New Church (Emden)

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New Church (1648)

The New Church in Emden ( East Frisia ) is an Evangelical Reformed preaching church . It was built in the years 1643–1648 as the first post-Reformation church building in northern Germany in the moderate Baroque style. In the Second World War it was destroyed down to the outer walls and then rebuilt in a modified form.

Building history

The New Church in 1826
Floor plan of the New Church with the seating from 1818
South elevation of the church

The city of Emden had an estimated 20,000 inhabitants around the middle of the 17th century, including between 5,000 and 6,000 Dutch refugees. The city's churches were no longer sufficient for this. In 1642 the city's magistrate and church council decided to build a third church (after the great church and the church of the former Franciscan monastery ). This should be built in Faldern. The place had been a district of Emden since 1570. A church was missing here so far.

Planning and construction management were entrusted to the Emden council builder Martin Faber . Born in Emden, he spent a long time in Italy , France and the Netherlands , where he deepened his training. In Rome in particular he had worked as a builder and painter. In the middle of the Thirty Years' War , in which the rest of East Frisia suffered great hardship , the church was built between 1643 and 1648. The construction was financed exclusively through donations. At first it had no seating, the worshipers stood during the sermons. In 1818 the first organ and fixed box stalls were installed.

On September 6, 1944, during the heaviest bombing of Emden during World War II, more than 80 percent of the urban area was destroyed. The New Church was also badly affected and burned to the ground. In the years 1947 to 1950 the church was rebuilt with a heavily modified interior. A meeting room was built into the building, the consistory chamber . Instead of the original barrel vault , a flat ceiling was installed . The incidence of light in the church was significantly changed by this ceiling construction, as the large round windows in the three gables now illuminate the attic, which was supposed to be used as a library, but this was only temporarily implemented.

Interior after renovation

In 1998 the 350th anniversary of the building of the church was celebrated and in the same year the building association was founded, which has set itself the goal of redesigning the church in its original form. The renovation work began on June 18, 2012 and was carried out in close cooperation with the Bauverein Neue Kirche and the municipality of Emden. They included the release of the double columns by dismantling the galleries. The plan to restore the incidence of light through the four rose windows by reconstructing the two intersecting wooden barrel vaults was not implemented. The wall behind the organ was also not dismantled and the windows in the north were not exposed. A modern air conditioning and heating system, communication lines and sanitary facilities were installed. In addition, the entire electrical installation was renewed. The fixed box stalls from 1818 were only preserved below the east and west galleries. The technical equipment and 320 new individual chairs are intended to enable multifunctional use for a variety of church and cultural purposes, for congresses and public representative events. The large interior offers space for 570 people. The renovation costs totaled 1.3 million euros. After 15 months of restoration, the New Church was reopened on September 6, 2013 with a commemoration and a ceremony.

Building description

The outer

Church from the west
Portal in the northeast with the seal of the Reformed community in the tympanum

The church was built in the early Baroque style and is influenced by Dutch. It is a red brick building with light stone structure . Inside it hides a sermon room with a centralistic tendency that is unique for early Protestant church buildings.

When designing the New Church in Emden, Faber followed the example of the Noorderkerk built in 1621–1623 in Amsterdam as a central building , but designed the building even more consistently in the spirit of Calvinist teaching. The basis of the Norderkerk was the Greek cross , which Faber slightly modified for the church in Emden. Here he did without the southern of the four equally long cross arms, since a special choir was not desired. This arm is shortened to a risalit . In the baroque era, this was a popular means of structuring the facade . In addition, the building could be arranged in its greatest length, i.e. east-west, parallel to Brückstrasse. The three arms of the cross are identical in their termination. The outer walls are structured by bright, circumferential sandstone strips and two arched windows each and are drawn a little over the roof surface. In each of the gable squares, which are closed with a tympanum , there is a circular window in a large round screen with tracery .

Roof turret with Habsburg crown

Faber dissolved the resulting T-shaped floor plan with lower additions in the corners. The representative entrance portals and the stairs to the galleries are located here. The arched portals are flanked by two pilasters with architraves . The frames are made entirely of light sandstone in the north-west and alternating in red and white in the north-east. In the arched tympanum on the north-west side, the Emden coat of arms is embedded in the city colors of yellow, red and blue , showing a crowned and winged harpy with breasts ("Engelke up de Mür") behind a crenellated wall and the waves of the Ems. The coat of arms is flanked by two volutes and surrounded by a stylized laurel wreath, which is held together by the imperial crown. Above the portal in the north-east is the seal of the Reformed community with the inscription: “ AM CHRISTVS IS DE ENIGE STHEN DARVP SYNE GEMENTE RVST EM ”. Above the central intersection of the cross is a towering hexagonal roof turret with a gallery and an open lantern . It is crowned by a replica of the Habsburg imperial crown Rudolph II by the Emden sculptor Fritz Liebsch. With this, the Emder underlined their autonomy and their (never achieved) imperial immediacy , so they only subordinated themselves to the emperor, but not to the East Frisian sovereign . The rooster sitting over the crown is a sign of a reformed church. The roof turret houses two bells. The small bronze bell in the top of the tower has no inscription. The main bell and bell in the tower shaft were cast by Jan Albert de Grave from Amsterdam in 1724, as indicated by the inscription: " ME FECIT JAN ALBERT DE GRAVE AMSTELODAMI ANNO DOMINI 1724 ". The "Nicholas bell" from 1356, consecrated to St. Catherine, has been lost.

The inner

The crossing of the building is the square room, which is formed by Doric double columns at the intersection of the cross arms and similar half-columns as wall templates on the south wall. Originally it was closed at the top by a ribbed vault of the penetrating wooden barrel vaults.

The pulpit and the communion table were arranged in the middle of the south wall. The pews are grouped like a sermon church so that the pulpit on the south wall can be seen from everywhere. However, there is no altar, since according to the Reformed understanding of the Lord's Supper, no sacrifice is made at the altar.

Furnishing

Interior facing west

Most of the original furnishings of the New Church were destroyed in the war. Today's furnishings are modern, with the exception of the baptismal font, the chandeliers and a few tombstones.

Baptismal font

Romanesque font

The baptismal font of the New Church comes from the church in Jennelt and was probably made from Bentheim sandstone in the second half of the 13th century . After the baptismal font had been set up in the garden of the Jennelter Pastorei for a long time, it was installed in the East Frisian State Museum in Emden in 1902 . After the New Church was rebuilt, it was given to her on loan. The baptismal font had to be restored before it was erected because the upper edge of the cup was destroyed or worn off. The basin is decorated with simple tendrils with leaves that have been bordered by heavily weathered rope ornaments. The basin is carried by lions on a square plate, the heads of which are, however, chopped off in the New Church. The apotropaic effect was ascribed to the lions . At the same time, they served as a symbol for Christ, under whose strong protection the baptized came.

chandelier

Cooper's crown from 1648

The middle chandelier was donated to the church by the cooper's guild when it was completed in 1648 , as indicated by two donation boards attached to the top of the chandelier: “ Ter Ehren Godts, dead Cyrael van Dees Kerck, Gefft Küpers dit Kleine Krone Werck. "" Gegeven 1648. Hindrick Harmens Over Oldermann. Ian Sybens. Wolter Jacobs. Olderluids. “A third panel recalls a renovation in 1714:“ Vernieuwt 1714. Peter Willems Roeier. Over Oldermann. Sander Haeien. Hindrick Ryken Olderluide. “The crown shows a hand with a so-called Kuiper hammer, the trade mark of the cooper's guild. This "Böttcherkrone" is a gift from the guild to the church and is the oldest preserved brass chandelier in Emden.

Grave slabs

Grave slab of Martin Faber and his granddaughter Jacolina Doeden

When the floor was removed from February to May 2012, some large-format rubble stones from the old grave slabs came to light. According to an inventory from 1933, 87 grave slabs made of Aachen bluestone were set into the floor in the accessible areas alone . Almost all of them were oriented to the east and often had family coats of arms protruding semi-plastic. The inscriptions were usually in Low German or Dutch, more rarely in Latin, and were framed by engraved, straight or curved lines, sometimes supplemented by floral or ornamental elements. Occasionally stones were also made of gray or red sandstone. Originally, the grave slabs, which had a uniform width of 0.67-0.73 meters, were laid close together in strips in an east-west direction and thus served as the floor. In the course of the church renovation, six of the better preserved grave slabs were laid in a row in front of the pulpit.

On the north wall of the interior of the church there are two well-preserved grave slabs that survived the destruction of the church without major damage. The black grave slab comes from the grave of the church's architect, Martin Faber, and bears the inscription: “ Anno 1648, April 13th, the harvest festival Martinus Faber Ratsher and engineer deser Stat as ock Architecht van dese Kerck sines Olders int 62 Iaer watches with all Gelovigen a frolike Vperstandun (g) on ​​the longest day / Anno 1735 the 25th October is in the armies ontslapen Jacolina Doeden Vrauw Weduwe van Martinus Faber out 69 Iaer Christ was haer Leven en Sterven haer Gewen “. The white alabaster plate of the Emden merchant and councilor Cornelius Budde is framed by a laurel bead. It shows the coat of arms in the middle, which is surrounded by a grave inscription: " Heer Budde sorry here now in Rust / Die Handel dreef met Kracht en Lust / Door Deugd en Eer wierd hy geprezen / Hy was een Troost voor d'arme Wezen / Vienna's goal by God nu Zeegen praalt / En't Lichaam is int Graf. “Below is a ship on a pedestal with another inscription: Soo als dit Schip bruist door de wild en woeste Baaren Moet met Geloov en Deugd u Ziel na Jesus vaaren.

organ

Schuke organ from 1958

The first organ was built by Johannes Wilhelmus Timpe ( Groningen ) in 1818 on the north gallery and had 30 stops on two manuals and a pedal . The instrument was badly damaged in a bomb attack in 1942 and only partially playable. This condition worsened the following year, as the organ was exposed to dust and weather due to the broken windows. In 1944 the organ with the church was destroyed. After the reconstruction, the New Church initially had no organ. Initially, the congregation chant in the Sunday service was led by the singing group for three years, and occasionally by the trombone choir. From the mid-1950s there were plans to install a new instrument in the church. This was to be built by the Paul Ott company from Göttingen. An organ with 20 registers on 2 manuals and pedal was planned. At the end of 1956 the Rückpositiv was delivered, but it was canceled again in February 1957. The decisive factors were disputes about the delivery time, the conception of the main work and the exact placement of the Rückpositiv in the gallery parapet.

The church council then approached the Berlin organ builder Karl Schuke , who was able to hand over today's instrument to its intended use on August 24, 1958. The five-axis prospectus has three slender rectangular fields in the middle, which are flanked by two harp fields. The pedal towers with their distinctive copper pipes connect to the outside. A three-part upper positive is placed on the middle section of the main work. The disposition is as follows:

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
Praestant 8th'
Reed flute 8th'
octave 4 ′
Super octave 2 ′
Mixture IV-V
Dulcian 16 ′
Trumpet 8th'
II Positive C-g 3
Dumped 8th'
Praestant 4 ′
Coupling flute 4 ′
Dumped 2 ′
Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Sesquialtera II
Sharp IV – V
Pedal C – f 1
Praestant 16 ′
octave 8th'
octave 4 ′
Mixture V
trombone 16 ′
shawm 4 ′
Remarks
  1. ↑ Made of copper.

See also

literature

  • Hans-Bernd Rödiger, Menno Smid : Frisian churches in Emden, Leer, Borkum, Mormerland, Uplengen, Overledingen and Reiderland , volume 3. Verlag CL Mettcker & Söhne, Jever 1980, p. 26 ff.
  • Robert Noah: God's houses in East Frisia. SKN-Verlag, Norden 1989, ISBN 3-922365-80-9 , pp. 66-67.
  • Christian Züchner: About times and spaces. From the history of the Ev.-ref. Municipality of Emden. Gerhard, Emden 1997, ISBN 3-88656-020-1 .
  • Gerd Bakker: The New Church in Emden. Modular planning and implementation of a building idea in the 17th century. Diss. G. Bakker, Detmold 1998.
  • Christian Züchner: Room for the surprising. Contributions from the New Church. Self-published by the building association Neue Kirche Emden, Emden 1999, ISBN 3-00-003817-5 .
  • Board of the building association Neue Kirche Emden eV (Hrsg.): Neue Kirche Emden. So that the past has a future. Bauverein Neue Kirche, Emden 2008, DNB 987698648 .
  • Gottfried Kiesow : Architecture Guide East Friesland . Verlag Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz , Bonn 2010, ISBN 978-3-86795-021-3 , p. 50-51 .
  • Christian Züchner: The New Church. A masterpiece by the city architect Martin Faber. In: J. Marius J. Lange van Ravenswaay (Ed.): Emden (= Places of the Reformation. Volume 13). Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2014, ISBN 978-3-374-03731-5 , pp. 79–81.

Web links

Commons : New Church  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Kiesow: Architecture Guide Ostfriesland. 2010, p. 51.
  2. ↑ a b c Kiesow: Architecture Guide Ostfriesland. 2010, p. 50.
  3. ^ Karl-Ernst Behre, Hajo van Lengen : Ostfriesland. History and shape of a cultural landscape . Ostfriesische Landschaftliche Verlags- und Vertriebsgesellschaft, Aurich 1995, ISBN 3-925365-85-0 , p. 277.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Monika van Lengen: Neue Kirche Emden , accessed on March 4, 2016 (PDF file).
  5. ↑ neue-kirche-emden.de: History , accessed on January 23, 2016.
  6. ↑ Board of the building association Neue Kirche Emden eV (ed.): Neue Kirche Emden. 2008, p. 4, 26.
  7. ^ Construction letter. Messages from the Bauverein Neue Kirche Emden eV Last edition 2013 , p. 34, accessed on March 30, 2016 (PDF file; 1.93 MB).
  8. ^ Construction letter. Announcements from Bauverein Neue Kirche Emden eV Last edition 2013 , pp. 20–21, accessed on March 30, 2016 (PDF file; 1.93 MB).
  9. ^ Karl-Ernst Behre, Hajo van Lengen: Ostfriesland. History and shape of a cultural landscape . Ostfriesische Landschaftliche Verlags- und Vertriebsgesellschaft, Aurich 1995, ISBN 3-925365-85-0 , p. 278.
  10. ↑ Gottfried Kiesow , monumente-online.de: The pure teaching and the power of images , seen on January 20, 2010.
  11. ↑ a b Noah: God's houses in East Frisia. 1989, p. 67.
  12. ^ Georg Sello: The city arms of Emden. In: Emder yearbook. Volume 14, 1902, pp. 236-279, here: p. 266 ( online , accessed on March 16, 2016).
  13. ↑ a b Board of the building association Neue Kirche Emden eV (ed.): Neue Kirche Emden. 2008, p. 7.
  14. ↑ Hans-Helge Jürgens: To the bells of the new church. In: Bau-Brief. Announcements from the Bauverein Neue Kirche Emden eV Last edition 2013 , pp. 6–12, accessed on March 30, 2016 (PDF file; 1.93 MB).
  15. ↑ Hans-Peter Glimme: The recorded traditions in the New Church Emden. In: Bau-Brief. Messages from the Bauverein Neue Kirche Emden eV issue 2, 2007 , p. 5, accessed on March 30, 2016 (PDF file; 4.80 MB).
  16. ↑ Board of the building association Neue Kirche Emden eV (ed.): Neue Kirche Emden. 2008, p. 20.
  17. ↑ Board of the building association Neue Kirche Emden eV (ed.): Neue Kirche Emden. 2008, pp. 20-21.
  18. ↑ The Böttcher Crown. In: Bau-Brief. Announcements from the Bauverein Neue Kirche Emden eV Last edition 2013 , p. 19, accessed on March 30, 2016 (PDF file; 1.93 MB).
  19. ↑ Iris Aufderhaar: A puzzle from the past - results of the archaeological construction supervision during the floor removal in the New Church in Emden. In: Bau-Brief. Announcements from the Bauverein Neue Kirche Emden eV issue 3, 2012 , pp. 4–11, accessed on March 30, 2016 (PDF file; 1 MB).
  20. ↑ Board of the building association Neue Kirche Emden eV (ed.): Neue Kirche Emden. 2008, p. 22.
  21. ↑ Ralph Nickles: Organ inventory of the Krummhörn and the city of Emden . Hauschild Verlag, Bremen 1995, ISBN 3-929902-62-1 , pp. 373-384.
  22. ↑ Katharina Marburg-Herlyn: The Schuke organ in the New Church. In: Building letter. Messages from the Bauverein Neue Kirche Emden eV issue 3, 2005 , p. 6, accessed on March 30, 2016 (PDF file; 2.22 MB).
  23. ↑ Ralph Nickles: Organ inventory of the Krummhörn and the city of Emden . Hauschild Verlag, Bremen 1995, ISBN 3-929902-62-1 , p. 495.

Coordinates: 53 ° 22 ′ 3.3 ″  N , 7 ° 12 ′ 51.5 ″  E