Löwenhagen Church (East Prussia)
The church in Löwenhagen was built in 1613 and until 1945 was the evangelical church in the East Prussian parish Löwenhagen , the place known today as Komsomolsk in the Russian Oblast Kaliningrad ( Königsberg area (Prussia) ).
Geographical location
Komsomolsk is located southeast of the city of Kaliningrad (Königsberg) on the Russian trunk road R 508 , which runs south of the Pregel (Russian: Pregolja). The place is a train station ("Komsomolsk Sapadny") on the railway line Kaliningrad – Nesterow (Königsberg – Stallupönen / Ebenrode) , a section of the former Prussian Eastern Railway , from which before 1945 the no longer existing railway line to Angerburg (now Polish: Węgorzewo) over Gerdauen (now Russian: Schelesnodoroschny) branched off.
The location of the church was southwest of the main street opposite the old rectory, which is now used as a cultural center.
Church building
A church was built in Löwenhagen in 1542 during the time of Hans Conrad Baar, who took over Löwenhagen from Margrave Albrecht of Brandenburg as a pledge. It was made entirely of wood and had no tower.
When Friedrich Freiherr von Waldburg received Löwenhagen as possession in 1607, the construction of a new church in massive construction began two years later. So in 1613 a simple, plastered brick building was built . with a three-way ending. The church had a single nave with an octagonal choir . In 1623 a tower was added.
It was the church patron Friedrich Graf von Dönhoff and the court judge Albrecht Siegmund von Wallenrodt who made sure that the church was enlarged in 1692 and completely renovated and refurbished inside and out.
The interior of the church was covered with a wooden barrel vault, the stalls were arranged in two rows with a central aisle. Galleries were drawn in on both sides and on the west side. The uniform baroque furnishings were attributed to the workshop of the Königsberger Isaak Riga and came from the end of the 17th century. In the middle of the altar piece - it was counted among the most perfect works of Riga - the crucifixion of Christ was depicted, above his burial . The crowning shows the Lamb of God and the blessing Christ .
The church inventory included a brass bowl from the 17th century depicting the fall of man . The church received an organ in 1730, it was built by Georg Sigismund Caspari with a manual and approx. 12 stops. In 1881 August Terletzki from Elbing (now Polish: Elbląg) replaced the organ with a new instrument. The church bell consisted of two bells.
In the fighting of the Second World War in 1945, the Löwenhagen church with the crypt of the Reich Count von Dönhoff was only slightly damaged. In the post-war years, however, the building was razed to the ground. On July 8, 1993, a service was held in the square where it stood, commemorating the consecration of the church 380 years ago, which was celebrated in the presence of the Komsomolsk mayor. Many of the old linden and oak trees still refer to the cemetery, which was laid out in 1697 at the church.
Parish
Although Löwenhagen was an older parish, it was not until the end of the 16th century that an independent parish with its own pastor was established here. Previously, Löwenhagen was a branch of the Borchersdorf church (today in Russian: Selenopolje) and was under the supervision of the court preacher in Königsberg (Prussia) . Until 1945 the then independent and of a predominantly was Protestant inhabited population parish Löwenhagen the church district Königsberg country I in the ecclesiastical province of East Prussia the Prussian Union of churches belong. The church patronage was incumbent on the Counts von Dönhoff , who had their seat in the castle belonging to the parish in Friedrichstein (today in Russian: Kamenka ).
In 1925 the parish had a total of 1,500 parishioners who lived in twelve parish towns. The old parsonage, which is still in existence and has been converted into a cultural center, is a reminder of the former church-evangelical life in Komsomolsk.
Parish places
Before 1945, twelve localities were parish into the parish of Löwenhagen (* = school location):
| German name | Russian name | German name | Russian name | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| * Amalienhof | Little Barthen | |||
| Birch forest | Klein Hohenhagen | Osjornoje | ||
| * Pheasantry | * Löwenhagen | Komsomolsk | ||
| Friedrichstein | Kamenka | Pregelswalde, Koenigsberg / Samland district |
||
| * Great Hohenhagen | Kashtanovka | Reichenhagen | Zheleznodorozhnye | |
| Horst, Koenigsberg / Samland district |
Lake meadows |
Only three of the twelve locations now exist. Today's border between Gurjewsk Rajon ( Neuhausen district ) and Gwardeisk Rajon ( Tapiau district ) runs through the middle of the former parish.
Pastor
Nineteen Protestant clergymen were in office at the Löwenhagen church until 1945:
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Among the Löwenhagen clergymen, Johann Schultz stands out, who not only made a name for himself as a Protestant theologian, but also as a philosopher and mathematician.
Church records
Of the church records Church Löwenhagen almost all have received. Today they are kept in the Evangelical Central Archive in Berlin-Kreuzberg :
- Baptisms: 1627-1944
- Weddings: 1630 to 1944
- Burials: 1628 to 1944.
There is also a chronicle from the years 1379 to 1822.
Individual evidence
- ↑ History of Löwenhagen at ostpreussen.net
- ↑ Walther Hubatsch , History of the Protestant Church of East Prussia , Volume II: Portraits of East Prussian Churches , Göttingen, 1968, page 54, fig. 154–156
- ↑ Werner Renkewitz, Jan Janca, Hermann Fischer : History of the art of organ building in East and West Prussia. Volume II, 1: Mosengel, Caspari, Casparini . Pape Verlag, Berlin 2008, p. 257.
- ^ Walther Hubatsch, History of the Protestant Church of East Prussia , Volume III: Documents , Göttingen, 1968, page 462
- ^ Walter Hubatsch (as above), Volume III, page 462
- ↑ Friedwald Moeller, Old Prussian Protestant Pastor's Book from the Reformation to the Expulsion in 1945 , Hamburg, 1968, pp. 88–89
- ↑ Christa Stache, Directory of the Church Books in the Evangelical Central Archives in Berlin , Part I: The Eastern Church Provinces of the Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union , Berlin, 1992³, pages 80–81
literature
- Walter Perkuhn, Löwenhagen - a parish in the Pregels glacial valley , 1994
Coordinates: 54 ° 38 ' N , 20 ° 45' E