Mennonite Church Krefeld
The Mennonite Church in Krefeld was built in the second half of the 17th century and has since been used continuously as a meeting place for the local Mennonite community .
local community
From 1607 the first Mennonites settled in the city. They came primarily from the surrounding Catholic territories and cities, from where they were expelled. Krefeld, ruled by the Orange , offered them protection, so that a Mennonite community could be established in the city. In 1657 they were finally granted the right to exercise their religion freely. Two years earlier, however, the Reformed Community of Krefeld had asked the Prince of Orange to expel those baptized, but the Krefelders, and especially the Reformed, had to accept the existence of a Mennonite community. Today the community has around 800 members who live in Krefeld and the surrounding area.
church
In the course of the first city expansion in Krefeld from 1691, the Mennonites were allowed to build their own church. However, this was not allowed to be directly recognizable as a church from the outside. It was then built as a courtyard church set back from the street , which remained hidden behind a high wall from the center of Krefeld and was covered by houses from the rear facing the newly created Königstraße. The site was entered through the portal on Mennoniten – Kirch – Straße, which still exists today. Today this portal represents the oldest cultural monument within the Krefeld ramparts. The year 1693 is recorded as the year of construction above the entrance, the first use is documented for 1696. The first organ was installed in 1768. It was a gift from the Mennonite Von der Leyen family .
A major renovation took place in 1843. An apse was added to the western part. At the same time, this expansion was connected with a renovation inside (wood paneling, marbled columns), which gave the interior, which had previously been very simple, a completely new character. In this expansion and redesign of the church, one can see the delayed structural reconstruction of the already changed position of the Mennonites in the urban society of Krefeld. Since the second half of the 18th century, the community was increasingly recognized and integrated into society. Individual Mennonites and their families also played a decisive role in the emergence of an enlightened, bourgeois world in the second half of the 18th century. Their Mennonite self-image was shaped by the awareness that it was Mennonites to whom the city owed its unprecedented economic rise. This should be reflected in the expanded church building.
When Krefeld was bombed on the night of June 21st to June 22nd, 1943, the church and its outbuildings were badly damaged and only rebuilt in October 1949. From May 1950 the church was used again for church services. In 1961 a Rudolf von Beckerath organ was installed, which is still in use today. Construction of a new community center was completed in 1958. In the late 1990s, the church was then extensively restored.
Building history literature
- Sebastian Step: ... and everything seemed pleasantly surprised. The Mennonite Church in Krefeld and its renovation in 1843 , in: Mennonitische Geschichtsblätter , vol. 55, 1998, pp. 47–72.
See also
Web links
Footnotes
- ^ Mennonite Lexicon , Volume 1 . 1913, p. 426 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 19 ′ 58.3 ″ N , 6 ° 33 ′ 48.5 ″ E