Luther Church (Bad Harzburg)

Luther Church from the northeast

Portal with Luther relief

Sanctuary

The Luther Church in Bad Harzburg is the church of the Evangelical Lutheran community in the city. It was built in neo-Gothic forms in the years 1901–1903 according to plans by the Bad Harzburg master builder Gustav Heine .

history

The Neustadt settlement at the foot of the Harzburg developed in the 13th century. A church already existed in the 14th century. This results from a document from 1338 about a donation from Count Konrad III. from Wernigerode over land, the income of which was intended for the livelihood of the chaplain of the chapel on the Harzburg. This chaplain had to be appointed by the Count of Wernigerode in agreement with the Neustadt pastor. The church patronage was from the late 15th century until 1918 with the Dukes of Braunschweig . The first church was reduced to rubble during the Thirty Years War . Under Duke Julius was Reformation performed. In 1568 he gave the order to build a new church. The old village church, whose masonry was made of quarry stone , received a steeple in 1592 . After the destruction in the Thirty Years War , a new church was built in 1654. The tower, which until then had a gable roof , was given a baroque dome . In 1863 the old village church was extensively repaired. A half-timbered church was built on a stone base with a five-eighth end.

The second half of the 19th century saw a strong increase in the spa business and population and the emergence of the town of Bad Harzburg in 1892/1894. The old church got too small. At the request of the parish, the ducal consistory approved the establishment of a church building fund in 1892 . For a new building, the plans of Conrad Wilhelm Hase for the St. Martini Church in Rhüden should be adopted according to the intention of the ducal consistory . However, the parish decided on a profound modification of this design, with which the local builder Gustav Heine was commissioned. He directed the construction work until his death in February 1902. Work on the foundations of the new church tower began as early as October 1901 , the old village church was still in use, the first official groundbreaking took place on November 2, 1901, the foundation stone was laid on November 10 November celebrated. The last service was held in the old village church on November 17th, after which it was torn down. Until the inauguration of the Luther Church on November 29, 1903, the services took place in the municipal gym of the secondary school for girls. The church survived the Second World War undamaged, only the original altar windows were destroyed. In 1958, large parts of the original painting were painted over in one color. In 1987 the exterior and interior were renovated. Further exposure of the Quensen paintings is planned.

architecture

The east - facing two-aisled hall church consists of a nave with a recessed, polygonal apse and a north aisle , which is divided into two floors by a brick gallery . All yokes have groin vaults , the apse a star vault . The facade of the portal is a rose window and a tympanum - Relief intricately designed. The side aisle is divided on the outside with inner houses . Instead of a fourth (west) yoke, the bell tower with a pointed dome is inserted on a square floor plan . In the tower hang three bells of bronze , a small, in 1674 from Wolfenbütteler caster Heiso Meyer made and two more that were cast in 2010 and the 2011th The latter replaced the cast steel bells from the 1920s, which were purchased in place of the bronze bells delivered for war purposes during the First World War . The cast steel bells are set up in front of the portal.

Furnishing

Apse vault

Crescent Madonna, around 1500

Two carvings from the period around 1500 from the pre-Reformation parish church are attached to the pillars of the galleries. The first figure represents the Madonna of the Crescent Moon of the Revelation of St. John , who equates the Catholic tradition of interpretation with Mary of the Gospels ; also Martin Luther's song She is dear to me, the valued maid stands in this tradition. The second figure represents the legendary Catherine of Alexandria . The figures are the remains of a winged altar from the castle chapel. Two epitaphs from the beginning of the Thirty Years' War have been preserved from the baroque village church . The smaller of the two, dating from 1618, is typical of the Renaissance . It consists of three images arranged one above the other. The picture below is in the format of a predella . In the central picture above the birth of Christ is depicted in ancient ruins. The picture above shows the risen one as the conqueror of death and the devil. The larger epitaph from 1623 already bears baroque features. In structure it is similar to the older epitaph. But it only has two pictures. In the lower one the family of the founders is shown with the crucifixion of Jesus , in the upper one the visit of the three angels to Abraham .

From 1903 Adolf Quensen furnished the church with high-quality painting on all wall and ceiling surfaces. Since it was overpainted in 1958, only the pictures of the apostles Peter and Paul that flank the chancel are left. A triumphal arch with angels making music stretches between them and Christ enthroned in the center. More Quensen representations have been exposed since 2013.

The relief in the portal tympanum Martin Luther teaches the people was created by Wilhelm Sagebiel . The altar with the crucifixion group and the pulpit with the teaching Christ, flanked by Moses and John the Baptist , also come from him .

Of the original windows, only the three apse windows were figurative. They were destroyed by a pressure wave during the war and replaced by new designs in the 1950s.

organ

Organ prospectus since 1903

In 1903 Wilhelm Sauer built an organ with 2 manuals , a pedal and 29 registers for the church . The instrument with the pneumatic cone store behind a neo-Gothic prospect was a foundation of the König family. She had the following disposition :

In 1951 Friedrich Weißenborn expanded the range and voices of the pedal. Hans-Heinz Blöss created a moving 1,963 gaming table with electric tracker action and introduced in 1971 by mechanical grinding shop around. The pedal was extended to Cf ³ . In 1971 Blöß carried out a thorough renovation. The disposition was slightly modified and the pipework was re- voiced . In 1974 the manuals were expanded from 54 to 56 tones.

However, the sound image remained unsatisfactory. In 2001 Christian Scheffler largely reconstructed the original state on the first and third manuals, which were expanded by a further manual.

The Sauer / Scheffler organ has the following disposition:

• Coupling : II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P, Tuttikoppel
• Playing aids : 1 free combination , 3 fixed combinations (p, mf, tutti), crescendo roller, pipe mill stutti, pipe mill off, roller off, hand register off

literature

• Paul Jonas Meier : The architectural and art monuments of the Duchy of Braunschweig , third volume, Wolfenbüttel 1906, pp. 398-403
• Luther Community Bad Harzburg: Festschrift for the 100th anniversary of the Luther Church , Bad Harzburg 2006
• Helge Burggrabe among other things: Holy rooms - Bad Harzburg's churches and chapels . Bad Harzburg 2013
• Karsten Krüger, Johannes Külling: The Sauer organ in the Luther Church in Bad Harzburg .

Web links

Commons : Lutherkirche Bad Harzburg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• History of the Church (website of the parish)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Braunschweigisches Magazin (Braunschweigische Advertisements), Braunschweigisches Magazin May 30, 1801
2. ↑ Luthergemeinde ( Memento of the original from March 1, 2016 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. 
3. ^ Organ of the Lutherkirche Bad Harzburg , accessed on February 26, 2016.

Coordinates: 51 ° 52 ′ 47.2 "  N , 10 ° 33 ′ 52.1"  E