New Nazareth Church

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New Nazareth Church in Berlin-Wedding

The New Nazareth Church was at its inauguration the second parish church of the Evangelical congregation Nazareth on Leopold Place in the Berlin suburb Wedding and since the 1980s, a protected monument .

history

From construction to 1989

The Old Nazareth Church on Leopoldplatz, built according to plans by Friedrich Schinkel , had become too small due to the rapid growth of the community - around 1878 it had 22,000 members. So there were initially considerations to enlarge it by converting it. In this way, for example, the Protestant Church of St. Johannis in Moabit - also one of the four suburban churches of Schinkel - was expanded in the years 1853-1857 and 1896. Then, however, the parish decided to build a new building northeast of the old church, with the address Schulstrasse . This was built between 1891 and 1893 according to plans by the architect Max Spitta in neo-Gothic forms that are based on brick buildings in the Brandenburg region . The inauguration took place on March 10, 1893 .

The New Nazareth Church was damaged during the Second World War in 1945. As a result, the interior was redesigned in 1960, during which almost all of the neo-Gothic furnishings were removed and the paintings were whitewashed. Soon the church building turned out to be too big for the now shrinking community and was abandoned. In 1989 it was deedicated .

From 1990 there were new uses.

1991 to 2015: Church of God Germany

From September 1991 to May 2016 took the Church of God Germany KdöR, a Pentecostal - Free Church congregation, the building. Initially, KdöR was a tenant and has been the owner since November 5th, 1993. This religious community, which was founded in the USA in 1886 , has been active in Berlin since 1988. The leader is Johannes Matutis. The building also served other free church congregations during this period. In 2003, the painting, which was removed in 1960, was restored in a simplified form. The branch of the Congregation of God Germany is called Freie Nazarethkirche eV in Berlin Mitte and is now active in Berlin- Reinickendorf on Ollenhauerstrasse.

Since 2016: Aid Center UKRG e. V.

Since May 2016, the aid center UKRG e. V. , the German headquarters of the neo-charismatic church Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (Universal Church of God's Kingdom) of the billionaire Edir Macedo with headquarters in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil , its seat in the New Nazareth Church and is its sole user. The universal church is striving to acquire the church from the Congregation of God Germany, which the Wedding district wants to prevent and can also do so due to a clause in the sales contract.

description

Structure

Decorated portal in the tower substructure

The entire church building is a brick building in neo-Gothic forms. It has a cross-shaped floor plan with a roof turret in the center emphasizing the construction. The church tower is attached to the church as a west tower and dominates the rear part of Leopoldplatz. The main entrance to the church is also located here.

The semicircular altar apse was simply whitewashed inside in 2018, a rose window lets in colored light.

Bell tower

In contrast to the Old Nazareth Church, the New Church has a 78 m high square church tower with a pointed helmet. A three-part chime made of cast steel bells , which were made by the Bochum Association , is installed in the tower . The following information can be found in an inventory list of the foundry: The three-part bell was hung up in a square bell chamber (side length of 6 m) by means of an anti-friction bearing . The production of the bells including accessories such as clapper, axles, bearings and chime levers cost 6025 marks.

Bell plan
size Chime Weight (kg) lower diameter (mm) Height (mm) inscription
greatest h ° 2209 1780 1565 unknown
middle dis ′ 1211 1440 1275 unknown
smallest f sharp ′ 0868 1259 1120 unknown

Interiors and furnishings

Interior of the New Nazareth Church

The whole church building is symmetrical and consists of a three-aisled hall behind the tower , cross arms and a rectangular choir . Wood sculptor Gustav Kuntzsch from Wernigerode created the wooden pulpit with figurative ornamentation : five relief figures depict the four evangelists and the apostle Paul . At the end of the 2010s, only the sculptural figurative decorations, which are kept in the archive of the Evangelical Church of Nazareth in Berlin-Wedding, have survived .

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Neue Nazarethkirche (Berlin-Wedding)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Schneider: Draft for the construction of a new church for the Nazareth congregation in Berlin. Appraisal of the Royal Academy of Civil Engineering ; In: Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , published in the Ministry of Public Works, 9th year, No. 46/1889, Verlag Wilhelm Ernst & Sohn , Berlin 1889, p. 427 f.
  2. The Nazareth Church ; In Deutsche Bauzeitung , Vol. 27, No. 21/1893, commissioned by Ernst Toeche, Berlin, printed by Wilh. Greve, Berlin SW 1893, p. 131.
  3. ^ The inauguration of the national headquarters of the aid center in Berlin , accessed on March 25, 2018.
  4. ^ Controversial Evangelicals in Wedding - How the “Universal Church” wants to buy into Berlin . In: Der Tagesspiegel , August 9, 2019, accessed on August 10, 2019.
  5. Why the Mitte district wants to prevent Evangelicals from buying a church in Wedding , podcast Five Minutes Berlin . In: Der Tagesspiegel , August 12, 2019.
  6. ^ Clarissa Neher (Jan D. Walter): Free Churches - Pentecostal Church in Berlin-Wedding undesirable. At: Deutsche Welle , September 15, 2019.
  7. ^ Georg Dehio : Handbook of German Art Monuments. Berlin , Deutscher Kunstverlag, 3rd edition 2006, ISBN 3-422-03111-1 , p. 202.
  8. Compilation of the bells delivered to Berlin and the surrounding area ; Bochum Association, around 1900. In the archive of the Köpenick Church of St. Josef , viewed on August 6, 2019.

Coordinates: 52 ° 32 ′ 55.2 "  N , 13 ° 21 ′ 42.2"  E