Holy Spirit Church (Berlin)
| Holy Spirit Church | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Portal and tower |
|
| Start of building: | Late autumn 1931 |
| Inauguration: |
Benediction : December 18, 1932
Consecration : November 16, 1960 |
| Builder : | Sager & Woerner |
| Architect : | Martin Braunstorfinger |
| Style elements : | Aftermath of the New Objectivity |
| Client: | Soverdia and Mivremia, Gesellschaft für Gemeinwohl mbH |
| Floor space: | 42 × 42 m |
| Space: | 228 people |
| Location: | 52 ° 30 '47.6 " N , 13 ° 15' 24.9" E |
| Address: | Bayernallee 28 Berlin-Westend Berlin , Germany |
| Purpose: | catholic worship |
| Local community: | Catholic parish of the Holy Spirit |
| Diocese : | Archdiocese of Berlin |
| Website: | www.heiliggeist-berlin.de |
The Holy Spirit Catholic Church, founded in 1922, found its home in the Heilig-Geist-Kirche in Berlin 's Westend district , which has been part of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district since 2001 . The two-wing building complex consisting of a three-story parish hall and church is a listed building .
history
In order to improve the situation for Berlin's Catholics in the 1920s, Bernhard Lichtenberg , pastor of the Sacred Heart Church since 1913 , won over the Steyler missionaries to set up and manage a curate in Westend. On July 2, 1922, the first service took place in the house chapel of the St. Elisabeth Sisters in what was then the eye clinic at Nussbaumallee 39. When this became too small, the congregation moved to the church and college building in Bayernallee in the chapel of the St. Hildegard Hospital at Thüringer Allee 12, which was looked after by the Steyler Missionary Sisters . After this chapel had also become too small, only could create a greater church relief. A larger complex was to be built with apartment blocks, college buildings, a large community hall and a church. Initially, it was planned to convert the future parish hall on the west side of the property into an emergency church until the large church on the east side was completed. A large part of the apartment blocks, the college and the emergency church were built by 1932. The big church was not built because the money ran out. The altar of the former emergency church was therefore not consecrated by the bishop. In 1936 the Heilig Geist congregation became independent.
Building description
The masonry construction is faced with clinker brick in the lower area and plastered in the upper area. The entrance to the vestibule, which is located in the squat tower on the side in front of the flight of the nave , is reached via an outside staircase . The facade of the church is windowless, the cubic tower has a round sound opening to the front and to the rear, the vestibule and the room above have a round window on the side.
The interior of the church, as presented in 1932, is reminiscent of a basilica in the design of the ceiling area , although it is a hall church without pillars . The nave is a steel frame building with a 28 ° pitched roof . The transverse steel roof trusses bridge the entire room without any supports. In the middle part, in the width of the drawn-in choir , the flat ceiling is drawn into the roof space. This indicates a central nave . To the side of this, side aisles are suggested by the flat, lower suspended ceilings compared to the central part . The division into yokes is associated with the crossbeams of the girders, which are clad far down into the central nave . The reveals of the windows on both sides of the nave protruded a little inwards. The choir was lit by a skylight .
Conversions
First renovation
First the church, which was damaged in World War II , had to be renovated. On October 6, 1947, the church was vacated for restoration. For the time up to the completion of the church, the Sunday service was moved to the parish hall. On March 21, 1948, following the consecration of the palm, the parish entered the church with a ceremony. The planned mural The Messiah program after the baptism behind the altar in the choir was still missing. It should be the 1932 created trinity of bronze from Berthold Müller-Oerlinghausen replace. The light shaft was not yet covered with cathedral glass and the windows of the nave were still mostly made of plywood .
Second renovation
The church received a large annex for the sacristy from the garden , through which the former room of the sacristy results in an adjoining room with 50 to 60 seats. The Marienkapelle was built behind the portal vestibule. The chapel contains a metal bench for candles in front of a portrait of the Virgin Mary attached to the back wall . The interior of the church was brightened by indirect lighting. The concrete pulpit has disappeared, a small ambo on the gospel side has taken its place. The side altars were adapted to the new overall character of the church furnishings .
Third remodeling
Since the Heilig-Geist-Kirche was built in 1932 as an emergency church, it never met design requirements. The floor plan of the church corresponds to the liturgy version of the 1930s and was designed as a hall church . Even a redesign in the 1960s did not lead to a satisfactory solution. Other problems had to be resolved, such as B. the improvement of the acoustics , the illumination of the chancel with natural light, the improvement of the space on the gallery , the procurement of a new organ and the design of the stained glass of the new church windows. The architects Oskar and Erika Reith provided the design and construction management for the third renovation. The architects did not try to convey an immediate sacred impression with any building elements. It seemed more important to them that the “redesigned church space” should get a breath that leads the human spirit to vibrate, to God. By removing the built-in choir, the architects have achieved a generously opened chancel. Since the Liturgy of the Word and the Eucharist are two parts of a celebration that are “so closely connected that they form a single celebration of worship”, the pastoral introduction to the Mass lesson says : “Therefore, a solution should be sought for each church , where the ambo and the altar correspond to one another and are in the right relation to each other. ”The ambo as“ table of the word ”corresponds to the altar as“ table of the Eucharistic gifts ”.
The architects were also of the opinion that a generously opened chancel would facilitate the liturgical celebration and the active participation of the community. It is an action space of the community, the behavior of the community becomes more communicative. The liturgical act is an event in the community and its participation. The faithful should become aware that she herself is the church, as “familia Dei” (“family of God”).
The simultaneous expansion of the volume of the church space also resulted in a significant improvement in the acoustics, so that all musical presentations by the choir and instrumentalists sound particularly good and are therefore a delight in the sacred music of the Holy Spirit. The new altar and ambo were also designed by the architect couple.
The interior of the church is now determined by the belt arches of the wood-clad steel girders and a wooden ceiling placed higher in between. The acoustic conditions of the church interior have been improved compared to the previous ones by aligning the ceiling of the aisles with the central nave and removing the choir fittings. By removing the built-in choir, two more windows could be broken on both sides. In addition, a new window was broken into the back wall of the altar so that the sanctuary is lit directly. The new glass windows of the converted church, the artistic design of which by Günther van Look emerged from a competition process, were made in the Derix Glasstudio glass workshop in Taunusstein.
Bell jar
In the tower hangs a small, 750 kg bronze bell with a "c" as the striking sound , which was probably made in 1927 by the Grassmayr bell foundry . Its height is 80 and its diameter is 70 cm. It is decorated with friezes made of leaves, tendrils and buds. Their inscription reads: “UT OMNES UNUM SINT! JOH. 17:21 ”('That all may be one', Joh 17:21 EU ).
organ
During the second renovation, the old organ was dismantled and sold to the Aloysius congregation in Wedding. The proceeds were the basis for a new organ by Johannes Klais Orgelbau .
In connection with the redesign of the third renovation, the organ loft was to be redesigned because there was hardly any space for the church choir, which had now grown in size. If the instrument had been dismantled and put back in a new case after the construction work had been completed, the sound concept would have been destroyed. The only option was to sell the organ. After a municipality from Freiburg bought the old instrument, the planning of a new instrument and the redesign of the gallery could be tackled. The Austrian company Rieger Orgelbau was commissioned with the new construction, and the instrument played for the first time on Easter Vigil in 1990. In the meantime, a positive organ was bought from the Hofbauer company in Göttingen in order to accompany the ever-growing children's choir at children's services.
literature
- Norbert Lamche: Festschrift 75 years of the Catholic Church Community of the Holy Spirit - 75 years of Steyler missionaries in Berlin. Berlin 1997.
- Architects and Engineers Association of Berlin: Berlin and its buildings. Part VI. Sacred buildings. Berlin 1997.
- Klaus-Dieter Wille: The bells of Berlin (West). History and inventory. Berlin 1987.
- Gerhard Streicher and Erika Drave: Berlin - city and church. Berlin 1980.
