Matthew Church (Aschaffenburg)

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Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Matthew

The Matthäuskirche is an Evangelical Lutheran church built between 1957 and 1958 in the Schweinheim district of Aschaffenburg .

prehistory

Before the Second World War , the Protestant Christians of the then independent community of Schweinheim wanted their own place of worship. A church building fund set up in 1938 became meaningless due to the currency reform . With the influx of refugees after 1945, the number of Protestants in the Schweinheim district grew. They first gathered for church services in the cinema hall of the council chamber until, on March 7, 1955, the church council of the Christ Church (responsible for Schweinheim) under Pastor Paul Maßmann decided to purchase a piece of land for the church building on Schweinheimer Bergstrasse. According to the system of the deanery for the naming, the evangelist Lukas was selected in the district of Leider and the evangelist Matthäus for Schweinheim . In the same year the Johanneskirche in Goldbach and later the Markuskirche in Kleinostheim were built.

On January 10, 1956, the property on Bergstrasse was exchanged for a property in the vicinity of which the new Pestalozzi School was being built at the same time. The construction plan for the church was drawn up by Prof. Hannes Mayer from Stuttgart, and the Aschaffenburg architect Emil Markuske was commissioned with the local construction management. At the beginning of 1957 the "Matthäusverein" was founded as a church building association. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on May 6, 1957 in the presence of the American site commander Chaplain Carnah C. Underwood, who promised his technical assistance with the earthworks. The construction company Adam Hörnig took over the construction.

start of building

Altar and figure of Christ in St. Matthew, 2010

After a seven-month delay, due to change requests from the Supreme Bavarian Building Authority and through the mediation of the American site commander, the foundation stone was laid two days before Christmas. The topping-out ceremony took place on June 19, 1958, and the first service in the church on October 26, 1958. In addition to a message of greeting, Federal President Theodor Heuss sent the large altar Bible with a dedication.

In 1979 Pastor Prof. Dr. Martin Elze an early baroque, life-size wooden sculpture (around 1700 by an unknown master from the Nuremberg area) of the crucified Christ, which was attached to the wall behind the altar instead of the empty cross - without a cross as a floating blessing Christ. During the renovation in 1994, cross bars were again attached, kept in white, so that the symbolism was not impaired.

building

The Matthäuskirche has space for 240 visitors and is designed as a simple prayer room without any accessories. Two colors dominate the room, the white of the walls and the warm light brown of the rows of benches, the lamps and the wooden ceiling. The altar and pulpit are made of brown-red sandstone.

Behind the altar there is a (approx. 2 × 2 m) simple, dark wooden cross. The church has two stained glass windows (approx. 60 × 60 cm): a baptismal image in warm colors, a dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit from the hand of the Aschaffenburg artist Gunter Ullrich . The other, a representation of Matthew, an angel in front of the heavenly city of Jerusalem, from the workshop of Anton Bruder .

There are community rooms and a tea kitchen under the church. A kindergarten is located in another building.

Bells

From the 21 meter high " Campanile " under the symbol of the Matthäushahns, four bells, cast in the Middle Hessian sense in the Rincker Brothers Bells and Art Foundry, ring on September 12, 1958 , which were raised on October 8, 1958 before the church was inaugurated.

  • Bell 1, (g sharp 1 ), 530 kg, bears the inscription: "See, I am with you every day until the end of the world"
  • Bell 2, (h 1 ), 360 kg, "Come to me all who are laborious and laden, I want to refresh you"
  • Bell 3, (cis 2 ), 250 kg, "I am the salt of the earth"
  • Bell 4, (G sharp 2 ), 70 kg, - Our Father bell - "Thy will be done"

Bells 2 and 4 also bear the dedication of their donors. "In memory of our son Hermann who died near Schweinheim." August and Hildegard Vordemfelde and "In memory of my parents Elise and Richard Petri, the founder Paula Petri."

organ

The organ set up in 1960 was dismantled in the summer of 2004 and the pipes as building blocks for the new organ were auctioned. In 2005 the company Orgelbau Heintz in Schiltach built an organ with two manuals and 21 registers . The work bears the opus number 196.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Principal 8th'
2. Drone 8th'
3. Octave 4 ′
4th recorder 4 ′
5. Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
6th Super octave 2 ′
7th third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
8th. 3-fold mixture
9. Trumpet 8th'
II swell
10. Wooden flute 8th'
11. Salicional 8th'
12. Beat 8th'
13. Reed flute 4 ′
14th Forest flute 2 ′
15th Larigot 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
16. oboe 8th'
Glockenspiel g 0 –g 2
Pedal C – f 1
17th Sub-bass 16 ′
18th Octave bass 8th'
19th Prefix 4 ′
20th bassoon 16 ′

A special sonic feature is the only tubular bell chimes of the new organ in Aschaffenburg, which pays homage to the famous carillon in the east tower of Johannisburg Castle . St. Matthäus is known far beyond the borders of Aschaffenburg for its sacred evening music, not only limited to the organ.

Pastor

  • 1954–1964: Paul Maßmann, (* February 8, 1911 in Wilhelmshaven, † January 28, 2012 in Osnabrück), ordained in 1936, came to Prichsenstadt in 1940, in 1954 he received the III. Parish office at the Christ Church in Aschaffenburg. Responsible for the eastern part of the city and the district of Aschaffenburg. He built the Matthäuskirche, in 1970 he moved to Munich, he celebrated his 100th birthday in Osnabrück.
  • 1964–1965: Albert Schmidt
  • 1965–1976: Robert Preuss
  • 1976–1980: Dr. Martin Elze
  • 1980-1992: Martin Michael
  • 1992–2002: Eckard Galler
  • 2002–2008: Jörg Dittmar
  • 2008–2015: Gotthard Münderlein
  • Since 2016: Birgit Niehaus

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Aschaffenburger Volksblatt No. 207 of September 5, 1958
  2. ↑ Main-Echo No. 228 v. 4th October 1958
  3. ↑ a b Festschrift s. u.
  4. ↑ Evangelical life in and around Aschaffenburg April / May 2012
  5. ↑ Congregational letter Christ Church Aschaffenburg 04/2011

literature

  • To the glory of God - organ of the St. Matthew Church in Aschaffenburg-Schweinheim, Evangelical Lutheran parish 2005
  • 50 years of St. Matthew in Schweinheim - Contributions for the anniversary year on June 29, 2008 - Eckart Galler, Ernst Bäppler, Stefan Walter
  • Contribution to the Main-Echo on 50 years of St. Matthew by Ernst Bäppler

Web link

Coordinates: 49 ° 57 ′ 39.6 ″  N , 9 ° 9 ′ 37.5 ″  E