Carthusian Church (Cologne)
The Kartäuserkirche is the church of the former Carthusian monastery founded in 1334 in Cologne , the Cologne Charterhouse . Today the church serves as the parish church of the Evangelical Community of Cologne.
History and architecture
The single-nave, seven-bay church with ribbed vaults and polygonal apse was built in simple Gothic forms from the middle of the 14th century to 1393 (high altar consecration). In 1425/27 wealthy donors had the angel and lady chapel built on the north side of the church. In 1510, the convent expanded the 14th century sacristy, also to the north. A rood screen, which was torn down at the beginning of the 19th century, divided the church interior into a clerical and a lay brother part. The wealthy Cologne bourgeoisie donated large parts of the extensive equipment, which was among the most valuable in Cologne. Remnants of it are preserved in Cologne and European museums. In contrast to the usual patronage of the Virgin Mary, the church bore the patronage of St. Barbara based on a previous building. At the beginning of the 18th century the church was decorated with rich rococo paintings (a cartouche of this still exists on the south wall). This will not be restored after the Second World War in order to regain the “overall Romanesque impression” of the interior. The baroque buildings of the monastery and the baroque entrance gates were built in the middle of the century.
In 1794, the French were the first to dissolve the monastery in Cologne. The church was profaned and used as a storage room for the French, and from 1815 Prussian military hospital. The church building held this function until 1923, when the church and parts of the former monastery were transferred to the Evangelical Community of Cologne as a replacement for the Pantaleon Church . From September 16, 1928, the restored building was again used as a house of worship, now for the Evangelicals.
In 1944 the church was badly damaged by bombs. The restoration work 1949–53 under the architect Georg Eberlein (Cologne) deliberately restored the Gothic state of the building time and largely removed the traces of later, especially baroque changes. The result was a simple evangelical sermon room, effective only through the architecture, which clearly illustrates the goal of reduction pursued in church architecture of that time.
The two artists Gerhard Marcks and Charles Crodel , who were friends since 1920 and worked together at the Burg Giebichenstein School of Applied Arts (Halle / Saale) from 1927–33, are mainly responsible for furnishing the church interior (1953–59).
The overall picture of the church interior and the chapel of angels and the chapel of Mary on the north side are characterized by the 23 colored glass windows by Charles Crodel (including the image of the last vine in the Carthusian garden). Special types of glass were used, including gold glass, which only August Wagner was able to produce in Berlin.
The altar table with cross and candle holders, the baptismal font, the pulpit and the pews were designed by Gerhard Marcks. The church as a whole - together with the restrained coloring - represents an important and typical church space in the zeitgeist of the 1950s and integrates the historical inventory in terms of lighting and imagery. Crodel's axis window opens into the representation of the resurrection at the top. The angel and lady chapels have excellent architectural sculptures in the vaulted consoles. The ceilings of these two chapels show beautiful floral paintings from the period of construction, reconstructed in 1950 in the Marienkapelle.
The triptych “The Holy Family” by the Cologne painter Jürgen Hans Grümmer from 1988 to 1990 has been in the altar area since 2011. This canvas work invites the viewer to embark on a journey of discovery into human history, from the creation of the world to the present 20th century and everyday life in Cologne's Severinsviertel. In his imagery and symbolic language profound, knowledgeable and sometimes almost puzzlingly encoded, the painter places numerous historical and contemporary scenes in a biblical context. Jürgen Hans Grümmer lived for many decades in the southern part of Cologne and in the 1990s used the chapter house of the Carthusian Church as a studio space. This is also where “The Holy Family” was created, with father, mother, child, just as Jürgen Hans Grümmer experienced in his “Veedel”. “The Holy Family” as well as the diptych “Good Friday in Severinstrasse”, also from 1990 and on display in the nearby St. Severin , are among the most important late works by the painter Jürgen Hans Grümmer.
organ
After the restoration of the church, the organ builder Willi Peter (Cologne) built a neo-baroque organ in 1954/1960 , with the significant contribution of the professor for church music at the Cologne University of Music , Hans Klotz , one of the most renowned organologists of his time. The instrument has its own style, regardless of all standards at the time. Probably the most famous organist who played a concert on the organ is Marcel Dupré , who on November 8, 1961 performed his piece Cortège et Litanie , among other things . In the summer of 2011, the organ was extensively restored for € 120,000 and equipped with a carillon and an electronic (4000-fold) setting system. The completion was celebrated on Sunday, November 6th, 2011 with a festive service. The instrument has 45 stops on three manual works and a pedal . The console of the (main) organ contains a fourth manual from which the choir organ can be played.
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- Coupling: Pos / HW, SW / HW, CO / HW, SW / POS, HW / P, POS / P, SW / P, CO / P
Bells
The two ridge turrets are a special feature. In the larger one with a pointed helmet hang the three larger bells. The other roof turret carries the smallest bell visible from afar . It can be heard at noon every day at noon. All four bells were cast in Sinn by the Rincker bell foundry in 1954 .
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No. |
Surname |
Percussive ( HT - 1 / 16 ) |
Ø (mm) |
Mass (kg) |
Inscription (shoulder, single line, in versail) |
| 1 | Communion bell | d 2 ± 0 | 643 | 151.5 | THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD, MAKES US PURE FROM ALL SIN. + 1st JOH. 1.7 + |
| 2 | Baptismal bell | f 2 +2 | 540 | 86.5 | THOSE WHO BELIEVE AND BE BAPTIZED WILL BE BLESSED + MARK. 16.16 + |
| 3 | Casualia bell | g 2 +1 | 477 | 58.5 | LORD, LISTEN AND BE MERCY TO ME AND LORD, BE MY HELPER + PSALM 30:11 + |
| 4th | Prayer bell | a 2 | 429 | 44.5 | STOP IN PRAYER + ROMAN. 12.12 + |
Trivia
The church and outdoor facilities were the location for the ZDF television series Heartbreaker - Father of Four Sons , as well as for the Pastewka episode An angel for all cases .
literature
- Ulrich Bock, Martin Hennes, Rita Wagner: Church and monastery of the Carthusians in Cologne. 2nd revised edition. Neuss printing and publishing house, Neuss 1991, ISBN 3-88094-698-1 ( Rheinische Kunststätten 52).
- Anton Henze: Rhineland and Westphalia. Architectural monuments. 3rd completely revised edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1964, p. 368 ( Reclam's Art Guide Germany 3), ( Reclam's Universal Library 8401-18).
- Werner Schäfke (Ed.): The Cologne Charterhouse around 1500. A journey into our past. Attachment tape. Cologne City Museum, Cologne 1991, ISBN 3-927396-37-0 .
- Rainer Sommer (Ed.): The Charterhouse in Cologne. Commemorative publication by the Evangelical Community of Cologne on the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of the Carthusian Church in Cologne as the Evangelical Church on September 16, 1978. Evangelical Community, Cologne 1978, pp. 149–153.
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.glasmalerei-ev.net/pages/b7279/b7279.shtml Complete documentation of the window work.
- ^ Charles Crodel: Directory of building-related works
- ^ Good Friday in Severinstrasse
- ↑ Marcel Dupré at the Carthusian organ. A highlight of the concert series of this church In: Der WEG. November 26, 1961.
- ↑ Matthias Pesch: Get the old sound. In: Kölner Stadtanzeiger. June 21, 2011.
Web links
- Homepage of the Carthusian Church
- Digitized archive holdings for the Carthusian monastery in Cologne in the digital historical archive in Cologne
Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 29 ″ N , 6 ° 57 ′ 21 ″ E