Assumption of Mary (Meschede)
The parish church of the Assumption is a church building in Meschede in the Hochsauerlandkreis in North Rhine-Westphalia .
Emergency church
In the 1920s and 1930s the city of Meschede grew mainly to the north. While the city still had around 5,000 inhabitants around 1920, it was well over 7,000 by the outbreak of World War II. New residential areas were built and the parish church of St. Walburga was no longer able to cope with the steadily increasing population. Even before the outbreak of war, voices had been loud in favor of a second parish north of the Ruhr. The parish was finally founded in 1941. A new church building was out of the question during times of war - and especially under the National Socialist regime. Therefore, church services were held in an emergency church barrack next to Villa Maria. The former workshop barrack was bought in Berlin in 1930 and served as accommodation for the monks in front of the monastery. The barrack was demolished in 1967.
Today's church
The building was built from 1952 to 1953 according to plans by the architects Dierkes and Karl Brochhausen in the style of an early Christian basilica . The choice of the architectural style can definitely be seen as conscious: the early Romanesque, even Carolingian elements bring a reference to the parish church of St. Walburga, which was founded at that time as one of the oldest churches in the region. The building looks simple and sober. The walls are divided by arched windows. The massive tower rises above the choir . A two-story, transept-like extension is attached to the tower on the mountain side. The lower space is for the church choir and as Schola used in the upper room which is the organ built. A staircase leads to the crypt below the church . The name of the church is also not without a historical background: the parish church "Mariä Himmelfahrt et St. Johanni" was located in the center of Meschede, about 100 meters north-west of today's parish church St. Walburga Served secularization of the monastery in the early 19th century. The interior of the church was redesigned in 2009 according to the designs by architect Happe, but without losing the original effect of the church space.
Atonement Cross
In a side valley on the B 55 between Eversberg and Meschede, 80 Russian forced laborers were shot by a Wehrmacht commando in 1945 and buried in a mass grave ( massacre in the Arnsberg Forest ). In March the murdered Russians were buried in the so-called French cemetery and on May 4, 1947 the atonement cross was erected. The cross was desecrated four times, then dismantled and buried in a secret place. Some Mesched students who had succeeded in researching the burial site dug it up again in 1964. Since no one showed any interest in the cross, it was hidden in a garage until 1981. Then it found its place in this church.
Furnishing
- The altar table made of Anröchter dolomite is part of the original furnishings.
- The two ambones are also made from Anröchter dolomite.
- The organ was built in Felix Breil's workshop.
- The windows were made according to templates by Vincenz Pieper .
- The Way of the Cross is a work by W. Mellmann.
- The altar cross and the tabernacle were made by Th. Menke.
- The four-part steel bell sounds in e′-g′-a′-c ′.
swell
- Bernhard Göbel: 1000 years of Meschede, history, economy, culture , published on behalf of the city of Meschede, 1959
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 21 ′ 4.5 " N , 8 ° 16 ′ 43.3" E