Gnadenkirche (Wesel)
The Gnadenkirche in Wesel is a church of the Protestant parish in the former fortress town on the Rhine. It is located on the Fusternberg, in the district of the same name, at Wackenbrucher Straße 80 east of the city center.
history
The Gnadenkirche was built as a replacement for the completely destroyed Mathena Church as part of the Evangelical Church's emergency church program with the support of the World Council of Churches in Geneva, mainly with donations from US Presbyterian churches , and was inaugurated on November 27, 1949 after seven months of construction. It has not been changed to any great extent since then.
Construction and equipment
The church is one of the so-called type B emergency churches with a polygonal apse based on a type design by Otto Bartning . It has a massive rectangular tower that is laterally offset from the facade. The wooden roof is supported by wooden trusses inserted into a concrete foundation, between which the masonry made of rubble bricks from the destroyed parish hall on Willibrordiplatz is pulled up. A continuous ribbon of windows is drawn between the masonry and the roof. Formed stones, which are formed from ground rubble, are inserted between the wooden trusses. The church offers space for 500 visitors.
The church has a 1,100 kg bell cast by Tilmann van Venlo in 1606 from the peal of the Mathenakirche, which escaped destruction because it was outsourced to be melted down.
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 39 '25.2 " N , 6 ° 38' 9.6" E