Kreuzkirche (Braunschweig-Lehndorf)

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The Evangelical Lutheran Kreuzkirche in Braunschweig-Lehndorf is the village church of Alt-Lehndorf . Its building history goes back to the 13th century .

History of construction and use

Kreuzkirche in Lehndorf
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This church ( ecclesia ) is attested in writing in 1245 , the construction of which was an unknown long time ago. This village church, built in Romanesque style, is the current transept of the cruciform church. The walls, some of which are still visible today, were made of quarry stone ( Elm limestone and Braunschweiger Rogenstein ), as was also used in the construction of Braunschweig's city churches in the 12th century.

The church had its entrance in the north (the stone door posts can still be seen in the masonry), a typical west tower and small Romanesque windows. The church was renovated in 1440, as indicated by a date stone on the south side of the old nave. The entrance from the north was probably built into the west side of the tower at this time. This is still used today as a side entrance.

In 1532 the community became Protestant during the Reformation . In connection with the Hildesheim collegiate feud there was a church fire in 1605, the v. a. the tower was badly damaged, so that it had to be demolished. A roof turret was built in its place, which still exists today.

According to the design of the government and building councilor Pfeifer, who also taught as a professor of architecture and construction at the University of Applied Sciences in Braunschweig and was to be regarded as the most important architect of the Duchy of Braunschweig alongside Ludwig Winter , the "village church" was expanded into a cross-shaped hall church from 1903–1905 , the access from the tower moved to the new south side, while an altar apse and a sacristy were added to the north. Before that, however, the galleries and creeks had been removed from inside. The old eastward direction of the church has also been abandoned by aligning the church to the north. Pfeifer's renovation is of impressive design quality if you compare it with other new church buildings of this time in Braunschweig.

Pfeifer's achievement is to be rated all the more highly, as he modestly and cautiously connects the new south gable to the Große Straße with the echoes of the then flourishing Art Nouveau and with its arched windows with the medieval village church. If you take a closer look at Pfeifer's decline, you will notice that he undoubtedly created an architectural jewel in Lehndorf.

By installing a round-arched window in the east, which comes from the Aegidien monastery, which was demolished at the time , the relationship to the medieval church building is deliberately underlined. The same approach was taken with the redesign of the interior of the church. The ceiling painting with the four Evangelists and the Heavenly Jerusalem was created by the court decoration painter Adolf Quensen where the former medieval nave meets the extension . In terms of interior design, this room also bears Pfeifer's signature.

After the Second World War, the damaged interior was painted over. It was not until 1957 that the church was given the name "Kreuzkirche", probably because of its cross-like shape and in memory of the Kreuzkloster to which it previously belonged.

In 1972 the ceiling was exposed again and from 1989 to 1990 the interior decoration, especially in the apse, on the arches and in the window reveals, was exposed and restored. The total restoration of all wall paintings was dispensed with.

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Coordinates: 52 ° 16 ′ 10.4 ″  N , 10 ° 29 ′ 3.5 ″  E