Saint Laurentius Church (Magdeburg)

South view

West view

The Sankt-Laurentius-Kirche is a Protestant church in Magdeburg 's Alt Olvenstedt district . Patron saint is St. Lawrence of Rome .

architecture

The church has a Romanesque clump tower that can only be reached from the inside. In the 13th century the tower was raised. The sound openings are designed as pointed arches. On the ground floor of the tower there is a barrel vault , which is broken through in the northwest corner by a sheathed stone staircase. In the west wall of the church there is a square stone with a round recess. It is assumed that this is an old measure of capacity .

The nave has four arched windows and a door on each long side. The three-sided east end is delimited as a sacristy and vestibule. The interior of the church is plastered.

history

The exact time of the laying of the foundation stone of the church building is unknown. The 11th or 12th century is assumed. So z. B. with a document dated February 13, 1287 from Archbishop Erich of Magdeburg, the patronage of a church in Olvenstedt was given to the monastery Mariae Magdalenae after it had acquired an adjacent courtyard. This document states that the patronage has been associated with the court from an old age ( from antiquo ). However, the name of the church is not mentioned, so that the second church originally in Olvenstedt, the Sankt-Petri-Kirche , could also be meant. Due to the proximity to the Freihof of the von Olvenstedt family, who are considered to be the founder of the Laurentius Church, it can be assumed that this mention probably meant the Laurentius Church. According to other sources, the founding is even assumed to be in the 9th or 10th century.

In 1494 , the Laurentiuskirche was mentioned in connection with a loan from the Berge monastery in favor of Simon Heydeck. The church was probably destroyed during the siege of Magdeburg in 1550/51. Reconstruction then took place relatively quickly. The first Lutheran church visitation took place on April 15, 1564 . Saint Lawrence had become Protestant. In 1611, extensive repairs were carried out on the Laurentius Church, sometimes referred to as the "main or castle church". Around 1630 it was probably no longer in constant use. When Olvenstedt was destroyed by imperial troops during the Thirty Years' War in 1644 or 1645, the Laurentius Church was also largely destroyed. For the year 1650 it is still described as desolate. In 1724 the Petrikirche and the remains of the nave of the Laurentiuskirche were demolished. The nave of the Laurentiuskirche was rebuilt from the rubble.

During the First World War in 1917, the bronze bells had to be handed in for armament purposes. In 1922, replacement steel bells could be purchased.

On January 16, 1945, the Laurentiuskirche was hit by an incendiary bomb during the largest air raid on neighboring Magdeburg . The church burned down completely, and the belfry was also destroyed. The two steel bells fell and shattered on impact. Construction work began just a few months after the end of the war. The initially roofless church was used again for church services. In 1953 the church building was restored. In the following time the equipment of the church was renewed. In addition to the pulpit, altar and baptismal stand, in which the baptismal bowl from 1867 fits, there were also eight wooden figures. The latter originally belonged to a baroque altar in the church in Athenstedt , which, however, was converted into an Aryan sanctuary in 1938. The outsourced figures, which represent, among others, Christ , Moses , Apostle Peter and Evangelist John , were made available to the Laurentiuskirche after their rediscovery. Initially, the figures were placed directly at the altar, later they were placed under the eastern windows. In 1963 Albrecht Steinwachs (1934–2012) became pastor at the church.

On January 1, 2003, the Laurentiuskirche had to be closed because it was dilapidated, as the roof beams had been severely damaged by massive pests. As early as October 2002, a church building association was founded with the aim of saving the church. Since a renovation of the church was only possible if the parish had raised its own funds, the association collected over 50,000 euros. After the complete renovation of the church roof, the interior of the nave also had to be redesigned. In September 2003 new dials for the tower clock could be attached to the tower. In contrast to the old leaves, they were designed to be round in order to adapt them to the Romanesque construction of the tower.

literature

• Kathrin Jäger: Magdeburg - Architecture and Urban Development , 2001, ISBN 3-929330-33-4
• Hans-Joachim Krenzke: Churches and monasteries in Magdeburg , 2000

Web links

Commons : Sankt-Laurentius-Kirche  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 9 ′ 23 "  N , 11 ° 33 ′ 55.8"  E