Saint Laurentius (Waltrop)
The Sankt-Laurentius-Kapelle is a chapel on Schultenstrasse in Waltrop . It stands just south of the Dortmund-Ems Canal in the Leveringhausen district.
The chapel originally dates from the early Middle Ages, from a time around 1070 when the area between Emscher and Lippe was settled and the Leveringhausen estate was created. The chapel was first mentioned in a document in 1343. The early rectangular church interior was later supplemented by an equally rectangular choir. The current tower on the west side was only added in 1886 to replace its dilapidated predecessor.
building
The building in the Gothic style is mainly made of field stones, only in the area of the window and door openings are built stones. The interior has a flat, plastered wooden beam ceiling. The choir is closed with a ribbed vault.
inner space
In the choir is the altar , a gray-yellow stone block with a wreath of inlaid yellow-red-brown mosaic in front. On this altar table is an altarpiece carved in the Baroque style with a bust of St. Lawrence in the middle. There is a walled up window niche on the south wall. There was originally a leprosy window there, i.e. a window through which lepers had a view of the priest and altar from outside during mass and could thus participate in the service without mingling with the believers in the church, which was due to the risk of infection for the other participants was undesirable. Another niche on the right with a drain to the outside enabled hand washing. At the western end of the church interior there is a wooden organ loft across the entire width of the room, with a small organ on top. The church stalls come from the hospital chapel in Waltrop. The whole room is bright due to the white paint and several windows of different widths, heights and arrangements with geometrically simple, partly colored lead glazing. There are also modern electric lights.
Furnishing
In addition to the carved colored altar, there are two statues on the wall with the opening to the choir: on the left a carved colored Madonna and Child and on the right a colored statue, also carved, depicting Saint Lawrence with his attributes, an iron grate and a palm branch . Between the statue of Laurentius and the chancel, at the height of the base of the figure, there is a niche closed with a lattice, in which there is a monstrance with a relic of the saint.
The entrance room under the tower serves as the sacristy and is separated by the outer door and a new door made of old wood. There is an iron staircase that leads over two floors with ladders to the height of the roof structure and the bell level in the tower. The bells hang in a wooden belfry and are rung manually via two ropes that hang down into the sacristy. The smaller and older bell probably dates from the 11th century and is completely unadorned, which makes dating difficult. The larger one has a jewelry program and an inscription from 1518 and was cast in Dortmund . Both bells survived wartime metal collections. The inscription in the newer bell reads: "My name is Maria, I load the doden, I dissipate the thunder, dei mi hears the talker (my name is Maria, I ring the dead, I drive away the thunder, those who hear me pray) ".
Surroundings
To the south of the church there is a free cross made of laths that come from a nearby mine that has now been closed. In December 2016 the chapel was Monument of the Month of the LWL (= Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe). The chapel is number 17 on Waltrop's list of monuments (since November 3, 1986). It is often used for weddings.
Web links
- Monument of the month at the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe
- City of Waltrop
- Parish of St. Peter Waltrop
Coordinates: 51 ° 36 ′ 0.3 ″ N , 7 ° 22 ′ 41.1 ″ E