Katharinenkirche (Gdansk)

The Katharinenkirche

The Church of St. Catherine is one of the oldest churches in Gdańsk and is located in the north-western old town, on Rajska Street, opposite the Great Mill . The dimensions of the church are 61.5 m long and 25 to 40 m wide. The tower is 44 m high to the base of the helmet and 76 m to the top.

history

Katharinenkirche on an 18th century lithograph

Rear view of the church

Elevation of the Katharinenkirche from 1695

Floor plan from 1695
A: large door from the churchyard, B: entrance under the large tower, C: entrance of the nuns, D: 3 halls, above is the large organ, E: large bell tower (spiral staircase / ascent to the tower), F: Chair of a noble council, G: chair of a noble judge, H: dressing room, I: large altar

The first church was probably built as early as 1185 under Prince Sobiesław I , who had a wooden church built on the same site.

According to historical and archaeological studies, the stone nave of the church was built between 1230 and 1240. The church was expanded extensively in the 14th and 15th centuries. Around 1380 a low tower was added to the church, which was raised between 1484 and 1486 and covered with a gable roof. In 1634, the tower was given a baroque helmet based on the design of the city carpenter of Danzig Jakob van den Blocke .

In the course of the Reformation, the church was taken over by the Protestants in 1525. In 1945 it passed to the Catholic Church.

Around 1601, the painter Anton Möller (* 1563; † 1611) created a triptych for the high altar of the church with the paintings Crossing , Last Supper and Last Judgment . The main picture, the crucifixion , was completed by his pupil Izaak van den Blocke after the painter's death . The triptych has been in the National Museum of Gdansk since 2016 . The Danzig astronomer Johannes Hevelius (born January 28, 1611, † January 28, 1687) was buried in the church.

Extensive renovation work was carried out on the church around 1675 and 1715. During the occupation of Danzig by the Napoleonic troops from 1807 to 1813, the church was used to house the numerous horses, after which it had to be renovated later.

On July 3, 1905, a lightning strike sparked a fire in the church tower, causing the tower's helmet to collapse and the carillon to be completely destroyed. Witnesses to the catastrophe spoke of large drops of molten metal, known as the "bronze tears of St. Catherine". The falling burning fragments also set fire to the church roof below the tower and partially destroyed it. The renovation of the tower and the reconstruction of the helmet were completed in 1910.

The church building, which was destroyed in the Second World War in 1945, was reconstructed true to the original. After the completion of the church roof between 1966 and 1967, church operations were resumed.

The tower was rebuilt in the 1980s and with it the installation of a new carillon in 1989. The tower clock museum is located in the tower , from which the visitor can also access the carillon in the tower.

On May 22, 2006, a fire broke out in the roof of the church, damaging the roof structure, causing parts of the roof structure to fall onto the ceiling of the nave. The interior of the church and most of the historical objects were spared. The tower of the church was not considered to be in danger of collapsing. In 2016, the 10-year reconstruction of the church was completed.

The carillon

Carillon gaming table

The carillon

After completion of the tower construction in 1486, a large, newly cast bell was hung in the tower in 1495. In 1575 the church received the first carillon , which consisted of 14 bells made in the Netherlands.

1738 with the chimes 35 was bells (the impact sounds renewed C1 to C4), which in the Netherlands by Nicolaus Derck van Horn were cast. The organ builder Andreas Hildebrandt made the concert keyboard . The automatic glockenspiel was made in 1741 by the Danzig clockmaker Daniel Böttcher from a large cylinder with 7260 holes for the music sticks. The first concert took place on November 30, 1738. Since the sound of the bells was not satisfactory, 15 bells were cast again in the Netherlands. With the automatic mode, the carillon started every hour on the hour.

In 1905 the church tower burned down by a lightning strike and also destroyed the carillon. In 1910 the carillon was restored with 37 bells, which were cast by the Schilling bell foundry in Thuringia and weighed 16,760 kg.

During the Second World War, the bells for making weapons were removed in 1942. 28 bells escaped being melted down and were installed in the 36-part carillon of the Marienkirche in Lübeck .

In 1989 the carillon of the Katharinenkirche was renewed with 37 bells and in 1998 it was extended by 12 bells. They were cast in the Eijsbouts bell foundry in Asten , the Netherlands. The glockenspiel includes a concert keyboard and an automatic playing mechanism that kicks in every full hour.

The carillon was not affected by the fire that broke out in the roof of the church in 2006. In the same year, the glockenspiel was supplemented by the 50th bell with the strike note B and a weight of 2835 kg. The carillon is supervised by the Historical Museum of the City of Gdansk.