Great Church (Leer)

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The great church in Leer

The Great Church in Leer is the main church of the Evangelical Reformed Church (regional church) . The central building was completed in 1787 as a replacement for the missing St. Liudgeri Church.

history

Bell tower added in 1805

The oldest stone church in Leer was built around 1200 at the western end near the Plytenberg and was named St. Liudgeri Church in honor of the Frisian missionary Liudger . In the Middle Ages, the provost church was under the control of the Münster diocese . In the course of the Reformation , the parish turned to the Reformed Confession in 1525 under the theologian Lübbert Cantz. From around 1650 this church became increasingly dilapidated and more and more maintenance work had to be carried out. In addition, the area of ​​Leer had shifted towards the port and Leda, so that the church was on the periphery of the community. During a hurricane in 1777, the pastor and worshipers fled the building because they feared it would collapse. The church continued to be used, but more and more parishioners stayed away from the church.

After disputes about a suitable new building at a central point further east in the direction of the harbor, collections were carried out and draft sketches made from 1783. Against the advice of the presbytery , a community assembly decided in 1783 to intensify these collections in the Reformed communities of East Frisia and the Groningen communities. The pastors took the initiative and bought property from a leather manufacturer for 450 pistols gold. Under pressure from the church authorities, the church council approved the construction on June 1, 1785. The master carpenter Isaak Wortmann from Leer received the building contract. The foundation stone was laid on September 16, 1785 and after 22 months the building was completed and approved by the supervisory authority. The new church was consecrated on July 15, 1787 by the first pastor and consistorial councilor Johann Eilshemius, who also held the position of reformed chief inspector.

Even before the completion of the new building, it was decided to demolish the old Liudgerikirche. It was only removed up to the level of the floor in order to preserve the peace of the dead for those buried in the crypt . On June 6, 1787, the old church was auctioned in twenty-four single lots as part of a sales event in the new church . The Great Church was extended in 1805 by a large, magnificent church tower. The crypt of the old church was sealed and has been preserved to this day. This is where the oldest vault in East Frisia is located .

architecture

Interior with a view of the organ gallery

Wortmann designed a representative sacred building in the Baroque style . The octagonal plan in the form of a Greek double cross reflects the Reformed theology, according to which the preaching of the word of God forms the center of the church. Models for this type of Protestant central building were the New Church in Emden and the Noorderkerk in Amsterdam .

The roof of the church is supported by four free-standing columns. The space between the arms of the cross is filled by annex additions , the round arches of which open to the inside of the church allow a tour of the surrounding galleries. While the annex rooms receive light through a large, arched window, the cross arms are each provided with an arched double window, over which an ox eye is attached. The entrances in the southwest and southeast of the four original entrance doors were later walled up.

The bell tower consists of a square basement on which two tapering octagonal storeys rest, which lead to an open lantern. The wind vane in the shape of a three-masted sailing ship, the "Schepkens Christi", is the symbol of the Reformed Church.

Furnishing

Romanesque font
Pulpit from 1609

The furnishings were expressly excluded from the auction of the old Liudgerikirche in 1787; they were taken over into the new church. The simple furnishings correspond entirely to the Reformed tradition, which dispenses with the cross and altar. The interior is closed off by flat wooden barrel vaults.

The oldest piece of furniture is the Romanesque baptismal font of the Bentheim type (around 1200), which probably comes from the previous building. But the pulpit and organ are also much older than the baroque building. The wooden Renaissance pulpit from 1609 was designed by Andreas Kistemaker and was expanded to include the staircase and the mighty sound cover when the church was being built. The pulpit is richly decorated with fittings and carvings; Fluted open columns structure the pulpit fields. The Last Supper table with rococo ornaments and the four chandeliers also date from 1787. The surrounding galleries lead around the entire room. Under the organ, the parapet of the prince's chair is decorated with a coat of arms and a monogram.

organ

The organ of the Great Church has 48 stops on three manuals and a pedal , making it the largest organ in East Frisia. The instrument has been expanded over the course of four hundred years, with the oldest pipe inventory going back to the 16th century. Count Enno III. bequeathed the organ from the Thedinga monastery to the Reformed parish in Leer, which was built in the same year by Marten de Mare in the church in the Renaissance style. Extensions and renovations were carried out in 1763–1766 by Albertus Antonius Hinsz , 1845–1850 by Wilhelm Caspar Joseph Höffgen and 1953–1955 by Paul Ott . The outer attachment with two Rückpositiven also comes from Ott . After the scientific investigation by organ builder Jürgen Ahrend and regional church music director Winfried Dahlke as part of a research project by the Organeum from 2006 to 2008, a restoration plan was drawn up in 2012 by an international group of experts. This restoration and expansion to 48 registers was carried out in two construction phases from 2014 to 2018.

Peal

The tower houses a four-way bell. The three larger cast steel bells of the Bochum Association hang in the bell room . In the tower lantern there is a small chilled iron bell. It only rings for the Lord's Prayer and for the daily chime. The main bell (bells I – III) sounds at church services and other church events. The previous bell was cast by the bell foundry in Apolda . Two of the three bronze bells were delivered to be melted down in 1942 for armament purposes. The remaining bronze bell was traded in to Bochum in 1956 in order to achieve a coherent ringing.

No.
 
Casting year
 
Foundry, casting location
 
Mass
(kg)
Diameter
(mm) 
Chime
 
inscription
 
1 1956 Bochum Association , Bochum 1,525 1,600 cis 1 " Love - remain firm in brotherly love "
2 1956 Bochum Association, Bochum 943 1,350 e 1 " Hope - be happy in hope "
3 1956 Bochum Association, Bochum 629 1,180 f sharp 1 " Faith - stand firm in faith "
4th Wilhelmshütte c 2 "Pray!"

See also

literature

  • Menno Smid: East Frisian Church History . (=  East Frisia in the protection of the dike , vol. 6). Self-published, Pewsum 1974.
  • Hans-Bernd Rödiger, Menno Smid : Frisian churches in Emden, Leer, Borkum, Mormerland, Uplengen, Overledingen and Reiderland , volume 3. Verlag CL Mettcker & Sons, Jever 1980, p. 70 f.
  • Insa Segebade: Reformed churches on the Ems . Evangelical Reformed Church, Leer 1999, ISBN 3-00-004645-3 , p. 56-58 .
  • Gottfried Kiesow : Architecture Guide East Friesland . Verlag Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz , Bonn 2010, ISBN 978-3-86795-021-3 , p. 137 f .
  • Justin Kroesen, Regnerus Steensma: Churches in East Friesland and their medieval furnishings . Michael Imhof, Petersberg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86568-159-1 (translation from Dutch).

Web links

Commons : Great Church  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Kiesow: Architecture Guide Ostfriesland. 2010, p. 125 f.
  2. a b Homepage of the parish: History , accessed on April 14, 2019.
  3. a b Genealogy Forum: The ev.-ref. Church Leer ( Memento from February 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 14, 2019.
  4. ^ Segebade: Reformed Churches on the Ems. 1999, p. 56.
  5. Smid: East Frisian Church History . 1974, p. 413.
  6. a b c Kiesow: Architecture Guide Ostfriesland. 2010, p. 138.
  7. ^ Hermann Haiduck: The architecture of the medieval churches in the East Frisian coastal area . Verlag Ostfriesische Landschaft, Aurich 1986, ISBN 3-925365-07-9 , p. 38 .
  8. ^ Segebade: Reformed Churches on the Ems. 1999, p. 57.
  9. Kroesen, Steensma: Churches in East Friesland. 2011, pp. 217, 220.
  10. ^ Segebade: Reformed Churches on the Ems. 1999, p. 57.
  11. ^ Bronze plaque for the Great Church in Leer , accessed on April 14, 2019.
  12. Winfried Dahlke , Jürgen Ahrend : The documentation of the organ in the Evangelical Reformed Church in Leer - The historical pipework . Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2011, ISBN 3-7959-0927-9 .

Coordinates: 53 ° 13 ′ 42.4 ″  N , 7 ° 26 ′ 58.7 ″  E