Martinskirche (Ludwigshafen)
The Martinskirche is a Protestant church in the Ludwigshafen district of Maudach in Rhineland-Palatinate , which shapes the townscape with its pointed tower.
Historical background
As a result of the Augsburg Religious Peace of 1555, the Maudachers had to change their denomination several times. The Junkers von Hirschhorn and Maudacher Lehenshaber became Lutheran around 1550 along with their subjects. During the Thirty Years War, Spanish troops occupied the region and the inhabitants of Maudach had to convert to Catholicism. After Maudach fell back to the Prince-Bishop of Speyer in 1632, many Maudachers remained Catholic. Since the Electors of the Palatinate exercised sovereignty, there were also Protestants in the village.
With the exchange agreement of Düsseldorf, the Palatinate Elector acquired full ownership of Maudach in 1709. The church of St. Michael was reserved for the Maudach Catholics. Since there were only a few Protestants in Maudach at that time, they initially did not raise any objections. The Catholic clergy baptized the Protestant children, blessed the Protestant marriages and buried the Protestant deceased. But as early as 1724, the Protestants unsuccessfully asked their rulers for the Lutheran pastor of Rheingönheim to “baptize their children, marry the couples and bury the dead” .
This rejection created great tension. On the third day of Pentecost in 1763, they broke out in a fight between Protestants and Catholics in the evening near the church, with the opponents attacking each other with pitchforks and flails. The Protestants brought reinforcements in Mutterstadt and Rheingönheim. The files say it was "like a little battle" .
In 1765, the Maudach Protestants brought their concerns to the elector again. Again they were denied a “free religious retreat” (exercise of religion), but with reference to the “sovereign gentleness” allowed a Protestant pastor to visit the sick Maudacher residents “without any external signs of a performing parish” and that wealthy residents “without Involvement of other neighbors “ were allowed to hold a tutor .
The deceased had to be brought quietly to the boundary of the district, where the Lutheran pastor received them and was allowed to bury them. The Protestant parish was passed on from place to place. From 1789 the parish belonged to Rheingönheim, from 1818 to Mutterstadt , from 1933 to Ludwigshafen-Gartenstadt . In 1956 she became an independent vicariate.
First church building
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On June 7th, 1843, Simon Zimmer from Mannheim bought a building site for 112 guilders. The community contributed 300 guilders, the Protestants raised 996 guilders and 30 kreuzers, and two Jews from mother city raised 70 guilders. The remainder, up to the full acquisition costs of 3,732 guilders and 57 kreuzers, was provided by a house collection in Speyer, Frankenthal, Neustadt, Landau, Germersheim and Bergzabern.
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The church building provided around 200 seats for 156 Maudach Protestants, so it was built to grow. On a pedestal in front of the east wall stood a simple altar, above which the pulpit with a lid was attached to the wall. There were two sayings next to the pulpit:
- "Jesus says: I am the light of the world ..." ( Gospel according to John ; 8.12)
- "I am the way, the truth and the life ..." (Gospel according to John; 14.6)
In 1905 the Gebr. Link organ manufacture from Giengen an der Brenz built an organ with six registers and many zinc pipes, a typical pneumatic organ of the time.
The Maudach Protestants now had their own church, where the Sunday service was held, to which the clergyman from Mother City came. However, they remained an "annex" (appendage) to the parish of Mutterstadt, where confirmation classes were also given.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the Protestant parish began to collect for a new church, because in the meantime the population in Ludwigshafen had grown to 1,700 as a result of industrialization. 60,000 Reichsmarks were saved when the First World War ended, but the inflation of 1922/23 completely wiped out the savings.
At the end of the Second World War, the church burned down in a bombing raid on February 1, 1945, but was repaired immediately and used again on the First Advent of the same year.
- “ To the governor of the military government in Ludwigshafen
- Subject: Repair of the Protestant church in Ludwigshafen-Maudach
-
The Protestant church in Ludwigshafen-Maudach burned down in the major attack on February 1, 1945. The surrounding walls have been completely preserved and can continue to be used after the building expert's report. The roof structure including the church ceiling and interior fittings are completely burned. The congregation (800 souls) is without a place of worship and has to use an in no way adequate room in a private house for its worship gatherings. The congregation is therefore compelled and endeavored to carry out the makeshift restoration of the church as soon as possible, with volunteers from the congregation members. As a building material, we mainly need wood for the beams of the roof structure and ceiling cladding.
Trusting in the cooperation of the military government, we hope to receive the building material from demolition material from the former spotlight position between Maudach and Oggersheim. We ask for the defective barracks in this position and the approx. 50 light masts of the former light supply to this position to be released. It should be noted that the roof dimensions of the burnt-out church and the barracks are the same in terms of width (8 m). We also ask that you approve the allocation of glass for the 6 church windows (1 × 2.50) = 15 square meters.
We would also be grateful for an early promise, because z. A lot of material is currently being stolen by unauthorized persons and there is a risk that if there is a longer delay in the positions, nothing can be found. "
The restoration was temporary. The ceiling was leaking and the stove did not work. But what the congregation missed most was the church tower with its bells.
Second church building
The growth of the parish, but above all the lack of any parish rooms, gave the impetus for the construction plans. Initially, however, only an extension to the existing church was considered.
On February 8, 1957, the program for the new building was determined and decided on June 28, 1959:
- Community hall (50 seats)
- two small halls (25 seats each)
- Coal cellar with heating system
- Room for the youth
- Tower with chimes
In place of the intended pent roof, a gable roof was added, appropriate to the village environment.
After the regional church council gave its approval on September 9, 1963, construction began on October 28, and after the last service on December 8, the old church was torn down.
On the site of the old church, architect Ulrich Wohlgemuth planned a two-story structure with a gable roof and a square shaft with an equilateral pyramid for the tower.
The entrances to the church room on the upper floor, which can accommodate approx. 200 people, lead via two staircases to an elevated church square.
On the ground floor there is a community hall, a youth room, a handicraft room, a tea kitchen, a boiler room and toilets.
The church is built from materials that are shown in their natural state. These are mainly concrete, glass, wood and natural slate. The later added elevator shaft was stylistically adapted.
| construction time | 1845, 1964 |
| destruction | 1945 |
| architect | Ulrich Wohlgemuth, Worms |
| Architectural style | modern reinforced concrete construction |
| Tower height | 40 m |
| Bells | fis 1 -a 1 -cis 2 ; 686 kg, 478 kg, 240 kg |
| organ | 1965 Oberlinger, 8 registers, 1 manual, mechanical |
| surface | 230 m² |
| Seats | 225 |
| location | Martinskirchplatz 1 in 67067 Ludwigshafen-Maudach |
| Pastor | Michael Lupas |
| Rectory | Kaiserstrasse 28 |
Situation today
Today Maudach has almost 7,000 inhabitants, of which almost 2,000 are Protestant and almost 3,000 are Catholic. The St. Martin's Church with its lower church, in which the parish rooms are located, belongs to the parish. The parsonage with parish office is on Kaiserstraße and is directly connected to the KiBiTop kindergarten.
Ecclesiastically, the parish belongs to the church district (deanery) Ludwigshafen, or to the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate (Protestant regional church). With the neighboring municipality of Rheingönheim, it has formed the "Southwest Cooperation Region" since 2003.
literature
- Evangelical parish Maudach (ed.): The Martinskirche in Ludwigshafen / Rh.-Maudach. Festschrift for its inauguration on March 21, 1965 .
- Friedrich Schmitt: Ludwigshafen church building . Ludwigshafen 1985.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Evangelical Church Community Maudach (ed.): The Martinskirche zu Ludwigshafen / Rh.-Maudach. Festschrift for its inauguration on March 21, 1965
Coordinates: 49 ° 27 ′ 13.7 " N , 8 ° 22 ′ 34" E