Protestant-Lutheran parish church Forbach
The Protestant Lutheran parish church ( French Église Protestante ) of Forbach in the French department of Moselle in the Lorraine region was built in 1892 in neo-Gothic style . At that time Forbach belonged to the realm of Alsace-Lorraine . The church came into being at a time when Forbach was experiencing its greatest urban development growth and more and more Protestant workers were being drawn in as a result of new industrial settlements. It is the only Protestant church in the city of Forbach. The community is committed to the Augsburg denomination and belongs toProtestant Church of the Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine (EPCAAL) .
environment
The Catholic Forbach was the middle center of a region in which the coal and steel industry flourished in the second half of the 19th century . Today the mines and ironworks are closed, the region is undergoing structural change . Around 1850 the canton of Forbach (then far more extensive than today) had 15,716 inhabitants, 180 of whom belonged to the two Protestant denominations.
Around 1850 the Forbacher Bahn was established , which shortly afterwards connected Metz with Saarbrücken , at the same time the iron and steel works in Stiring-Wendel and in 1853 the paper mache factory Adt , the most important of which was that in Forbach. In 1856 coal mining began in Petite-Rosselle , and in 1860 railroad tracks were produced in Hombourg-Haut . In 1866, more people were employed in the secondary than in the primary economic sector in Forbach and the neighboring arrondissement of Sarreguemines for the first time .
After the Franco-Prussian War , the administration in north-eastern Lorraine passed into German hands and was adapted to German requirements due to the changed political conditions ( Lorraine district ). In the 1890s in particular, Forbach gained a prominent position as a trading and industrial location, as a result of which the number of employees grew again. The previously Catholic region achieved a Protestant population of almost 20 percent.
Protestant life began in a similar way in Sarreguemines as well as in Forbach: Around 1841 Pastor Dürr from Courcelles-Chaussy gathered his parishioners for the first Protestant worship service, and from 1844 a vicarage was established for Forbach and Sarreguemines . A first prayer room was opened in 1847, and the congregation was officially founded in April 1869. Together with Stiring-Wendel, Petite-Rosselle, Hombourg-Haut, L'Hôpital , Carling and Œting, the community formed its own parish. Forbach, which previously belonged to the Herbitzheim parish six hours away , has now formed a consistory with Sarre-Union . The first pastors were GJ Roser, 1862–68 J. Balzli, then AC Lange for forty years until 1908.
Building history
Today's church building had a late Classicist predecessor building with 200 seats, which was inaugurated on the 3rd Sunday after Easter 1849. A few years later, this was no longer sufficient. While the congregation already had 275 congregational members in 1869, the number quadrupled to over 1,200 within 25 years.
In 1887, the neighboring company Adt offered 15,000 marks for the old church and property on Rue Sainte-Croix (D 31), which leads to Chapelle Sainte-Croix from the 13th century .
The architect and town planning officer in Metz Conrad Wahn was commissioned to design a new church . He had previously carried out renovations and extensions to sacred buildings in Metz. From 1887 to 1889 he directed the construction of the Protestant church in St. Avold in the neo-Gothic style. Later, the Protestant churches in Saarburg in Lorraine (1896–98), Saargemünd (1897–98) and Metz (1901–04) were also built according to electoral designs . The Metz Protestant Church, the Temple Neuf , was his most elaborate project with high representative standards. The churches in the Lorraine district designed by Wahl form a group of central structures of great architectural interest. In addition, Wahl was later involved in the construction of the Metz main station and, from 1903, in the southern expansion of the city.
The draft with a cost estimate of 70,000 marks was submitted to the church and state authorities for approval in 1887. The church leadership in Strasbourg had doubts from experience with the number of seats, which they wanted to have increased from 566 to 650 and made an additional 20,000 marks available for this. After a so-called gift of grace had also been given to the Evangelical Lutheran Church by the German emperor as sovereign "with consideration for a general interest, for the beautification of a new district in full development", the financing was secured and the building site could be acquired. Disagreements with the construction company Schultheiss from Saarlouis led to a change to the company Josef Finck from Zinzing , which estimated 3000 marks more. When the sacred building was completed, the expenses amounted to 93,000 marks. In comparison with other church buildings completed at that time, this amount of money was within the limits. The foundation stone was laid in 1891, on November 1, 1892, after a short construction period, the inauguration took place.
During the Second World War , the roofs of the church were partially destroyed, which led to damage to the interior. There was also damage to the northern arm of the transept due to the effects of the war , which was repaired between 1949 and 1954. At the same time, the galleries in the transept arms were removed. In 1957 and 1959, Tristan Ruhlmann (1923–1982) re-glazed the large windows in the choir. The middle window shows the risen Christ , the Last Supper and the crucifixion on the left, scenes from the life of the apostle Paul on the right .
Structure
The church building is located between the two streets Rue Sainte-Croix and Rue de la Forêt, which lead out of the city, on gently sloping terrain. On the southeast side of the church property, these are intersected by the tangential Rue des Alliés ; the longitudinal axis of the three-aisled church building also lies in a north-east-south-west direction.
The neo-Gothic basilica with a front-built east tower and recessed side entrances in fronts aligned diagonally to the building structure has a strongly centralized room scheme on the inside. Two almost square yokes form the unusually short central nave, which is lined by aisle-like narrow aisles. In between, vigorously bundled rounds of services strive towards the ribbed vault . The rectangular yokes of the aisles are less elaborately designed with groined vaults in order to preserve the spatial hierarchy. From the side aisles, deep-drawn, cloverleaf-like arches reduce the passage to door-sized openings in order to preserve the symmetrical cross floor plan. In addition, the affiliation of the aisles to the central nave is emphasized. Because the last, western yoke is occupied by the organ gallery, only the five yokes of the central nave, the voluminous transept , the crossing and the choir are available for the community, an area similar in plan to the Greek cross . The nave and transept are the same width, the transept is an unusual one and a half yoke.
The locally broken, reddish and yellow sandstone contrasts with the smooth white-plastered compartments of the walls and emphasizes effective architectural, Gothic imitative structure of the building. Originally existing, delicately painted plant tendrils were the victims of various renovations. The painted tapestry on the rear wall of the choir, as can still be seen in the historical photo from 1924, has not been preserved either.
The central component is the crossing, which is bordered by eight pillars to the side aisles, the transept arms and the apse . These pillars are cleverly hidden by main and ancillary services that become cross ribs in the vault. Without emphasizing these corners, the services ensure their architectural subordination or their dissolution. The short sections of the corners are flanked by the wide pointed arched openings and form small gaps that turn the originally perceived square of the crossing into an octagon. This transition from square to octagon is structurally supported by trumpets that emphasize the composition of the central space.
The variety of shapes, which is kept simple despite its complex room composition, makes it easier to understand the architectural room layout. The galleries that were subsequently moved into the transepts during renovation work to accommodate the growing number of community members were removed again after the Second World War in order to take into account the original room layout. At this time, the eastern arch openings of the transept arms were bricked up to improve the heat distribution. The three-aisle structure can only be read in the floor plan.
The external design is remarkable, as it can also be seen how important the central building concept was to the architect . The roofs of the nave and transept are equally high and are flanked in the cross angles by four small towers that reflect the width of the aisles. The transept also has aisles with the help of substructures .
Architectural classification
The building can compete with other sacred buildings of its time. The architect Wahn was at the beginning of his main creative period. He had previously erected a number of important buildings in and around Metz and also took part in urban planning projects. In terms of church construction, Wahn gained experience in expanding the Catholic parish church in Ste. Ségolène as well as the very representative Church of St. Martin in Saaralben . The Protestant church in Saargemünd , which was planned by Wahn between 1897 and 1898 and completed under the supervision of his colleague Berang, was very similar to the Protestant church in Forbach .
The extent to which Wahn used models from other churches is not documented. However, it is noticeable that the room layout corresponds to that of the Herz-Jesu-Kirche in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg by Christoph Hehl , which was built six years later. The Gnadenkirche in Berlin-Mitte , which was inaugurated in 1895 and which can be described as Forbach's "large sister church", has different stylistic features, but also has a two-bay nave with a cross-shaped structure and narrow aisles and corner turrets in the cross angles that form the crossing emphasize. The unusual division of the transepts with a wide and a narrow yoke also corresponds to the Forbach church.
Furnishing
Bells
Apart from the photo from 1847, nothing is known about the bells.
organ
Today's three-manual organ was rebuilt in 1997 as the last work by the organ builder Theo Haerpfer in Boulay , who also built the organ for Saint-Rémi de Forbach in 1964. The baroque prospectus is also new. Not only the external design corresponds to baroque models, the sound aesthetics is also based on the characteristics of the late 18th century. In the Moselle region , for example, historically comparable instruments can be found by organ builders Verschneider or Wetzel, in the neighboring Palatinate by Stumm and Geib ; their sound would come close to the famous Silbermann organs .
In 1988 a two-manual instrument with main work, upper works and pedal was installed and voiced, only nine years later the Rückpositiv was added. All the action are fully mechanical; a total of 1876 pipes sounded. The Vallotti tuning of the instrument with a slightly uneven floating temperature is particularly suitable for playing classical music repertoire in historical performance practice both German and French composers. The three octaves comprehensive Récit is to fill a soloist treble thought is to play with the right hand and comes with good quiet Accompanying parts of the left hand or pedal advantage.
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- Coupling : Grand-Orgue / Positif de dos, Récit / Positif de dos, Récit / Grand-Orgue, Grand-Orgue / P, Récit / P
Other items of equipment
The altar and the font are part of the architectural design and were part of the initial equipment. Like the entire floor, they are made of light-colored sandstone. The baptismal font has a square base with four round services, which are decorated with capitals and support the massive baptismal font. The pulpit and the pews made of oak are still in its original.
At the exit is the smallest bell of the first Forbach Protestant church from 1847, which was used as the factory bell of the Forbach company Adt from 1892 to 1939.
literature
- Jean Colnat: Le Protestantisme en Moselle (1802-1870) . In: François-Yves Le Moigne, Gérard Michaux (ed.), Protestants messins et mosellans (XVI e –XX e siècles). SHAL, Éd. Serpenoise, Metz 1988, ISBN 978-2-87692-013-2 , pp. 202-243. Online (PDF; 11.8 MB)
- François Roth: La renaissance du protestantisme durant l'annexion à l'Empire allemand (1871-1918) . In: François-Yves Le Moigne, Gérard Michaux (ed.), Protestants messins et mosellans (XVI e –XX e siècles). SHAL, Éd. Serpenoise, Metz 1988, ISBN 978-2-87692-013-2 , pp. 245-263
- Kristine Marschall: The Protestant Lutheran parish church of Forbach . In: Journal for the history of the Saar region, edited. on behalf of the Historical Association for the Saar Region e. V., 45th year, Saarbrücken 1997, ISBN 3-925036-90-3 , pp. 139-146
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Kristine Marschall: The Protestant Lutheran parish church of Forbach . In: Journal for the history of the Saar region, 45th volume, Saarbrücken 1997, ISBN 3-925036-90-3
- ↑ a b Wiki-Protestants
- ↑ Jean Colnat: Le Protestantisme de Moselle (1802-1870) . In: François-Yves Le Moigne, Gérard Michaux (ed.), Protestants messins et mosellans (XVI e –XX e siècles). Metz 1988
- ↑ Stefan Leiner: Migration and Urbanization, Internal Migration, Spatial and Social Change in the Industrial Cities of the Saar-Lor-Lux Area 1856-1910 , Saarbrücker Druckerei and Verlag Saarbrücken 1994, ISBN 3-925036-90-3 , p. 82ff
- ^ Joseph Rohr: Forbach et son arrondissement , Metz 1957, p. 58
- ↑ Stone tablet inside the church
- ^ François Roth: La renaissance du protestantisme durant l'annexion à l'Empire allemand (1871-1918) . In: François-Yves Le Moigne, Gérard Michaux (ed.), Protestants messins et mosellans (XVI e –XX e siècles). Metz 1988
- ↑ a b c Forbach / Völklingen Organ Festival
- ^ Description of the organ
- ↑ Disposition
Remarks
- ↑ All place names are used in today's usual spelling.
Coordinates: 49 ° 11 ′ 6 ″ N , 6 ° 54 ′ 20 ″ E