Herz-Jesu-Kirche (Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg)

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Herz-Jesu-Kirche Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg

The Catholic Herz-Jesu-Kirche in the Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg is an architecturally significant church built in the Lower Saxon-Romanesque and early Christian-Byzantine style. The foundation stone of the church was laid in 1897, the construction time was 16 months, the architect was the professor for medieval architecture Christoph Hehl . The church consecration took place on October 25th, 1898 by the Prince-Bishop's delegate, Prelate Karl Neuber .

history

Foundation of the parish

At the beginning of the 19th century, the grounds of the Herz-Jesu-Kirche were still outside the actual urban area of ​​Berlin and consisted mainly of fields, vineyards, windmills and excursion restaurants.

On June 25, 1889, the cathedral parish of St. Hedwig bought the Roloffsburg amusement bar in order to found a new parish due to the influx of Catholic residents. The first Holy Mass took place on July 14, 1889 in a former dance hall. Johann Peter Alesch (1858–1928) was the first pastor. A little later, the entire ensemble was created with the church, rectory, the girls' high school Theresienschule and the Maria Hilf hospice .

From the golden 1920s to the GDR

In the 1920s there was a lively community life, the first public Corpus Christi processions to the nearby Teutoburger Platz took place.

In January 1941 the crypt was expanded as an air raid shelter for around 500 people on the instructions of the Berlin police chief. In the same year the Theresa School was closed by the National Socialists. The relief organization at the Episcopal Ordinariate in Berlin then moved into the building . Its managing director Margarete Sommer helped hide Jews in hiding in the boiler room of the Herz-Jesu-Kirche and other places in Berlin.

The church was largely spared in World War II . In April 1945, a 500 kg bomb hit the roof of the building and hit the floor of the church immediately in front of the Joseph Altar - but it did not explode. At this time there were almost 1000 people in the overcrowded air raid shelter who could leave it unharmed.

After the end of the Second World War, the reopened Theresienschule remained the only denominational high school with state recognition in the GDR.

The church community shrank more and more during the existence of the GDR, however, the community was located in a typical working class district and in a deep diaspora . In the Herz-Jesu-Kirche there was increased structural damage during this time, which led to water penetrating the ceiling with damage to the wall painting and the organ.

Today's church life

Similar to the 19th century, the congregation has lived since reunification from the influx of Catholics traveling to Berlin, who are drawn to the Prenzlauer Berg district, which is popular today, especially among students, artists and academics.

Pastoral care was transferred to the Chemin Neuf community in 1994 .

In February 2003 the parish was merged with the parish of the Sankt-Adalbert-Kirche Berlin-Mitte due to a decree of the steering committee of the Archdiocese of Berlin because of the precarious financial situation of the Archdiocese.

Thanks to numerous donations and grants, the first damage to the listed church has already been repaired.

The community currently has around 9400 community members (as of 2008) with a high proportion of 20 to 40-year-olds, with a high level of fluctuation in this generation due to work and life.

An attack was carried out on the church on the night of September 19, 2014. The perpetrators broke through a window next to the main entrance and threw bottles with red paint inside. All furniture, writings and clothes became unusable and the facade was smeared. A letter of confession appeared on a left-wing extremist platform. Thereafter, the church was attacked for providing space for anti-abortionists who organized the “ March for Life ”.

architecture

Interior of the church

Facade and towers

The facade of the church was built from Hildesheim shell limestone quarry with surrounds from Silesian sandstone. The church has two towers located on the north side. The large bell tower is about 48 meters high. It frames the entrance portal with the smaller, approximately 25 meter high stair tower. The adjacent rectory and the church form the spatial unit of a castle-like ensemble and are integrated into the facade of Fehrbelliner Straße. It is the first Catholic church in Berlin that was not built free-standing, but integrated into the street front.

Interior

The central nave is 15 meters wide and is framed by two side aisles that open into two side altars. The St. Mary's Altar is located in the east aisle and the Joseph Altar in the west aisle. The high altar rests on four red marble pillars that support the gilded altarpiece set with precious stones. The altar and the pulpit were designed by Otto Geyer . The wall painting, which decisively shaped the overall impression, was assigned to the painter Friedrich Stummel , who had it completed by his pupil Karl Wenzel . As soon as you enter the church, the view of the apse with the oversized figure of Christ with arms outstretched is drawn. In the side aisles is the Way of the Cross, which consists of painted oil paintings with elaborately carved oak frames.

organ

View of the Eggert organ, on the left the damage to the wall painting

The organ was built in 1899 by the Paderborn organ builder Franz Eggert (1849–1911) as a pneumatic cone-shaped organ. It is the largest Eggert organ still in existence. The Kegelladen instrument has 40 stops on three manuals and a pedal (2281 pipes ). The playing and stop actions are pneumatic. The organ case consists of a carved oak face with a portrait of Saint Meinrad von Einsiedeln . For reasons of cost, an electric motor was initially dispensed with, so that the fan initially had to be driven by two limers . An electric motor was only installed in 1912.
Multiple plans to replace the organ with a new one in the 1970s and 1980s failed due to a lack of material and money. In the meantime, experts have rediscovered the value of the German-Romantic organ, so that it could be restored to its original condition instead.

I main work C – f 3
1. Principal 16 ′
2. Principal 08th'
3. Viol 08th'
4th Drone 08th'
5. Double flute 08th'
6th Flauto major 08th'
7th Octave 04 ′
8th. Gemshorn 04 ′
9. Intoxicating fifth II 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
10. Cornett III-IV 04 ′
11. Mixture II-V 05 1 ⁄ 3  ′
12. Trumpet 16 ′
13. Trumpet 08th'
II Oberwerk C – f 3
14th Drone 16 ′
15th Principal 08th'
16. Covered 08th'
17th Salicional 08th'
18th Harmony flute 08th'
19th Octave 04 ′
20th Reed flute 04 ′
21st Progress. Harm. II-IV
22nd Clarinet 08th'
III Swell C – f 3
23. Viol 16 ′
24. Violin principal 08th'
25th Dumped 08th'
26th Concert flute 08th'
27. Aeoline 08th'
28. Voix celestis 08th'
29 Transverse flute 04 ′
30th Violino 04 ′
31. oboe 08th'
Pedal C – d 1
32. Principal bass 16 ′
33. Sub bass 16 ′
34. Violon 16 ′
35. Dacked bass 16 ′
36. Octave bass 08th'
37. Dacked bass 08th'
38. violoncello 08th'
39. trombone 16 '
40. Trumpet 08th'
  • Coupling : II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
  • Playing aids: Fixed combinations (mf, f, tutti), a free combination (“ad libitum”), crescendo roller

Description of the image program

The wall paintings in the interior have the following themes and representations:

literature

  • Irmtraud Thierse: Catholic Church Herz-Jesu Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg . published by the support group of the Herz-Jesu-Kirche in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg e. V., 1998.
  • Wolfgang Cortjaens: Rhenish altar buildings of historicism. Sacred goldsmithing 1870–1918 . Rheinbach 2002 [incl. Phil. Diss. RWTH Aachen 1999], pp. 253–257, Figs. 201–204 (on the metal high altar and its historical models)
  • Herz Jesu in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg - Walk through the history of the parish . published by the support group of the Herz-Jesu-Kirche in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg e. V., 2002.
  • Catholic Sunday newspaper . Edition of the Archdiocese of Berlin. No. 39, 27./28. September 2008.

Web links

Commons : Herz-Jesu-Kirche  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The prince-bishop's delegation for Brandenburg and Pomerania was the Catholic jurisdiction of the prince-bishopric of Breslau , from which the diocese of Berlin emerged on August 13, 1930 .
  2. ↑ bz-berlin.de
  3. ↑ bz-berlin.de
  4. ↑ Hartmut Seefeld: First mass in the dance hall: The Herz-Jesu-Kirche in Fehrbelliner Straße is 100 years old. In: On site , building and living in Prenzlauer Berg. Edition December 1998, p. 13. ( Memento from March 14, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ cf. the description of the organist Andrzej Mielewczyk

Coordinates: 52 ° 31 '50 "  N , 13 ° 24' 34.2"  E