Martin Luther Church (Heilbronn)
The Martin Luther Church is a Protestant church in the city of Heilbronn in northern Baden-Württemberg , which is located in the south of the city at Beethovenstrasse 17 on Fleiner Höhe . The church was built in 1934 and, after being damaged in World War II, reopened in 1948 as the city's first restored church. It belongs to the Emmaus parish Heilbronn , which also includes the Kreuzkirche , which was founded in 1964 by the Martin Luther parish and was independent until 2002 .
history
The construction of the church is related to the planned settlement of the south of Heilbronn between Schmollerstraße and Sontheimer Landwehr in the 1930s.
The building was built according to plans by the architect Hermann Wahl and inaugurated on June 17, 1934 by the city pastor Fritz Stein , Dean Karl Hoß and regional bishop Theophil Wurm . When the altar was consecrated, a copy of the Barmer Declaration of the Confessing Church was walled up in a copper capsule under the altar. From the beginning a kindergarten was attached to the church, for which a building was erected west of the church, on the upper floor of which the sacristan's apartment was also located. The Martin Luther Infant Care Center began operations on January 28, 1934, before the church was inaugurated.
The steeple was originally crowned by a squat, curved roof that caught the attention of contemporaries. Otherwise, the simply and functionally designed church was perceived as a contrasting accent to the historicist Peace Church in downtown Heilbronn, which was built just a few decades earlier . The Heilbronner Tagblatt dated June 1, 1934 read:
“ The end of the tower […] too flat, like a fist on the roof, but otherwise the new church is to be praised […] in its modest but lively arrangement, the Luther Church is and must be the characteristic counterpart to the Friedenskirche as such should be emphasized to provide mental clarity. "
During the Second World War , all but one of the bells in the church had to be handed in for armament purposes in 1943. To remove the bells, a hole was knocked in the tower facade, which was then only sparsely repaired. As the war continued, the church burned to the ground due to fire bombs.
Due to its simple design and the largely undamaged masonry, the church was the first Heilbronn church to be restored after the war by 1948. The old heating of the church could be repaired, the masonry was stabilized by supporting pillars. Due to the lack of material, a simplified form was chosen for the renovation of the roof of the confirmation hall. For stylistic reasons, a normal hipped roof has been placed on the tower instead of the old curved roof. At that time, the only remaining bell of the church was in the tower, which had to be rung by hand for the time being. As a temporary measure, the side wings and figures of the historic Seyffer altar were moved from the destroyed Kilian 's Church to the Martin Luther Church. The equipment of the post-war period remained otherwise modest.
An organ could not be procured until 1949, a baptismal font and an altar in 1951. In the following year the organ was expanded from five to twelve registers. In 1954, Kilian's Church received over three tons of old bell material for casting new bells, which were cast in the Bachert bell foundry in Heilbronn and consecrated on September 12, 1954. In 1955, the community hall was restored with the installation of new folding doors.
In the decades after the Second World War, the Martin Luther Church was primarily a center of youth work, with large confirmation groups , church youth groups and a children's church . Since in the 1950s there was a great need for a kindergarten and a church service room north of Sontheimer Strasse and the desire for a community center, the Martin Luther Church started planning the Heilbronner Kreuzkirche with a kindergarten and community center from 1955 .
In 1960, a decision was made to restore the choir window in its original narrow shape, which was then designed by window artist Adolf Saile and built into the choir wall of the Martin Luther Church at the same time as the Seyffer altar was moved back to the restored Kilian's Church in 1963. This was followed by a renovation of the church with a design of the choir that matched the new window. In 1967 a new organ was also purchased from Walcker in Ludwigsburg. The church originally had no pews, but only had loose chairs. In the post-war period, the loose seating was retained, but benches were added later.
In 1971, due to the great demand for kindergarten places, an intermediate building for kindergarten purposes was built between the church building and the old kindergarten building, which merged the buildings into one building complex.
In 1983 the church was renovated. The pews were removed again; they came into the castle chapel of Liebenstein Castle . Instead, the church was again loosely seated in order to be able to use the church interior for community events. During the renovation, the church also received new heating and a new lighting system. In 1988 an external renovation followed. In 1992 the loudspeaker system was renewed, and in 1993 the organ was renovated. In 1997 the rooms in the tower were connected to the central heating. In the same year, after the death of the former sacristan, the sacristan's apartment was added to the church kindergarten. At the same time, due to the lower number of children and the establishment of a nearby municipal kindergarten, the church kindergarten was reduced from three to two groups. After structural changes in 2001, the rooms that became free in the intermediate building were given to the church as useful and storage rooms.
After the withdrawal of the American armed forces from Heilbronn, the parish was also able to rent rooms in Herbert-Hoover-Strasse for parish and youth work in the late 1990s . At the same time, the number of parishioners was declining, so that from 1999 onwards the merger of the independent Kreuzkirchen parish with the Martin Luther parish has been discussed. The congregations united on January 1, 2002 under the new name Emmaus-Kirchengemeinde .
description
The nave of the Martin Luther Church is a plain, rectangular room. The choir area faces north. A community hall and ancillary rooms are connected to the west of the nave. The rectangular tower on the southwest corner also serves as a staircase to the gallery. The entire church was designed to be very functional. By folding walls so z. For example, the parish hall can be opened to the nave and the entire area can be used for events. The so-called books café has been set up on the gallery since 2007 , which organizes a monthly book flea market for the benefit of the parish.
There are four bells in the tower of the church, three of which were cast after the Second World War.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Bernhard Lattner with texts by Joachim J. Hennze: Stille Zeitzeugen. 500 years of Heilbronn architecture . Edition Lattner, Heilbronn 2005, ISBN 3-9807729-6-9 , p. 55
- ^ The FS of the Emmaus parish of 2004 names June 8, 1934 as the day of the altar consecration.
literature
- Evangelical Emmaus-Kirchengemeinde Heilbronn (ed.): Festschrift for the church anniversary AD 2004 - 70 years Martin Luther Church - 40 years Kreuzkirche , Heilbronn 2004
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 7 '39.2 " N , 9 ° 12' 57.3" E