Jesus Christ Church (Falkenberg / Elster)

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Jesus Christ Church

The Evangelical Lutheran Jesus Christ Church is a listed church building in the small town of Falkenberg / Elster in the Elbe-Elster district in southern Brandenburg . Here it can be found at the intersection between the original village of Falkenberg and the railway settlement that was built in the middle of the 19th century in a green area that was once planned. The church, built in 1912 and 1913 according to plans by the Mühlberg architect Alwin Muschter, is considered to be "one of the most important examples of Art Nouveau in the state of Brandenburg".

history

Falkenberg Elster, aerial photo (2015)
Falkenberg's village church around 1911

Falkenberg was first mentioned in a document as Valkenberch in 1251 in a deed of donation to the Nimbschen monastery near Grimma by the margrave Heinrich von Meißen . The place was originally a village, which only expanded with advancing industrialization and the construction of the railway lines in the 19th century. One of the largest railway junctions in Germany was built in Falkenberg , which ultimately led to the former street village being granted city rights on October 17, 1962 .

Ecclesiastically, Falkenberg was initially assigned to the church in Altbelgern . The parish of the local church was comparatively large at that time and the parish comprised a large part of the western old district of Bad Liebenwerda , to which Falkenberg belonged until 1952. The old Belgians soon lost their importance, so that several smaller parishes developed in the area of ​​the old parish. The village of Falkenberg finally came to the parish of the church in the neighboring Schmerkendorf . The place was looked after ecclesiastically as well as school from there. The old parish staircase between the two places still reminds of this time.

It is very likely that there was a church or chapel in Falkenberg as early as the 16th century, which may in the meantime even have the status of a parish church itself. From 1710 a half-timbered church was built on the grounds of the Falkenberg manor in the middle of the village, based on the plans of the Herzberg carpenter Georg Richter. Its shape resembled many other churches in the area. It had the dimensions of 8.75 × 13.25 meters. A rectangular nave with a three-sided east end was joined to the west by a 24 meter high church tower with an octagonal bell storey, lantern and tail hood. In the north there was a sacristy , in the south the addition of a patronage box. An inscription above the door contained the year 1713. According to the calculations, the church tower was built around 1737 and the weather vane crowning it contained the number 1738. In the meantime, repairs and maintenance work are from the years 1788 (church tower) and 1793 (organ) known. In the years 1878 and 1879, extensive repair work was carried out on the structure.

At the end of the 18th century, Falkenberg was finally able to break away from the Schmerkendorf church with great difficulty and the church itself now had the status of a parish church. But soon the building was considered dilapidated and ultimately too small for the rapidly growing community, so that a new building was considered, which was then completed in 1912 and 1913. The old Falkenberg village church was demolished in 1919.

The Jesus Christ Church

In Volume 7.1 of the series Monument Topography of the Federal Republic of Germany , the Jesus Christ Church, which only got its name in 1943, is currently referred to as "one of the most important testimonies of Art Nouveau in the state of Brandenburg".

Petzold joinery (1913)

This church was built after a few years of planning and preparation in the years from 1912 to 1913. Construction began in the spring of 1912. At the last minute, the location had been shifted a little to the south in order to make the church in the escape of the Walther-Rathenau- Street, at that time Wilhelmstrasse, to build up a line of sight from the newly created station district. The foundation stone was laid on May 14 of the same year. The interior work began in April 1913 and the following autumn the construction was considered completed.

The designs for the church came from the Mühlberg master builder Alwin Muschter. The building itself was carried out by the Falkenberg construction company Carl Erler, whose owner at that time was Wilhelm Ahrens. This company had previously built the village church in Rehfeld , among other things . Other craft companies from Falkenberg, such as the Petzold joinery, which carried out the carpentry and glazing work, from Dresden and a few other places were also involved in the construction.

The Jesus Christ Church is a plastered building with a south-facing cross-shaped floor plan. The structure of the building, which includes a sacristy, vestibule and other small extensions, is arranged asymmetrically, resulting in four differently designed front sides. The high tower with a square floor plan is to the side of the nave. The church was originally planned to offer space for 500 people, although it was already taken into account in the planning phase that the capacity could be increased to 700 with the installation of the side galleries.

The Jesus Christ Church shortly before its completion (1913).

The monumental interior of the church, like the entire structure, is in Art Nouveau style. It is characterized by a barrel vault with medallions. On the east side is the richly decorated patronage box of the von Schaper family.

The choir forms a curved wall with representations of the Apostle Paul and the four evangelists. Above it is the inscription WE Sermon the Crucified . Front of the screen are each composed of sandstone of consisting altar , the pulpit and the baptismal font to find. The organ gallery is behind the altar. Further galleries can be found in the cross arms of the building. The main entrance to the church can be found on the side opposite the choir. The wall above is designed with a sgraffito on which a representation of Golgotha can be seen. This work of art comes from the Dresden artists Max Helas (1875–1949) and Georg Erler (1871–1950). The glass paintings in the church were created by the glass painter and graphic artist Josef Goller (1868–1947), who at that time was professor and head of the class for glass painting at the Dresden School of Applied Arts .

In addition, part of a wooden reredos from around 1470/1480 can be found in the church, which originally comes from the Falkenberg village church, which was demolished in 1919. The dome of a late Romanesque baptismal font can be found in the basement of the tower. The bronze bell, created in 1912, was made in the Gebrüder Ulrich bell foundry in Apolda.

  • Southern view

  • Western view

  • Eastern view from Walther-Rathenau-Straße

organ

In the Jesus Christ Church there is an organ that was created in 1913 by the organ builder Arno Voigt (1876–1930) from Liebenwerda. It can be found on the gallery behind the altar. The instrument has a pneumatic cone drawer , twenty-one stops on two manuals and a pedal . In the 1950s the disposition was changed by the Olbersdorf organ building company A. Schuster & Sohn .

The disposition :

I Manual C – f 3
Drone 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Reed flute 8th'
octave 4 ′
Pointed flute 4 ′
Rohrnasat 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
octave 2 ′
Mixture IV 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
II Manual C – f 3
Dumped 8th'
octave 4 ′
Night horn 4 ′
Forest flute 2 ′
Sif flute 1'
Sesquialter II
Zimbel III  2 ⁄ 3 ′
oboe 8th'
Pedal C – d 1
Sub-bass 16 ′
Octave bass 8th'
Bass flute 8th'
Chorale bass 4 ′
Rauschpfeife V 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
  • Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
  • Playing aids : Tutti, hand register off, pipe works off, 2 free combinations

Parish area

Since 1897 Falkenberg has been an independent parish in the Bad Liebenwerda parish of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany . The churches in Schmerkendorf , Großrössen and Kleinrössen belong to Falkenberg today .

Literature (selection)

  • Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments - Brandenburg . 2nd Edition. 2012, ISBN 978-3-422-03123-4 , pp. 286 .
  • Sybille Gramlich / Irmelin Küttner: Elbe-Elster district part 1: The city of Herzberg / Elster and the offices of Falkenberg / Uebigau, Herzberg, Schlieben and Schönewalde , p. 92 f., ISBN 978-3884621523
  • Cultural Office of the Elbe-Elster District, Bad Liebenwerda District Museum, Sparkasse Elbe-Elster (publisher): Elbe-Elster organ landscape . Herzberg / Elster 2005, p. 16-17 .
  • To the church building in Falkenberg . In: The Black Magpie . No. 149 , 1911 (local history supplement to the Liebenwerdaer Kreisblatt ).
  • To the church building in Falkenberg . In: The Black Magpie . No. 150 , 1911 (local history supplement to the Liebenwerdaer Kreisblatt ).
  • The new church in Falkenberg . In: The Black Magpie . No. 208 , 1913 (local history supplement to the Liebenwerdaer Kreisblatt ).
  • From the church bells to Falkenberg . In: The Black Magpie . No. 292 , 1925 (local history supplement to the Liebenwerdaer Kreisblatt ).
  • Heinz Schwarick: Chronicle of the City of Falkenberg / Elster - Part 1 . Falkenberg / Elster 2007.

Web links

Commons : Jesus Christ Church  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ a b c d database of the Brandenburg State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and the State Archaeological Museum ( Memento of the original from December 9, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 8, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / bldam-brandenburg.de
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Sybille Gramlich / Irmelin Küttner: District Elbe-Elster Part 1: The city of Herzberg / Elster and the offices of Falkenberg / Uebigau, Herzberg, Schlieben and Schönewalde , p. 92 f., ISBN 978-3884621523
  3. ↑ a b c Heinz Schwarick: Chronicle of the City of Falkenberg / Elster - Part 1 . Falkenberg / Elster 2007.
  4. ↑ The Altbelgerner village church on the homepage of the evangelical parish area Mühlberg / Elbe and Koßdorf , accessed on November 2, 2016
  5. ↑ Lange: Old Belgians once . In: The Black Magpie . No. 424 , 1931 (local history supplement to the Liebenwerdaer Kreisblatt ).
  6. ↑ a b c d To the church building in Falkenberg . In: The Black Magpie . No. 149 , 1911 (local history supplement to the Liebenwerdaer Kreisblatt ).
  7. ↑ a b The new church in Falkenberg . In: The Black Magpie . No. 208 , 1913 (local history supplement to the Liebenwerdaer Kreisblatt ).
  8. ↑ a b c d To the church building in Falkenberg . In: The Black Magpie . No. 150 , 1911 (local history supplement to the Liebenwerdaer Kreisblatt ).
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Georg Dehio: Handbook of German Art Monuments - Brandenburg . 2nd Edition. 2012, ISBN 978-3-422-03123-4 , pp. 286 .
  10. ↑ a b Cultural Office of the Elbe-Elster District, Bad Liebenwerda District Museum, Sparkasse Elbe-Elster (ed.): Elbe-Elster Organ Landscape . Herzberg / Elster 2005, p. 16-17 .
  11. ^ Website of the church district , accessed on November 22, 2017.

Coordinates: 51 ° 35 ′ 6.8 ″  N , 13 ° 14 ′ 10.2 ″  E