Powunden Church
The Powunden Church ( Russian Кирха Повунден ) is a ruin in Powunden, now called Chrabrowo , in northern East Prussia . The building made of field stones and bricks dates from the beginning of the 14th century and was known for its wall paintings , traces of which can still be seen on the remains of the ruins today.
Geographical location
Khrabrowo (Powunden) belongs to the Gurjewsk Rajon ( Neuhausen district ) in the Russian Oblast Kaliningrad ( Königsberg region (Prussia) ) and is located 21 kilometers north of Kaliningrad (Königsberg) and houses the international airport of the Rajons capital.
The building called “ St. Barbarakirche ” in pre-Reformation times , of which remains of ruins still testify today, is located at the southern entrance to Chrabrowo, slightly set back on the western side of the road.
Church building
Building history / description
Until 1945
The old parish church of Powunden was a plastered field and brick building with a closed choir. It was first mentioned in documents as ecclesia parochialis in 1325.
The nave with a vaulted ceiling was built between 1325 and 1350, the choir was added at the end of the 14th century, and the sacristy in the southwest was added in the 15th century. In 1924 remains of wall paintings from around 1370/80 were exposed, and in 2006 traces of a picture of the Apostle Paul from that time were discovered under the plaster .
The church was completely renovated in 1691. In 1843 it was expanded and in 1862 the tower was raised.
Since 1945
The Powunder Church survived the Second World War almost unscathed. During the Soviet period it was misappropriated and initially used as a club building. It later burned down, and from the 1970s the walls were used as a quarry for private houses for military personnel. An accident led to the prohibition of further demolition by the military administration, so that a stately ruin of the church was preserved. The roof and vault have collapsed, the tower now stands without a point up to the height of the roof approach. The high, seven-part east gable with deep round and pointed arches in two zones has been preserved. Only the consoles remained of the 14th century vault .
Powunder church bell
The larger of the two Powunder church bells was cast in the Königsberg bell foundry Georgius Bernhardus Kinder in Königsberg in 1727 . During the Second World War, it was delivered to be melted down for ammunition purposes. But it survived in the Hamburg bell cemetery and was acquired in 1952 by the Evangelical parish in Hüffelsheim , district of Bad Kreuznach , in Rhineland-Palatinate - as a replacement for the bell that was destroyed by bombs.
Encouraged by the acquisition of the East Prussian bell, the parish took over the sponsorship of the former parish of Powunden on October 6, 1985 . The community of Hüffelsheim followed on September 1, 1990 by entering into a partnership with the Russian community of Chrabrowo.
Parish
Parish
In the pre-Reformation period, Powunden was a church village, and a parish had existed here since 1334. The Lutheran Reformation arrived relatively early. Initially the parish belonged to the Fischhausen inspection (Russian: Primorsk), then until 1945 to the parish of Königsberg-Land II (north of the Pregel ) within the church province of East Prussia of the Church of the Old Prussian Union .
As a result of flight and expulsion at the end of the Second World War and due to a state ban, church life came to a standstill after 1945. It was not until the 1990s that Protestant congregations emerged again in the Kaliningrad Oblast, including the one closest to Khrabrovo in Marschalskoje ( Gallgarben ), a subsidiary congregation of the Resurrection Church in Kaliningrad ( Königsberg ), the main church of the Kaliningrad provost of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of European Russia (ELKER) ).
Parish locations (until 1945)
In addition to Powunden, the following places belonged to the Powund parish until 1945:
| Surname | Russian name | Surname | Russian name | Surname | Russian name | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berbadien | Korreynen, with Birkenberg |
Dubrawa, later: Khrabrovo , Datschnoje |
Schulstein | Wolnoye | |||
| Bulgehnen | Gorlowka | Lobitten | Lugovskoye | Steinitten | Novoye | ||
| Dorben | Gussewo, later: Karjernoje |
New fit | Stombeck | Rybnoye | |||
| Gunthenen | Privolnoye | Pissed off | Irkutskoye | Twergaiten | Nadeschdino | ||
| Noble Heyde | Pomhnen | Karjernoje | Uggehnen | Matrossowo | |||
| Karmitten | Otradnoye | Ropes | Shirokopolje | Will germ | Novoselskoye | ||
| Forging strings | Kyivskoye |
Pastor (until 1945)
From the Reformation until 1945, the following were officiating as Protestant clergy in Powunden:
|
|
literature
- Daniel Heinrich Arnoldt : Brief messages from all preachers who have admitted to the Lutheran churches in East Prussia since the Reformation . Königsberg 1777, pp. 15-16 .
- Karl Emil Gebauer : Customer of the Samland or history and topographical-statistical picture of the East Prussian landscape Samland . Königsberg 1844, pp. 111–112, no. 22.
- Manfred Klein: On the history of the parish Powunden Kr.Königsberg (Pr.) - Land , 1998
- Friedwald Moelle :, Old Prussian Protestant Pastor's Book from the Reformation to the Expulsion in 1945 , Hamburg 1968
Web links
- Chrabowo - Powunden at ostpreussen.net (with pictures of the church ruins)
- Patrick Plew, The Churches in Samland: Powunden (with images and video material)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Daniel Heinrich Arnoldt : Brief messages from all preachers who have been confessed to the Lutheran churches in East Prussia since the Reformation . Königsberg 1777, pp. 15-16 .
Coordinates: 54 ° 53 '28.7 " N , 20 ° 33' 52.8" E