St. John XXIII.

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Exterior view

The Church of St. John XXIII, before 2009 St. John in the New City is a Catholic parish church in Cologne-Chorweiler , which was built in 1977 based on a design by the Cologne architect Hans Schilling .

history

The church is located directly adjacent to the Protestant community center on Pariser Platz in the center of Chorweiler, a district that only emerged in the early 1970s and which was based on the concept of a new city , i.e. the development of new urban structures “on the green field”.

The original name of the church thus had both a biblical reference to the new city of Jerusalem from the Revelation of John and a completely earthly one due to its location in the “new city” of Chorweiler. For unclear reasons, however, the church had not been consecrated for 28 years after the original consecration date in 1981 had to be canceled by then Cardinal Höffner . The congregation, however, had been interested for a long time after Pope John XXIII. However, this could only be implemented after he was beatified in 2000. When Cardinal Meisner made up for the previously missed consecration in 2009 , the church was named after the Pope - initially as Blessed. John XXIII., Since 2014 as St. John XXIII.

Architect Hans Schilling had already planned similar church buildings in other parts of Cologne when he was commissioned to build the church in Chorweiler. The foundation stone was laid on September 10, 1977, and the church has been used by the community since 1981. Lead glass windows were added in 1997. The church did not receive an organ and a carillon until the end of 2016, the organ as a gift from the St. Anna Church in Düsseldorf-Niederkassel, which had been profaned that year.

Building description

The floor plan of the church building is unevenly polygonal, three of the brick outer walls are windowless. Similar to other Schilling churches, ribbon windows run along the upper edge of the outer walls, which run straight down on two edges of the polygon. In between is the tabernacle inside .

As a “contrasting round element”, a round tower with a flat top, also made of brickwork, is attached to the building.

The interior is very bright thanks to a series of white glass windows and, thanks to its height and size, reveals itself as a sacred space when entering from the vestibule. There is only a cross on the high, windowless altar wall, in front of which there is a simple sandstone altar table. The side of the wall bordered by the window strips, which is reserved for the tabernacle, is covered by a housing interrupted by brick niches and is thereby emphasized.

The surrounding light band and a series of interruptions in the walls by concrete elements - such as the mighty organ gallery - make the room appear almost round; however, the direction towards the altar is defined by the concrete structure of the roof. This lowers briefly at the entrance and then rises to the altar.

Furnishing

The only decoration on the altar wall is the cross, which was designed by Elisabeth Hoffmann-Lachner as a mosaic made of various natural stones. The artist is also responsible for the altar table and chandelier as well as the tabernacle stele, which in its abstract, modern form is a "rare, beneficial attempt to design church furnishings with a contemporary artistic language of form". The actual tabernacle is a bread basket woven from wrought iron nails, whose Christian symbolism - nails, bread - is immediately apparent.

The design of the vertical ribbon windows and some smaller windows was created by the Irish artist Jim O'Daly as lead glass windows with opal glass in blue, red and yellow tones as a free composition for chapters 21 and 22 of the Revelation of John .

A peal does not exist. Until the takeover of the Schleiferladen organ from St. Anna (for a detailed description, see there ) there was a digital organ from the American Allen Organ Company from 1975. At the same time as the organ, a carillon (carillon) was made in the wall niches above the tabernacle without changing the architecture installed in the workshop of the music mechanic Gerhard Kern in Kerpen-Buir .

Web links

Commons : St. John XXIII. (Chorweiler)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Monika Schmelzer: Saint John in the New City . 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. 80 .
  2. ↑ a b Petra wiping Goll: Late consecration: Chorweiler Church finally consecrated. In: ksta.de. March 29, 2009, accessed April 5, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b c Ralf Neukirchen: The carillon (glockenspiel) of the new "Johannes organ" and its symbolism in the church . In: Twenty-three. Parish letter of the Catholic parish of St. John XXIII. Cologne . tape 1/2017 . Cologne 2017, p. 24-27 ( docplayer.org ).
  4. ^ Parish letter St. Antonius and Benediktus . Düsseldorf June 11, 2017, p. 2 ( santorben.de [PDF]).
  5. ↑ a b Helmut Fußbroich, Dierk Holthausen: Architectural Guide Cologne: Sacred Buildings after 1900 . 1st edition. Bachem, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-7616-1683-X , p. 254-255 .
  6. ^ Research Center for Glass Painting of the 20th Century eV: Research Center for Glass Painting for the 20th Century eV In: glasmalerei-ev.net. July 8, 2008, accessed April 5, 2020 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 1 ′ 22 ″  N , 6 ° 53 ′ 57 ″  E