St. Nathanael Church (Hanover)

Tower of the St. Nathanael parish in Bothfeld, 2012

St. Nathanael Church Hanover from the east, photo from November 2019 after the inauguration of the new building

The St. Nathanael Church in Hanover is an Evangelical Lutheran religious building in the Bothfeld district at the address Hartenbrakenstraße 27 .

History and description

The St. Nathanael parish was established in the early 1960s, when a community center for Bothfeld's Protestant Christians was built in Bothfeld from 1961 to 1963 according to plans by the architect Wolfgang Rauda . However, the plan to build a church did not materialize into the 21st century. Instead, a room originally intended as a community hall was used for worship. A multi-functionality of this room was planned from the beginning in the style of the time. The seating remained variable, while four large clear glass windows were meant to mediate between the interior and everyday life outside. Later, the surfaces of the windows were redesigned, each showing a cross that was recognizable from the outside, while inside only subdued light illuminated the church.

Since 1978, a free-standing bell tower has marked the location of the community center on the site of the St. Nathanael Church. On two sides of the tower the vocation of the namesake of the parish is shown: As in the Bible in the Gospel of John ( Jn 1,45-50 EU ), the skeptical Nathanael stands in front of a fig tree , but then recognizes Jesus as the Messiah and follows him as one of his Younger after.

St. Nathanael Church Hanover from the northeast, photo from November 2019 after the inauguration of the new building, on the right in the picture the festival entrance called the wedding gate

Interior St. Nathanael Hanover

At the beginning of the 21st century there were long discussions about the demolition and new construction of the buildings of the St. Nathanael parish - especially for reasons of economy. In 2012 an architectural competition was carried out, from which the office `` kellner schleich wunderling '' from Hanover emerged as the winner. The winning concept was implemented from 2017 to 2019, which included the demolition of the previous parish hall and the construction of residential buildings on part of the former church grounds.

Before the new church center was built, the existing bell tower was renovated. Before the new sound panels were installed, the three bells of the peal could be seen. The old church tower was also used architecturally as a connecting point for the new building and today it is an obvious part of the ensemble, so that it is at the same time a bridge between the past and present of the community.

The new church center has a central church room, to which a group room and the foyer and over this another group room can be connected. In this way, practically the entire building can be used as a large church space for festive services. The so-called wedding gate in the north becomes the main portal for the building and enables a festive entry and exit along the longitudinal axis of the church. The church center thus stands as a prototypical solution for the downsizing of the building stock of shrinking parishes without having to forego the usual multitude of sacred and secular offers with limited space. What is emphasized for the St. Nathanael Church is that, despite the multifunctionality required, as in the previous building, it conveys a much stronger sacred character. This is mainly due to the appropriate choice of materials and room height. The chancel has a raised skylight and an organ gallery on the back, so that the spatial impression of a church and not just a church hall is created.

Fig leaf tiles on the east facade

The exterior not only of the church, but also of the adjacent row houses in the Nathanael quarter is characterized by an ocher-colored Danish brick, which was chosen as a reminiscence of the brick wall of the Not far away Bothfeld cemetery. On closer inspection, on the entrance side, there are 100 fig leaves embossed into the clinker. They are personally assigned to 100 donors of the interior decoration and thus establish a connection between the parishioners and their church building, while at the same time they recall the vocation history of Nathanael.

literature

Hans-Peter Fischer: St. Nathanaelkirche , in Wolfgang Puschmann (Hrsg.): Hanover's churches. 140 churches in and around town . Ludwig-Harms-Haus, Hermannsburg 2005, ISBN 3-937301-35-6 , p. 57.