Holy Cross (Cologne)

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Exterior view, 2020

Heilig Kreuz (also: Holy Cross ) is a Catholic parish church in the Cologne district of Weidenpesch , built in 1931 according to plans by the architect Heinrich Bartmann , used since the end of 1931 and consecrated in June 1934 . The church is dedicated to the Holy Cross and has been a listed building since 1983. Its architecture stands in the field of tension between tradition and modernity, whereby the design had to do justice to the rather conservative-traditional ideas of the community.

Prehistory and construction

Design drawing by Heinrich Bartmann

In the 1930s, the parish of St. Stephanus was located in what was then known as Merheim (on the left bank of the Rhine) , which had increased in population through settlement construction in the 1920s. The older church of St. Stephanus was no longer sufficient for pastoral care, so that an ideas competition was announced among all of Cologne's Catholic architects.

The church, for which a comparatively tight budget of 180,000 marks was available, should have a “clearly sacred character” and be quite modern; In the drafts, however, “experiments” of any kind should be avoided. Of the 88 drafts, 12 were shortlisted, from which Heinrich Bartmann emerged as the winner - he was also given the management of the new building. Designs by other participants, including those by Dominikus Böhm (4th place), have been preserved in the parish archives and have been received by art historian Ulrich Krings . He sees the implemented building as an “objectified, reduced Böhm” - albeit more modest and without coming close to Böhm's quality.

Exterior view, shortly after the construction was completed

After the groundbreaking ceremony in May 1931, the foundation stone was laid on July 5 of that year and the topping-out ceremony was celebrated in August . On Christmas Eve 1931 the church was consecrated for liturgical use; the actual consecration was carried out by auxiliary bishop Wilhelm Stockums on June 10, 1934. From 1937 Heilig Kreuz was also elevated to the parish church of the community.

Most of the church windows were destroyed in air raids during World War II. On January 10, 1983, the Church of the Holy Cross was added to the list of monuments of the city of Cologne under the number 1249 .

Building description

Original interior view: left in front of the choir the pulpit, probably 1937 or later (crucifixion group instead of canopy)

The church, not faces east , is made up of monumental building structures together, of which the most striking of the broad portal construction in the East. It is followed by a towering, basilica-like stepped central nave . The single-storey aisles have a simple monopitch roof, the nave with a very flat gable roof. The choir is slightly widened, added to the north with further additions for the sacristy and Marienkapelle and, like the portal building, has its own (hip) roofs.

The brick exterior walls are structured exclusively by the tall, narrow arched windows, the slender lintels of which are set off with tuff stone . A large round window dominates the entrance building, which opens into the interior through three arched portals. Side entrances each offer a small space for personal devotion.

The interior is dominated by the large nave , structured by six wall pillars , the white plastered walls of which are closed off by a uniform beamed ceiling extending to the choir. The low, windowless aisles are subdivided by wall panels that are connected with round arches. The organ gallery is integrated in the porch and opens with a slightly rounded parapet towards the nave.

Wall pillars / wall panels to the side aisle, passages

The final transverse building is closed with a high arched niche on the west wall. On each side, three narrow arched windows open up to the wall in the south, so that the choir room - seen from the nave - is illuminated indirectly.

Originally there was a high altar block in the altar niche, which was surrounded by a crowned canopy. This was replaced by a crucifixion group in 1937 . From 1966 the choir was redesigned according to the requirements of the Second Vatican Council .

Furnishing

Late Gothic Infant Jesus on a Romanesque Madonna

The original window designs came from Eduard Horst and not only met with approval - the architect in particular is said not to have been unhappy about their destruction during air raids in 1943. New choir and nave windows designed by the glass painter Anton Wendling in 1944 were made by Hein Derix in 1952 and are considered the better addition to the building. A new rose window installed in 1953 was based on designs by Hans Lohbeck and depicts the resurrection of Christ .

Crucifixion group on the back wall of the altar

With the redesigned choir room from the 1960s, the ambo , altar table and sacrament house were rebuilt according to designs by Rudolf Peer.

Some of the figurative decorations in Heilig Kreuz are medieval, of high quality and entered the church in the 1930s. A Madonna with child, the so-called “Merheimer Madonna” originally stood in a little holy house on Neusser Strasse - the so-called Anna Chapel, because it was believed to be a picture of Saint Anna with her child Maria . It was not until 1937, during a restoration, that it was a question of a Madonna-with-Child-Jesus representation and that the slightly "oversized" Child Jesus comes from a completely different era than the figure of Mary: The Romanesque Madonna was made around 1210 and the late Gothic baby Jesus around 1430. In 1954 it was revised and is now in the Marienkapelle to the side of the choir.

The large crucifixion group in the altar was created in 1410/1420; there are also sculptures of Saint Anthony and Saint Joseph . A baroque Madonna probably comes from the environment of Jeremias Geisselbrunn . A number of other wooden sculptures complete the equipment.

organ

Organ prospectus and central round window

An organ from St. Stephanus, only a few years old , was transferred to Heilig Kreuz in 1933 and heavily rebuilt so that the large rose window above the gallery was not blocked. This organ was rebuilt and supplemented several times, and was replaced in the 1970s.

After a successful donation campaign, the decision was made to purchase a three-manual organ from Weyland Orgelbau . Your disposition is:

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
Drone 16 ′
Prefix 08th'
Reed flute 08th'
octave 04 ′
Lead-covered 04 ′
Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
Super octave 02 ′
third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
Mixture IV-V 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Trumpet 08th'
II Swell C – g 3
Wooden flute 08th'
Viol 08th'
Voix céleste 08th'
Principal 04 ′
Coupling flute 04 ′
Night horn 02 ′
Larigot 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Sharp IV 01'
Septnone II 1 1 ⁄ 7  ′
Basson 16 ′
Hautbois 08th'
III Breastwork C – g 3
Wood-covered 08th'
recorder 04 ′
Minor principal 02 ′
Sifflet 01'
Zimbel III 1 ⁄ 2 ′
Musette shelf 08th'
Pedal C – f 1
Principal bass 16 ′
Sub bass 16 ′
Octave bass 08th'
Pommer 08th'
Choral bass 04 ′
Intoxication III 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
trombone 16 ′
Wooden trumpet 08th'

Bells

The ringing consists of a total of six bells, two of which are only used as soloists. Two out of three bells from the 1930s were destroyed by the war. In 1987, the Eifel bell foundry added three more to match its bell from 1981 . The strikes are f 1 -g 1 -a 1 -c 1 . Christian Claren's solo bell from 1861 has the strike note h 1 , the Otto bell from 1931 - the only remaining pre-war bell - has the strike note a 1 .

literature

  • Parish Heilig-Kreuz (Ed.): 50 years of the parish church “Heilig-Kreuz” Cologne-Weidenpesch 1931–1981 . Cologne.

Web links

Commons : Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche (Köln-Weidenpesch)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Monika Schmelzer: Holy Cross . 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. 72 .
  2. ↑ a b c Ulrich Krings: The Church of the Holy Cross - the building and its history . In: Pfarrgemeinde Heilig-Kreuz (Ed.): 50 years of the parish church "Heilig-Kreuz" Cologne-Weidenpesch 1931–1981 . Cologne, S. 89-141 .
  3. ↑ Excerpts from the chronicle of the parish St. Stephanus, Cologne-Merheim, about the construction of the “new church” . In: Pfarrgemeinde Heilig-Kreuz (Ed.): 50 years of the parish church "Heilig-Kreuz" Cologne-Weidenpesch 1931–1981 . Cologne, S. 69-85 .
  4. ↑ Search in the list of monuments. Retrieved April 4, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Cologne-Weidenpesch, Catholic Church Holy Cross. In: glasmalerei-ev.net. Forschungsstelle Glasmalerei des 20 Jahrhundert eV, July 8, 2008, accessed on April 10, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Helmut Fußbroich, Dierk Holthausen: Architectural Guide Cologne: Sacred Buildings after 1900 . 1st edition. Bachem, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-7616-1683-X , p. 66-67 .
  7. ↑ a b Rainer Palm: The sculptures in Holy Cross, Weidenpesch . In: Pfarrgemeinde Heilig-Kreuz (Ed.): 50 years of the parish church "Heilig-Kreuz" Cologne-Weidenpesch 1931–1981 . Cologne, S. 145-185 .
  8. ^ Alfons Goebel, Peter Marx: History of the origin of the new organ . In: Pfarrgemeinde Heilig-Kreuz (Ed.): 50 years of the parish church "Heilig-Kreuz" Cologne-Weidenpesch 1931–1981 . Cologne, S. 201-217 .
  9. ^ Gerhard Hoffs: Bells of Catholic churches in Cologne . Cologne 1985, p. 764-756 ( archive.org [PDF]).

Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 59.2 ″  N , 6 ° 56 ′ 44.6 ″  E