Luisenstadt Church

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Relief representation of the church on an information stele in the Luisenstadt church park
New memorial and explanatory plaque since August 2019 in Luisenstädtischer Kirchpark

The Luisenstadt Church , also Luisenstadt Church or Sebastian Church, was a Protestant church in the historic Luisenstadt district of Berlin 's Mitte district until 1964 .

history

Sebastian's Church in the Cöllnische Vorstadt in 1748 (built in 1695)

The laying of the foundation stone

The Sebastian Church in 1757, also called the Lutheran Church in the Cöllnische Vorstadt (built in 1751)
The Luisenstadtkirche in 1935 (with tower from 1845)

for the church took place on August 27, 1694 in the new cemetery of the St. Petri parish in Cölln . The reason for this was the steady growth of the twin cities of Berlin -Cölln. The head of the church, Sebastian Nethe, campaigned for the construction, and so it was finally given the name Sebastiankirche at the inauguration on July 21, 1695 by Provost Lütkens . The church was without prior knowledge of the Calvinist Elector Friedrich III. inaugurated with Lutheran ceremonies, which led them to the threat of denying the magistrate the church patronage . The plans for the baroque half-timbered church with its cruciform floor plan and a wooden tower were drawn up by Martin Grünberg .

The church received a Schnitger organ in 1707 . However, around 60 years after its construction, the building was in a ramshackle condition and could only be replaced by a new building by the builders Christian August Naumann and Johann Gottfried Büring between 1751 and 1753 . They erected a flood-protected new building on vaults with 27 large and small mortuary chambers, which were used as graves for the court copper engraver Georg Friedrich Schmidt , the composer Wilhelm Friedemann Bach , the Prussian judicial reformer Carl Gottlieb Svarez and the writer Christoph Friedrich Nicolai . In 1785 the name changed to Köllnische Vorstadtkirche for ten years by a ministerial decree . For the 100th anniversary, Friedrich Wilhelm II decreed that it was renamed Sebastiankirche. It was also he who allowed both the deceased of the Evangelical Lutheran churches and the Reformed to be buried in the new cemetery .

In 1802 the residents of the Köpenick quarter asked King Friedrich Wilhelm III. to rename their area in honor of his wife Luise in Luisenstadt . This led to the fact that the building was now also called Luisenstädtische Kirche . A few years later the cemetery was closed. Since then it has served the residents as a recreational park. The building had to be repaired again in 1841 and 1842 by the building inspector Wilhelm Berger . The work required considerable financial resources, so that a Gothic tower with a clock could not be completed until 1845 with the collaboration of Friedrich August Stüler . Further renovations took place from 1936 to 1940 when the heating, lighting and toilets were replaced.

During an air raid on February 3, 1945, incendiary and high-explosive bombs hit the church during World War II . Over 50 people who had sought refuge in the church's vaulted cellar lost their lives. The building burned out with most of the inventory. The grave vaults were completely looted after the war. After the division of Berlin , the church in East Berlin was close to the sector boundary. After the wall was built, a wire fence was to be built around the ruins and the tower was to be removed up to the height of the cornice . The community did not have the funds for the renovations; Money from the west was rejected by the East Berlin magistrate . The ruins were blown up on May 29, 1964, the grave vaults were filled with rubble from the ruins and the graves in the churchyard were leveled. A bell and the oil painting The Good Samaritan by Bernhard Rode have been preserved.

Today, a privet hedge is a reminder of the church's floor plan. Furthermore, the Luisenstadt e. V. advocated that in 2002 an information stele by the sculptor Nikolaus Bode was set up on the park-like area. It shows the church on a relief and recalls the tombs of Svarez, Bach and Nicolai. The nearby Sebastianstraße bears this name in reference to the church.

In August 2019, the Luisenstadt e. V. initiated the renovation of the ground monument with the support of the neighboring investor. An old, vandalized memorial plaque was replaced by a newly designed plaque.

literature

  • Richard Borrmann: The architectural and art monuments of Berlin. With a historical introduction by P. Clauswitz. Julius Springer's publishing house, Berlin 1893 ( digitized in the Internet Archive ). Unchangeable Reprinted by Gebrüder Mann Verlag, Berlin 1982, pp. 203f., ISBN 3-7861-1356-4 .
  • Götz Eckardt (ed.): Fates of German architectural monuments in the Second World War. A documentation of the damage and total losses in the area of ​​the German Democratic Republic. Vol. 1. Berlin - capital of the GDR, districts Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Potsdam, Frankfurt / Oder, Cottbus, Magdeburg. Henschel, Berlin 1980, p. 9, with illustrations.

Web links

Commons : Luisenstadt-Kirche  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Luisenstadt , website from luisenstadtkultur.de, accessed on January 27, 2013.
  2. a b Luisenstädtische Kirche ( Memento of the original dated February 11, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Website of the Evangelical Church District Berlin-Stadtmitte, accessed on January 27, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kkbs.de
  3. ^ Hermann Heckmann: Builder of the Baroque and Rococo in Brandenburg-Prussia . Verlag für Bauwesen, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-345-00631-6 , p. 319 f.
  4. ^ Bodendenkmal Luisenstadtkirche , website of the Senate Department for Urban Development, accessed on January 27, 2013.

Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 32.3 "  N , 13 ° 24 ′ 26.2"  E