Gustav-Adolf-Church (Frankfurt am Main)
The Evangelical Gustav Adolf Church is located in the Niederursel district of Frankfurt and is named after the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf , who indirectly ensured the continued existence of German Protestantism through his military intervention during the Thirty Years' War . The church was built between 1927 and 1928 according to plans by the architects Martin Elsaesser and Gerhard Planck in the New Objectivity style . It is a listed building . In 2016 the church was extensively renovated and the interior was largely restored to its original design based on old photographs. The total cost of almost one and a half million euros was mainly borne by the Evangelical Regional Association of Frankfurt with 930,000 euros. In addition, the Frankfurt Church Foundation, the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and the parish itself supported the construction work financially.
Predecessor St. George's Church
Niederursel was located on an old pilgrimage route , over which the body of St. Boniface was transferred from Mainz to Fulda in 754 . The Bonifatiusweg ran in the Niederursel district via Heerstraße , Praunheimer Weg , Alt-Niederursel and Kreuzerhohl to the Crutzenkirche am Riedberg . During foundation work for the new building in 1927/28, buried remains of early medieval, Germanic-Franconian farmhouses and remains of a Carolingian sacred building were found. The earliest documented mention of a St. George's chapel dates from 1402. With its location on a rock and surrounded by a wall, it was a fortified village church with the original dimensions of around 10 meters in length and 5–6 meters in width.
Niederursel has belonged to the Praunheim parish since the Middle Ages . The right of patronage was shared between the Counts of Solms-Rödelheim and the city of Frankfurt since 1436. With the introduction of the Reformation in Frankfurt (1533) and Rödelheim (1545) Niederursel also became Protestant.
In the 17th century the church was lengthened to 18.10 meters. It now consisted of a long church interior and a choir enclosed on three sides and offered space for around 100 believers. On the west side it carried a roof turret with a square floor plan. In the Thirty Years War, in 1674 when the French military passed through and in the great fire of 1675, the church was damaged and had to be restored each time.
In the 1920s the church was too small for the parish and partly dilapidated. Although it was a listed building, it was replaced by the new Gustav Adolf Church. Shortly before it was demolished, the preservation authorities arranged for the church to be measured, which is why the previous building is well documented. Components of the previous church that are worth preserving were integrated into the new building, including the organ, the tapes from 1613 in the baptistery, the crucifix and some smaller components.
architecture
The Gustav-Adolf-Kirche is located in the historic town center on the corner of Alt-Niederursel / Kirchgartenstraße on a natural plateau. The building preserves the scale of the small-scale village structure. The shape of the church is shaped by the octagonal floor plan, which is flanked in the southwest by a rectangular tower. A horizontal ribbon of windows is arranged under the copper-covered tent roof . It corresponds to the vertical openings in the tower. With the use of horizontal ribbon windows, the design deliberately stands out from the usual vertical windows. The architecture is therefore also a typical example of modern building. It also helps that the entire church was made of concrete and therefore has a monolithic appearance. The outer walls are brightly plastered. The entrance is in the south. The interior appears centered because the tip of the tent roof marks the center of the octagonal space. The design idea for the room refers to early Christian churches. Due to the arrangement of the altar and stalls, the church interior is nevertheless directed.
The baptistery is a self-contained room that can be used in conjunction with the main church for large celebrations by opening its three windows that lead into the main church room. The most important parts from the old church, such as the crucifix and the wood-carved tapes from 1613, were integrated into the baptistery.
The pulpit is located in a niche on the altar wall on the octagonal side opposite the entrance. The sacristy is located behind the altar wall. The altar wall is decorated with two Bible verses and images: on the left, “Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life” ( Rev 2.10 LUT ), on the right, “See I am with you every day until the End of the world ”( Mt 28:20 LUT ). The pulpit and altar are made of concrete.
Around 400 seats are available. Opposite the altar wall above the entrance is a gallery with an organ. The interior walls were originally designed in red, blue and white. In the basement there are community and ancillary rooms. On the tower, which rises around 30 meters high on a rectangular floor plan, is the ringing with four bells and a gallery for trombone players. The tower is also covered with copper. The construction costs were around 180,000 Reichsmarks.
The Gustav-Adolf-Kirche survived the Second World War without any damage, but the three largest bells were melted down and replaced in the 1950s. They sound in the tones dis ', g sharp', b 'and c sharp'.
Churchyard
The churchyard was used as a cemetery until 1851 . Funerals originally took place next to St. George's Church. In 1812 a field of 39 square rods from the Katharinenkloster next to the church was purchased for 150 guilders and the cemetery was expanded with it. Four gravestones from the old cemetery are built into the wall of today's Gustav Adolf Church.
A war memorial commemorates those who died in the First World War .
War memorial
literature
- Volker Rödel: The Frankfurt district cemeteries. (= Contributions to monument protection in Frankfurt am Main , Volume 16.) Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-921606-61-2 .
- Manfred Gerner: Niederursel, Mittelursel. Chronical records of a village. 1976, pp. 107-112.
- Joachim Proescholdt, Jürgen Telschow: Frankfurt's Protestant Churches through the ages, Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2011, ISBN 978-3-942921-11-4
Web links
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 50 ° 10 ′ 4.5 " N , 8 ° 37 ′ 8.9" E