Johanniskirche (Leipzig)
The Johanniskirche was a Protestant church in Leipzig's eastern suburb. It was on Johannisplatz , east of the city center. In World War II it was badly damaged. The ruins were blown up in 1949 and the tower in 1963.
history
It was built as the church of St. Johannis in the 14th century, partially destroyed in 1547, then demolished and rebuilt in 1582–1584. The church did not have a church tower in the Baroque style until 1746–1749 .
During and after the Battle of Nations in 1813, the church served as a hospital . In 1894–1897 the church was torn down except for the tower, and a church building was built in its place according to plans by Hugo Licht in the neo-baroque style . The bones of Johann Sebastian Bach , which had been found when the building was demolished in 1894, and the bones of Christian Fürchtegott Gellert were buried in sarcophagi in front of the chancel.
After the church was badly damaged in the Second World War , during the bombing raid on Leipzig on December 4, 1943, the city administration had the ruins of the nave blown up on February 19, 1949 and the rubble removed. The bones of Bach were transferred to the Thomaskirche , the bones of Gellert to the Paulinerkirche . The pulpit of the church was moved to the Leipzig City History Museum .
The tower of the church was preserved and was partially renovated in 1956. Despite a design competition to preserve the tower and multiple commitments from the citizenship and monument protection, the city decided on the initiative of the SED in 1963 to remove the tower, which was blown up on May 9, 1963.
After German reunification and the reorganization of the Free State of Saxony , the Bürgererverein Johanniskirchturm eV was founded in 2003, forty years after the demolition . V. with the aim of rebuilding the church tower at its historical location. Initially symbolically, a wooden cross was erected on December 4, 2013 on Johannisplatz to commemorate the night of the bombing and the demolition of the church tower.
Johanniskirche on an engraving from around 1700
1887, before the renovation by Hugo Licht
After the bombing
Preserved tower in 1951
Pulpit in the City History Museum
Memorial cross
from 2013
Web links
- The Johanniskirche in the Leipzig Lexicon
- Website of the Johanniskirchturm citizens' association with historical images
Coordinates: 51 ° 20 ′ 16 ″ N , 12 ° 23 ′ 11.2 ″ E