Paul-Gerhardt-Church (Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg)

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Paul-Gerhardt-Church in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg

The Paul Gerhardt Church is a Protestant church in the Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg in the Pankow district . It was built between 1908 and 1910 according to plans by Gustav Werner and named after the Protestant theologian and church musician Paul Gerhardt . The church belongs to the Protestant parish Prenzlauer Berg-Nord and thus to the parish of Berlin Stadtmitte .

Building history of the church and the community center

On November 2, 1908, General Superintendent Wilhelm Faber laid the foundation stone of the new church after the Gethsemane congregation , which had arisen from the Zion congregation , split on March 15, 1907. Government architect Gustav Werner provided the plans for the sacred building and architect Fritz Förster directed the construction work.

On the birthday of Paul Gerhardt, March 12, 1910, the solemn inauguration of the church took place in the presence of the Crown Prince couple Wilhelm and Cecilie .

On January 22, 1943, the towers and the roof of the church were destroyed by fire bombs during Allied air raids . In 1947 the parish resumed regular services. For the 50th anniversary of the parish fair in 1960, all war damage had been removed and a new Schuke organ with 22 registers was inaugurated. In memory of the fallen in the community, a wall mosaic designed by Lothar Mannewitz was created to the right of the chancel, depicting St. Michael slaying a dragon . There is also a memorial book in which the names of victims of the Second World War from the community were entered.

The parish hall on Kuglerstrasse, which is connected to the church directly via an inner courtyard behind the church, was inaugurated in 1912 by General Superintendent Lahusen. It comprises two interconnected parish halls that are used by numerous groups, as well as apartments for pastors , sextons and youth workers, among others . In 1972, garages were built in the courtyard for the residents of the community center.

Location and building description

The Paul Gerhardt Church is a brick church inserted into the row of houses on Wisbyer Strasse with two 40 meter high towers in the north of Prenzlauer Berg. It offers space for around 1,000 people and was the first Berlin church that, according to a resolution by the Berlin City Synodal Association, was not allowed to cost more than 200,000  marks (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 1.17 million euros). The architecture is a mixture of neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau . The floor plan is square / cross-shaped.

Furnishing

Sanctuary

Nave with a view of the altar side

Inside is the central altarpiece dominating the sanctuary and depicting the risen Christ . It was painted by parish member Gerhard Noack, evacuated before the war damage and reinstalled after the Second World War . The original painting with elements of Art Nouveau on the front wall of the choir with allegorically stylized images of the biblical paradise contained two banners on which could be read in Gothic script lines of a song composed by Paul Gerhardt in 1653: “ If God is for me then everything will happen immediately me "and" The sun that smiles on me is my Lord Jesus Christ. "

When the nave was repainted all in white in 1959/1960, the last remnants of the former painting, which had survived the Second World War , were removed. The large three-part colored glass window with motifs from the Paul Gerhardt song O Head full of blood and wounds and scenes from the life of the hymn poet has not been preserved, but a relief in the main entrance hall. A small glass painting with the crucifixion was made in 1951 for a window under the gallery on the wall of the nave facing Kuglerstrasse.

Special feature: fasting practice

Since 2011, the altarpiece has been veiled during Lent, i.e. after the end of Mardi Gras. This lasts 40 days and, according to medieval custom, is intended to remind church visitors of the Passion . For the first time in 2011, the Berlin painter Sabine Herrmann was allowed to artistically design a hunger cloth , also known as a passion cloth , palm cloth or fasting cloth . In 2016, the community in the USA artist Hannah Dougherty found another activist for this task. She painted a six by nine meter cloth in black and white with cloud formations, pictures of animals and banners in the style of a comic .

While the altar is being wrapped, services continue to take place, for which the liturgical implements such as the Bible on the altar table and the altar candles are not available. The content of the sermon must correspond to the veiled Holy of Holies in the church, so that traditional Passion texts cannot simply be used further.

organ

The organ of the Paul-Gerhardt-Church was built by the company Alexander Schuke Orgelbau .

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Quintadena 16 ′
2. Principal 08th'
3. Capstan whistle 08th'
4th octave 04 ′
5. Pointed flute 04 ′
6th Nassat 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
7th Forest flute 02 ′
8th. Mixture III-V
9. Trumpet 08th'
II breastwork C – g 3
10. Dumped 08th'
11. Reed flute 04 ′
12. Quintadena 04 ′
13. Principal 02 ′
14th Tertian II
15th Octave 01'
16. Scharff IV
17th Krummhorn 08th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
18th Sub bass 16 ′
19th Octave 08th'
20th Bass flute 08th'
21st Octave 04 ′
22nd Peasant flute 02 ′
23. Mixture V
24. trombone 16 ′

local community

Since the 1990s, the Paul Gerhardt Church has been used by the Evangelical Church of Prenzlauer Berg Nord , alongside the Gethsemane Church and the Blessed Church .

The congregation merger of the congregations Elias, Gethsemane, Paul Gerhardt and Segen in 2001 led to a discussion about location-related priorities, whereby the specialization of the Paul Gerhardt Church in church music work and youth work was considered. Since spring 2008, the African congregation has been using the congregation rooms and the church, especially on Friday evenings.

There are several circles in the community that are supported by the community members' civic engagement . These are for example

  • the JG (Young Community) ,
  • the Bible study,
  • the senior circle,
  • the working group,
  • the crawling service and
  • the youth choir.

International contacts exist with partner communities in Cochabamba / Argentina , Maarssenbroek / Netherlands and Ķegums / Latvia . In Germany, after the Wall was built in 1961, each pastor was assigned a sponsor community in the Federal Republic , in this case Halver and Lennestadt .

Pastor

The past and present past and present pastors at the Paul Gerhardt Church in Prenzlauer Berg - part of the Berlin district of Pankow - are clearly displayed on the wall gallery of the community office:

  • 1907–1931 Hermann Hörnicke
  • 1907–1938 Hugo Käding
  • 1908–1909 Martin Wachsmann
  • 1909–1950 Wilhelm Krause
  • 1918–1920 Erich Löffler
  • 1921–1944 Albert Babick
  • 1928–1944 Walter Caesar
  • 1931–1957 Kurt Ziemer
  • 1941–1958 Hugo Preilipper
  • 1945–1946 Paul Mendelson
  • 1946–1952 Ernst Nauck
  • 1948–1949 Günter Schochow
  • 1949–1962 Ernst Kornrumpf
  • 1951–1954 Peter Wolbrandt
  • 1952–1955 Johannes Mickley
  • 1955–1956 Gerhard Rother
  • 1955–1982 Gerhard Schellig
  • 1956–1978 Ernst Guhl
  • 1958–1979 Rudi Schulz
  • 1959–1972 Theodor Kalinka
  • 1979–1997 Martin Düsterdick
  • 1982–1990 Gisbert Mangliers
  • 1983-2016 Uta Fey
  • 1991–2004 Jürgen Bergerhoff
  • since 2005 (?) Tobias Kuske

literature

  • Rainer Rosenmüller (Ed.) I. A. of the GKR : 90 Years of the Paul Gerhardt Church (A Chronicle of Joy, Remembrance, Reflection and Movement) , 1st edition (250 pieces), 2000.
  • Parish manach for the ecclesiastical province of Berlin-Brandenburg , Ed. Evangelisches Konsistorium Berlin-Brandenburg, predecessor and successor, z. B. Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg: Address book of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg (1994–1999), different years; DNB 010127313

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ German churches . Vol. 1: The Evangelical Churches in Berlin (Old City). Collected and edited by Dr. Wilhelm Lütkemamm, Konsistorialrat in Berlin. Verlag für Volksliteratur, Berlin, 1926, p. 104 f.
  2. ↑ Illustration of the farewell by General Superintendent Faber with the caption “The Crown Prince Couple after the inauguration of the Paul Gerhard Church in Berlin” in front of the open door of the royal automobile at home. A German family paper . 46th vol. 26 of March 26, 1910
  3. ^ Günther Kühne, Elisabeth Stephani: Evangelical Churches in Berlin . With an introduction by Oscar Söhngen. Christian Zeitschriften Verlag CZV, Berlin, 1978, p. 393; ISBN 3767401584 .
  4. ↑ At home. A German family paper . 46th year. No. 26 of March 26, 1910.
  5. ↑ According to the Berlin address book from 1910, Gerhard Noack was a painter or genre painter by profession and lived at Schönhauser Allee 58 in Berlin. There he ran a studio for commercial designs, posters, etc. a.
  6. ↑ Evangelisches Gesangbuch, Berlin / Leipzig 1993, No. 351, first line of verse 1 and last line of verse 13 of the Paul Gerhardt song of the same name.
  7. ↑ Evangelisches Gesangbuch, Berlin / Leipzig 1993, No. 85.
  8. ↑ Neue Zeit newspaper , Issue B, March 9, 1985, p. 6.
  9. ^ Ernst Badstübner, Sibylle Badstübner-Gröger: Churches in Berlin , Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1987, p. 203; ISBN 3-374-00171-8 .
  10. ↑ Frank Herold: Jesus behind the cloud curtain . In: Berliner Zeitung , February 10, 2016, p. 13.
  11. ^ Paul Gerhardt Church in Berlin Noden, Wisbyer Straße 7; Community office, entrance Kuglerstrasse 15 in 10439 Berlin
  12. ^ At the same time chairman of the welfare organization "Diakonie und Krankenpflege" of the parish according to the welfare institutions of Greater Berlin: supplement April 1913 . Ed. Central Office for Private Welfare, p. 5; ISBN 978-3-642-93862-7
  13. ^ Directory of pastors of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt Berlin GmbH, Berlin 1985

Coordinates: 52 ° 33 ′ 11.1 ″  N , 13 ° 25 ′ 2.1 ″  E