Luther Church (Frankenthal)
The Luther Church in Frankenthal (Pfalz) is a parish church of the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate . The church was built according to plans by Rolf Gutbier until 1964 . The architect and town planner had also drawn up the plans for the entire Carl Bosch estate in the south-west of the city.
history
Today's Carl-Bosch-Siedlung was planned by the city of Frankenthal and GEWOGE, a subsidiary of BASF , for employees of the company. The residential buildings include single-family houses with pent roofs, which characterize the image of the settlement, bungalows, row houses, point houses in the middle and high-rise buildings on the edge. The churches on the northern edge of the settlement were also built for the believers in the adjacent Lauterecken district.
The Luther Church was named after Martin Luther and was consecrated on the 1st of Advent in 1964. Two years later the congregation became independent and a presbytery was elected. The neighboring Catholic Church of St. Paul was consecrated in 1967.
The Luther parish built a Christian day-care center on a plot of land donated by the KSB company for the construction of a church service hall in Lauterecken. This was inaugurated in 1968 and today has space for 75 children in three groups. (As of 2017)
International partnerships
The congregation has maintained a partnership with the reformed St Andrew's Church in Roundhay ( Leeds ) since October 1970, with regular meetings between adults and young people. In 1991 this was expanded to include the Frankenthal partner parish of Martinskirche in Bernburg (Saale) . The partnership with the Martinskirche has existed since 1985.
Architecture and equipment
In addition to Gutbier, Hans Kammerer and Walter Belz were the architects of the church. The church is a flat brick building with a ribbon of windows all around. The tent roof is supported by four supports and is made of steel framework. It is clad on the outside with copper sheet and inside with wood. A triangular window faces north and is filled with a large cross. The south front behind the altar is open to an atrium. There the artist Erich Sauer created the relief “Darum wachet” with concrete and glass blocks. The font was made by the stonemason Verena Schubert-Andres. Alexander Roob carried out a twelve-part picture cycle on the Old and New Testament in 1985. The organ was only built in 1967/68 by the Lübeck organ building company Kemper. The instrument includes two manuals, a pedal and a total of 18 stops. The game and stop action are mechanical.
The idea was to build a bell tower that would exceed the height of the neighboring Catholic Church. However, since the funds were limited in both communities, a common bell carrier was set up between the churches. Although bells were never installed, the ecumenical bracket was spared from demolition.
Pastor at the Luther Church (since 1966)
- Werner Wittenmeier (1966–1969)
- Klaus Böhm (1969–1982)
- Albrecht Roth (1982-2007)
- Martin Henninger (since 2008)
literature
- In the middle. 50 years of the Luther Church in Frankenthal. Festschrift and building block. Frankenthal 2014.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ David Figures: St. Andrew's moves confidently into the fifth decade of German partnership - Yet more milestones? In: Festschrift and Module. Pp. 38-41
- ^ A b Manfred Däuble: History of the Luther Church and Luther Church Community. In: Festschrift and Module. P. 22
- ↑ a b Regional Church Council of the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate (ed.): Handbook of the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate (Protestant Church) . Evangelischer Presseverlag Pfalz GmbH, Speyer 2009, p. 100 .
Coordinates: 49 ° 31 '32.5 " N , 8 ° 20' 52.4" E