Johanneskirche (Wuppertal)

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Johanneskirche
Johanneskirche, view from the southeast
Johanneskirche (choir view) with Von-der-Heydt-Park
Johanneskirche, view to the choir

The Johanneskirche is located in the south of the Wuppertal district of Elberfeld on the edge of the von-der-Heydt-Park , near the Friedenshain. It has belonged to the Evangelical Church Community of Elberfeld-Südstadt since 1970 with the Christ Church on Grifflenberg.

Building history

As one of the 43 emergency churches designed by the architect Otto Bartning (1883–1959), the Johanneskirche was built in 1948/1949 according to the emergency church program of the Evangelical Relief Organization for the Evangelical Lutheran community of Elberfeld , which was affected by severe war damage . The construction was financed mainly through donations from the American section of the Lutheran World Federation . The participation of skilled craftspeople in the construction work, in which students from the Wuppertal Church University also took part, had economic, but also identity-creating significance . After laying the foundation stone in September 1948, the Wuppertal emergency church was built within eight months and inaugurated on April 17, 1949 as the first new church in Wuppertal after the Second World War; the name "Johanneskirche" refers to the evangelist Johannes .

Architectural features

Like all emergency churches designed by Otto Bartning, the Johanneskirche was not designed as a temporary solution, but for long-term use. A significant feature of their reductionist architecture, which Bartning understood as a “commitment to the spiritual freedom that grows out of poverty”, is the prefabricated, tent-like three-hinged truss construction made of wood and a masonry built primarily from rubble stones. The floor plan corresponds to the type B of the emergency church program with 5/10 choir closure. The wood from the Black Forest for the supporting structure and the equipment of the building was further processed in Forchheim near Karlsruhe. The originally fixed stalls held around 450 visitors; the separable space under the gallery allowed multifunctional use.

Changes in the building stock and equipment

In 1963, a donor made it possible for the colorless glazing of the surrounding ribbon of windows, favored by Bartning, to be replaced by glass paintings in which symbolic motifs from the Gospel of John and the Apocalypse are combined with free color compositions. In 1967 a community center was added to the northwest side of the Johanneskirche and the original porch with the entrance on the gable side was removed. Since then, the church has been accessed via the anteroom to the community center. At the same time, the interior of the church (pulpit, choir barriers, stalls, floor, gallery construction) was changed and the masonry on the north-western long side was opened towards the community center. In 1971 an organ from the Werner Bosch workshop replaced the predecessor instrument built in 1953 and expanded several times by the Emil Hammer Orgelbau company . Despite the redesign of the Johanneskirche, the appearance characteristic of the Bartning emergency churches was retained.

Monument protection

Since June 7th, 2004 the Johanneskirche has been under monument protection according to § 2 (1) DSchG NW (monument no. 1896 of the monument list of the city of Wuppertal) .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.johanneskirche-wuppertal.de
  2. ↑ Schrickel, Svenja: Otto Bartning's Notkirchen - a serial church building production of the post-war period. In: Preservation of Monuments in Baden-Württemberg 2005, No. 34 (2005), 4, pp. 201–213
  3. ↑ Majewski, Heinz: Johanneskirche, in: Set in the picture - The Evangelical Church Community Elberfeld-Südstadt in Wuppertal, ed .: Ev. Elberfeld-Südstadt parish in Wuppertal, Wuppertal 2015, pp. 9–12
  4. ↑ a b http://www2.johanneskirche-wuppertal.de/download/2015_Flyer_JoKi_Onlinefassung.pdf
  5. ↑ Otto Bartning Archive of the TU Darmstadt 2007S04869: Manuscript O. Bartning May 25, 1951, pp. 10-11
  6. ↑ http://www.otto-bartning.de/meldung.php?id=39
  7. ↑ Majewski, Heinz: Color games, in: Set in the picture - The Evangelical Church Community Elberfeld-Südstadt in Wuppertal, Ed .: Ev. Elberfeld-Südstadt parish in Wuppertal, Wuppertal 2015, pp. 21–22
  8. ↑ http://www.bosch-orgelbau.com/
  9. ↑ http://www.emil-hammer.de/index.html
  10. ↑ Majewski, Heinz: Johanneskirche, in: Set in the picture - The Evangelical Church Community Elberfeld-Südstadt in Wuppertal, ed .: Ev. Elberfeld-Südstadt parish in Wuppertal, Wuppertal 2015, pp. 9–12
  11. ↑ Entry in the Wuppertal monument list

Web links

Commons : Johanneskirche  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Entry in the Wuppertal monument list

Coordinates: 51 ° 14 ′ 6.3 "  N , 7 ° 9 ′ 10.4"  E