Catholic cemetery Hochstrasse (Wuppertal)
The Hochstrasse Catholic Cemetery is one of the three cemeteries on Hochstrasse in the Elberfeld district of Wuppertal , along with the Lutheran and Reformed cemeteries .
history
The Catholic community in Elberfeld lacked a central community cemetery at the beginning of the 19th century. The only Catholic cemetery in the parish at that time was the small cemetery at Höchst, near today's St. Joseph Hospital, which had long since ceased to meet the requirements. From 1832 discussions took place between the Catholic and the Reformed Elberfeld congregation, which concerned the creation of a large central cemetery on a congregational property on the Elberfeld Dorrenberg . In 1843 the Catholic community bought the almost one and a half hectare site from the Reformed community, and after extensive renovation work, the first graves could be leased from March 20, 1845. The cemetery, which today has around 4500 grave sites, is bordered by Hochstraße in the west and Malerstraße in the north, the steeply sloping terrain to the east merges into the residential development of the Mount of Olives at the south and east ends .
chapel
Initially, the cemetery had no cemetery chapel for many years , and the funeral ceremonies took place in the open air. The construction of a chapel could not begin until 1911, which was consecrated after six months of construction. The work was carried out by the Wuppertal architect Friedrich Vogt. At the same time, a building complex was built with a garden center, sacristy and an apartment for the cemetery attendant.
Building description
The chapel, which is integrated into the cemetery wall with its foundation in the street corner Hochstraße / Malerstraße, is a single-storey chapel building in solid construction with an adjoining two-storey building complex on Malerstraße. The building, built entirely in the Bergisch Neo-Baroque style, is set on a relatively high building base, which was constructed from roughly hewn ashlar sandstone. A choir extension is located on the north side of the chapel, offset from Malerstraße. The north-facing building is structured by four high, rounded windows on the west side, while the two-story building complex adjoins the east side of the chapel. The four windows are each crowned by a round window , which in turn is closed by a carnies arch . Pulled forward to the south side, on the slate-covered mansard roof, there is a small roof turret with four sound openings, which houses a simple bell with the strike tone f 2 .
At the time of its opening, the interior of the chapel was extremely simple. It was not until 1930 that a magnificent neo-baroque painting of the ceiling and the altar area began, which was carried out by Wilhelm Ritterbach under the title Ascending the Blessed Father . In the 1950s, these paintings, which were no longer felt to be contemporary, were whitewashed. In the course of a restoration of the chapel, efforts were made to expose the painting again. However, due to the poor state of preservation, the plan was rejected. The rededicated chapel took place on November 1, 1975. In October 2016, the Laurentius Brotherhood donated a baroque image of Mary for the chapel with the title “Maria vom Trost”. It can be found to the left of the choir arch in a wall shrine.
organ
For liturgical reasons, unlike in the Protestant cemeteries, the Catholic cemetery chapels did not buy a pipe organ, mostly in favor of an electronic instrument. Since 1983, an electronium from Johannus in the Netherlands served as background music for the funeral celebrations, which was then given to the sisters of the St. Joseph Hospital. The small organ from the St. Stephanus chapel on Katernberg , which was closed in 1998 and was demolished in 1999, was taken over as a replacement .
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use
The chapel is now used for funeral rites. Every Saturday the rosary is said for the dead. May devotions have been held on Sundays in May since 2018. In September the chapel is a place of prayer on the Day of Eternal Prayer in the Laurentius Congregation. In addition, the Laurentius Brotherhood regularly celebrates its services in the chapel.
Monument protection
The chapel has been a listed building since December 13, 1995 because of its importance for the Bergisch Neo-Baroque and because of its location relevant to urban planning.
Personalities
At the Catholic cemetery in Hochstrasse, you can find the graves of the following people who were important in the history of Wuppertal:
- Johann Gregor Breuer (1820 or 1821–1897), teacher and social worker
- Georg Abeler (1906–1981), master goldsmith, watchmaker and founder of the Wuppertal watch museum
- Johann Carl Fuhlrott (1803–1877), natural scientist
- Adolf Kolping (1909–1997), theologian and university professor
- Guido Jendritzko (1925–2009), painter and sculptor
Gravesite of the Georg Abeler family
Grave of Guido Jendritzko
literature
- Klaus Goebel , Andreas Knorr (ed.): Churches and worship places in Elberfeld , Düsseldorf 1999, ISBN 3-930250-35-7
- Joachim Dorfmüller : 300 years of organ building in Wuppertal , Wuppertal 1980, ISBN 3-87093-028-4
- Evangelical and Catholic Church in Wuppertal: Wuppertaler Friedhofsführer , Wuppertal 2011
Web links
- Entry in the Wuppertal monument list
Coordinates: 51 ° 15 ′ 52 ″ N , 7 ° 8 ′ 7 ″ E