St. George's Church (Gelsenkirchen)
The Filialkirche St. Georg is a Roman Catholic church in Gelsenkirchen . It sets an urban accent at the interface between the west-east and south-north axes of the city.
The St. George's Church was on 18 July 1908 with the Paderborn Archbishop William Schneider ordained . It is a neo-Romanesque basilica on a cross plan with a round apse , bell tower and octagonal crossing tower.
A small parish is documented as early as 1073 in the area of today's city center ; the church was dedicated to St. George . The city of Gelsenkirchen developed from this parish over the centuries.
The old village church was built as a separate church for the Essen prince abbesses . It stood on the site of today's Evangelical Old Town Church , the previous building of which it had to give way in 1882. From 1648 until the construction of the Catholic Provost Church of St. Augustine in 1845, it was a simultaneous church .
In 1906 the foundation stone of today's Georgskirche was laid further north.
The hail of bombs from World War II also hit the church. The spire and roof were completely destroyed. As early as 1948/49 the damage was repaired at the instigation of the community. Many parishioners helped and donated for the reconstruction. The tower was rebuilt in its old form and height of 58 meters, but for financial reasons there was no vaulted ceiling.
In 1974 the interior of the church was adapted to the new requirements of the 2nd Vatican Council. So the new mighty altar moved into the center of the crossing, a large wooden cross now houses the tabernacle and the elements of the old high altar found new places in the church. On this occasion, new electric underfloor heating was installed. The last renovation took place in 1988, it goes back to a sad incident: In January 1988 the old crib was set on fire by children, which is why the church interior was completely sooty. This made a completely new interior painting necessary. At the same time, the loudspeaker system was modernized and a coffered ceiling was installed.
Since 2007 the parish of St. Georg has been incorporated into the provost parish of St. Augustine with the St. George Church as a subsidiary church. As part of the so-called parish development process, the leadership of the Provost Parish of St. Augustine decided in 2018 that the Georgs Church was no longer needed for pastoral reasons.
On February 2, 2019, the last Holy Mass was celebrated in St. Georg on the feast of Mary's Candlemas.
The church is neither closed nor profaned and can still be used for non-worship purposes.
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Coordinates: 51 ° 30 '53 " N , 7 ° 5' 50" E