Juist island church

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The campanile is affectionately known as the "rocket" by the locals

The island church is the house of worship for the Evangelical Lutheran parish on Juist . The Juister Inselkirche looks back on a very eventful history with multiple destruction by storm surges .

history

First island church 1400–1651

The first known island church - also the largest to this day - was built around 1400. Its 57 m high tower also served as a navigation mark; the choir was higher than the nave. It stood north of today's Hammersee. When the Petri flood collapsed in 1651 and the island was divided into almost equal halves by the Hammergatt , the church was badly damaged. In 1657 it had become so dilapidated that it was feared that the tower would collapse at any time. The rectory next to the church has already had to be demolished and rebuilt further south-east. The church tower finally collapsed in 1660.

Second island church 1651–1715

In the same year, the second, much more modest church without a tower was built from the remaining building material from the ruins. It measured 11 × 5.70 m and was built on the other side of the breakthrough, on the northwestern edge of the east country. This place was protected by higher dunes. After a few decades, however, these too were more and more eroded by the floods. In 1687 the islanders, whose houses were near the church, were forced to demolish it and rebuild it further southeast. On the night of March 4th to 5th, 1715, it was so badly damaged by the Shrovetide storm that it could no longer be used.

Third and fourth island church 1715–1779

As a result, two villages emerged on the still divided island: Billdorf in the western and Loogdorf in the eastern part of Juist. Because of the length of the island, both were given their own modest church building on princely orders and following a proposal from the administrator in the north . These were even alike in their dimensions; their base was about 10 × 7 m and they had no tower. Since the small community was unable to build the church itself, a general collection was organized in the Principality of East Frisia . The main church was the one in western Billdorf. In 1717, just two years later, the Christmas flood destroyed nine of the 18 houses in Billdorf and the church there. The rest of the houses were badly damaged. 28 people drowned. The church in the Loog remained unscathed. Billdorf was not rebuilt afterwards. The ruins of the church stood unused until 1731. The survivors moved to the Loogdorf, where they built a new cemetery in 1742. By this time, four churches had already been built and three had been destroyed. The islanders' economic prosperity had declined more and more. The main occupations of agriculture and animal husbandry were restricted by the fact that fertile arable and meadow land was lost through floods and sand drifts. The livestock had to be reduced more and more. In 1749 327 inhabitants, who were spread over 47 houses, lived on the island. Most of the men now went to sea and earned their living on merchant or whaling ships. In the following years the village moved further east, as the residents gradually demolished their houses and rebuilt them further east. Between 1770 and 1780 most of the islanders had settled in the new main village.

Fifth island church 1780–1963

After the Loog Church had become too small, the pastor at the time, Gerhard Otto Christoph Janus, submitted an application for permission to build a new church to the sovereign Frederick the Great . That was approved on April 17, 1779. In September of the same year, construction of the church at the cemetery began. For this purpose, a small bell jar was built. The pulpit altar from 1732 was transferred from the Loog Church; the inauguration of the church took place on December 25, 1779. After the Peace of Tilsit in 1807, East Frisia and thus Juist became part of the French Kingdom of Holland. On November 11, 1811, Juist received Dutch occupation troops led by French officers. They had the church expanded into a fortress. Loopholes were broken into the walls for the muzzle of small field guns. Palisades were rammed in around the church. The rectory served as accommodation for the soldiers. Two years later the rectory burned down as a result of the soldiers' carelessness. The occupation did not end until 1816 and the troops left the island. In September 1818 the church was prepared for its original purpose. When, with the first major increase in the number of spa guests in 1898, an eastward expansion became necessary, a roof turret was built on the west gable, which provided space for the bell from 1814. In 1905/06 the beamed ceiling was replaced by a ceiling that was pulled up into the attic, and the altar was separated from the pulpit, which was placed on a substructure further north. In 1908 a tower was built and in the same year two bells were donated, which were cast by Franz Schilling ( Apolda ) on July 4th and hung in the bell room together with the existing bell. In 1917 the old and large bells had to be delivered for "war purposes". As a result, the warrior memorial bell was not cast until 1926 , but it too had to be destroyed in 1942. In 1925 the first organ was installed. In 1954/55 the foundation was secured and the outer facade was covered in order to be better protected from the weather. In 1957 a new interior plastering and today's painting including the altar , pulpit , organ and stalls followed. Here the old loopholes in the masonry from the Dutch occupation (1811-16) were discovered.

Sixth island church since 1964

Interior of the church with a view from the gallery towards the altar. In the foreground on the right is a historical model of a ship that is suspended from the ceiling.

In the village center, the sixth island church was built in 1964 on the spot where the fifth island church was almost completely demolished in 1962. (If you include the Catholic church built in 1911, it is the seventh church building on Juist.) Unfortunately, aspects of monument protection were not taken into account at that time, and the more than 200-year-old church with its diverse history was completely demolished. Church services took place in the spa hall from November 1963 to July 1964 during the construction period. The old church tower also had to give way to the expansion of the church. Pictures of the old church and its demolition can still be found today in the island museum in Loog. Only a few furnishings from the previous churches were reused in the new building: pulpit and pulpit altar (1732), Last Supper picture (1749), baptismal font (1893), church window (1931), the three bells (1958/59) and the altarpiece (1959-61) . The large organ has 15 registers (1968) and, like the small chest organ (three registers), comes from the Alfred Führer organ workshop . The free-standing church tower in the shape of a pencil point on a cuboid base with four stands is 22.5 m high, built in the taste of the time from concrete and bricks. The first services in the new church took place on July 12, 1964.

Furnishing

The interior of the church was designed in collaboration between the architect Karl-Heinz Girullat and the art teacher at the Inselschule Herbert Gentzsch (1909–1989). The mosaic Petri Fischzug above the altar was created by Gentzsch together with older students of the Insulschule over several years. The stained glass framing of the entrance portal was designed by Heinz Lilienthal .

The windows on the side walls were created by Andrea Schruck-Matthiolius and form a series with water motifs from the Bible. On the north side the scenes are taken from the Old Testament (creation, ark, Miriam's dance on the reed, Jonah). On the south side the windows depict scenes from the New Testament (baptism of Jesus, wedding in Cana, Jesus as the source of life, rivers of life from Revelation 22).

Since 2010 there has been a Pietà by the Juister artist and architect Dieter Rother (1943–2016) in the church.

In addition to the two organs (see below), a harpsichord by Reinhard Steller (1984, Hamburg based on a Zuckermann kit) and a piano are available for concerts in the church.

Bells

The Dominica hangs in the lower compartment of the wooden belfry
Sound sample: Full bells (including ringing in; end faded out)
Duration: 01:00

After the looting of the Second World War, only one bell from 1908 remained on the church tower of the island church. When the bell founder Karl Otto from Bremen- Hemelingen received the order to cast three new bells, he melted the old bell down for the new one. In the years 1958/59 today's bell was cast there; it is coordinated with that of the neighboring Catholic Church .

1. Dominica (men's or Sunday bell)

  • Strike tone : a 1
  • Mass: 500 kg
  • Diameter: 900 mm
  • Inscriptions: F. Otto poured me in 1958 for my two predecessors, who fell victim to the war in 1917 and 1942.
    DE SEE BOERT UP, DE SEE BEGRAFT, OVERALL HED GOD SIN BUEDEN.
    ELK HOERT MI GERN IN HOGE TIED. K'MUT HUM TUMED AGAIN.
    Jesus Christ yesterday and today and the same forever.
  • Symbol: Christ monogram
The Dominica heard solo 10 minutes before the funeral in the church.

2. Death bell

  • Strike tone: c 2
  • Mass: 280 kg
  • Diameter: 750 mm
  • Inscriptions: W. Girardet donated me, Franz Schiling poured me in 1909, F. Otto poured me around 1959.
    FATHER TAKE FRIESIAN HEART IN YOUR HAND AND FRIESIAN GUT.
    Jesus Christ took power away from death.
  • Symbol: Erected cross in an open grave
The death bell rings together with the prayer bell before the end of the week services on Fridays at 7:25 p.m.

3. Prayer bell

  • Strike tone: d 2
  • Mass: 200 kg
  • Diameter: 670 mm
  • Inscription: F. Otto poured me in 1958.
    Rejoice in the Lord always.
  • Symbols: cross on the water (= baptismal bell), cross between two wedding rings (= wedding bell)
The prayer bell reminds of prayer three times a day at 8:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. and rings for the family / children's church service on Thursday at 5:50 p.m. It is also rung for about five minutes before devotions. Together with the death bell , it invites you to the end of the week services.

All three bells ring - instead of the prayer bell  - every Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday (vespers). On Sunday morning they call for the main service from 9:50 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

The bells of the Juister Inselkirche belong to a series of OTTO bells on the East Frisian islands such as Baltrum, Borkum, Juist, Norderney and Wangerooge.

organ

Führer organ on the gallery

The organ of the Inselkirche was built in 1968 by the Alfred Führer company , restored in 1998 and increased by two registers , and finally again fundamentally revised, regulated and re-voiced in 2016 by the organ building company Wurm, Wilhelmshaven. It has 15 stops on two manuals and a pedal with mechanical play and stop action with slide chests . The swell is behind manually operated folding doors.

From 1969 to 1973 Hans Uwe Hielscher was a church musician for the community. Carl Haxsen was cantor (and deacon at the same time) from 1973 to 2013. Stephan Reiss has been the island cantor since April 1, 2014.

The Führer organ console
I main work
4th Principal 8th'
5. Reed flute 8th'
6th Principal 4 ′
7th Flute 4 ′
8th. Octave 2 ′
9. Sesquialtera II
10. Mixture III
II Brustwerk (door sill)
11. Dumped 8th'
12. Hollow flute 4 ′
13. Pointed flute 2 ′
14th Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
15th shelf 8th'
16. Tremulant
pedal
1. Sub-bass 16 ′
2. Gemshorn 8th'
3. Trumpet 8th'
Remarks
  1. ↑ since 1998
  2. ↑ since 2016, before that sifflute 1 ′
  3. ↑ since 1998, before that Rauschpfeife III

Another instrument in front of the chancel is a transposable chest organ (415 Hz / 440 Hz) with three registers (partly divided loops), also by the Alfred Führer company, built in 2004.

In the previous church (Fifth Island Church) there was an instrument from 1925 that was changed and reused in Hatshausen .

literature

  • Cornelius Janssen: Five island churches in five centuries. An excerpt from the history of the island of Juist . Juist 1922-1927. Published in: Uns Karkenshipp. Special issue , Juist 2008.
  • Kurt Perrey: Church on Juist then and now . Editor (ed.): Church council, church community advisory board and parish office of the ev.-luth. Parish of Juist. Anniversary publication, Juist 1980.
  • Kurt Perrey and Elisabeth Tobaben: On your word. An altarpiece contemplation. Juist 2013.

Web links

Commons : Inselkirche Juist  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Homepage of the parish ( Memento of the original from November 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (as of January 16, 2016).  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.inselkirche-juist.de
  2. ^ Gerhard Reinhold: Otto bells. Family and company history of the Otto bell foundry dynasty . Self-published, Essen 2019, ISBN 978-3-00-063109-2 , p. 588, in particular pages 259-263, 556 .
  3. ↑ Gerhard Reinhold: Church bells - Christian world cultural heritage, illustrated using the example of the bell founder Otto, Hemelingen / Bremen . Nijmegen / NL 2019, p. 556, in particular pp. 241–243, 510,511 , urn : nbn: nl: ui: 22-2066 / 204770 (dissertation at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen).

Coordinates: 53 ° 40 ′ 39.2 "  N , 6 ° 59 ′ 51.5"  E