Church on Hohenzollernplatz
The church at Hohenzollernplatz is a Protestant church in the Berlin district of Wilmersdorf . It was built from 1930 to 1934 according to designs by Ossip Klarwein from the Fritz Högers architectural office and is considered to be the main work of German expressionist architecture . The church burned down due to the war damage in 1943. In the process, essential elements of the interior were lost. The church was largely repaired by 1961. But it was not until the extensive renovation from 1990 to 1991 that the last war damage was repaired. The church is a listed building .
history
Planning for a church building
In the parish of Berlin – Wilmersdorf only two churches existed until 1933: the church on Wilhelmsaue and the church on Hochmeisterplatz . At the inauguration of Auenkirche 1897 had the then German-Wilmersdorf, which was until 1906 the city rights already over 10,000 inhabitants. The Grunewald Church was inaugurated in 1904 and the Hochmeisterkirche in 1910 .
In 1920 Wilmersdorf was incorporated into Greater Berlin , Schmargendorf , Grunewald and Halensee were now districts of the Wilmersdorf district . Due to the strong population growth in the extensive northern part of Wilmersdorf, in which around 50,000 parishioners lived, the parishes of the then undivided parish of Berlin-Wilmersdorf decided to assign a church as well as a parish and parsonage for the northern district of the parish on the property purchased in 1927 on Hohenzollernplatz erect. The architect and church builder Otto Bartning first made two preliminary designs. After the subsequent architectural competition, the award committee was unable to recommend any of the designs submitted.
The parish then placed the order on June 26, 1928, mediated by the Schmargendorf painter Ernst Christian Pfannschmidt and his son Ernst-Erik , to Fritz Höger , in whose Hamburg office Ernst-Erik worked as an architect. He writes: “At that time Höger gave one of his many lectures at the Technical University with his 'innate great rhetoric and persuasiveness'. I [Ernst-Erik Pfannschmidt] managed, through my father [Ernst Christian Pfannschmidt], to persuade the community to have Höger make a draft , probably on a voluntary basis . "
The award of the contract to the architect Höger, who was not involved in the competition, sparked heated discussions in specialist magazines because the design allegedly did not meet the general taste of church visitors. Höger had convinced with a plan of Klarwein, which Höger had submitted under his name in accordance with the contract. Klarwein, who had worked at Höger since 1921, was his main design architect , but was only allowed to publish his work under Höger's name.
“Shortly before construction began, Klarwein came to Berlin and moved to Halensee at Joachim-Friedrich-Strasse 47, around 150 meters from the church. His presence in Berlin at that time suggests that he also looked after this building. "
Completion in 1933 and use until 1945
On September 30, 1930, was groundbreaking ceremony that and on 19 March 1933 inauguration of the church instead. The then Superintendent Diestel consecrated the church and described the building complex as a “work of art for all times”.
In 1934 Klarwein emigrated with his wife and son Mati to the British mandate of Palestine , as Jews no longer had a future in Germany .
The church work now combined youth associations, a women's aid and a nurses' station in the new buildings. Because of the Second World War, beginning Allied air raids the church ensemble on 22 November 1943, hit by a high explosive bomb and other incendiary bombs and burned almost completely. The large organ from the Furtwängler and Hammer company was also destroyed. Everything wooden, especially the seating, burned. The services then took place in the church on Nassauische Strasse, and later in a room in the parish hall. The larger, still intact rooms were used by the Navy High Command as an emergency hospital. When the Red Army marched into Berlin-Wilmersdorf (April 30, 1945), numerous German wounded soldiers were lying here, who were then transported away as prisoners of war.
New beginning from 1946
However, the municipality of Wilmersdorf Nord only became independent as a parish on Hohenzollernplatz in 1946 ; at that time around 13,000 people belonged to the catchment area. At the end of the war, the church was given a temporary roof and the community hall in the basement was made usable again. The last debris of the war disappeared in 1953, two years later the church at Hohenzollernplatz was re-inaugurated. In 1956 the office wing with apartments was rebuilt on Nassauische Strasse. It was gradually given new equipment.
Today the Evangelical Church Congregation on Hohenzollernplatz is one of 19 congregations in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf parish , which belongs to the Berlin district of the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia .
building
The winding, relatively small plot of land (2447 m²) was not easy to build on. A church, parish hall, parish hall with confirmation rooms and club rooms, nurses' station, youth home and six apartments for clergy and church employees were to be built. The church blends in with the development on the edge of Hohenzollernplatz, the parish hall and rectory were built as a crossbar in Nassauische Strasse. In order to meet all spatial requirements, the parish hall was moved a few meters deep into the ground under the church. The base of the main room of the church is 40 meters long and 14 meters wide. The height is 20 meters. The ten meter wide vestibule is 18 meters high. The interior of the concrete skeleton structure is equipped with thirteen pointed arched reinforced concrete girders.
The 66 meter high tower (including the cross), which is slightly conical from bottom to top, stands in the visual axes of Fasanenstrasse and Nikolsburger Strasse, Hohenzollerndamm and Düsseldorfer Strasse and Nassauische Strasse. Until 2003, four cast steel bells hung in the tower, which were cast by the Bochum Association in 1959 .
| Weight (kg) | Diameter (cm) | Height (cm) | Chime | inscription |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5228 | 205 | 172 | cis' | + HEAR + IT + WILL + YOUR + SOUL + LIFE + |
| 2895 | 172 | 147 | e ' | + GOD + IS + OUR + CONFIDENCE + |
| 1964 | 153 | 133 | fis' | + PEACE + BE + WITH + YOU + |
| 1144 | 127 | 112 | a ' | THANK THE LORD |
Four bronze bells from the Lauchhammer art and bell foundry have been hanging in the tower since 2003 . The bell sounds in the tone sequence B ° - des' - ges' - as'.
The surrounding four-storey residential buildings are 22 meters high according to Berlin eaves height . The ogival portal, which is reached via an outside staircase , heralds the Gothic (aspiring) spirit of the interior.
Furnishing
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In addition to the altar - an elongated stone table with a thick mosaic ceiling - the colorful, modern church windows by Achim Freyer , which let the entire church interior shine in colored light, as well as the new organ are particularly noteworthy.
The three-part, rising altar window was designed by the artist Sigmund Hahn in 1962. It is titled Step Before You and Thank You Before the Sun Rises .
organ
The organ was built in the years 1964–1966 and 1975 by the organ building company Kemper und Sohn ( Lübeck ) in two construction phases. The instrument had 61 registers (5230 pipes) on four manuals and a pedal . During the renovation of the church in 1990/91, the organ was extensively restored and re-voiced.
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- Coupling I / II, III / II, IV / II, III / I, IV / I, IV / III, I / P, II / P, III / P, IV / P
Since 1987 there have been regular art exhibitions in the church, usually several times a year.
Since November 1st, 2008 the ecumenical NoonSong has been taking place every Saturday at 12 noon . Based on the model of the Anglican "Evensongs", a sung liturgy of the day times will be played, performed by the professional vocal ensemble sirventes berlin under the direction of Stefan Schuck. Over 100 visitors use this low-threshold liturgical offer every week.
literature
- Sibylle Badstübner-Gröger: 100 buildings in Berlin. Regensburg 1997.
- Günther Kühne, Elisabeth Stephani: Evangelical churches in Berlin. Berlin 1978.
- Karl-Heinz Metzger: Churches, mosques and synagogues in Wilmersdorf. Berlin 1986.
- Klaus-Dieter Wille: The bells of Berlin (West). History and inventory. Berlin 1987.
- Handbook of German Art Monuments : Berlin. 3rd edition Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 2006.
- Berlin. Sacred places . Grebennikov Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-941784-09-3 ; P. 108 ff.
- Christine Goetz , Matthias Hoffmann-Tauschwitz: Churches Berlin Potsdam. Berlin 2003.
Web links
- Entry in the Berlin State Monument List with further information
- Evangelical parish on Hohenzollernplatz
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b See Ernst-Erik Pfannschmidt in his letter to Eckhardt (Ekhart) Berckenhagen, June 29, 1977 ( Memento from December 9, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (PDF; 25 kB) of the exhibition on the occasion of Högers 100th birthday in the art library of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
- ↑ Klarwein's later friend the architect Yehudah Lavie (née Ernst Loewisohn) also confirmed in an interview that the church on Hohenzollernplatz was Klarwein's design. See Myra Warhaftig ( Hebrew מירה ווארהפטיג): You laid the foundation stone. Life and work of German-Jewish architect in Palestine 1918-1948 . Wasmuth, Berlin / Tübingen, 1996, ISBN 3-8030-0171-4 , p. 294 and footnote 290 on p. 296
- ↑ a b Myra Warhaftig ( Hebrew מירה ווארהפטיג): You laid the foundation stone. Life and work of German-speaking Jewish architects in Palestine 1918–1948 . Wasmuth, Berlin / Tübingen, ISBN 3-8030-0171-4 , p. 294.
- ^ Günther Kühne, Elisabeth Stephani: Evangelical Churches in Berlin . 1st edition CZV-Verlag, Berlin 1978, 2nd edition 1986, ISBN 3-7674-0158-4 , p. 310.
- ↑ a b Sacred Places , p. 109
- ↑ Myra Warhaftig ( Hebrew מירה ווארהפטיג): You laid the foundation stone. Life and work of German-speaking Jewish architects in Palestine 1918–1948 . Wasmuth, Berlin / Tübingen, 1996. ISBN 3-8030-0171-4 , p. 295
- ^ History - I - Timeline. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 12, 2014 ; accessed on November 14, 2014 .
- ↑ Information on the steel bells
- ↑ Evangelical Church on Hohenzollernplatz. At berlin.de
- ↑ More information about the organ of the church on Hohenzollernplatz
- ^ List of all exhibitions by painters, sculptors, disabled children, photographers, etc. that have been carried out to date ( Memento from January 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved November 10, 2009
- ↑ NoonSong
Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 39.2 ″ N , 13 ° 19 ′ 37.1 ″ E