Nicodemus Church (Berlin-Neukölln)
The Protestant Nicodemus Church is located on Nansenstrasse in the Berlin district of Neukölln and was built in 1912–1913 by Fritz Gottlob . It sees itself as a cultural church . This can be seen in numerous concerts and exhibitions that take place in the premises and the choir (together with the neighboring Martin Luther congregation). The church interior has good acoustics and is occasionally used for professional sound recordings.
construction
Architecturally, the church is a synthesis of elements of the Neo-Renaissance and Art Nouveau , in which the beginning of modernism can already be heard. The foundation stone was laid on June 22, 1912, the inauguration on June 10, 1913. During an Allied air raid on February 26, 1945, the church burned down completely, but the parish hall was spared. Reconstruction began in 1954. On October 28, 1956, Bishop Otto Dibelius inaugurated the "newly built Nicodemus Church", which is now a listed building.
history
What was then Deutsch-Rixdorf developed in the age of industrialization from a village community to a huge metropolitan community, when tenements were built here and masses of people moved to Rixdorf. The Evangelical Church Community of Rixdorf, which was called Evangelical City Church Community of Neukölln after the city was renamed , became one of the largest in Germany with over 200,000 members. This parish, divided into five main districts according to the number of its churches, remained until 1948, after which each main district became independent. This is how the Nicodemus Congregation came into being.
The history of the Nicodemus Church can be traced back to 1904, when Franz Schwechten was supposed to build a dome building for 1,100 people on Reuterplatz. This building to beautify the district was to be called "Peter and Paul Church". The preparations for the construction of the church went well, but in 1908 the congregation had to abandon the concept of the representative monumental building for financial reasons in favor of a cheaper solution.
In January 1909, the small plot of land in Nansenstrasse with a front length of only 25 meters and a depth of 35 meters was purchased. Although the land for the Nicodemus and Philipp Melanchthon Churches were acquired at the same time, the less expensive Nicodemus Church could be built first after the financing was secured. The construction costs for the church with 600 seats including the parish hall were only around 260,000 marks (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 1.53 million euros). The Berlin consistory , dissatisfied with the design, demanded “the ecclesiastical character in the exterior and interior of the building should be more prominent”. The community rejected this request for lack of money. The name "Peter and Paul" originally intended for the church on Reuterplatz was replaced by Nicodemus . The only signs of these plans that are still visible today are the two portal figures of the Nicodemus Church, the apostles Peter and Paul . After the Second World War , the church was temporarily restored in 1949. In 1957 the tower clock could be started again. In 1972–1973 the church received a permanent roof covering.
building
The community center built into the row of houses, which apart from the asymmetrically arranged tower hardly differs from the front building of a residential building, is connected to the church in the courtyard behind to form a unit. The parish hall contains meeting rooms, the parish apartment and the sextonry. The three-aisled hall church , the side aisles are reduced to aisles, has a rectangular choir niche and an annex to the sacristy . The tower, whose portal and group of windows are sculpted together on the first floor, has an open bell floor with a rich structure with pilaster strips , stylized columns and gables. A tent roof with an obelisk-like tip rises above it . The tower received three cast steel bells that were manufactured by the Bochumer Verein in 1912 .
| Bell jar | Chime | Weight (kg) |
Diameter (cm) |
Height (cm) |
inscription |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st bell | e ′ | 1150 | 140 | 114 | WHAT IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT IS SPIRIT. EV. JOH. 3.6 |
| 2nd bell | G' | 730 | 117 | 96 | WHAT IS BORN OF THE MEAT IS MEAT! |
| 3rd bell | H' | 360 | 95 | 80 | YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN. EV. JOH. 3.7 |
The poor building ground required a pile foundation . The base of the street front was clad with Rüdersdorfer limestone, the other parts of the facade were given a gray plaster.
The inner
The interior of the church originally showed a starry sky in the net vault . The organ was on the gallery above the entrance to the nave. A chandelier hung in the middle of the room , on the altar was a wooden crucifix designed by Josef Rauch , which today stands in the tower entrance to the church. The altarpiece, which depicted a nocturnal conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, fell victim to the bombs on February 26, 1945, as did the paintings that played down the death of a soldier in the chancel after the First World War .
In 1954 the reconstruction of the church began. The reconstruction work on the church, which was badly damaged in the war, lasted until 1956. The church hall received a coffered ceiling . The Schuke organ is now in a side niche. The glass painter Günter Johl depicted the Christian story of creation on eight church windows . The sculptor Waldemar Otto created two altar candlesticks, a baptismal font and a cross for the altar. Stones from the old Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church were used for the altar and the font . In 1967 the church had to be repainted. In order to improve the acoustics, the pulpit was moved forward.
literature
- Architects and Engineers Association of Berlin: Berlin and its buildings. Part VI. Sacred buildings. Berlin 1997.
- Günther Kühne, Elisabeth Stephanie: Evangelical churches in Berlin. Berlin 1978.
- Ursula Bach: Nicodemus - a parish in the 1st half of this century. Berlin 1992.
- Klaus-Dieter Wille: The bells of Berlin (West). History and inventory. Berlin 1987.
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 23.6 " N , 13 ° 25 ′ 53" E