Kreuzkirche Seifhennersdorf

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kreuzkirche on Rathausplatz in May 2014

The Kreuzkirche Seifhennersdorf is the Protestant church in the town of Seifhennersdorf . It is the seat of the Evangelical Lutheran parish "Am Großen Stein", to which the churches in Leutersdorf and Spitzkunnersdorf also belong. It was built as a classical hall church at the end of the 18th century and consecrated on November 11, 1798. It is one of the cultural monuments of the city of Seifhennersdorf.

history

After Seifhennersdorf was laid out as a Waldhufendorf after around 1250 , there was a church in Seifhennersdorf as early as 1357; thus this was the oldest village church of the dean's office in Zittau . Towards the end of the 18th century, the old church of Seifhennersdorf, as in many villages in Upper Lusatia , became too small for the steadily increasing number of church members. A new building was especially necessary because the old church was very dilapidated. In 1776, the Seifhennersdorf parish decided to build a larger new building on the site of the church, so that the laying of the foundation stone began on July 5th of the same year. A year later the old church could be demolished and construction could begin on this ground.

Kreuzkirche seen from Rumburger Strasse

The plans for the new building, as with the church in Oberoderwitz, were provided by the Zittau architect and council building director Carl Christian Eschke . He planned a classicist hall church that offered 2450 people a seat. The consecration of the church was celebrated on November 11, 1798. When the tower head was placed on the 57 meter high tower, construction was completed on October 13, 1800.

After a new town hall was built at the church in 1925, the interior of the church burned down on the night of March 22nd to 23rd, 1935; the most likely cause was arson. The current interior of the church dates from 1936 by the Zittau architect Richard Schiffner ; since then the church only offers 1,600 seats. Two leaded glass windows are by Hans Kelch, two more were made in 1978 by the Swiss Willy Fries . The organ also comes from 1936 by the organ builder Schuster.

In 1988/89, under the difficult GDR conditions, the church tower was renovated by many hard-working residents and helpers from the partner parish in Numansdorp ( Netherlands ). After the political change in 1996, the opportunity arose to re-cover the roof of the church; then the interior renovation could also be carried out. In 1998 the 200th anniversary celebrations were celebrated in the renovated church.

building

Ground plan of the church before 1935

The outer walls of the Kreuzkirche form a rectangle with a length (with tower) of 47 meters and a width of 22.5 meters, the interior has three circumferential galleries and has eight windows on the long sides and three on the narrow sides. The church tower has a square floor plan that grows into an octagon and merges into a curved hood. A memorial plaque on the east side commemorates the fire of 1935 and the rapid reconstruction; Another plaque on the south side is in memory of the tower renovation in 1988/89 and the help from the Dutch partner community.

Investments

The church is located in the center of Seifhennersdorf, between Rathausplatz / Nordstraße and Rumburger Straße / Innere Stadt. Seen from Rumburger Strasse, it lies on a hill and is therefore visible from afar from the southern part of the city. The rectory is also located on Rumburger Strasse and offers space for teaching and rehearsals; In addition, the administration has its seat here and an apartment is available for one of the two parish priests.

Opposite the church, on Nordstrasse, is the community cemetery.

Furnishing

altar

The altar , like the baptismal font, is made of shell limestone, so that on closer inspection you can still see shell shells in the stone. Both were donated by Bernhard Wilhelm. A seven-meter-long wooden cross hangs above the altar, at the end of which a wooden church “with flames” is supposed to commemorate the fire of 1935. To the right of the altar are the baptismal font and the first leaded glass window showing the baptism of Jesus Christ .

organ

Schuster - organ

Today's organ stands on the west side of the church and was made in 1936 by the organ builder Schuster from Zittau . Along with the organ in the Johanniskirche Zittau, it is one of the largest Schuster organs manufactured. The instrument is still maintained by today's company A. Schuster & Sohn, based in Olbersdorf . The four-manual instrument has 71 registers , distributed over a total of 5402 pipes . The Dresden Kreuzchor , the Leipziger Thomaner , the Dresden Staatskapelle and Philharmonie and soloists such as Theo Adam and Peter Schreier have performed in the Kreuzkirche .

Bells

The 57 meter high tower initially had three, later four bronze bells. Three of these were confiscated and melted down during World War I ; the oldest, a bell that was cast in the Weinhold bell foundry in Dresden in 1777, was not handed in at the time. Today it stands under the organ loft of the church, but is no longer needed to ring the bell. Since 1920, a steel bell made of four cast steel bells has been hanging in the bell room, which the parish purchased to replace the old bells. They weigh 1900, 850, 500 and 350 kilograms and sound in the tones Eb, G, B and C.

Peal

The chime consists of four chilled cast iron bells and a bronze bell. The belfry consists of a steel and wood structure. Below is a data overview of the bell:

No. Casting date Caster diameter Dimensions material Chime
1 1920 Bell foundry Schilling & Lattermann Chilled iron 1650 mm 1900 kg it'
2 1920 Bell foundry Schilling & Lattermann Chilled iron 1300 mm 850 kg G'
3 1920 Bell foundry Schilling & Lattermann Chilled iron 1070 mm 500 kg b ′
4th 1920 Bell foundry Schilling & Lattermann Chilled iron 960 mm 350 kg c ″
5 1777 Bell foundry AS Weinholdt bronze 1112 mm 1083 kg f ′

Further equipment

As mentioned above, there are four stained glass windows in the church, which were made in 1936 by Hans Kelch and in 1978 by the Swiss Willy Fries . The first shows the baptism of Jesus, the second, which is in the sacristy , shows the Gospels of Matthew , Mark , Luke and John . The third window shows the story of the prophet Daniel about the three faithful Jewish men in the fiery furnace, the fourth shows the sinking Peter, to whom Jesus extends his hand.

A picture of Philipp Melanchthon , which was saved from the fire, hangs next to a picture of Martin Luther in front of the chancel.

In addition, to the right of the entrance to the tower hall is the old clockwork of the tower clock, which worked until 1935; on the left is the already mentioned bronze bell from 1777.

literature

  • Cornelius Gurlitt : District administration Zittau (country) . In: Descriptive representation of the older architectural and art monuments of the Kingdom of Saxony . Meinhold, Dresden 1906 ( digitized in the SLUB ).
  • Moritz Oskar Sauppe: The Diocese of Zittau . In: New Saxon Church Gallery . Strauch, Leipzig 1904 ( digitized in the SLUB ).

Web links

Commons : Kreuzkirche Seifhennersdorf  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.kreuzkirche-seifhennersdorf.de/
  2. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated February 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.seifhennersdorf.de
  3. ↑ http://www.kreuzkirche-seifhennersdorf.de/Geschichte/geschichte.html
  4. ↑ http://www.kreuzkirche-seifhennersdorf.de/Kreuzkirche/Rundgang_Bild02/rundgang_bild02.html
  5. ↑ http://orgelbau-welde.de/gesch/
  6. ↑ http://www.orgelbau-welde.de/orgeln/
  7. ↑ http://www.kreuzkirche-seifhennersdorf.de/Geschichte/geschichte.html
  8. ^ Rainer Thümmel : Bells in Saxony: sound between heaven and earth . Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2011, ISBN 978-3-374-02871-9 , pp. 358 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 3.9 "  N , 14 ° 36 ′ 35.1"  E