St. Christophorus Church (Helmstedt)
The Sankt-Christophorus-Kirche in Helmstedt in Lower Saxony is a Protestant church that was originally built as a motorway church. The parish of the Christophorus Church belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church in Braunschweig .
history
Helmut Scheide, a pastor from Helmstedt, had the idea of building a motorway church near the A2 in Helmstedt. Construction of the church began on May 6, 1969; on Palm Sunday 1972 it was consecrated to St. Christopher . Pastor Scheide was unable to witness the consecration; he died on March 12, 1971.
Pastor Rudolf Kleinert took over the vacancy management. On July 11, 1971, Pastor Wolfgang Büscher was introduced to his new position as pastor of the St. Christophorus Congregation: this was also the first service in the shell of the church. On August 20, 1994, Pastor Christoph Brinckmeier began his service, until Pastor Birgit Rengel took over in 2003.
On June 15, 2017, a fire broke out in the parish kitchen, as a result of which the church was affected by smoke and has to be renovated.
architecture
The concrete construction typical of the early 1970s characterizes not only the church, but also the associated buildings such as the community center, rectory and kindergarten.
In 2005 the construction of the bell tower began , which could not be carried out due to lack of funds when the church was founded. The funds were collected through more than 30 years of fundraising, so that the bells consecration took place on September 9, 2006.
The slate floor matches the gray concrete walls perfectly, which together with the wood paneling gives the church an original atmosphere. Also worth mentioning are the curved, sky-reaching ceiling of the church and the bronze reliefs by Fritz Fleer on the front wall.
The windows of the church contain depictions of St. Christopher with the baby Jesus on his shoulder, which convey optimism and joie de vivre through their cheerfulness, which counteract the sobriety of the church. There is also a representation of the holy Liudger , who founded the St. Ludgeri monastery , which is also located in Helmstedt . On the edge of the church is the spring from which the baptismal water for St. Ludgeri was fetched into the 20th century.
The bell tower
Although financially better equipped at the end of the 1960s, the regional church lacked the funds for a complete construction with a bell tower. The parish then decided to raise a large part of the funds itself. This initiative should prompt the regional church to make a grant. In a collection campaign that lasted more than 30 years, an amount of more than 100,000 euros came together, which in 2004 meant that the financing was in place.
For many older parishioners who had worked for their bell tower for so many years, it was a special experience when in 2006 the four bells of St. Christophorus finally rang out.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Shoulder sheet, No. 88 / September - November 2017, community letter of the ev.-luth. Parish of St. Christophorus Helmstedt, p. 3 and 5
Coordinates: 52 ° 13 ′ 38.5 ″ N , 11 ° 1 ′ 47.6 ″ E