Luther Church (Asseln)

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Luther Church, from Asselner Hellweg with a view of the medieval rectangular choir
North facade of the Luther Church

The Lutheran Church is under monument protection standing evangelical church building in Dortmund woodlice , Asselner Hellweg 118th

Architecture of the church

The Luther Church is a neo , cross-shaped curved Saalkirche with a choir with 5 / 8 -Schluss . The foundation stone was laid on June 8, 1904 . It was built until 1906 from sandstone carved in the shape of a cuboid . This comes from the quarry in Hörstel near Ibbenbüren and was formed there and transported by train to Wickede-Asseln station . Last blinded to the new church building with cut stones so that tower and rectangular choir with the new church formed a unit. On the west and south sides are the main facades, each with a large wheeled window and decorated entrance portals . The wheel window on the south facade is framed with mosaic medallions. To the south-east of today's choir is the old two-bay Gothic rectangular choir from the Middle Ages , which was included as an extension and converted into a mourning hall. In the west is the church tower , also from the Middle Ages, with a pointed spire , which was integrated into the new church as a monument. On the lower north facade, the masonry is structured by biofilm windows. Above that there are large pointed arch windows in neo-Gothic style. On the roof ridge of today's choir is a roof turret covered with copper sheeting . On June 13, 1906, the inauguration took place with a large participation of the Asseln community . The total cost of the new church building at that time was over 200,000 marks .

The first church

The Asseln church was first mentioned in a document in 1059. At that time there was already a small wooden predecessor church . In a document from 1216 it is mentioned for the first time as "Capella in Aslen" (translated as Chapel to Asseln ).

A stone church

Asseln became an independent parish in 1243 after it had separated from the mother parish in Kurl . Around 1250, the old wooden church was torn down and replaced by a new stone building, as Asseln was striving to change its status from a simple chapel to an upscale church with full parish rights. For this purpose, a baptismal font had to be purchased, which was made in a "trough shape" customary for Westphalia at the time . The stone-built church was quite small, had a square floor plan of around 7 meters by 7 meters and offered space for around 60 worshipers. The preserved massive early Gothic pointed gable with keystone from the 13th century, which can still be seen in the mourning hall, dates from this period . The massive tower in the Romanesque style probably already existing at that time was originally separated from the church.

The church expansion

In the 14th century the church had to be expanded and enlarged. The reason for this was an economic boom , which caused the population of woodlice to increase. The church became too small and it was decided to expand it. For this purpose, the old fortified tower was included in the church, so that a single-nave central nave in the Gothic style with a cross vault was created, which was 10.40 m wide, 12.50 m long and 19 m high up to the stone vault. The tower and the old chapel were now connected to one another by the new central nave, which turned the old chapel into a choir .

The church renovation in 1777

The Luther Church before the renovation in 1890.
The interior view of the Luther Church before the renovation in 1890

In 1777 the previously small church tower was raised by up to 20 meters and provided with an eight-sided tower spire , on which a "striking bell" hanging outwards was attached. Even the choir room was up to 2.60 m increased to bring the nave and choir to a uniform height. The old ceiling construction was torn out and replaced by a wooden ceiling . The choir room was separated by a load-bearing wooden wall, so that behind it a room almost 4 meters high was created for the sacristy . A pulpit with an integrated sound cover was also installed directly above the altar , which was supported by the wooden wall and could only be reached from the sacristy through a wooden staircase . Above the old pulpit was the old organ , which was supported by the ceiling of the sacristy.

Gustav Mucke and the church design for the new building 1899–1903

Luther Church after the demolition of the central nave, 1904

The reason for the new church was the population of Asseln , which increased explosively as a result of industrialization . When coal mining began at the Schleswig and Holstein collieries, Asseln's population tripled within a few years. In addition, the old church was in a poor structural condition. The Hagen- based architect Gustav Mucke was commissioned to build the new church. He planned to keep the old Romanesque church tower and to add a new, spacious nave in the neo-Gothic style for more than 900 worshipers. The Asseln parish councils agreed, but the superior church authority in Münster voted against the church building plan of the Asseln parish councils; she insisted on considering the aspects of monument preservation when building a new church. This followed the objections of the provincial curator Albert Ludorff , who considered not only the tower but also the choir to be worth preserving. Gustav Mucke changed his drafts until, after long discussions, he presented a final version on June 21, 1903. This design provided for the tower and choir to be retained and integrated into the new church. After the church authorities had given their approval, the demolition work could begin.

The demolition in 1904

Luther Church, seen from the west, around 1900

The last service was held in the old church on February 21, 1904 . Then the old benches were removed from the church. On February 23, 1904, the demolition work began with the cross vault , which consisted of 25 to 30 cm thick hair - sandstone . On the evening of February 23, 1904, the entire vault of the church was torn down. Then the outer walls of the central nave were completely torn down and the choir was removed by 2.60 m to its original height. Finally, the excavation work began on the old foundation .

The tower

The square tower, which merges into an irregular octagon, was probably built in the 12th century as a defense and escape tower in the late Romanesque style from thick sandstone masonry . He was very important to the residents of Isola. If wars threatened, they could entrench themselves in the tower. The late Romanesque style elements such as the tower windows with the central columns and the cube capitals prove that it is probably older than the church. Originally the tower was much smaller than it is today. This is what the theologian Johann Dietrich von Steinen described in 1755, who set himself the goal of recording the history of medieval architecture in Westphalia. In 1777, the small tower was raised and given a pyramid-shaped, octagonal , slate- covered spire , on which a bell was attached on the outside. During the demolition of the central nave in 1904, it was found that the tower leaned about 30 cm to the west. Half of the western wall thickness was removed to straighten the building. The tower foundation on the northern corner of the tower was also exposed. It turned out that it was not bricked up, but consisted of layers of packing laid crosswise on top of each other , which were pressed upright onto a hard layer of marl at a depth of 2 meters . The gaps were filled with small stones and earth and closed. The tower spire, erected in 1777, was demolished in 1904. After that, the tower walls were a few meters increased and provided with pediments. Inside is a mechanical tower clock mechanism, which was manufactured by the JF Weule company in 1906 and which still has to be wound by hand to this day. The electric bell was installed by Herford Elektromotoren-Werke GmbH & Co. KG . This is followed by a high covered with copper sheet, pointed spire with ball and tower cross.

The bells

Three old bells hung in the tower until it was rebuilt in 1904. The first bell came from 1601, the second from 1781 by the bell founder Christian Voigt in Isselburg and the third so-called "prayer bell" came from 1874 and was cast around an older bell from 1710. The fourth bell was the small " chime bell" from 1649, which hung outside the bell room on the tower. It was no longer needed when the tower tower was demolished in 1904 and was kept in the rectory until 1915.

Shortly before the completion of the church in 1905 were four new bronze bells with one of steel produced belfry in bell foundry Johann Georg Pfeifer in Kaiserslautern ordered.

No. Chime Casting year Foundry, casting location Weight
(kg)
1 h ° 1905 Johann Georg Pfeifer bell foundry, Kaiserslautern 2505
2 dis' 1238
3 fis' 710
4th g sharp ' 504

In the war year 1917 the bells "h °", "dis '" and "fis'" had to be delivered and melted down for armament purposes. The congregation then only had the small "G sharp" bell. New bells were not ordered until 1922. But because bronze was very expensive at the time, chilled cast iron bells were ordered. The small "G sharp" bell that had been preserved until then was no longer used and sold. In 1964 the ringing was supplemented by the so-called "wedding bell". On August 26, 2007, the old iron chill-cast bells were replaced by four new bronze bells because they rusted through from the inside out . The new bells were cast by the Rudolf Perner bell foundry in Passau and, together with the “wedding bell”, form a five-part bronze bell. So today there is the holiday bell (d '), the Sunday and death bell (f sharp'), the wedding bell (g '), the prayer bell (a') and the sacrament bell (h ').

Interior

The side aisles are separated from the central nave by side elevations and each rest on two narrow columns . The so-called church or trombone stage is located on the southern gallery . The impressive and for a Protestant church unusual ornamental and figurative interior painting in Art Nouveau comes from the Berlin church painter Otto Berg . Almost all of the interior decoration has been preserved to this day. In the choir are the baptismal font and pulpit made of white French Savonière limestone . In the choir above the altar there are three choir windows, which were designed for the most important ecclesiastical festivals (the birth of Jesus, Easter and Pentecost). The vault above the crossing is a star rib vault . In the altar area there is a wooden figure from the 14th century that depicts the Archangel Michael . In the mourning hall there is a crucifix that was hung under the early Gothic pointed arch. Of the crucifix, only the wooden figure depicting Jesus Christ is old. At the western entrance is a baptismal font from the Renaissance , which was made in 1721. The old “trough” font from the 13th century can also be admired in the church. At the south entrance is the old "striking bell" from 1649. After the bell was sold in 1915, it came to the Dortmund Museum; on October 31, 2005, she returned to church after nearly a hundred years. On the side walls of the organ there are two old coat of arms stones from the 16th century that show the alliance and family coats of arms.

The organs

In an organ chamber on the south gallery is the romantic embossed main organ with 24 registers on two manuals and pedal , which in 1906 by the organ workshop P. Furtwängler & Hammer was built. Another (small) choir organ with 11 registers (two manuals and pedal) is located in the front of the choir in a niche on the south wall.

The war memorial

War memorial with the lion

The war memorial is on the north side of the Luther Church . It was executed in 1925–1926 and commemorates the soldiers who died in the First World War . The memorial shows a figurative representation of a roaring lion. After 1945, the dedication of the monument to the fallen soldiers of the Second World War was extended.

literature

Web links

Commons : Lutherkirche (Dortmund-Asseln)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 31 ′ 42.6 "  N , 7 ° 35 ′ 16.5"  E