Luther Church (Wiesbaden)
The Luther Church in the Hessian state capital Wiesbaden is a Protestant church that was built from 1908 to 1910 in the form of Art Nouveau and according to the principles of the Wiesbaden program .
history
The inauguration of Wiesbaden's Ringkirche was just nine years ago when, in 1903, due to the strong increase in the number of inhabitants , the town's entire Protestant community decided to build a fourth church after the Marktkirche , the Bergkirche and the Ringkirche . Since the building forms of the Wiesbaden program at the Ringkirche had very good experiences, the architectural competition announced in 1905 was taken as the basis. Johannes Otzen , the architect of the Berg- und Ringkirche and co-author of the Wiesbaden program , also took part in the competition . The jury included the architects Hermann Eggert and Franz Schwechten , well-known throughout the empire , Richard Saran , the government building officer who worked in Wiesbaden from 1901 to 1906, and the pastor Emil Veesenmeyer , who developed the Wiesbaden program together with Johannes Otzen .
After the three best drafts were revised again by their authors, the community finally decided on June 8, 1906 for the one by the architect Friedrich Pützer , who had taught at the Technical University of Darmstadt since 1900 .
“The floor plan of this design is new and promises an extraordinarily beautiful interior effect, and in all probability also good acoustics. The exterior has an original and appealing overall appearance and can be adapted even more with minor changes to the local construction method than is already done with luck. In particular, the end of the tower requires a change, which will result in any further constructive work out as necessary ....... The design achieves a great architectural effect with relatively little means and is a significant step on the way to the further development of the Protestant Church building can be viewed. "
The start of construction, originally scheduled for July 1907, was postponed somewhat: the first groundbreaking was on August 28, 1908, the foundation stone was laid on November 1, 1908; the inauguration took place on Christmas 1910.
architecture
Exterior
The Luther Church is located on Wiesbaden's Gutenbergplatz , in the immediate vicinity of the Ringstrasse . It was built in the forms of Art Nouveau and has a white plaster facade. Outstanding features are the 50 m high tower and the large church roof 20 m high, which rises above the ridge at a height of 37 m and is supported by a steel construction that caused a stir at the time. Due to its location on a hill within the Wiesbaden city center, these elements come into their own in terms of urban planning.
In the tympanum above the main entrance a cross mosaic can be seen, which is adorned with two key sentences from Martin Luther's hymn A solid castle is our God : A solid castle is our God and the word they should let you know . The Christ monogram can be seen in the cross, to the left and right above the cross the two Greek letters Alpha and Omega as a sign that Jesus Christ is the beginning and end of the world and all being (cf. Revelation of John 22:13).
Together with the two parsonages ( Mosbacher Strasse 4 and Sartoriusstrasse 14), the Luther Church forms a uniform architectural ensemble.
Interior
The interior of the Luther Church is built according to the rules of the “ Wiesbaden Program ”, which states that the three elements of the service - altar ( Last Supper ), pulpit ( sermon ) and organ (music) - are to be arranged centrally one above the other; the worshipers surround these three elements in a semicircle.
The church has 1200 seats. A ribbed vault spans over four columns above them . The interior has the shape of a longitudinal ellipse with a slight slope towards the chancel. The Art Nouveau ornamentation adorns the wood paneling of the walls, the ceiling and the gallery . All of the glass windows and the painting, as well as the picture for the bridal staircase, were created by Otto Linnemann from Frankfurt in 1911 ; numerous documents relating to this are in the Linnemann archive. In front of the church there is a vestibule and a vestibule. There are also other rooms, including a medium-sized community hall.
Organs and church music
There are three instruments in the church: On the one hand, a three-manual organ with a romantic mood, which was manufactured in 1911 by the company EF Walcker & Cie. was built and was part of the Wiesbaden program . Since there were still no oxidation-protected electrical contacts in 1911, the main work was equipped with an auxiliary game table with a pneumatic action .
In the mid-1970s this organ was in such a desperate condition that it was decided to install a new organ. After the restoration of the Walcker organ in the 1980s, the church now has two large organs. In addition, there is a small chest organ in the chancel, which was built in 1984 by Thomas Jann (Regensburg) and has 4 1 ⁄ 2 stops .
With this equipment and its good acoustics, the church is one of the church music centers of the Hessian state capital and home of the Wiesbaden Bach Choir and the Evangelical Singing Academy Wiesbaden.
Klais organ
The order to build a new organ on the rear gallery above the entrance went to the Klais organ manufacturer in Bonn. The new Klais organ was inaugurated in 1979. Like the Walcker organ, it has three manuals and a pedal . It has 44 stops and has mechanical main action and electric stop action .
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Coupling : II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
Walcker organ
Then the original Art Nouveau painting of the interior was restored. In this context, it was decided, in cooperation with the monument protection, to completely restore the old Walcker organ from 1911 as a monument to the late romantic organ building. The patronage was taken over by the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Hesse, and the restoration was carried out in 1986/87 by the Klais organ manufacturer . The organ was inaugurated again in 1987. It has 46 stops, the playing and stop actions work electrically.
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
-
Pairing :
- Normal coupling: II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
- Sub-octave coupling: III / I
- Super octave coupling: III / I, III / P
literature
- Baedeker Wiesbaden Rheingau. #. Edition, Karl Baedeker GmbH, Ostfildern-Kemnat 2001, ISBN 3-87954-076-4 , S. #.
- Klaus Uwe Ludwig (Red.): Luther Church Wiesbaden 1911–1986. 75th anniversary . Luther Church Community Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden 1986.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Church interior with oriental charm. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of August 5, 2011, page 52.
Coordinates: 50 ° 4 ′ 13 ″ N , 8 ° 14 ′ 16 ″ E