Marienkirche (Offenbach am Main)

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Marienkirche seen from Mathildenplatz

The Catholic Marienkirche (also St. Marien , actually Our Lady of the Holy Rosary ) in Offenbach am Main is a neo-baroque church in the center of the city, which was built between 1911 and 1913. It is home to the Catholic parish of St. Marien Offenbach . This belongs to the Catholic deanery Offenbach am Main and thus to the diocese of Mainz . The Italian-speaking Catholic community Offenbach also uses the church.

The Marienkirche houses one of the few surviving historical organs from the Klais workshop . It also has the deepest and heaviest bells in the diocese of Mainz.

Relics of St. Maria Giuseppa Rossello are kept in the front altar of the church .

The building, which was designed by the architect and master builder Ludwig Becker , is a cultural monument according to the Hessian Monument Protection Act .

Location and municipalities

The Catholic St. Mariengemeinde Offenbach am Main is one of the eleven parishes within the Catholic Dean's Office Offenbach. Their municipal area includes the area between Wilhelmstrasse and Großer Biergrund in the west and Untere Grenzstrasse in the east, Mühlheimer Strasse in the north and the plant ring in the south. 3860 Catholics lived in the parish area at the last survey.

The Italian-speaking Catholic community in Offenbach also regularly uses the church. She is responsible for the area of ​​the deaneries Offenbach, Rodgau and Seligenstadt. Your catchment area thus includes around 9,000 Italians, including around 5,000 in Offenbach alone (as of 2009).

The church is located in the middle of the municipality on Bieberer Straße in the Mathildenviertel district of Offenbach am Main at the foot of Mathildenplatz.

history

St. Mary's emergency church at the site of today's St. Mary's Church (1896)

Since the first half of the 19th century, the number of Offenbach's population increased rapidly as a result of industrialization, and with it the number of Catholic residents in the city, which had been shaped by the Reformed Confession until then . Therefore St. Marien was founded as the second Catholic parish after the St. Paul parish founded in 1826 . The re-establishment was supported by the church council, state parliament member and member of the Reichstag Otto von Brentano .

As early as 1894, the building site was purchased at its current location and an emergency church was built there in 1896. A competition between four church builders was announced in 1908 for the new construction of the Marienkirche. The cathedral builder Ludwig Becker won the competition with a church in the neo-baroque style. In order to make room for the new building, a new makeshift church had to be set up on Krafftstrasse in 1911 and the previous emergency church had to be demolished.

The foundation stone for the new building was laid on September 3, 1911, the completion was in 1913. The consecration of the Marienkirche was carried out on August 11, 1913 by Bishop Georg Heinrich Maria Kirstein .

building

The Marienkirche shortly after its completion in 1913

The Marienkirche rises a few meters back from the Bieberer Straße. This creates a forecourt (the so-called Paradieshof ) with a balustrade , which is flanked by a rectory and sexton's house. The complex forms a neo-baroque ensemble with neoclassical structural elements and details in Art Nouveau style . The sculptural work comes from Hans Steinlein.

portal

The church is laid out as a basilica with a transept and a semicircular closed choir . The facade is designed with a slightly protruding central projectile and a richly designed portal . The eye-catcher above the portal is the sandstone sculpture “Our Lady of the Hi. Rosary ”- this is also the official name of the church.

A mighty central tower with a curved hood towers above the portal, which is a landmark for the city of Offenbach. The church tower is 60 m high and consists of solid brick masonry with a sandstone facade. The double onion is interrupted by a tour at a height of around 48 m. Decorated with a cross and a weathercock, the tower can be seen from afar.

The tower clock with three gold-plated wrought-iron dials belongs to the city of Offenbach. The hourly chime brings well-known hymns to the ear and changes the melody sequence with the church year.

The buildings are plastered with ashlar and mansard roofs . The emphasis on the vertical is achieved by a colossal structure of pilasters . The church has a cruciform floor plan and is 44 m long and 18.40 m wide. The transept measures 23 meters wide and nine meters deep. The church offers space for 1400 visitors, according to other information only for 600 people with 400 seats and 200 standing places.

After structural damage caused by the construction of the S-Bahn , the church was completely renovated between 1999 and 2001. In addition to repairing the outer facade, the work also included renovating the sandstone surfaces and walls. The windows were provided with protective glazing that protects against the weather. In the tower above the main portal, a window that was walled up after the Second World War was uncovered in order to restore the facade on Bieberer Strasse to its original state. In addition to the renovation of the building, an additional church service room , the crypt , was built below the existing church.

The church as well as the rectory and sexton are under monument protection .

Around the same time as the Marienkirche was being built, Ludwig Becker designed the Laurentiuskirche there for Hülzweiler , which shows parallels in terms of the tower position, the tower dome and the interior.

  • Tower and clock of the Marienkirche

  • Ludwig Becker: St. Laurentius (Hülzweiler) , designed around the same time as St. Mary's Church, built in 1908/1909

Facility

inner space

Interior with a view of the altar

The choir is dominated by the high altar from 1913. This is a typical baroque baldachin altar . The back wall of the altar is decorated with a painting based on a motif by Diego Velázquez . In the upper part it shows the coronation of Mary as Queen of the Holy Rosary and in the lower part emphasizes the importance of this popular prayer. The view into the distance shows the silhouette of St. Mary's Church in the center of the picture, which, lit by the heavenly light, concretizes the events of faith on site.

The large sculptures of Ambrose of Milan and Pope Leo the Great surround the high altar. To the right and left of it, the Marian and Sacred Heart altars adorn the south wall of the transept as side altars.

organ

Interior with a view of the organ

The historical organ on the gallery above the entrance portals with 30 registers on two manuals and a pedal was built in 1914 by the Klais organ building company as a romantic work in a pneumatic design with around 1750 pipes. The organ is listed as Opus 528 in Klais' list of works.

In 1973 the pneumatic action was replaced by an electropneumatic action and a new free-standing console was added. The organ was completely overhauled in the course of the church renovation between 1999 and 2001.

Due to its stylistic cohesion, its characteristics and its degree of preservation, the Klais organ in the Marienkirche is of outstanding importance, as in the diocese of Mainz, as in the rest of the Rhine-Main area, as a result of war damage and demolition and renovation measures in the After the war, hardly any instruments of this type have survived. The organ is one of the six remaining instruments made by the Klais company from that time.

Peal

Bells from 1913 before the consecration in the still empty Marienkirche
Plenum of the ringing bells of St. Mary's Church (three minutes)

The bell tower houses a ringing of eight bells. The originally four-part historical chime and bell from 1913 were made by the Andreas Hamm bell foundry . During the First World War , the change bell was melted down and was not replaced for a long time. During the Second World War , the three large bells were also confiscated for war purposes, but were not melted down and returned intact. The tone sequence of the Hamm bells is c sharp ', d flat', e 'and f sharp'.

In 1998 the Eifeler bell foundry manufactured the two new bass bells with the tone sequence g sharp and h °. At the time, the great Annuntiata was the heaviest bell that had ever left the foundry.

The construction of the S-Bahn line , which runs underground along Bieberer Strasse, caused considerable damage to the Marienkirche. Among other things, the bell system had to be replaced because of this. A new ring beam was built into the bell house, on which the new oak wooden bell chair rests for an expandable bell.

In the summer of 2005 the peal was extended to include two more bells. These also come from the Eifel bell foundry. The gospel bell rings in G sharp 'and the change bell rings in b'. They are octave apart from the two bass bells and give the bell ensemble the character of a cathedral.

The bells of the current ringing have the following names, pitches and weights, starting with the largest:

No.
  		Surname
  		Casting year
  		Caster
  		Weight
(kg) 		Nominal
( HT - 1 ⁄ 16 ) 		Further designations, function
 
1 Annuntiata 1998 HA Mark, Eifeler bell foundry,
Brockscheid		 6010 g sharp 0 -3 Holy Spirit Bell
2 Memoria 2988 h 0 +1 Joseph and death bells
3 Maria-Pia 1913 Karl Hamm,
Frankenthal		 2340 cis 1 +1
4th Maria Regina 1720 dis 1 +7
5 Maria Speciosa 1480 e 1 +9
6th Maria Inviolata 1000 f sharp 1 +4
7th St. Maria Guiseppa Rosselo 2005 Cornelia Mark-Maas, Eifeler bell foundry,
Brockscheid		 947 g sharp 1 ± 0 Gospel bell
8th St. Anna 555 h 1 +6 Transformation bell

The total bell has a weight of 17,040 kg. This means that the deepest and heaviest bells of the diocese of Mainz can be heard from the tower of St. Mary's Church.

crypt

When the church was renovated in 2000, a crypt was built that bears the name of the holy founder of the order, Maria Giuseppa Rossello . Her relics are buried in the front altar of the Marienkirche. The most important element of the crypt is the altar, around which 30 believers can gather in a semicircle.

The patronage of the new crypt was chosen by the parish of St. Mary together with the Italian Catholic Community, in order to set a sign of solidarity in the common faith between the two communities. Since Offenbach is a social hotspot and Italian nuns of the community of the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy from Savona serve here, the choice fell on the founder of the order.

The crypt was consecrated in 2001 by Cardinal Karl Lehmann .

Pastor

The church work of the parish of St. Marien is characterized by great continuity in pastoral work. This is reflected in the length of the parish priests' stay. In detail, the pastor's position was filled as follows:

  • 1908–1938: Bernhard Grein
  • 1938–1966: Nicolaus Schumacher
  • 1966–1988: Alois Kreft
  • 1988–1991: Richard Hartmann
  • Since 1991: Hans Blamm

The Italian-speaking Catholic community in Offenbach has been looked after by Pastor Don Paolo Manfredi since 1976.

Others

Interior of the second emergency church, today's Mariensaal (around 1912)
  • The second emergency church, which was built as a replacement for the emergency church formerly located on today's church square, is now used as a community room and bears the name Mariensaal .
  • The parish of St. Marien has had a parish kindergarten since around 1905. This has two groups, each with 23 children, who are looked after by seven pedagogical staff and one economic worker (as of 2014).
  • Regular organ concert series take place in the church.

literature

  • The S [ank] t Marienkirche in Offenbach am Main: memories of the day you. Inauguration August 11, 1913. Kleinsorge, Offenbach am Main 1913, (online) , DNB 361669372

Web links

Commons : Marienkirche (Offenbach am Main)  - Collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Parishes, parish groups and parish associations in the Catholic Dean's Office Offenbach. From: bistummainz.de , accessed on June 11, 2016.
  2. ↑ municipality area. From: bistummainz.de , accessed on June 11, 2016.
  3. ↑ St. Mary in Numbers. From: bistummainz.de , accessed on June 11, 2016.
  4. ↑ 1964-2004 - 40 Giubileo della Comunità. In: kath-ital-offenbach.de. 2004, accessed June 11, 2016 (Italian).
  5. ↑ Places of Faith. (PDF; 3.11 MB) In: offenbach.de. Offenbach am Main municipal authorities, November 7, 2013, p. 9 , accessed on July 20, 2015 .
  6. ^ Italian-speaking Catholic community Offenbach. From: bistummainz.de , accessed on June 11, 2016.
  7. ↑ Simone Weil: Paolo Manfredi was ordained a priest 40 years ago. In: op-online.de . July 7, 2009, accessed July 20, 2015 .
  8. ↑ a b c d Markus Terhan: Marienkirche most beautiful church in Offenbach. In: op-online.de. March 31, 2013, accessed July 20, 2015 .
  9. ↑ a b c d e f State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse (ed.): Bieberer Strasse 51–55 In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse .
  10. ↑ a b c d facade and tower. From: bistummainz.de , accessed on June 11, 2016.
  11. ↑ a b Renovation of the Marienkirche (1999–2001). From: bistummainz.de , accessed on June 11, 2016.
  12. ↑ St. Marien: A throne room in the eastern city center. From: offenbach.de , accessed on June 11, 2016.
  13. ↑ sanctuary. From: bistummainz.de , accessed on June 11, 2016.
  14. ↑ a b opus list. (PDF; 395 kB) In: orgelbau-klais.com . Johannes Klais Orgelbau, July 2015, p. 37 , accessed on July 20, 2015 .
  15. ↑ a b The Klais organ. From: bistummainz.de , accessed on June 11, 2016.
  16. ↑ The last of his class? - The bell founder from the Eifel on YouTube .
  17. ↑ Places of Faith. (PDF; 3.11 MB) In: offenbach.de. Offenbach am Main City Administration, November 7, 2013, p. 19 , accessed on July 20, 2015 .
  18. ↑ The crypt. From: bistummainz.de , accessed on June 11, 2016.
  19. ↑ Antonius Prize awarded in Offenbach. From: bistummainz.de , June 13, 2013, accessed June 11, 2016.
  20. ↑ a b pastoral care worker in St. Marien. From: bistummainz.de , accessed on June 11, 2016.
  21. ↑ Parish and Mariensaal. From: bistummainz.de , accessed on June 11, 2016.
  22. ↑ St. Marien Catholic day-care center. From: bistummainz.de , accessed on June 11, 2016.
  23. ^ Benefit concerts in the Marienkirche. From: bistummainz.de , accessed on June 11, 2016.
  24. ↑ Silke Gelhausen-Schüßler: Concert series “Historical Organ Landscape” opened in St. Mary's Church. In: op-online.de. June 4, 2013, accessed July 20, 2015 .
  25. ↑ Reinhold Gries: Concert by Thomas Frank in St. Marien Church Offenbach. In: op-online.de. August 27, 2014, accessed July 20, 2015 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 6 ′ 11.6 ″  N , 8 ° 46 ′ 17.4 ″  E