Church of the Good Shepherd (Elbing)
The Church of the Good Shepherd (Polish: Kościół Dobrego Pasterza ) is a church building of the Polish Catholic Church in Elbing (Polish: Elbląg ). The church was built in 1890 as a meeting place for the Elbingen Mennonites .
history
For the history of the Mennonite communities in Elbing see: Mennonite Church Elbing
Dutch Anabaptists settled in Elblag and the surrounding area as early as the 16th century . Although threatened with expulsion several times, an Anabaptist-Mennonite community was soon able to form. After 1565, the Anabaptists played a special role in the cultivation of the Ellerwald forest outside the city walls. In 1585, two Mennonites were granted citizenship for the first time and five years later, the Mennonite Church in the old town of Elbingen was the first Anabaptist-Mennonite meeting house in the city. This gabled building, built in the Mannerist style, has been preserved to this day and is an example of the type of hidden church ( Schuilkerk ). After it became possible in the 19th century for the Mennonites to build churches that were also recognizable as such from the outside, the construction of a new church on the Elbinger Speicherinsel at Berliner Straße 20 began in 1890. The church remained the parish church of the Elbingen Mennonites until the German residents were expelled at the end of the Second World War . In August 1947, the Polish Catholic Church took over the building, which it still owns today. The church stands in June 1994 under monument protection .
In addition to the Church of the Good Shepherd and the first Mennonite Church from 1590, there was another church built in 1783 for the parishioners living in the Ellerwald, as well as a church built in 1852 after a split in the parish in the Reiferbahnstraße.
building
The church, built in brick in the neo-Gothic style in 1890 , was built as a simple sermon church without a steeple . The facade is characterized by several pointed arched windows , some of which are built today. Instead of a church tower, a roof turret is attached above the entrance portal . A simple arcade frieze twists around the outside of the church. The interior of the church is also kept relatively simple. The galleries in the entrance area are distinctive. Today the church is also provided with a crucifix and figurative representations that were not present in the originally Protestan-Mennonite church.
Web links
Coordinates: 54 ° 9 ′ 35 ″ N , 19 ° 23 ′ 24 ″ E