Nikolaikirche (Anklam)
The Nikolaikirche is next to the Marienkirche the second, younger of the two large medieval town churches in Anklam , Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . It was destroyed in 1945 and has been rebuilt since 2010, but has been de-dedicated since October 2, 2004 and is therefore no longer used as a church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany .
history
The construction started around 1280 and was completed by the end of the 14th century. In 1300 the church was first mentioned in a document. It is named after Nikolaus von Myra , who is considered the patron saint of seafarers. With the installation of the choir stalls, the Nikolaikirche was finally completed around 1500. In contrast to the Marienkirche with its Romanesque origin, the Nikolaikirche is a purely Gothic building, although a previous church was built since 1180. Until it was destroyed, the church was regarded as a landmark of Anklam and was a sign that was visible from afar. The important brick Gothic building is a three-aisled hall church with a four-story tower and sacristy . The nave was covered with a large gable roof until 1945 . The tower has always had a high Gothic pointed spire over 100 meters high, which has been damaged and restored several times by lightning strikes and storms. Together with St. Mary's Church, which was given a similar spire at the end of the 19th century, both churches formed the unmistakable cityscape of Anklam with their “twin towers”. The spire of St. Nikolai had a special feature: its tip showed a clearly visible twist. It was popularly said that the devil himself twisted the top of the church tower. On June 25, 1848, the aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal was baptized in the Nikolaikirche , whose birthplace was in the immediate vicinity of the church.
The interior was richly decorated with valuable furnishings. Despite being relocated during World War II , some parts are still missing today. Others, such as the magnificent candlesticks, the apostle's bell and parts of the choir stalls are now in the Anklam Marienkirche and in the Stralsund Museum of Cultural History . Medieval fresco paintings on the side walls and pillars are only preserved in fragments.
During the heaviest bombing raid on Anklam on October 9, 1943, the window glazing of the Nikolaikirche was destroyed by pressure waves and splinters from the bombs falling in the area. However, the church itself was not hit.
The destruction of the church did not take place until April 29, 1945 when German shells hit the city, which was already occupied by the Red Army . The spire fell into the nave. The church partially burned down, only the tower stump and the surrounding walls with free pillars and partition arches remained.
After the war, the ruins were poorly secured. Only the south extension with the two chapels, the south entrance and the sacristy were roofed over again and temporarily used by the parish, while the tower was made temporarily accessible and provided with a small spire to use the tower as a platform for radio antennas. The nave remained defenseless against the weather for over 50 years.
Dimensions (before destruction)
- Tower height with top: 103.00 m
- Height to the gable cladding of the tower: 58.00 m
- Floor plan of the tower: 12.50 × 12.50 m
- Enclosing space: 23.00 m × 55.00 m
- Height to the top of the vault: 16.50 m
- Height to the ridge of the roof: 35.00 m
Apostle bell
The apostle's bell has been preserved from the bells of the Nikolaikirche . It was cast by Rickert de Monkehagen in 1450 . With a weight of 4500 kg, a diameter of almost 180 cm and the strike tone h 0 , it is the third largest bell in the Pomeranian Evangelical Church District and the largest medieval bell in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . Since it was salvaged from the rubble of the Nikolaikirche in 1946 and installed in 1947, it has been part of the bell ringing of the Marienkirche.
Reconstruction started
At the beginning of the 1990s, the building's situation became increasingly critical and there was a risk of collapse. Anklam citizens joined the Nikolaikirche Anklam / Vorpommern e. V. (since 2009 Förderkreis Nikolaikirche Anklam e.V.) to work for the preservation and reconstruction of the church. From 1995 to 1996 the nave was provided with an emergency roof and secured.
Since then, extensive security and restoration work has been carried out on the preserved parts of the building and on the tower, which were financed from funds from urban development funding , monument preservation , municipal grants and donations.
In 2004 the Hanseatic City of Anklam took over responsibility for the de-dedicated building as part of a heritable building right contract and in 2007 planning began for a comprehensive safeguarding and reconstruction of the former church.
With the help of the economic stimulus package of the federal government , the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the Hanseatic City of Anklam, the roof of the nave was rebuilt in its original shape and height between 2010 and 2011.
From spring 2013 to spring 2014 the roof of the southern extension (chapels, vestibule, sacristy) was renewed.
For the future use of the Nikolaikirche for exhibitions and events there is a concept under the working title Ikareum . Among other things, this provides for a walkable spire in a historical shape and a nave that can be used for exhibitions and events on several transparent levels, including the roof space.
New windows in the Nikolaikirche
The windows in the nave of the Nikolaikirche were destroyed on October 9, 1943 as a result of the bombing near the building and were not replaced until the start of reconstruction work in 1995.
The first new stained glass window was created as a reproduction of the St. Nicholas window from 1909 and was inaugurated on October 2, 2004. The window, financed with donations, was manufactured by Glasgestaltung GmbH Altlandsberg. It shows Saint Nicholas holding his hand over the Nikolaikirche in a blessing.
In 2004, the Nikolaikirche Anklam eV association launched a fundraising campaign parallel to the installation of the Nikolaus window, in order to use small donations to advance the glazing of the nave. The first window panes of the fundraising campaign were used in the Nikolaikirche from summer 2009 and, depending on the donor's request, were given a brief sandblasted lettering. The fundraising campaign was completed in summer 2014. The windows were manufactured and installed by the Koch glazier from Neubrandenburg.
To commemorate the destruction and the victims of the Second World War , a second colored lead glass window - the memorial window - also financed with donations and manufactured by Glasgestaltung GmbH Altlandsberg - was installed next to the St. Nicholas window. In addition to several banners commemorating the destruction of Anklam and the victims, the window shows the Nikolaikirche in three stages: at the time of destruction, as a ruin without a roof shortly after the end of the war and as a building under reconstruction with the emergency roof.
Nicholas window (* 2004)
Memorial window (* 2009)
Lilienthal choir window (* 2014)
The youngest stained glass windows in the Nikolaikirche, the Lilienthal choir windows , are dedicated to the future use of the building as an exhibition and event building with the project name Ikareum . The three windows designed by the Englishman Graham Jones as part of the 2010 design competition and manufactured by the Derix Taunusstein glass studio were manufactured in 2014, installed in the Nikolaikirche in November 2014 and inaugurated on December 19, 2014.
Coat of arms windows of the Hanseatic cities Lübeck, Neuss and Herford (* 2012)
Coats of arms of the twin cities / communities of Anklam (* 2015)
In memory of the Hanseatic past of Anklam and as a tribute to the city association DIE HANSE , window panes with coats of arms of modern Hanseatic cities were used in the Nikolaikirche from 2010 to 2017 through a donation campaign by the Hanseatic city of Anklam. The following overview lists the donated and built coats of arms of the Hanseatic cities in the Nikolaikirche:
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|
| Attendorn (S) | Anklam (W) | Goettingen (N) |
| Bremen (S) | Gronau (S) | Herford (S) |
| Lueneburg (S) | Stade (S) | Kalkar |
| Mulhouse (S) | Stralsund (S) | Salzwedel (N) |
| Osnabrück (S) | Lippstadt (N) | |
| Szczecin (S) | Lübeck (N) | |
| Neuss (N) | ||
| Rostock (N) | ||
| Tangermünde (N) | ||
| S: south side, W: west side, N: north side of the Nikolaikirche | ||
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|
| Harderwijk (N) | Deventer (N) | Demmin (N) |
| Squid (N) | Greifswald (N) | |
| Korbach (N) | Wismar (N) | |
| Kyritz (N) | ||
| N: North side of the Nikolaikirche | ||
| 2016 | 2016 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|
| Bergen (N) | Ruethen (N) | Boston (N) |
| Bockenem (N) | Seehausen (N) | Emmerich am Rhein (N) |
| Braunschweig (N) | Stargard (N) | Groningen (N) |
| Buxtehude (N) | Stendal (N) | Kaunas (N) |
| Gdańsk (N) | Telgte (N) | Novgorod (N) |
| Goleniów (N) | Uelzen (N) | Turku (N) |
| Hamburg (N) | Unna (N) | Valmiera (N) |
| Havelberg (N) | Viljandi (N) | Zutphen (N) |
| Lünen (N) | Warburg (N) | |
| Magdeburg (N) | Werl (N) | |
| Pritzwalk (N) | Wesel (N) | |
| N: North side of the Nikolaikirche | ||
In the spring of 2015, the coats of arms of the four twin cities / communities of Anklams ( Heide , Burlöv / Sweden, Gmina Ustka / Poland, Limbaži / Latvia) were inserted in the window above the west entrance of the Nikolaikirche Anklam around the coat of arms window of Anklam . The coat of arms windows donated as a gift for the city's 750th anniversary in 2014 were designed and manufactured based on the Hanse coat of arms windows and only differ from them in the red background of the city / municipality names above the coat of arms.
Left window with guild coat of arms (* 2017)
Right window with guild coat of arms (* 2017)
The installation of new windows in the nave was completed in autumn 2017 with the installation of new windows in the southern extension. While the three windows on the upper floor of the south extension were glazed with colorless clear glass, the two windows in the sacristy were each designed with four coats of arms. Historically documented guilds in Anklam were chosen as motifs. The design is based on the model of guild seals that are exhibited in the museum in the stone gate . The eight white coats of arms with a red or blue background show the guilds of coopers, locksmiths, ship's carpenters, chambermen, bakers, tailors, fishermen and shoemakers. The windows with the Hanseatic coat of arms, Anklam partner cities / communities and the guild coat of arms were also manufactured and installed by the Koch Glaserei in Neubrandenburg.
Current usage
The church has been open to the public since 1999 during the summer months (May – September) and is used for exhibitions and events. The tower has been open to the public with a covered viewing platform at a height of around 50 m since 2008.
Web links
- Literature about Nikolaikirche (Anklam) in the state bibliography MV
- Detailed building description by JC Holst and D. Schumann in the portal European Route of Brick Gothic (Brick Gothic Heritage) .
- audiovisual tour through the history of the church (Museum Anklam).
- Projects and studies to rebuild the church
- Support group Nikolaikirche Anklam eV
Individual evidence
- ^ The Apostle Bell , accessed on July 19, 2014
- ↑ Ikareum project study (PDF; 3.4 MB)
- ↑ Donation campaign: Hanse coat of arms window , accessed on June 13, 2017
- ↑ Coats of arms of the twin cities , accessed on January 19, 2016
Coordinates: 53 ° 51 ′ 23 " N , 13 ° 41 ′ 23" E