Community Center Heilig Geist (Mainz)
The Heilig Geist community center was a Catholic church center in the Mombach district of the city of Mainz . It belonged to the parish of St. Nikolaus and comprised a sacred space consecrated to the Holy Spirit , several parish rooms and a day-care center . The community center was between Dr.-Falk -Weg and Pfarrer-Bechtolsheimer -Weg.
history
The urban planning for Mainz by Ernst May propagated Mombach-West as a new building area in the 1960s in order to relieve the inner city and thus contribute to the loosening of the existing development in it. As part of the creation of this new building area, the episcopal ordinariate also thought about the pastoral care of the Catholic Christians in this new area. The diocese of Mainz acquired a plot of land in the corridor that is conveniently located for traffic"Ob dem Heiligen Geist", at the northern entrance to this closed city expansion planned as "Westring". The new parish was founded on All Saints' Day in 1969, with the entire Mombacher Sprengels being redistributed. The existing field name is derived from the property of the historic Heilig Geist Hospital in the old town of Mainz . The hospital owned forests on today's church grounds.
The architect Bernhard Schmitz was commissioned with the planning. On March 18, 1972, the foundation stone was laid on the property for a community center with a church service room. The community center was consecrated on January 14 of the following year .
Within the renewal process initiated by the Diocese of Mainz since 2004 with the motto “Living communities in renewed pastoral units”, Mombach was the first community to exemplify this process by merging all three communities. Since then, the Holy Spirit has been one of three churches in the Catholic Parish of St. Nicholas.
Construction and equipment
The community center is located on a slope sloping to the north and is integrated into the residential development in the area. For a long time, the area kept free for an extension was shaped by two tennis courts facing the main traffic axis, Kreuzstrasse, and the simple concrete building was thought to be a tennis hall. This only changed with residential development on the site at the beginning of the 21st century.
Architect Schmitz implemented the specifications of a technologically oriented planning of the "feasible". The church building creates the framework for spaces that the progressive, progressive Christians of the post-conciliar period are supposed to fill with life themselves. The building should provide space for changes in the concepts and requirements of the community during the change processes and their effects on religious life in the late 20th century. The cubature of the building is that of a cuboid made of fair-faced concrete on all sides , not concealed anywhere, unmistakably shaped by the architectural style of the 1960s. A bell tower was omitted. The external sign of the church grounds is a large wooden cross in a niche on the south side, to the left of the entrance, and in front of it a stylized, slightly raised outer pulpit without a sound cover . The community hall is in north-south oriented , the altar faces east . The variable concept envisaged a large central parish hall, which can be connected to the chancel for church services. In addition, event and meeting rooms , a Caritas social station and apartments for pastors and caretakers were built according to an atrium concept . The openness of the architecture of Heilig-Geist symbolizes a serious claim against the "church kitsch" of past centuries. Towards the atrium, the walls consist exclusively of large window elements, which are designed as sliding elements in the community hall in order to allow free access to the inner courtyard. The basement remained intended for activities of child and youth work. The functional building finds its highest elevation in the community hall. In the top of the gable of the relatively flat roof, a concrete relief HDKG by the architect Bernhard Schmitz was attached to the outside . The cross- shaped graphic shows the letters H (from) D (er) K (Atholian) G (emeinde) and symbolically the dove of the Holy Spirit . The exposed concrete inside the community hall is interrupted by a ribbon of windows. Between the ribbon of windows and the height of the altar niche, natural-colored woven straw mats are attached on all four sides, which, together with the parquet floor, soften the cool concrete character.
The importance of the sanctuary as the center of the church service is pushed into the background by the sublime parish hall. Originally, as in white lime sandstone was exposed brickwork altar adorned executed only by 12 small crosses made of facing bricks, which for the 12 apostles are. A body of Christ has embellished the rear altar wall in a minimalist way since the 1980s . The rectangular altar island itself forms a unit with the choir stalls, the woodwork including the ambo and stele for the holy water font were designed by Professor Helmut Starke. The engraved metal tabernacle by Erwin W. Hupert is suspended from the ceiling towards the south aisle , while the ambo and pipe organ are oriented towards the north aisle. A slender, simple, forged cross by the Gonsenheim art blacksmith Gradinger was later supplemented by a lecture cross . To the right and left of the chancel, at the ends of the aisles, there are window walls by the Mainz glass artist Peter Paul Etz . The southern window, in dark blue and violet tones, shows Noah's ark on a stormy sea, over which a rainbow stretches across the window diagonal through dark clouds. The pigeon released by Noach returns to the ark with a fresh olive branch in its beak ( Gen 8.11 EU ). The Holy Spirit window in the north aisle, designed in various shades of yellow and green, is part of the former confessional chapel. It shows attributes of the Holy Spirit ( Pentecost event , Acts 2,3 EU ), which almost dissolve in the window colors.
A special feature is the foundation stone, designed by Hannes Gaab , Mainz, which is located in the room of the pastoral advisor, right next to the main entrance. The baptismal bowl also comes from Erwin W. Hupert. Over time, various ceramic and mosaic elements were designed by parishioners and integrated into the interior of the chancel and the niche of the outer pulpit. Further building sculptures as concrete half-reliefs are located on the outer side of the hall towards the atrium.
With the sale of a reserve area for a church expansion at the beginning of the 21st century, an energetic renovation was to be financed, which was not implemented until 2012. Instead, the parish board of directors has decided to close the parish center in order not to spend the 600,000 euros necessary for the renovation. The former pastor's and caretaker's apartments were demolished in 2010 and made way for a day-care center. Until it was completed in September 2013, the children were housed in the old part of the building. The day care center Heilig Geist was built by the city of Mainz and, after completion, handed over to the parish of St. Nikolaus as the sponsor of the day care center. The land was transferred under heritable building right .
The land and the building were offered for sale, and the proceeds will be used to convert another building in the parish. As an alternative to profanation, the sale to a religious community close to the Catholic Church was considered. In the tension between the demand, which was triggered by a newspaper article in AZ Mainz, interest was also expressed by the Coptic religious community. This was looking for suitable land for the development of a community in the Mainz area. In December 2014, Anba Michael , the Bishop for South Germany, agreed with the Mainz Vicar General Dietmar Giebelmann to purchase the Heilig Geist community center.
The buildings were handed over to the Coptic Orthodox Church at the end of the 2014 church year , which uses the building as the Church of St. Cyril .
Coordinates: 50 ° 1 ′ 3.2 ″ N , 8 ° 13 ′ 9.2 ″ E
Individual evidence
- ↑ General planning Mainz in: Florian Seidel: Ernst May: Urban development and architecture in the years 1954-1970. Dissertation to obtain the academic degree of doctoral engineer from the Technical University of Munich
- ↑ Official website of the Catholic Parish St. Nikolaus Mainz-Mombach
- ↑ Heilig Geist day-care center
- ↑ Inauguration of the Heilig Geist day care center in Mainz-Mombach, MBN press office on September 9, 2013
- ↑ Holy Spirit is adopted by the Coptic community , accessed on December 31, 2014
- ↑ Copts bought the Heilig-Geist-Kirche in Mombach - Halleluja , article of November 11, 2014, accessed on December 31, 2014
- ↑ St. Kyrillos Kirche ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The 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.
