Marthakirche (Berlin-Kreuzberg)
The Marthakirche is a Protestant church belonging to the parish of Berlin Stadtmitte in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg . It was inaugurated in 1904 and is a listed building .
history
The community of Emmaus- Süd, in whose area around 30,000 evangelical residents lived in 1897, came into being at the end of the 19th century after the rapidly growing Emmaus community was divided into three , to which around 100,000 souls were counted in the same year. First of all, in 1899 the Berlin city synod had bought a plot of land for the new church's own house of worship at Glogauer Straße 22, which, in addition to building a church, was also intended to house a parish and community center.
In 1902, the Berlin magistrate was obliged to assume the cost of building the church in accordance with the Brandenburg Consistorial Order of 1573, so that work could begin immediately. For the time being, it was decided not to claim the cost of the towers, which were supposed to be built on the later built rectory, but still belonged to the church. When the foundation stone was laid for the church building, the congregation was given the name Marthagemeinde, and the church was given the ecclesiastical name Marthakirche . The name refers to Martha of Bethany .
The architects August Dinklage , Ernst Paulus and Olaf Lilloe drew up the designs for the church , as well as for the rectory to be built afterwards. From the building ensemble , the church in the background of the property was first built from 1902 to 1904 in a combined brick and stone construction in the style of the German Renaissance . The church was consecrated on May 29, 1904. From 1909 to 1911 the rectory on the street side was built with the two dominating towers in which three cast steel bells hang, cast in 1910 by the Bochum Association .
| Bell jar | Chime | Weight (kg) |
Diameter ( cm) |
Height (cm) |
inscription |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | c ′ | 1900 | 167 | 150 | THE MAGNIFICENT CONFESSION. JOH. 11.27 |
| 2. | e ′ | 1080 | 139 | 122 | THE FIRST TEMPTATION. LK. 10.42 |
| 3. | G' | 703 | 117 | 104 | I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. JOH. 11.27 |
The planned community house (see floor plan of the building ensemble) was never built.
As long as the parsonage was not yet built, rooms had to be used as close as possible for community work, which were also located in residential buildings, for example for the sextonry.
The buildings were badly damaged in the final months of World War II . The removal of the war damage led to a simplified reconstruction. The conical roofs of the three towers are now lower than originally.
In order to create urgently needed community rooms, a thorough renovation of the church took place in the 1970s, planned and executed by the architects Werner Harting and Gerhard Strauchmann . The nave was divided horizontally at the height of the galleries. This created rooms for children and youth work in the lower area . The church room above, now on the same level as the previous galleries, has been redesigned.
building
Due to the unusual shape of the property, which has only 19 meters of street frontage, the church is barely noticeable from the street. The first builders had already taken this into account and therefore placed the church towers on the rectory on the street. Two side wings for community rooms delimit a courtyard on the left and right through which the church can be reached. The three-aisled church , the south and east sides of which are directly adjacent to the neighboring properties, receives its light only from the north and west sides and from above through two skylight windows. The tower on the north-west corner of the church contains the staircase to the north side gallery and the organ gallery. The stairwell in the southwest leads to the southern side gallery. The front facing west has five entrances, including the tower and staircase, two of which form the main portal, which initially leads into a vestibule.
Above the main portal there is a sandstone cornice with nine angel heads. Above it rises, supported by a pedestal and crowned by a canopy, a figure of Christ created by the sculptor H. Giesecke. The reliefs in lime stucco technique below the cornice and above the other portals are by the sculptor Friedrich Pfannschmidt , the cross on the main front is also by Giesecke.
literature
- Klaus Duntze: Martha and the dragon . In: Berlin monthly magazine ( Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein ) . Issue 12, 1998, ISSN 0944-5560 , p. 21-32 ( luise-berlin.de ).
- Architects and Engineers Association of Berlin (ed.): Sacral buildings. (= Berlin and its buildings , part VI.) Ernst & Sohn, Berlin 1997.
- Otto Baumann, Wilhelm Betenstedt: Festschrift for the dedication of the Marthakirche. Berlin 1904.
- Günther Kühne, Elisabeth Stephani: Evangelical churches in Berlin. Berlin 1978.
- Dehio-Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler, Berlin. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 2006.
- Klaus-Dieter Wille: The bells of Berlin (West). History and inventory. Berlin 1987.
Web links
- Entry in the Berlin State Monument List with further information
- Website of the Martha Congregation
- Kirchbau data sheet
Individual evidence
- ↑ Monument Ev. Martha Church, 1902–1904, Glogauer Strasse 22; with rectory, 1909–1911 by Dinklage, Paulus & Lilloe, remodeling 1970–1971 by Werner Harting and Gerhard Strauchmann (see Ensemble Glogauer Straße 12-17a…)
- ^ Friedrich Holtze: The Brandenburg Consistorial Order of 1573 and its church building obligation . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Berlin , No. 39 Mittler, Berlin 1904.
Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 32.7 " N , 13 ° 26 ′ 13.5" E