Main Church of St. Michaelis (Hamburg)

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St. Michaelis
inner space
St. Michaelis (2013)

The main Protestant church Sankt Michaelis (popularly: Michel ) is the most famous church building in Hamburg and is considered the most important baroque church in Northern Germany . For shipping on the Elbe , the widely visible sacred building with its distinctive architecture has long been the landmark of the Hanseatic city .

The church is the Archangel Michael ordained that a large bronze statue above the main entrance is shown as the winner in the battle with Satan. The church building is in the southern Neustadt between Ludwig-Erhard-Straße, Krayenkamp and Englischer Planke. The church tower has a height of 132.14 meters. The current structure is a reconstruction from 1912 after the church burned down in 1906.

history

The current building is the third church building at this point. Around the year 1600 - which was still outside the Hamburg city walls - a little further built east due to the expansion of the city, a small branch church in the plague cemetery, called the Small Michel , the residents of Hamburg from 1625 Neustadt (since 1625 within the new ramparts emerged was) when their church used. The chapel soon became too small for the growing community.

First construction (1647–1750)

Lightning strike in Michaeliskirche 1750, copper engraving by Franz Nikolaus Rolffsen

The first building at the current location was built between 1647 and 1669 by Peter Marquard and Christoph Corbinus (who died during the construction period). In 1685, the Michel became Hamburg's fifth main church, alongside St. Petri, St. Jacobi, St. Nikolai and St. Katharinen, and Neustadt became its own parish .

On March 10, 1750 around 11:00 a.m., the church was struck by lightning with an unusually loud thunder. Smoke and flames were noticed from 12:45 p.m. The fire could no longer be extinguished, the church tower collapsed in a zigzag. "The main part of the tower fell on the church roof and set fire to the church, which was completely destroyed."

Second building (1750–1906)

Text sheet of the oratorio for the inauguration in 1762
Fire at Michaeliskirche in Hamburg in 1906, the tower collapsed

In 1751 the foundation stone for the second Michel was laid. This was consecrated on October 19, 1762 with the oratorio Come again Lord to the crowd of thousands in Israel ( TWV 02:12) by Georg Philipp Telemann . It was not until 1786 that this new building was completed with the construction of the tower, based on a design by Johann Leonhard Prey and Ernst Georg Sonnin . The tower was made entirely of wood and covered with copper.

In 1802, Johann Friedrich Benzenberg successfully used the tower for fall experiments to demonstrate the rotation of the earth , bringing Léon Foucault almost 50 years earlier with his famous pendulum experiment .

On July 3, 1906, the tower caught fire while soldering damaged copper plates on the tower casing. The roofers had pushed tarred cardboard under the copper plate. During the soldering process, tar gas developed, this ignited and the wooden cladding caught fire. The tower guard Carl Beurle managed to use Morse code to alert the fire brigade in the main guard at the pig market. But he could no longer save himself. Parts of the tower and the clock hands collapsed on the nave. Old manuscripts, Communion and baptismal implements, marble baptismal fonts and the divine case donated by Ernst Georg Sonnin were saved from the Michel . The nave also burned to the ground.

Third building (from 1906)

construction

There were heated discussions about the type of reconstruction. In a survey from 1906/07, Cornelius Gurlitt , Fritz Schumacher and Peter Behrens spoke out against a reconstruction. The monument protector Georg Dehio was an advocate of reconstruction. Ultimately, taking into account the landmark character of the "Michel" and the wishes of the population, it was restored to its old exterior shape, but with a more fireproof construction made of steel and concrete instead of the earlier wooden construction. The construction work, which was led by Julius Faulwasser , lasted six years. The Michel was reopened on October 19, 1912. The font and chapel for donations date from 1763.

Bombing and war damage clearance

During the Second World War, the entire area was badly damaged by Allied bombing raids ( Operation Gomorrah ), while the church itself initially remained almost undamaged. It was not until 1944 and 1945 that the main ship was finally hit. The damage was repaired from 1947 to around 1952. The church was rededicated in 1952. The font and the chapel are from 1763.

Continuous renovation since 1983

The Michel has been renovated almost continuously since 1983:

  • 1983–1996: renewal of the tower
  • 2002 – turn of the year 2009/10: Renovation of the Michel and digitization of the building plans under the direction of the Hamburg architects Plan-R Joachim Reinig
  • 2007: renovation of the crypt
  • 2008–2009: Renewal of the copper roof and interior renovation
  • 2015–2016: Completion of the four-part clock mechanism

  • Burned down after a lightning strike on March 10, 1750 (copper by Jonas Haas , 1751)

  • The tower collapsed during a fire on July 3, 1906

  • Aerial photo, 1920

  • Sankt Michaelis, 1949

  • St. Michaelis in the evening, 2011

  • The Archangel Michael defeats Satan. Archangel statue by August Vogel above the west portal

Architecture and equipment

Layout
Vaulted ceiling

St. Michaelis is in brick - masonry erected baroque central building with monumental west tower. As a restoration of the building from 1762/86, it is the youngest of Hamburg's five main churches and also the largest with space for more than 2000 people. The church interior has a cross-shaped floor plan with a width of 44 meters, a length of 52 meters and a height of 27 meters. The marble pulpit forms the center of the room.

Church interior

The church interior is 52 meters long, 44 meters wide, 27 meters high and can accommodate 2,500 visitors. It is flooded with light because the clear windows let the outside light through. Some of the front rows are wider and more comfortable than the rest of the rows. These Senate stalls are intended for ceremonies or funerals for those in power.

Entrances

In addition to the main entrance in the west under the bronze sculpture of the fighting Archangel Michael, the Michel has numerous gates in the direction of the harbor (south) and Großneumarkt (north) for direct access from the then densely populated areas.

Tower hall

The tower hall is an anteroom to the church, to the tower ascent and to the crypt with a ticket booth for brochures.

crypt

Grave of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in the crypt of the St. Michaelis Church
Michel's tomb

The crypt was created with the second construction of the church. The sale of grave sites should help finance the reconstruction. 2,425 names of those buried there are known, including Johann Mattheson († April 17, 1764), Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach († December 14, 1788), Hinrich Borkenstein († 1777) and the architect of Michels Sonnin († July 8, 1794) . The burial chambers are deeply excavated for four coffins on top of each other. During the French period in Hamburg in 1813, burials within the city and thus also in the crypt were banned. The architect Julius Faulwasser had a reinforced concrete ceiling built over the crypt when the Michel was rebuilt. During the Second World War, the crypt served as an air raid shelter . Two high explosive bombs in World War II hit Michel badly, but the ceiling of the crypt withstood it. From 1986 the vaulted crypt has housed an exhibition on the building history with models of the church. At the beginning of 2000 the crypt was rebuilt and is now used for church services and concerts.

tower

tower

The 132.14 meter high, characteristic church tower shapes the silhouette of the city and was early on as a landmark for the ships sailing on the Elbe to Hamburg. The tower platform is 83 meters high and offers a wide view of the city. It can be reached on foot via 452 steps or after 52 steps from the elevator hall on the 1st floor. There are webcams at the top of the tower. Several bee colonies have been living in the tower since 2016. On some evenings there is a 360 ° panoramic view of the Michel under the motto: Hamburg by night. Dream view from Michel possible.

The tower of the Petrikirche is similarly high at 132.20 meters, so both can be considered the second tallest church towers in Hamburg. The highest is the St. Nikolai memorial at 147.88 meters.

Tower clock

Tower clock

The clock in the church tower is the largest of its kind in Germany. It was made by the Strasbourg company Ungerer , whose owner was the grandfather of the well-known graphic artist Tomi Ungerer . It was put into operation in 1911, switched to electrical operation in 1964 and has been radio controlled since 1994. Each of the four dials below the visitor platform, which point in the four cardinal directions, is eight meters in diameter. A large hand is 4.91 meters long and a small one is 3.65 meters. Each of these hands weighs 130 kilograms and, like the surrounding numerals, is covered with gold leaf. There are four bells for the tower clock.

Bells

Confiscation and new casting

After the fire in 1906, the Michel was rebuilt true to the original and consecrated again in 1912. In 1910 ten new bells were cast for the Michel, including four clock chimes. As early as 1917, nine of these new bells, the copper roof and the tin pipes of the organ prospectuses were confiscated to be melted down for armament purposes .

After the First World War , one of the Michel bells was discovered not melted down in a bell cemetery in the Eifel and was bought back. Two clock chimes and three chime bells were cast again in 1924. Two clock chimes and a chiming bell were not replaced.

In the Second World War , all bells were confiscated again and were taken to the bell cemetery in Hamburg's free port.

After the Second World War, the church was the first of Hamburg's inner city churches to have four bells again. A chime was missing. The two clock chiming bells that had been missing since the end of World War I were not replaced.

Chime bells

As a replacement for the large Michel bell, which had been melted down in 1917 to obtain material for armaments , the large millennium bell was cast on March 31, 2000 in the A. Bachert bell foundry in Heilbronn . However, due to poor casting quality, a crack developed at the lower edge, which is why a new casting was carried out at Bachert in Karlsruhe in 2008. With a weight of over 9 tons, the millennium bell is the largest bell in Hamburg and one of the largest bells in northern Germany.

The other bells were cast by the Schilling bell foundry in Apolda . Although they were dismantled during the Second World War (like thousands of other bells) on the orders of the Nazi leadership and taken to the bell cemetery in Hamburg's free port, they survived the war there and returned to their traditional place with great public sympathy.

  • new millennium bell (end of November 2008)

  • Inscription (front)

  • Inscription (back)

No. Surname Casting year Foundry, casting site Ø
(mm) 		Mass
(kg) 		Strike tone
( HT - 1 ⁄ 16 ) 		inscription
1 Millennium bell 2008 Albert Bachert,
Karlsruhe 		2,340 9,040 f 0 +3 Front: FROM THE DEEP I CALL LORD • TO YOU •
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE FORGIVENESS THAT YOU Fear You
Back: Because a thousand years before you are like the day that passed yesterday.
2 Citizen Bell 1924 Franz Schilling sons,
Apolda 		1,960 4,911 a 0 +2 Jesus Christ yesterday and today and the same forever.
3 Shipping bell 1924 1,660 2,856 c 1 +4 Ride up.
4th Church elders bell 1909 1,450 2.012 d 1 +3 Praise, you peoples, our God; let his fame ring wide.
5 Pastor bell 1924 1,280 1,355 e 1 +2 Blessed are the servants whom the master finds watching when he comes.
6th Church chief bell 1909 1,220 1.102 f 1 ± 0 That is a delicious thing, thank the Lord and sing praises of
your name, Most High.

Hour bells

Up until 1917, four clock- striking bells hung in the tower of Michel . After the First World War, only two new watch bells were cast for the Michel in 1924. The other two clock bells were not replaced. The two clock bells probably remained in the tower during the Second World War. They hang in the lantern above the viewing platform and have the beats c 1 and e 1 .

It was only in June 2015 that the two missing hour bells from the Rincker bell and art foundry in Sinn (Hessen) near Frankfurt could be cast. From September 2015 to May 2016, both bells were stored in the nave, as adverse wind conditions prevented transport to the top of the tower. On May 19, 2016, both bells were lifted into the top of the tower. The tower dome was stabilized by additional steel beams.

No. Surname Casting year Foundry, casting site Ø
(mm) 		Mass
(kg) 		Strike tone
( HT - 1 ⁄ 16 ) 		inscription
1 Hour bell 1974 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling, Heidelberg 1,530 2,536 c 1
3 Eternity bell 1974 Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling, Heidelberg 1,210 1,294 e 1
2 Our Father Bell 2015 Bell and art foundry Rincker ,
Sinn (Hessen) 		1,390 1,741 d 1 He changes the time and the hour
4th Peace bell 1,080 869 g 1 Father forgive

The four-part clock strike has been striking since June 19, 2016. At a quarter past the peace bell strikes once. At half-past there is first a strike on the peace bell and then one on the Our Father's bell. At a quarter to early the bell of peace strikes, then the bell of the Lord's Prayer and then the bell of eternity. At the top of the hour, the same melody suggests as at a quarter, but there is also a sound of the peace bell. This is followed by the strike of the hour on the hour bell.

Organs

Interior with a view of the main organ

The 1912 by the company EF Walcker & Cie. The large organ with 163 registers was destroyed in 1945.

The Michel has five organs: a Marcussen organ on the concert gallery (north gallery), the large Steinmeyer organ with 85 registers, 5 manuals and 6674 pipes on the west gallery, the romantic Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy organ in the crypt and a remote control unit with general gaming table in the attic. On the 1st of Advent 2010, the Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach organ was inaugurated on the south pore .

Customs

Tower keeper

According to a 300-year-old custom, the Michel's tower keeper blows a chorale on his trumpet on workdays in the morning at 10 a.m. and in the evening at 9 p.m. on platform 7 at a height of 106 meters from the four small windows in all four directions. On Sundays and public holidays this only takes place at 12 noon. Until 1861 this was the signal for the opening and closing of the city gates. On many evenings, the Michel Tower is open until around 11 p.m. under the slogan Nachtmichel, when you can look out over the illuminated city and the harbor.

Midday prayer on weekdays

A short midday prayer for visitors is held on weekdays at 12:00. The organ sounds and the priest finds reflective words for everyday life.

Wichernkranz

Wichernkranz after Johann Hinrich Wichern

During Advent and over Christmas and until January 1st, a huge Wichern wreath with (up to 28) candles by Johann Hinrich Wichern for every day from the first Sunday in Advent to Christmas Eve is hung in the middle of the church . The four large candles symbolize the Advent Sundays. The six small candles each symbolize six days of the week between the Advent Sundays.

Musical crib devotions

On eight evenings after Christmas Eve, at 6:00 p.m. from Christmas Day to January 1, the Christmas time is extended with nativity services. Choirs and orchestras from Hamburg's main churches play classical Christmas music and Christmas carols. On each of the eight evenings, around 2,000 visitors come to sing Christmas carols and speak the creed.

Christmas crib

The nativity scene in the Michel was made by the doll maker Barbara Runschke between 1975 and 1979. It consists of three groups of three people each who meet at this location. The simple shepherds with sheep. In the middle Mary, Joseph and Jesus. Then the three kings, who are represented here as distinguished representatives of different cultures. In the background ox and donkey. The nativity scene stays in the church until February 2nd (day of the presentation of the Lord / Candlemas).

environment

The church is separated from the surrounding streets by several buildings for community work . On the forecourt of the Michel are two hour bells of the main church St. Michaelis from 1924, coated with gray, with a motto all around them in the upper half. The suspension and clapper of the bells were damaged in the Second World War and they are no longer usable. In 1974, two new chime bells were installed in the bell tower.

Furthermore, 199 small brass tablets (as of May 2019) with texts of the connection to Michel and Hamburg are embedded in a 20 centimeter deep concrete bed in the floor of the northern forecourt. The donations from this flow to the Michel Foundation for renovation work. Reasons for the donations are weddings, births, anniversaries, gratitude and solidarity of Hamburgers in the diaspora. Windjammers, sailors' knots and elk antlers are also shown on the boards.

For the Reformation anniversary in 2017, an apple tree was planted on the edge of the northern forecourt of Hamburg's Michel / transition to Ludwig-Erhard-Straße in memory of the quote attributed to Luther about planting an apple tree.

  • Martin Luther monument in front of the tower by Otto Lessing (1912)

  • Hamburg, parish houses, main church St. Michaelis, Englische Planke 1 b

  • Damaged hour bells in the main church of St. Michaelis during World War II, which were replaced by two new hour bells in 1974.

  • One of the panels of the donors for the renovation of the Michel

  • Hamburg, Hauptkirche St. Michaelis (Hamburg): Apple tree that was planted for the Luther year 2017. Location Transition from the northern forecourt to Ludwig-Erhard-Straße

Little Michel

The Little Michel from the east with the tower of the Great Michel

Little Michel is the slang term for the parish church of St. Ansgar and St. Bernhard, which is located about 200 meters to the east; its building history is closely linked to the main church of St. Michaelis. The first sacred building, built on this site around 1600, is considered the forerunner of the Great Michel. After the fire in the main church, it was used as an emergency church from 1757 and in 1811 during the French period in Hamburg it was used as a Catholic church.

See also

literature

  • Julius Faulwasser: The St. Michaelis Church in Hamburg. A patriotic study , Hamburg 1886.
  • Julius Faulwasser: The St. Michaelis Church in Hamburg. Hamburg 1901.
  • Karl Reimer: St. Michaelis 1604-1904. An overview of the history of the New City community in Hamburg , Hamburg 1904.
  • Walter H. Dammann: The St. Michaelis Church in Hamburg and its builders . A contribution to the history of more recent Protestant church architecture , Leipzig 1909. (digital copy from SUB Hamburg)
  • Horst Lutter: The St. Michaelis Church in Hamburg. The share of the builders Prey, Sonnin and Heumann in their design , Hamburg 1966 (work on the church history of Hamburg; 9).
  • Reinhold Pabel : The small and the big Hamburg Michel. Christians, Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-7672-0939-X .
  • Dieter Haas (ed.): The tower. Hamburg's Michel, shape and history. Contributions by sixteen authors, Festschrift , Hamburg 1986.
  • Hermann Hipp : Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. History, culture and urban architecture on the Elbe and Alster. Cologne 1989 (Dumont documents: Dumont art travel guide).
  • Johannes Habich : The great St. Michaelis Church in Hamburg , 4th edition, Munich [u. a.], 1993 (large architectural monuments; H. 310).
  • Matthias Gretzschel : St. Michaelis. The Hamburg Michel. Hamburg 1996.
  • Hermann Heckmann : Builder of the Baroque and Rococo in Mecklenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Lübeck , Hamburg, Berlin 2000.
  • Helge Adolphsen: Oh, how wonderful you are. Sermons in the Hamburg Michel from five centuries . Murmann-Verlag, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-938017-79-1 .
  • Semjon Aron Dreiling: Pompous funeral procession to the simple grave. The forgotten dead in the vault of the St. Michaelis Church in Hamburg 1762-1813 , Medien-Verlag Schubert, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-937843-09-4 ( PDF )
  • Joachim W. Frank, Iris Groschek, Rainer Hering, Volker Reissmann: Michel burns! The history of the Hamburg landmark , Edition Temmen, Bremen 2006, ISBN 3-86108-085-0 ( PDF )
  • Image Hamburg (ed.): The new Michel. Special production from around 2010.

Web links

Commons : Michaeliskirche  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Walter Born: The high German church towers. ISBN 3-7848-7010-4 , Hildesheim: Lax 1979. The height information is based on official measurements. In this article the heights including cross tips, weather cocks, pommel and pole etc. and exclusively from antennas are given. The edition is from 1979, so some structural changes that have been made in the meantime, especially reconstructions of some towers after the Second World War , are not taken into account.
  2. ↑ a b c Hauptkirche St. Michaelis (Ed.): Der Michel. St. Michaelis. Leaflet with key data, Hamburg 2013.
  3. ↑ Georg Wiarda: The first Great St. Michaelis Church is destroyed by lightning. In: St. Michaelis aktuell. Your Congregational Letter February to April 2010, p. 7.
  4. ↑ Jörn Masekowitz: Visit of Michels. In: Hohenfelder and Uhlenhorster Rundschau, April / May 2012, p. 16.
  5. ^ Matthias Gretzschel: Hamburg's Notre-Dame. In: Hamburger Abendblatt , April 20, 2019, p. 20.
  6. ↑ See: Jan Friedrich Hanselmann (ed.): Reconstruction in the preservation of monuments. Texts from past and present , Stuttgart 2009 p. 38 ff.
  7. ↑ St. Michaelis. The Michel. The landmark of Hamburg. Leaflet from around 2017.
  8. ↑ plan-r.net Michel renovation documentation pdf October 13, 2009.
  9. ↑ a b c Michel: New bells are ringing. In: ndr.de. June 19, 2016. Retrieved June 20, 2016 .
  10. ↑ St. Michaelis. The Michel. The landmark of Hamburg. Leaflet from around 2017.
  11. ↑ a b c d Michel, my Michel. In: "Hamburger Abendblatt" from October 13, 2012, magazine, pp. IV-V.
  12. ↑ Matthias Iken : The last secrets of Michel. In: "Hamburger Abendblatt", January 17, 2018, p. 14.
  13. ↑ Nina Klein: The Michel crypt at www.hamburg.de
  14. ↑ Matthias Iken: The last secrets of Michel. In: "Hamburger Abendblatt", January 17, 2018, p. 14.
  15. ^ Matthias Gretzschel and Michael Zapf: The double Michel. In: "Hamburger Abendblatt" from January 16, 2014, p. 8.
  16. ↑ According to the construction drawing, 105.90 meters above sea level minus 22.46 m height of the street level.
  17. ↑ St. Michaelis. The Michel. The landmark of Hamburg. Leaflet from around 2017.
  18. ↑ Panoramic view from the tower of Michel
  19. ^ Edgar S. Hasse: Hamburger Michel now has an app - and a bee colony . ( Abendblatt.de [accessed on August 22, 2017] online viewing is chargeable).
  20. ↑ night Michel: Hamburg at night. ( Memento from January 2, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
  21. ↑ Main Church St. Michaelis (ed.): The Michel. Hamburg's landmark. Leaflet, 01/2017.
  22. ↑ Country & People. In: Hamburger Abendblatt , October 23, 2019, p. 18.
  23. ↑ a b Hamburger Michel gets two new bells. In: Lübecker Nachrichten of November 5, 2015, p. 9.
  24. ↑ Main Church St. Michaelis (ed.): The new Michel bells. Leaflet around 2015.
  25. ↑ a b Bachert bell foundry website
  26. ↑ Millennium Bell returns to the Hamburg Michel . Die Welt, November 8, 2008, accessed December 26, 2012 .
  27. ↑ Hamburg-Journal, June 14, 2020, 7: 30–8: 00 pm (report on the new cast of the Michel bell in “F”).
  28. ↑ Got away again. Homecoming from the bell cemetery In: “Der Spiegel” 15/1947. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  29. ↑ Hamburger Michel (partial bell f 0 / a 0 / c 1 / e 1 / f 1 ) on YouTube .
  30. ↑ Information about the new bells on the foundation's website, and also on the flyer ( memento from November 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) on the occasion of the consecration of bells.
  31. ↑ Gerhard Walcker-Mayer claims on his homepage that the Walcker organ was stored during the Second World War and was only scrapped in 1959/60 at the instigation of the church music director Friedrich Bihn. https://web.archive.org/web/20170104044405/http://www.gewalcker.de/gewalcker.de/hamburg_michel.htm
  32. ↑ Michelmusik / Türmer
  33. ↑ Edgar S. Hasse: Mr. Thöne plays the highest notes. In: "Hamburger Abendblatt" from August 11, 2016, p. 14.
  34. ↑ View of the Michel in the evening
  35. ↑ Matthias Iken: The last secrets of Michel. In: "Hamburger Abendblatt", January 17, 2018, p. 14.
  36. ↑ Illustration in plan-r.net Michel renovation documentation pdf , p. 8/14.
  37. ^ Community of the Hamburg main church (ed.): Church for the city. December 2015 / January 2016. Main church St. Michaelis. Leaflet.
  38. ↑ Musical crib devotions in the Michel. In: "Hamburger Abendblatt", December 20, 2017, p. 13.
  39. ↑ Alexander Röder: The Christmas crib in St. Michaelis. Leaflet from around 2017.
  40. ^ Office St. Michaelis, Mrs. Schröder on January 15, 2014.
  41. ↑ Further panels for the preservation of the Michel moved. In: "Hamburger Abendblatt" of August 22, 2014, p. 12. (Author abbreviation hpbw, Tillmann Becker-Wahl).
  42. ↑ Give away a seat at the Michel. In: St. Michaelis - Magazin. December 2015 to February 2016, p. 26.
  43. ↑ Wanted: Declarations of love to Michel. In: Hamburger Abendblatt , 23 May 2019, p. 18. Author abbreviation jmo.
  44. ^ Edgar S. Hasse: Thank you for the big "Möbi". In: Hamburger Abendblatt , July 2, 2020, p. 14.
  45. ↑ Apple trees at the Hamburg Michel. In: Lübecker Nachrichten of April 26, 2017, p. 5.

Coordinates: 53 ° 32 '54 "  N , 9 ° 58' 44"  E