Providence Church (Heidelberg)

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Tower of the Providence Church as seen from the main street
Providenzkirche the Philosopher's seen from
altar
organ

The Providenzkirche is a Protestant church on the main street in the old town of Heidelberg . Until the ecclesiastical union of 1821, it was the church of the Lutheran congregation, while the Reformed congregation gathered in the Church of the Holy Spirit .

The church was named " Monument of the Month February 2020" by the Monument Foundation Baden-Württemberg .

history

The Providence Church was built from 1659 to 1661 according to plans by Theodor Reber . It stands on the site of the former electoral manor garden. Since the church was founded on the initiative of Elector Karl Ludwig , whose motto was Dominus providebit (Latin for the Lord will provide ), it was named Providenzkirche . It was destroyed in the great fire of the town during the War of the Palatinate Succession in 1693, but rebuilt from 1715–1721 under the supervision of Johann Jakob Rischer . From 1878 to 1885 the interior was completely rebuilt by Hermann Behaghel , a bright church hall in the style of the neo-renaissance was created .

architecture

The Providence Church was built as a single-nave hall church with a turret . After the reconstruction, it received a tower on the north side in 1717–1721. The octagonal, ornamented bell house made of red sandstone with a surrounding balustrade rises over three floors with white plastered surfaces and a cornice . The slate roofing of the bell house and the lantern above are designed as a Welsche hood . On the top of the tower is a ball with a cross and a cock.

The white plastered enclosing walls with arched windows and transverse oval openings underneath survived the destruction of 1693, as did the gable wall on the north side. Originally all windows were made in post-Gothic tracery, the tracery is only preserved on the northern gable wall. The keystones with angel faces on the nave windows have also been preserved. The church roof was redesigned in 1698 as a slate mansard roof .

The interior was completely redesigned in two phases in the 19th century. After the choir gallery was demolished in 1852 and the baroque organ was moved to the north gallery, a new central window with a blessing figure of Christ in the style of the Nazarenes was built in the place of the organ in the choir , probably from the workshop of Heinrich Beiler the Elder. Ä., The leading Heidelberg glass painter of historicism . In a second renovation phase from 1878–1885, the architect and church building inspector Hermann Behaghel created the room impression in the neo-renaissance style, which is essentially still present today . Behaghel had the old galleries demolished and one-story galleries built on three sides symmetrically to the axis of the church. The choir with altar and pulpit is set off by steps and a balustrade . The stucco ceiling is also a new creation by Behaghel. The two side choir windows show Grand Duke Karl Friedrich (left) and Elector Ottheinrich (right), donated in 1886 by the University of Heidelberg on the occasion of their 500th anniversary.

organ

Heidelberg's oldest surviving organ is located in the Providenzkirche. It goes back to an instrument from the workshop of master organ builder Matthias Burkard from 1885.

literature

  • Reinhard Störzner (Hrsg.): 350 years Providenzkirche Heidelberg . Heidelberg 2011.
  • Anneliese Seeliger-Zeiss: Evang. Providence Church Heidelberg . Schnell & Steiner publishing house, 2nd revised edition, Regensburg 2011.
  • Max Stopmann: Heidelberg on the Neckar . Art publisher Edm. von König, Heidelberg / Dielheim 1998, ISBN 3-921934-15-X , p. 76.
  • Heide Seele: Edition the German Cities - Heidelberg . CJ Bucher, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-7658-0984-5 , p. 100.

Web links

Commons : Providenzkirche (Heidelberg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anneliese Seeliger-Zeiss: History and shape of the Providenzkirche . In: Reinhard Störzner (Hrsg.): 350 years Providenzkirche . Heidelberg 2011, p. 39
  2. ↑ Anneliese Seeliger-Zeiss: History and shape of the Providenzkirche . In: Reinhard Störzner (Hrsg.): 350 years Providenzkirche . Heidelberg 2011, p. 31
  3. ↑ Alexander Wiesneth: The roof structure of the Providenzkirche . In: Reinhard Störzner (Hrsg.): 350 years Providenzkirche . Heidelberg 2011, p. 140
  4. ↑ Anneliese Seeliger-Zeiss: History and shape of the Providenzkirche . In: Reinhard Störzner (Hrsg.): 350 years Providenzkirche . Heidelberg 2011, p. 48
  5. ↑ Anneliese Seeliger-Zeiss: History and shape of the Providenzkirche . In: Reinhard Störzner (Hrsg.): 350 years Providenzkirche . Heidelberg 2011, p. 48f.
  6. ↑ Wolfgang Herbst: The organ of the Providence Church Heidelberg . In: Reinhard Störzner (Hrsg.): 350 years Providenzkirche . Heidelberg 2011, p. 137

Coordinates: 49 ° 24 ′ 40 ″  N , 8 ° 42 ′ 7 ″  E