Karlskirche (Tallinn)
Coordinates: 59 ° 25 ′ 55 ″ N , 24 ° 44 ′ 21 ″ E
The Karlskirche ( Estonian Kaarli kirik ) is an Evangelical Lutheran church in the Estonian capital Tallinn . It was built between 1862 and 1870 according to plans by the German Baltic architect Otto Pius Hippius . The two towers on the west facade were added in 1882.
history
The Karlskirche is located on the edge of the old town west of Tallinn Toompea between Freedom Square ( Vabaduse väljak ) and the Estonian National Library ( Eesti Rahvusraamatugkogu ). Nearby are the new building of the Occupation Museum ( Okupatsioonide Muuseum ) and the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Estonia. The church is located on a 36 m high hill, which is called " Antonius Mountain" ( Tõnismägi ).
Today's Karlskirche is probably the fifth sacred building at this point. A holy place is said to have been there as early as the time of the pagan Estonians . With the conquest and Christianization of Tallinn by the Danes, a Catholic chapel was probably built in the first half of the 14th century , and later a church. It was first documented in 1458 and was consecrated to St. Anthony. Saint Anthony gives his name to the entire city district to this day. The sacred building was destroyed in the 16th century during the Livonian War , in which Tallinn was besieged twice (1570/71 and 1577).
A hundred years later, under Estonian Swedish rule, a new wooden church was consecrated on the same site in 1670. It was made in honor of the then Swedish King Charles XI. (1655–1697, king from 1660) called "Karlskirche". The floor plan was designed in the form of a Greek cross . The Lutheran church was used by the Estonian-speaking and Finnish-speaking congregations for their services. During the Great Northern War , the church burned down in 1710. The parish lasted until 1739.
It was not until more than a century later that plans were made to build a new church on the Antonius-Berg. In the 1850s and 1860s the time was right for a new church to be built for the Estonian-speaking congregation of Tallinn. The economic situation permitted large-scale buildings. The growing self-confidence of the Estonian-speaking population in Tallinn, which is still strongly German-speaking, called for a prestige building. The previous church of the Estonian-speaking community, the medieval Church of the Holy Spirit ( Püha vaimu kirik ) in Tallinn's old town, had been too small for decades.
construction
The alderman of Domgilde and successful Estonian entrepreneur Hans Heinrich Falck (1791-1874) donated the land for a new representative sacred building is available. The cathedral guild also gave the start-up capital of 15,000 gold rubles. On May 15, 1862, the Russian Tsar Alexander II gave his permission to form the new parish.
As the construction dragged on, a makeshift wooden church was built in 1863 a little west of the present church. It was demolished in 1870 with the construction of today's church.
Tallinn was able to win over the Baltic German architect Otto Pius Hippius (1826–1883) for the project of the new, imposing church made of local limestone . Hippius, who came from a pastor's family, did not take any money for his work. The plans for the sacred building in the historicism style were already in place in 1858. Hippius chose the Latin cross as the floor plan . With an area of 1197 m², the church building should be one of the largest in the Baltic States of its time. The longship is 24 m wide and 59 m long.
The Baltic German engineer Rudolf von Bernhard (1819–1887) was hired for the roof structures, who created a wide church space with the most modern structures. The wooden roof structure rests on brick arches. The executive architect was the Baltic German Rudolf Otto von Knüpffer. Gustav Heinrich Beermann (1832–1917) stood by his side as an experienced church builder.
On October 18, 1862, Hans Heinrich Falck personally laid the foundation stone for the new building, which was intended to express the increased self-confidence of the Estonian-speaking believers. The construction of the church then dragged on from 1862 to 1870. The reason was always a lack of money to push the work forward.
The roof could not be completed until 1870. In the same year, on December 20, 1870, the church was consecrated. The date marked the consecration anniversary of the earlier church in 1670 exactly to the day. The two mighty towers in neo-Romanesque style next to the main portal were not completed until 1882.
Interior decoration
The most important artistic work inside from 1879 comes from the Estonian painter Johann Köler (1826–1899). For the vault of the apse he created the monumental fresco “Come to me, all of you who are laborious and burdened; I will refresh you ”(Matthew 11:28). The three-part fresco underneath with scenes from the life of Christ is the work of the Baltic German painter Sally von Kügelgen (1860–1928), who made the frescoes in 1889 based on sketches by Carl Timoleon von Neff (1804–1876).
The neo-Gothic altar table is a work by Paulus Treumann. In 1870 the pulpit designed by Hippius was installed. It is designed in such a way that it can be seen from every seat in the church. No pillar obstructs the view of the pulpit and altar. Hippius was primarily concerned with aligning the typical Protestant preacher's church to the word of God.
The sculptures actually intended for the wall niches by Hippius are still missing today.
The church bell in the north tower, cast in Stockholm , rang in the earlier church building. It is the only remaining part of the Karlskirche from 1670. The Swedish King Karl XI. had given it to the then Karlskirche in 1696. Its inscription reads: GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO ME FECIT HOLMIAE GERHARDT MEYER A 1696 .
The bell in the south tower was cast in Bochum . It was a gift from Tallinn businessman JE Steinberg in 1870. Their inscription reads: COME, FOR EVERYTHING IS READY / LUK. 14.17 / THE KARLSKIRCHE DOM / FROM THE CITIZEN JESTEINBERG / REVAL 1870 / THANKS TO GOD, WHO GOT VICTORY / 1. COR. 15.57
In 1870 the first organ was installed in the Karlskirche. It came from the Estonian organ builder Gustav Normann (1821-1893), who expanded it in 1884. In 1923 the organ was replaced. The new instrument comes from the company of the Ludwigsburg organ builder Eberhard Friedrich Walcker (1794–1872). It has three manuals and 81 stops. It was the first representative organ of the Republic of Estonia after independence in 1918. It has remained the largest and most prestigious organ in Estonia to this day.
Karlskirche today
In 2006 the church was extensively renovated. It suffers particularly from the heavy traffic that passes on both sides of the church.
With 1,500 seats today, the Karlskirche has remained one of the largest church buildings in Estonia. It is the central location of the largest Evangelical Lutheran parish in Estonia.
The service of the Estonian government and the diplomatic corps on the national holiday of the Republic of Estonia traditionally takes place on February 24th in the Karlskirche.
literature
- Egle Tamm, Tiina Mall Kreem: Eesti kirikud II. Tallinna Kaarli Kirik . Tallinn 2007 ( ISBN 978-9985-9768-7-6 )
Web links
- Parish of the Karlskirche (Estonian, English, Finnish, Russian)
- Full description (Estonian)
Individual evidence
- ^ Thea Karin: Estonia. Cultural and scenic diversity in a historical borderland between east and west. Cologne 1994 (= DuMont art and landscape guide ) ISBN 3-7701-2614-9 , p. 79
- ↑ The other German-language text of the bell reads: THIS BELL HAVE ITS KININGLICHE MAISTAT DER / GREATMACHTIGSE KÖNIG CARL XI. THIS CARLSKIRCHE / ALHIR IN REVAL AVF SANCT ANTONIBERG ANSTAT DERIENI / GENE WHICH TAKEN FROM DAR ZVM SCHLOSVHRWERCK / WERE ALL MERCY WONDERED WHICH GOD ZV / HIS VND HIS ROYAL AFTER THE MAISTATE ZVHMEST