St. Jakobus Church (Mannheim)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
St James Church

The St. Jakobus Church is a Catholic church in the Mannheim district of Neckarau . It was built between 1904 and 1907 according to plans by Ludwig Maier , who incorporated parts of the structure of the previous building from 1760. The church got its current appearance in the 1950s, when the roofs were replaced in a simplified form after the damage in the Second World War. The neo-baroque building is classified as a cultural monument of particular importance.

history

A church in Neckarau was first mentioned in the 9th century, in neighboring Hermsheim in 826. In the 13th century, the people of Hermsheim probably gave up their village due to flooding and moved to Neckarau. The parish foundations, however, were retained. After the introduction of the Reformation in 1556, the Neckarau Martinskirche, like the entire Electoral Palatinate, was subject to multiple religious changes before it was finally awarded to the Reformed in 1705 when the Palatinate church was divided. After seven years of simultaneous use , the Catholics had to attend the service in Seckenheim again, as they had done since the Thirty Years' War .

In 1716 the Catholic community received permission to use a room in the town hall; from 1726 she had her own pastor again. The old ties with Hermsheim came in handy when they wanted their own church. Before the Palatinate court it could be proven that the construction obligation lay with the ten participants of the cathedral chapter Worms , cathedral chapter Speyer and the court chamber of the Electorate of the Palatinate. The baroque church was built between 1758 and 1760 . It was 28 meters long and 12 meters wide and was dedicated to James the Elder , who was probably already the patron saint of the Hermsheim church. An onion dome crowned the church tower facing the street. On each side of the nave there were four windows, two more in the recessed, polygonal choir , which was connected to two small sacristies .

  • Elevation of the church from 1760

  • Side elevation

  • Layout

After the diocese of Worms was dissolved, the church was assigned to the Archdiocese of Freiburg and there to the Dean's Office of Heidelberg in 1827 . In 1902 she came to the city ​​dean of Mannheim . The industrialization and the consequent influx of workers led to the end of the 19th century to rapid growth of the population. Before it was incorporated into Mannheim in 1899, Neckarau had become the largest village in Baden . The number of Catholics rose from around 500 in 1860 to 3063 in 1899. In 1887, the sacristy in the choir was removed and the gallery enlarged.

Floor plan of the old and new church. Plan from around 1901 by Ludwig Maier .

Nevertheless, the church was soon too small again, so that a new building was discussed. Difficulties were caused by the tight building site and the question of cost, which played a role in the architectural style to be chosen. When asked for advice, the architect Johannes Schroth suggested the complete demolition and rebuilding of the church. Ultimately, Ludwig Maier was able to prevail, who planned a neo-baroque building while retaining part of the old building fabric and based on the architectural style of the old church. The first groundbreaking took place in 1904, and the following year, city dean Joseph Bauer laid the foundation stone on June 4th . In 1907, the new James church was completed and was archbishop of October 20, Thomas Nörber consecrated .

It had two church towers because the Neckarau Board of Trustees wanted a church with a “monumental character”, corresponding to the development of the place into a suburb of Mannheim and in relation to the proximity to the beautiful, recently built St. Matthew Church of the Protestants. The tower and parts of the eastern outer wall of the old baroque church were integrated into the new building. The two 50 meter high towers had onion domes with inflated lanterns. The corner pilasters were crowned. The roof had an octagonal crossing dome with a raised lantern.

  • Elevation of the church from 1907

  • Side elevation

  • Layout

Interior 2008

During the Second World War , on the night of August 10, 1943, after an air raid, St. James' Church burned down to the outer walls, the vaults and the tower stumps. From May 1945 onwards, the building, which was only sparsely covered, was used for the services of the Neckarau Catholics and Protestants. By 1950 Anton Ohnmacht rebuilt the church in a simplified way, and in 1955 the facade was renovated. The interior was redesigned in 1973 following the findings of the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council . In particular, the altar was moved from the choir to the center of the nave and the seating was arranged in a horseshoe shape. With the completion of the neighboring flat parish center, set back from the street, a side facade of the Jakobuskirche became visible for the first time in 1983. From 2002 to 2003 the outer facade was extensively renovated and damaged sandstone was restored, whereby it was found that the left, baroque tower was in a better structural condition than the younger right tower from 1907. With regard to the German Catholic Day , which took place in Mannheim in 2012 takes place, the interior was renovated and redesigned in 2009/10. The parish of St. Jakobus has been part of the pastoral care unit Mannheim-Südwest since 2002 with Maria-Hilf ( Almenhof ) and St. Josef ( Lindenhof ) .

description

Neckarau's main street with St. James' and St. Matthew's

architecture

The neo-baroque St.Jakobus Church is located on the main street of Neckarau. Its towers , together with the neighboring St. Matthew's Church, define the townscape. They are covered by flat pyramid roofs , which are crowned with crosses resting on balls decorated with gold leaf . The almost rectangular floor plan takes up almost the entire property because when the church was built, due to the rapidly growing Catholic community, the optimal use of space was given preference over the architectural effect. The retracted choir and the central parts of the side walls swing out convexly . The church is 44 meters long, 28 meters wide and 16 meters high.

The external appearance is characterized by the striking interplay between white plastered surfaces and red sandstone , which in the baroque part of the building from 1760 comes from the Neckar Valley and the rest from the Main Valley . The arched main portal is framed by two columns with Ionic capitals and an Attic base . Above it is framed by a blown gable in a decorative frame with the Christ monogram IHS . In the oval window above, the Maria monogram RMAJ is affixed between the gilded crown and the crescent moon. In the niches above the two side portals there are statues of St. James , still from the Baroque church from 1760, and St. John .

  • James

  • portal

  • John

The facade is structured horizontally by cornices that continue upwards on both church towers. At the corners they are decorated with rocailles . The central building is covered by crossed hip roofs . The square church service room is structured by four cross pillars with Tuscan capitals that support the vault . The walls are covered with light- colored plaster and the floor is made of subtle exposed aggregate concrete . The large, colorless glazed windows, which are drawn over almost the entire central wall on both sides, allow a high incidence of light, which increases the spatial effect towards the center of the church. The gallery is connected to the two north pillars of the cross and curves concavely inwards. Below is a glazed room.

inner space

Furnishing

The square interior turned out to be ideal when the interior was redesigned in 1973 following the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council. In the center there is a simple wooden altar on a wooden pedestal and the ambo in the same style . The individual seating, which is held in striking blue, faces the altar island from three sides. Tabernacle and Eternal Light are under the organ gallery. In the axis between the chairs in the center aisle is a bronze cross column, which Toni Schneider-Manzell created in 1976 . On the front there is the crucified Jesus and on the back a lamb , which symbolizes sacrifice and redemption. The scenes Adam and Eve in Paradise and Cain's murder of Abel are depicted at the foot .

The bronze Easter candlestick , which was installed in 1986, comes from the same artist . It shows three scenes after the resurrection : the three women find the empty tomb, the disciples of Emmaus and the doubting Thomas . On the west wall there is a way of the cross with 14 stations, which the sculptor Hubert Bernhard made in 1958 as a stone relief. In the southwest corner there is a 1.03 meter high Madonna from the 15th century. A stone tablet from 1907 is located above the entrance portal of the baroque tower. The dedicatory inscription on the tablet, written in Latin, is taken from the certificate that was laid in the foundation stone in 1758. Several chronograms in it refer to the year 1758.

Another work of art by Toni Schneider-Manzell is attached to the outer facade of the neighboring community center. The relief from 1986 shows the three archangels Raphael , Michael and Gabriel with sparingly indicated iconographic attributes .

organ

organ

The organ was consecrated on March 7, 1993. The new acquisition had become necessary because the repair of the predecessor would no longer have been economical. Including the first instrument that was still installed in the Neckarau town hall, it is the sixth organ in the St. Jakobus community. It comes from Karl Göckel Orgelbau and has 34 registers with 2,133 pipes , the longest of which is five meters. The housing is made of solid ash and spruce wood. The organ has the following disposition :

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Bourdon 16 ′
2. Principal 8th'
3. Bourdon 8th'
4th Viol 8th'
5. Octave 4 ′
6th Reed flute 4 ′
7th Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
8th. Octave 2 ′
9. Cornett V
10. Mixture IV-V 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
11. Trumpet 8th'
II Swell C – g 3
12. Wooden principal 8th'
13. Dumped 8th'
14th Salicional 8th'
15th Voix céleste 8th'
16. Octave 4 ′
17th Transverse flute 4 ′
18th Nasard 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
19th Duplicate 2 ′
20th third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
21st Larigot 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
22nd Plein Jeu V
23. Basson 16 ′
24. Hautbois 8th'
25th Clarine 4 ′
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
26th Principal bass 16 ′
27. Sub bass 16 ′
28. Octavbass 8th'
29 Dacked bass 8th'
30th Choral bass 4 ′
31. Back set IV 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
32. trombone 16 ′
33. Trumpet 8th'
34. Clairon 4 ′
Construction year Manuals register Organ builder comment
1743 1 9 Friedrich Ernst Müller
1760 1 11 Johann Ignaz Seuffert The rococo- style prospect of this organ was sold to St. Mary's Church in Lauda in 1887 , where it still stands today.
1887 2 15th Matthias Burkhard The organ was built in 1792 by Franz Christoph Alfermann for the Paulskirche in Bruchsal . On the occasion of the purchase in 1887, it was rebuilt by Matthias Burkhard.
1907 3 36 Kiene company The neo-baroque case came from the sculptor G. Müller.
1950 3 46 Paul Saddle Planned for the St. Josef Church in Mannheim-Lindenhof , the organ was no longer completed in World War II and was then acquired by the Neckarau community.

Bells

Bell for church service

The St.Jakobus-Kirche has only one bell . The 450 kg guardian angel bell is made of bronze and tuned to the tone b '. It was cast in 1927 by the court bell foundry Franz Schilling Söhne in Apolda .

At the beginning of 1760 the church had only one bell, the Marienglocke, which bore the inscription “Holy Mother of God is also a mother of the Neckarau parish”. The peal was extended by one bells in 1777 and two more bells in 1887. Since they did not sound harmonious, they were replaced by six new bells from the Villingen bell foundry when the church was rebuilt in 1907. They had a total weight of 7,600 kg and should be tuned to the tone sequence h °, d ', e', g ', a' and b '. The archbishop's bell inspector found that they had the tones h °, c sharp ', d flat', f sharp ', a' and b '. During the First World War in 1917, the bells had to be delivered down to the second smallest bell.

In 1927 the community bought six new bronze bells from the bell foundry Franz Schilling Söhne. They had a total weight of 10,100 kg and were tuned to the tone sequence b °, des', es', f ', as' and b'. The St. James bell had the inscription “Saint James, greetings, loyal patron of the parish! What you are already a century ago, also be the new church. ”Except for the smallest bell in 1942, the ringing was called in during the Second World War.

literature

  • Hans Huth: The art monuments of the Mannheim II district . Munich 1982, ISBN 3-422-00556-0 .
  • Sabine Bruss: The work of the architect Ludwig Maier (1848–1915) . Kiel 1999, ISBN 3-933598-04-4 .
  • Andreas Schenk: Architectural Guide Mannheim . Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-496-01201-3 .
  • Hansjörg Probst: Neckarau Volume 1: From the beginnings to the 18th century . Mannheim 1988, ISBN 3-87804-191-8 .
  • Hansjörg Probst: Neckarau Volume 2: From absolutism to the present . Mannheim 1989, ISBN 3-87804-197-7 .
  • Manfred Kleiss: A happy church: The parish church of St. Jakobus in Mannheim-Neckarau . Reprint from Badische Heimat Heft 3 , 1979.
  • Manfred Kleiss: The Catholic parish St. Jakobus Mannheim-Neckarau . Mannheim 1982.
  • Manfred Kleiss: Annunciation in bronze. Toni Schneider-Manzell's works in Mannheim-Neckarau . In: Mannheimer Hefte , Mannheim 1987.
  • Manfred Kleiss u. a .: The organ of the parish church of St. James . Mannheim 1993.
  • St. Jakobuskirche in new splendor . Mannheim 2003.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The work of the architect Ludwig Maier (1848–1915) . P. 191.
  2. ↑ Neckarau Volume 1 . Pp. 155/156, 169-174, 235-257.
  3. ↑ a b Neckarau Volume 2 . Pp. 61-71.
  4. ↑ Neckarau Volume 2 . Pp. 199-206.
  5. ^ The work of the architect Ludwig Maier (1848–1915) . Pp. 184-191.
  6. ↑ a b Neckarau Volume 2 . Pp. 360-362.
  7. ↑ St. Jakobuskirche in new splendor .
  8. ^ The work of the architect Ludwig Maier (1848–1915) . Pp. 191-197.
  9. ^ The art monuments of the Mannheim II district . Pp. 1537-1546.
  10. ↑ Architecture Guide Mannheim . P. 174.
  11. Jump up ↑ A happy church: The parish church of St. Jakobus in Mannheim-Neckarau .
  12. ↑ Annunciation in bronze. Toni Schneider-Manzell's works in Mannheim-Neckarau .
  13. ↑ The organ of the parish church of St. James . Pp. 8, 16-17.
  14. ^ Karl Göckel organ building. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  15. ^ The Catholic parish of St. Jakobus Mannheim-Neckarau . Pp. 34-35.

Web links

Commons : St. James Church  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 49 ° 27 '12 "  N , 8 ° 29' 24.7"  E

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on January 9, 2009 .