of the building on June 19, 1946. It was planned to convert it into a social work house or a communal library . On the other hand, there was also criticism, since the tower would be of no use and would only cause unnecessary costs. In addition, many Metzors saw the building as a relic from the time of the German annexation , the tower of which would "mock" the lower towers of the Catholic cathedral. On the day of the vote in the city council, June 28, 1946, a fire broke out in the church, which completely destroyed the wooden roof structure . All stone parts of the church, including the vault , were still preserved. The Metz city council then decided with a narrow majority to completely demolish the church. The ship and the choir of the church were in 1952 with the approval of the Authority listed by explosions completely destroyed. After consultation, however, the 97 m high bell tower was retained because of its majestic proportions and the silhouette that was already familiar to the city of Metz . The place of the former nave was later built over with additions to the hospital "Hôpital Belle Isle" (formerly Mathildenstift). In 1988 restorers discovered two parchment documents in soldered copper boxes from 1875 in the finial of the tower. Currently, the tower is available to free climbers on a few days .

architecture

The Metz garrison church was built in the form of the neo-Gothic style based on early and high-Gothic models. It complies with the regulations of the Eisenach regulation , a recommendation issued in 1861 for the design of Protestant church buildings that existed until 1890.

The building, designed as a three-aisled hall church with a three-bay nave , wide, projecting transept and spacious, polygonally closing choir , is dominated by a steep tower at the front, which is primarily designed to provide a long-distance effect in the Moselle valley. In the structure of the tower and the simple, unadorned design, the Metz garrison church is reminiscent of examples of Hanoverian neo-Gothic, such as the Christ Church in Hanover built by Conrad Wilhelm Hase . The tower cubature seems to be inspired by the tower of the Freiburg Minster . The local Lorraine Jaumontstein was used as building material . The tower, which is 97 m higher than the Mütte tower ( Tour de la Mutte ) of the cathedral and, because of its dominance in the cityscape, represented a Prussian - Protestant emblem , is of particular importance in the urban context . This difference in altitude was deliberately designed. With the orientation of a line of sight to the tower from the south side of the Place d'armes (Paradeplatz) along the main portal of the cathedral into the sloping Rue d'Estrées (Domsteigstraße), the evangelical garrison church was placed like a victory fan of Protestant Germanness also from the city center Relationship with the Catholic Cathedral.

The garrison church is not geosted, as is usual with Gothic models, but rather, like the Metz Cathedral, rotates more than 50 ° to the north, so that the main axis lies in a north-northeast direction. While in the Middle Ages one could not have planned otherwise when building the cathedral on the outskirts of the city and on the slope to the banks of the Moselle, one could easily have achieved a perfect easting when building the garrison church . In order to additionally clarify the reference to the cathedral, the garrison church was built deliberately parallel to the cathedral.

On the ground floor of the tower, behind the eyelash-decorated funnel portal, there is a vestibule, above it a graceful wheel window . At the height of the roof ridge , covered by mighty pinnacles , the transition to the tower corner takes place. Eyelashes and pinnacles adorn the corners and the high two-lane sound shutters. The acute stone spire with a Wimpergkranz runs in a sweeping across contoured ridges finial from. With regard to the design of the high hall church, the aim was to combine the traditional neo-Gothic church building with the demands of modern sacral architecture for abundance of light and clarity. The soldiers as participants in the service should be able to participate more actively in the service through the standardization of the room. The church had a length of about 60 m and a width of 27.50 m.

The windows of the nave took up the entire width of the yoke and exposed the church's sermon room to a large extent. The transepts of the garrison church made reference to the transept of Metz Cathedral with its large windows. The transept gables of the garrison church were decorated with lancet triple windows. The interior fittings, which were destroyed when the ship was demolished, were adapted to the neo-Gothic design of the architecture.

literature

  • Niels Wilcken: Architecture in the Border Area. Public construction in Alsace-Lorraine (1871-1918) (= publications by the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, vol. 38). Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, Saarbrücken 2000, pp. 260–261.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jean-Claude Berrar: Metz au début du XXe siècle, Volume II, Metz 2008, pp. 65–67.
  2. ^ Jean-Claude Berrar: Memoire en Images, Metz, Saint-Avertin 1996, p. 75.
  3. ↑ Christian Fauvel: Metz 1940-1950, De la tourmente au renouveau, Metz 2017, pp. 56–57.
  4. ↑ Niels Wilcken: Vom Drachen Graully to the Center Pompidou-Metz, Metz, a culture guide, Merzig 2011, pp. 95–96.
  5. ^ Niels Wilcken: Architecture in the border area. Public construction in Alsace-Lorraine (1871-1918) (= publications by the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, vol. 38). Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, Saarbrücken 2000, pp. 260–261.
  6. ↑ Otto Michaelis: From the history of the Metz Evangelical community, Volksschriften für das Evangelische Lothringen, Heft 1, Metz 1906. S. 67.
  7. ^ Niels Wilcken: Architecture in the border area. Public construction in Alsace-Lorraine (1871-1918) (= publications by the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, vol. 38). Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, Saarbrücken 2000, pp. 260–261.
  8. ↑ RS Bour: A tour through the Metz churches and chapels, in: A. Ruppel (Ed.): Lothringen und seine Hauptstadt, Eine Sammlung orientierter Aufzüge, Metz 1913, p. 427.
  9. ^ Jean-Claude Berrar: Memoire en Images, Metz, Saint-Avertin 1996, p. 75.

Web links

Commons : Garrison Church Metz  - Collection of images

Coordinates: 49 ° 7 ′ 21 ″  N , 6 ° 10 ′ 12 ″  E