Church of the Exaltation of the Cross (Cologne-Gremberghoven)

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Exterior view from the south

The Exaltation of the Cross church (full name: Church of the Exaltation of the allehrwürdigen and life-giving Cross) ( Serbian is: Црква воздвижења часнога Крста Господњег, Crkva vozdviženja časnog Krsta Gospodnjeg) Serbian Orthodox Church in Cologne district of Gremberghoven .

It was built as a Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Spirit from 1955 to 1957 according to plans by the architect Josef Bernard and was consecrated in February 1957 . The church has been a listed building since 1994 and is architecturally characterized by a “concise simplicity and clarity”.

It is the seat of the parishes Cologne I and II in the deanery of North Rhine-Westphalia of the Eparchy of Düsseldorf and all of Germany of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

history

After the First World War, the Gremberghoven railroad settlement was built around the Gremberg marshalling yard , for which a pastoral care district was established in 1922. The emergency church , which had been used for years, was destroyed by air raids in 1944 and then only poorly repaired, so that a new building was initiated in the 1950s. In December 1954 the plans by architect Bernard were completed, in 1957 the church was completed. On 23/24 It was consecrated in February 1957.

On January 18, 1994, Heilig Geist was added to the list of monuments of the city of Cologne under the number 7017 .

The Catholic parish of St. Maximilian Kolbe has made the building available to the Serbian Orthodox community since 2005 . As a result, the interior of the church was adapted to the Orthodox liturgy.

Building description

Bell tower with side strips of light that illuminate the interior of the choir

It is a simple, rectangular brick building with a slightly retracted bell tower to the east. The high pitched roof extends deeply over additions symmetrically arranged to the west and east.

The west side is illuminated with four square lattice windows, the entrances are located on the long sides in the western extensions. Between the drawn-down roofs, there are two large, square window areas on the long sides, separated by risalit-like wall projections. Further windows illuminate the annexes on the eastern side of the choir, which house the devotional chapel in the north and the sacristy in the south .

The slightly conical upward tapering, rectangular tower - also made of bricks - opens on both sides with long vertical window strips made of glass blocks and, like the main building, closes with a gable roof with a radiant cross at the end. There are sound openings all around.

The interior is a rectangular room with a tiled floor, an exposed brick facade and an open wooden roof truss . By using a lot of wood - in addition to the roof structure, doors, benches and gallery parapets - the architectural severity of the room is somewhat softened.

On the east wall of the altar the room is open up to the ridge to the inside of the tower, so that a choir niche is created, which is lit from the sides of the tower. The altar area is in front of it on a platform raised by three steps.

On the west side, the full width of the organ loft is made of exposed concrete on pillars.

Furnishing

The original equipment from the construction period was completely preserved in 2004. This included an altar and a tabernacle made of natural stone and the organ. The Serbian-Orthodox redesign from 2005 required, among other things, the installation of a large iconostasis in the main room.

The four-part bell was made in 1950 by the Mabilon bell foundry . Its impact sounds are a 1 cis 2 e2-fis 2 .

Web links

Commons : Church of the Holy Spirit (Köln-Gremberghoven)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ КЕЛН Архиве. In: eparhija-nemacka.com. ДИСЕЛДОРФСКА И НЕМАЧКА, accessed on May 2, 2020 (sr-RS).
  2. ↑ a b c Carsten Schmalstieg: Holy Spirit . In: Manfred Becker-Huberti, Günter A. Menne (Ed.): Churches in Cologne. The churches of the Catholic and Protestant communities in Cologne. Bachem, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-7616-1731-3 , p. 70 .
  3. ↑ a b City of Cologne, Office for Monument Protection and Preservation (Ed.): Church of the Holy Spirit u. Rectory . (Explanatory text on the protection status, reference: 1408). Cologne 1994.
  4. ↑ Hans Kisky: Josef Bernard 1902-1959. On the work of a Rhenish master builder of our time . In: The Minster. Christian Art Journal . No. 1/2 . Munich 1962, p. 29 .
  5. ↑ Search in the list of monuments. Retrieved April 4, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Holy Spirit. Retrieved May 2, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Holy Spirit in Pictures. In: st-maximilian-kolbe.de. St. Maximilian Kolbe, Catholic Church Community Cologne Porz, accessed on May 2, 2020 .
  8. ^ Gerhard Hoffs: Bells of Catholic churches in Cologne . Cologne 1985, p. 390 ( archive.org [PDF]).

Coordinates: 50 ° 54 '12.4 "  N , 7 ° 3' 23.8"  E