Holy Spirit Church (Stargard)
The Holy Spirit Church (Polish: Kościół Świętego Ducha ) in Stargard (German Stargard in Pomerania ) is a neo-Gothic building and dates back to the 14th century.
Geographical location
The Stargarder Heilig-Geist-Kirche is located in the southwest of the city in front of the gates of the former city wall and near the Brama Pyrzycka ( Pyritz's Gate ) on what was formerly known as Holy Spirit Street , today's ul.Księcia Bogusława IV. The Stargarder train station is a few hundred meters further northwest.
Building history / description
The first documented mention of the Holy Spirit Church - at that time still as a chapel - comes from May 30, 1364 in connection with a report on the construction of a Holy Spirit hospital to take in the poor and needy elderly from the community. When in 1633, during the Thirty Years' War, the Swedish commander demolished the suburbs in anticipation of an attack by the imperial troops, this also meant the demolition of the Holy Spirit Chapel.
In 1651 the little church could be rebuilt in a makeshift manner, initially in half-timbered construction , then the west gable was built solidly. In an inventory from 1739 the entire complex consisting of church, rectory, school, bell house and preacher's widow's house is described.
In the 19th century the church became more and more dilapidated and repairs proved to be no longer possible. The church was closed by the police in 1869, and then the building was sold for demolition for around 1000 thalers.
Just five years later, the foundation stone for a new building was laid in 1874, which was inaugurated as the new Heilig-Geist-Kirche in 1877: a building in raw brick construction with a 50.2 meter high tower. A tower clock was installed, a new organ was installed and the old church bell was put into service again.
The new church was 35 meters long and twelve meters wide. The construction costs amounted to 114,000 marks. The church did not have a vault, but a wooden ceiling like a gable roof , and above the stalls were wide, tiered galleries around the entire church. The then annoying heavy staircases were later removed from the inside and placed in special staircases on both sides of the tower, as well as on both sides of the altar sacristy and storage room.
The neo-Gothic hall church was not a particularly handsome building, but it was practical and sufficient. However, when the interior appeared increasingly unkempt at the beginning of the 20th century, it was decided to renew and remedy the greatest grievances. This was done under the direction of the architect Heinrich Deneke , who had already made a name for himself by renovating the Stargarder Marienkirche . The painterly effort in particular proved to be worthwhile and created a tastefully pleasant interior: instead of a sober, cold monotony, there was a subdued joy of colors and a homely atmosphere, reinforced by three large glass windows in the extended apse. The stained glass windows were created in 1926 by Professor Otto Linnemann from Frankfurt.
The Holy Spirit Church, a Protestant church since the Reformation , survived the Second World War unscathed and was already taken over by the Catholic Church on May 20, 1945 .
Parish
Until the beginning of the 20th century, the St. Gertrud Church, which stood on the former Werder, and the St. Jürgen (Georgen) Chapel were parish in the Heilig-Geist-Kirchengemeinde. In 1940, with 11,000 parishioners, it was the second largest Protestant parish in Stargard after the Johannis parish. Two pastors were on duty here at last. The church patronage was the responsibility of the city's magistrate.
The Holy Spirit parish belonged to the parish of Stargard in Ostsprengel the ecclesiastical province of Pomerania of the Prussian Union of churches .
Since 1945 there has been a Catholic parish at the church, in which three clergy are active. She belongs to the Dean's Office Stargard Zachód (Stargard-West) in the Archdiocese of Stettin-Cammin of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland . At the same time, the church is the parish church of the parish Świętego Jozafata Męczennika (St. Josaphat, the Martyr) of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church within the Wroclaw - Danzig eparchy .
Evangelical church members living in Stargard today belong to the Stettiner Trinitatiskirchengemeinde in the diocese of Breslau of the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland .
Pastor until 1945
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literature
- Joachim Stampa, Stargard in Pomerania. Fates of a German City , Elmshorn, 1974
- Paul Schulz (ed.), The Saatzig district and the independent city of Stargard. A Pomeranian Heimatbuch , Leer, 1984
- Johannes Hinz , Pomerania. Guide through an unforgettable country , Würzburg, 1996
- Jan Zenkner, Stargard. Klejnot na pomorskim szlaku , Stargard, 2006
- Hans Moderow , The Evangelical Clergy of Pomerania from the Reformation to the Present , Part 1, Stettin, 1903
- Hans Glaeser-Swantow, The Evangelical Pomerania , Part 2, Settin, 1940
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 20 ′ 5 ″ N , 15 ° 2 ′ 24 ″ E