Kreuzeskirche (Essen)

Kreuzeskirche

The Kreuzeskirche in downtown Essen is a Protestant church that was built between 1894 and 1896 according to plans by the architect August Orth . After severe damage in the Second World War , it was rebuilt by 1953 and is now a listed building .

history

Kreuzeskirche around 1905

At the time of industrialization at the end of the 19th century, the population of Essen skyrocketed due to the immigration of workers. These were needed in mining and the steel industry and were mostly Protestants from the eastern provinces of Prussia. That was the reason for planning another large church in the center of Essen. Until then there was on III. Hagen in the city center, the Pauluskirche , built according to plans by Julius Flügge, as a large church. Inaugurated in 1872, its ruins were completely demolished in 1950 after being destroyed in the war. Both large churches belonged to the old town parish, which at that time comprised 50,000 parishioners.

The church building of the Kreuzeskirche still stands roughly on the ground of the Aschebroch farm mentioned in a document in the 14th century , the remains of which are still believed to be in the ground due to individual archaeological finds. In November 1893, without an architectural competition, the presbytery chose the renowned Berlin architect August Orth, who based his design for Essen on the Dankeskirche in Berlin-Wedding , which was destroyed in World War II.

The construction project and the interior design were supported on a large scale by donations from Essen citizens and associations.

The foundation stone of the Kreuzeskirche was laid on Reformation Day, October 31, 1894. The inauguration followed on December 1, 1896 by Empress Auguste Viktoria . The construction costs were around 300,000  marks . The church with Romanesque style elements had the floor plan of a Latin cross and a three-story tower on the west side. In the entrance area, two attached circular buildings were to serve as a place to stay for baptism and wedding parties. The Kreuzeskirche offered seats for almost 1,500 believers. The masonry consisted of red bricks and was divided by parts made of Nahe and Ruhr sandstone . The side aisles of the actually three-aisled church were very narrow to emphasize the hall character of the church interior; they served more as access to the large central nave. Inside there were essentially two large blocks with straight benches on both sides of the central aisle, as well as additional seats on a three-sided gallery that was overlapped on the tower side by the organ gallery above. In 1896, the community decided to build a sexton's house with a confirmation hall on the church property.

In an air raid on May 28, 1943, the Kreuzeskirche was destroyed except for the outer walls. The entire interior burned out. Nevertheless, the old wooden main altar and the neo-Romanesque cross from 1896 designed by August Orth have been preserved.

Since its foundation, the Essen Bach Choir has been the choir of the Kreuzeskirche. After the war damage, the Bach Choir found a new home in the Erlöserkirche .

Today's church building

Kreuzeskirche, north view, partly scaffolded

Reconstruction began in 1949 and was completed in March 1953. The side galleries were not restored. The inauguration of the rebuilt Kreuzeskirche took place on November 8, 1953.

The Kreuzeskirche has been a monument since 1987. At this time, considerable damage to sandstone elements was determined, so it was decided to renovate the building. As part of the Essen Consensus , the interior was renovated in 1994 as a model labor market project. Since then, the church has also been used for various events, exhibitions, readings and concerts.

After the church building in the meantime showed a considerable need for renovation, which could not be borne by the community alone, the church building was sold in 2013 to the Essen construction company Rainer Alt at a symbolic price. He renovated the church and in turn rented it to the Evangelical Church Community Essen-Altstadt, the Forum Kreuzeskirche e. V. and the creative entrepreneur Reinhard Wiesemann ( Unperfekthaus ). The lease is initially valid for twenty years. At the same time, the entrepreneur Reinhard Wiesemann undertook to cover the majority of the costs for the renovation of the building with around 1.6 million euros and is allowed to generate profits during 20 percent of the usage time, while 80 percent of the usage time must be charitable. To this end, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia approved another million euros in November 2013 to support the renovation, which began in January 2014. An event room for church events, exhibitions and concerts has been created inside. During the construction period, the community used the nearby market church .

The renovation was completed at the end of November 2014. In August 2016, church windows designed by the pop artist James Rizzi were inaugurated.

See also : List of sacred buildings in Essen

organ

The Kreuzeskirche has had an organ with 70 registers , four manuals and a pedal since 1968 . The instrument was built by the Berlin organ building company Karl Schuke . After six months of restoration, the instrument was re-inaugurated on June 28, 2015. The costs of around 350,000 euros were covered by reserves, foundation funds and some large donations. Since 1968 the Schuke organ of the Kreuzeskirche in Essen has been the largest church organ in North Rhine-Westphalia.

I Swell C – g 3 Drone 16 ′ Viol 8th' Hollow flute 8th' Beat (from c 0 ) 8th' Greater sesquialtera II 5 1 ⁄ 3  ′ Principal 4 ′ Floute douce 4 ′ Nassat 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ Night horn 2 ′ Seventh 1 1 ⁄ 7  ′ Cornett IV-V (from c 0 ) 8th' Mixture IV-V 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ Zimbel III 1 ⁄ 7 ′ Cor anglaise 16 ′ Basset horn 8th' Trumpet horm. 4 ′ Tremulant

II Hauptwerk C – g 3 Principal 16 ′ octave 8th' Fifth 5 1 ⁄ 3  ′ octave 4 ′ Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ octave 2 ′ Mixture major VI-VIII 2 ′ Mixture minor IV 2 ⁄ 3 ′ Trumpet 16 ′ Trumpet 8th' Chip. Trumpet 8th' Chip. Trumpet 4 ′

III Oberwerk C – g 3 Principal 8th' Reed flute 8th' Quintad 8th' octave 4 ′ Hollow flute 4 ′ Cane fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ octave 2 ′ Field peacock 2 ′ Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ Sesquialtera II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ Mixture IV-V 1' Zimbel III 1 ⁄ 6 ′ Dulcian 16 ′ Hopper shelf 8th' Tremulant

IV breastwork C – g 3 Covered 8th' Covered 4 ′ Quintad 4 ′ Principal 2 ′ Pointed flute 2 ′ Sif flute 1' Scharff III-IV 1 ⁄ 2 ′ Tertian II 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′ musette 16 ′ Krummhorn 8th' Tremulant

Pedal C – f 1 Pedestal 32 ′ Principal 16 ′ Sub bass 16 ′ Fifth 10 2 ⁄ 3  ′ octave 8th' Covered 8th' Bass sesquia. III 5 1 ⁄ 3  ′ octave 4 ′ Pipe pommer 4 ′ Peasant flute 2 ′ Gemshorn overbl. 1' Backset V 4 ′ Mixture III 1' trombone 16 ′ bassoon 16 ′ Trumpet 8th' Clairon 4 ′ Cornett 2 ′ Tremulant

• Coupling : 16 'I-II, 4' I-II, 16 'III-II, 4' III-II, I / II, III / II, IV / II, III / I, 16 'II, 4' II, 16 'III-III, 4' III-III, IV / III, I / P, II / P, III / P, IV / P
• Playing aids : Composition system with 9999 storage spaces and lockable levels

literature

• Wolfgang Deurer : Two centuries meet. 19th century legacy. Challenge for the 21st Century. Demolition or preservation of the Kreuzeskirche in Essen. Expert study on behalf of the city of Essen in preparation for the restoration of the Kreuzeskirche in Essen. Detlef Mönch Verlag, Essen, 1991.

Web links

Commons : Kreuzeskirche  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Homepage of the “Forum Kreuzeskirche e. V. " ( Memento from March 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
• Homepage for events in the Kreuzeskirche
• Homepage with general orientation about the Kreuzeskirche and a central event calendar.
• Excerpt from the list of monuments of the city of Essen (architectural monument)
• Extract from the list of monuments of the city of Essen (ground monument)
• Description of this sight on the route of industrial culturehttp: //vorlage.rik.test/~26~12637

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Evangelical Church in the Rhineland - News, March 19, 2010 ; Retrieved January 15, 2013
2. ↑ Werner Franzen: Places of worship in change. Protestant church building in the Rhineland 1860–1914. Dissertation, Gerhard Mercator University Duisburg 2002. Part 3: Directory of new Protestant church buildings in the Rhineland 1860–1914 . Directory as PDF file (1.73 MB); Retrieved January 15, 2013
3. ↑ essen.de: Kultur & Bildung Klangraum Kreuzeskirche , accessed on November 16, 2014.
4. ↑ Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung WAZ of November 30, 2013: The Kreuzeskirche is saved
5. ↑ Kreuzeskirche will be renovated from January and will give away benches. DerWesten.de, December 23, 2013, accessed June 17, 2015 . 
6. ↑ Essen's Kreuzeskirche has the world's only Rizzi church window , derwesten.de, August 20, 2016, accessed on August 22, 2016
7. ↑ Andreas Rossmann : Think of the Bible and start painting . In: FAZ of August 29, 2016, p. 11.
8. ^ Forum Kreuzeskirche e. V .: Schuke organ ( Memento from November 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
9. ↑ Schuke organ - queen with new timbres. DerWesten.de, June 24, 2015, accessed June 29, 2015 . 
10. ↑ The largest church organ in NRW | The state portal Wir in NRW. June 26, 2015, accessed March 15, 2019 . 

Coordinates: 51 ° 27 ′ 34 "  N , 7 ° 0 ′ 40.3"  E