Pauluskirche (Berlin-Lichterfelde)
| Pauluskirche | |
|---|---|
 Pauluskirche tower and vestibule in the southwest |
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| Construction time: | 1898-1900 |
| Inauguration: | June 2, 1900 |
| Architect : | Fritz Gottlob , Berlin |
| Architectural style : | Neo-Gothic |
| Client: | Parish |
| Floor space: | 52 × 25 m |
| Space: | 900 people |
| Tower height: |
66 m |
| Location: | 52 ° 26 '15.9 " N , 13 ° 18' 55.1" E |
| Address: | Hindenburgdamm Berlin-Lichterfelde Berlin , Germany |
| Purpose: | evangelical-union ; church service |
| Local community: | Evangelical Paulus Congregation of Lichterfelde |
| Website: | www.paulus-lichterfelde.de |
The Pauluskirche was built in Groß-Lichterfelde (since 1920 the district of Lichterfelde in Berlin ) in the brick Gothic style by Fritz Gottlob , one of the most important advocates of this style. The construction costs amounted to 250,000 marks (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 1.74 million euros). The church was consecrated on June 2, 1900. After being destroyed in the Second World War , it was rebuilt between 1951 and 1957 under the direction of Erich Ruhtz and Karl Streckebach and re-inaugurated on March 24, 1957 by Bishop Otto Dibelius . In 1987, the listed church was completely renovated according to plans by Peter Lehrercke .
history
When the congregation needed more space for worship, they first enlarged the village church in 1895 . But after the number of residents had risen to over 10,000, a new church was necessary. For the inauguration on June 2, 1900, Empress Auguste Viktoria sent her court master, the Freiherr von Mirbach . During a visit a few days later, the Empress donated a baptismal font and an altar Bible that she had signed, both of which were stolen in 1987 during the renovation work. The bronze bells were melted down for armaments purposes during the First World War . The cast steel bells purchased in 1922 were preserved during the Second World War. On March 24, 1944, the Pauluskirche was hit by bombs and burned out.
The outer walls had burned out and had been badly damaged by moisture, but were still stable enough that reconstruction could begin in 1951. The exterior of the church has been faithfully restored except for the roof turret. The interior was greatly simplified by the architect Erich Ruhtz.
building
The Pauluskirche was built in the form of north German brick Gothic of the 14th century using large bricks in the monastery format . Machined granite boulders were used for the base of the building .
Nave
The nave of the cross-shaped church consists of a central nave and two side aisles reduced to aisles with two bays , which is complemented by a short transept and a rectangular choir . The exterior of the church is richly structured with buttresses and pointed arched windows. The transept, the vestibule and the extensions are decorated with stepped gables , which are decorated with pinnacles .
tower
The square and 66 meter high tower, with an open vestibule in front of it, is located on the southwest side of the nave. There are stairwells in the side extensions of the tower. The bell storey of the tower is framed by two friezes . The acoustic arcades are hidden behind a large tracery . There are four corner turrets next to the clock gables, and a pointed octagonal helmet rises above everything . The tower received three cast steel bells , which were made in 1922 by the Bochumer Verein .
| Bell jar | Chime | Weight (kg) |
Diameter ( cm) |
Height (cm) |
inscription |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | a ° | 2800 | 200 | 155 | NO ONE HAS GREATER LOVE BECAUSE THAT HE LETS HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS. JOH. 15.13 |
| 2. | c ' | 1810 | 166 | 138 | BUT WE DON'T DELAY. 2. COR. 4.8 |
| 3. | f ' | 780 | 130 | 105 | Those who sow with tears will reap with joy. PS. 126.5 |
The inner
Inside, only the bricks of the architectural parts were visible, such as the vault ribs , the surfaces were smoothly plastered. The nave, vaulted with eight cross caps, was given a gallery , the vestibule a star vault . The church was richly painted.
The Pauluskirche was built in the neo-Gothic style, following the romantic zeitgeist oriented towards the German Middle Ages . This also meant that the nave ended in an apse , which, however, was not a place for the clergy .
After the reconstruction, further renovations of the church took place over the next few years. The steam heating was replaced by a more controllable hot water heating . The rose window behind the altar has been renewed, as have the windows. A chandelier was placed in the center of the nave . The seating arrangement was adapted to the geometric conditions of the room. The benches were set up so that the altar was in the middle. The pulpit , which has stood on the right side of the altar since 1957 , was redesigned in 1987; for acoustic reasons it has a sound cover again and has been moved to the left.
To improve the acoustics , cladding and reinforcements were attached to the walls without disturbing the effect of the neo-Gothic room. The reinforcement of the walls was limited to the sides of the apse, where it is hardly noticeable. Sound-absorbing and sound-reflecting surfaces are hidden behind the balustrades of the galleries. The rubber inserts in the “sail” of the chandelier also act as sound reflectors. The artificial lighting underlines the architecture of the room, the sail of the chandelier is illuminated indirectly.
The church had been painted gray in the immediate post-war period. The renovated church, on the other hand, is colored. The free-standing cross stands in the center of the view of the worshipers. It is not the same from 1957, but it continues the tradition of the former wall cross. After several years of construction, the Pauluskirche was consecrated again on October 18, 1987.
window
The glass windows were designed by Hermann Kirchberger in 1957 and manufactured by the Puhl & Wagner workshops. After the Second World War, the rear wall of the apse was heavily backed up in order to strengthen the damaged shaped stones of the rose window. As a result, the rosette had shrunk to the middle circle. However, since no damage was found after appropriate investigations, the wall could be removed in order to reopen the leaves of the rose window and to supplement the colored glazing.
In addition, small round openings were made between the leaves that did not originally exist. Now the reopened rose window above the altar area shines like a flower. The center piece shows a crown of thorns, a grape and ears of wheat. Two large three-part windows face each other in the central nave. They represent Christmas and Easter. A small window on the Christmas side depicts Isaiah , who points to Christ in his prophecies. Another shows Moses with the tablets of the law. On the opposite side, seven drops of flame fall from the sky as a Pentecost motif. Another image with the rainbow expresses that the church is still waiting for Jesus to come again as ruler of the world. The small windows under the gallery bear the names of the sister churches in Lichterfelde, which all once belonged to the Paulus community. A large window shows Paul , the namesake of the church, lying on the ground with a sword beside him. He was a fighter and pioneer for the Church of Christ and is a role model for the Pauline community.
organ
Before the destruction, an organ with two manuals and a pedal from the Berlin company Gebrüder Dinse in a neo-Gothic case stood in the Pauluskirche, adapted to the architectural style of the church . It had a very dignified appearance, but the sound of the organ was unsatisfactory. When the Pauluskirche was destroyed in 1944, this organ was destroyed. In 1958 a new organ with 30 sounding voices, distributed over three manuals and pedal, was commissioned. A harmonium served as an instrument until the new organ was completed . While the organ was being built in the Schuke workshop , the girders in the organ gallery had to be reinforced and platforms built so that the instrument could be set up. The organ consecration took place on July 17, 1960. The total price for the first construction phase of the organ with half of the planned 30 stops including the case and fan was 58,307 marks at that time .
In 1964, further registers were added or replaced in the second construction phase. The organ in the Pauluskirche corresponded to the tonal conceptions of 1957. However, a considerable part of the organ literature of the 19th and 20th centuries could still only be reproduced in an unsatisfactory manner with the existing timbres. In order to remedy this deficiency, an overhaul of the organ was necessary after the renovation and redesign of the church. A few new registers have been added, which above all significantly increase the fundamental tone of the organ, so that the organ literature of the Romantic period and the beginning of the 20th century can now be represented more adequately. The sound is as follows:
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literature
- Architects and Engineers Association of Berlin: Berlin and its buildings. Part VI. Sacred buildings , Berlin 1997.
- Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments. Band Berlin, Munich / Berlin 2006.
- Paul-Gerhard Fränkle (ed.): Pauluskirche Lichterfelde. Documentation of a renovation . Wichern-Verlag, Berlin 1987.
- Günther Kühne, Elisabeth Stephanie: Evangelical Churches in Berlin , Berlin 1978.
- Klaus-Dieter Wille: The bells of Berlin (West). History and inventory , Berlin 1987.
Web links
- Entry in the Berlin State Monument List with further information
- The history of the Pauluskirche (PDF; 1.8 MB), text: Beate Michaelis 2008, with numerous photos