St. Andreas (Braunschweig)

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View from the west
St. Andreas (around 1600)

The origins of St. Andreas in Braunschweig probably go back to a hall church building around the year 1160. From around 1230 a three-aisled basilica was built above it as a parish church for the community in Braunschweiger Neustadt . The Andreas Church was first mentioned in a document in 1290. Since 1528 it has been a Protestant church.

architecture

The pillar basilica was initially designed in a bound system with three nave bays , transept , choir and three apses . The only a few hundred meters away and only slightly older Brunswick Cathedral served as the architectural model . Around 1330 the nave was structurally converted into a hall church . The western building began around 1250, and work on the bell storey was finished around 1450.

The builder Barward Tafelmaker (1487–1565) completed the two upper floors of the south tower between 1518 and 1532 in the late Gothic style.

Groups of figures are attached to both the east and the four south gables, depicting the following (viewed from the east): the prophets, the Annunciation, the adoration of the kings, the flight into Egypt, the child murder of Bethlehem and the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple. On the north-western gable there is a depiction of St. Andrew crucified , the patron of the church.

The church interior

Like medieval colored glass windows, glass windows created by Charles Crodel in 1964/1965 and 1972 as architecture-bound room walls bind the church interior through their colors and abundance of details and mediate between past and present.

Pentecost and Easter windows in the choir flow into the mission story and the representations of Peter and Andrew. The side windows tell of creation and the ark, and of suffering and destruction: the images of the nights of bombing in the Second World War, when after an air mine exploded, a linden tree was thrown through the church window onto the pews on which were developed, are based on the story of bad news shortly before the congregation had met for the evening service .

The two windows above the organ gallery are dedicated to the 150th Psalm .

The towers

In contrast to the south tower, the north tower remained unfinished over the centuries. In 1544 the south tower measured 122 meters thanks to a pointed Gothic spire, making it one of the highest towers in Central Europe . Due to various events such as storms, fires and wars, the tower helmets collapsed several times, for example in 1550, 1551 and 1740.

Between 1740 and 1742 it received its characteristic Baroque hood, which it was not returned until 1955 after it was destroyed in World War II .

On the occasion of a restoration of St. Andrew's Church in 1913, the towers were lined with bricks from the inside, a circumstance that was to benefit them in the 1944 firestorm.

Today the south tower of St. Andrew's Church with its 93 meters is still the highest church tower in Braunschweig. Only two buildings in the city are higher: the chimney of the Mitte thermal power station and the Broitzem telecommunications tower .

Braunschweig's landmark

View of Braunschweig around 1550: The St. Andrew's Church is marked with an "A".

In addition to the most famous landmark of the city of Braunschweig, the Braunschweiger Löwen , the St. Andrew's Church, or to be more precise its south tower, can be seen as another landmark of the city of Henry the Lion , because the towers of this church can be found on old engravings. Due to their height, the "Towers of St. Andreas" were the first and the last that one saw of Braunschweig.

Destruction in World War II and reconstruction

The downfall

Until the beginning of 1944, the damage to and in the church - despite considerable devastation in the area - was still limited. In February 1944, however, the disaster came closer and closer in the form of the destruction of the Alte Waage , a half-timbered building from 1534 right next to the church. On August 13th, the rectory was hit directly, incendiary and high-explosive bombs hit the church itself. The roof was damaged and all the windows destroyed by explosions. The detonation of a large aerial mine had thrown a linden tree from the space between the church and the rectory into the interior of the church. On the night of the heaviest attack on Braunschweig from October 14th to 15th, 1944 , the towers finally caught fire and burned like two huge torches, but did not collapse thanks to the brick lining from 1913. The baroque tower domes and the bell were destroyed that night, and the interior was almost completely destroyed. The area around St. Andrew's Church was even worse: Almost 100 percent of the buildings immediately around the church and the adjoining Wollmarkt (almost exclusively half-timbered buildings dating back to the 15th century) were drowned in the 2½ days long firestorm .

Decades of reconstruction

Interior view of the Andreas Church
2006/07: More than 60 years after the end of World War II, war damage to the towers was removed

Due to its high symbolic value for the Braunschweig population, St. Andrew's Church was one of the first buildings in the largely destroyed medieval city, and restoration and reconstruction began soon after the end of the war. In 1955 the south tower got its baroque hood back and new windows were installed. But the restoration of the interior and the towers still had to take a long time due to the lack of money and the degree of destruction of the rest of the city.

Altar , crucifix , baptismal font (1963) and the sculpture “Crucifixion of St. Andrew” are works by the sculptor Jürgen Weber from the 1960s. In 1965 the interior, which had taken a long time to repair, was consecrated. The stained glass windows with representations from the Old and New Testament were created by Charles Crodel in 1964/1965 and 1972. There was a new organ only in 1970, a new ringing of seven bells could not even be created between 1987 and 1989.

Since the summer of 2000 it has again been possible for the public to use the 389 steps of a new staircase made from donations to reach the tower room in the south tower at a height of 72 meters. From there, depending on the weather conditions, you can see, for example, the Weser Uplands and the Eastern Harz .

In the months of September 2006 to November 2007, the towers of St. Andrew's Church were extensively renovated. Around 100 bullet holes and cracks in the masonry were removed from the north tower; Elaborate decorations on the south tower have been restored. Furthermore, among other things, the head of the figure of St. Andrew , who served as the namesake, was restored and covered with gold leaf . The measures of the first construction phase cost 750,000 euros. In 2009 the west side and the remaining areas on the north and south sides were restored.

organ

The organ of the St. Andreas church was built by the organ building company Hillebrand (Altwarmbüchen). The instrument has 30  stops on two manuals and a pedal . The Spieltrakturen are mechanically, the Registertrakturen electrically.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Coarse 16 ′
2. Principal 8th'
3. Reed flute 8th'
4th octave 4 ′
5. recorder 4 ′
6th Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
7th octave 2 ′
8th. Mixture VI
9. Zimbel IV
10. Trumpet 16 ′
11. Trumpet 8th'
II Swell C – g 3
12. Dumped 8th'
13. Quintad 8th'
14th Principal 4 ′
15th Flute 4 ′
16. Forest flute 2 ′
17th third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
18th Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
19th Scharff V
20th Dulcian 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
21st Principal 16 ′
22nd Sub-bass 16 ′
23. octave 8th'
24. Dumped 8th'
25th octave 4 ′
26th Night horn 2 ′
27. Mixture IV
28. trombone 16 ′
29 Trumpet 8th'
30th Clarine 4 ′

Bells

The church's peal consists of seven bells cast in 1987 and 1989.

No.
  		Surname
  		Casting year
  		Caster
  		Mass
(kg) 		Ø
(cm) 		Chime Transcription, design
 
1 Salvator or Christ bell 1989 3000 161 h 0 “Come to me, all of you who are troublesome and burdened; I want to refresh you ”- Representation of Christ
2 Andrew or apostle bell 1987 2050 150 cis 1 "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" - Andrew's representation
3 Peace bell 1987 1100 118 e 1 “Graciously grant us peace, Lord God, in our times. - In memory of the destruction of the city of Braunschweig and the St. Andreas Church in 1944. In gratitude for the reconstruction of our city and our church in more than 40 years. As a warning to our children and grandchildren that they will never again wage war and forge bells into weapons. - Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra PAX hominibus bonae voluntatis "
4th Valentine's or Our Father's Bell 1987 800 105 f sharp 1 "Be joyful in hope, patient in tribulation, persistent in prayer"
5 Baptismal bell 1987 500 90 a 1 "See, I am with you all days until the end of the world"
6th Magnificat Bell 1989 400 80 h 1 "My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior"
7th Jubilate deodorant bell 1989 170 65 e 2 "Shout out to the Lord, all the world"

An eighth bell from the 19th century is in the nave.

Pastor of St. Andrew's Church

Andreaskirche and Alte Waage (right next to it).
  • ...
  • Magister Jordanus (1294–1309)
  • Magister Bruno (1309-1336)
  • Ortghisus (1336–? [† 1358])
  • Klaus von Solvede (? - [† 1360])
  • Ludolf von Steinfurt (? –1393)
  • Johann Ember (1399-1422)
  • Ludolf Quirre (1423–?)
  • ...
  • Joachim Calvör, father of Caspar Calvör , (around 1660)
  • ...
  • Jakob Christian Weland (1782–?)
  • Karl Ludolf Friedrich Lachmann (1792–1822)
  • HWJ Wolff (1822–?)
  • Henje Becker (1965–1974)
  • Horst Länger (1965–1990)
  • Hennig Kühner (1974-2004)
  • Pia Dittmann-Saxel (1990-2001)
  • Peter Kapp (2001-today)

The historical environment

Andrew Church and Old Scales

Originally, the St. Andrew's Church was surrounded by hundreds of half-timbered houses, which, however, fell completely victim to the Second World War. Of the old buildings, only the Liberei , the oldest free-standing public library in Germany from 1422, and the Alte Waage , which was rebuilt from 1990 to 1994, are currently left .

literature

  • Peter Albrecht, Henning Steinführer (Hrsg.): The towers of St. Andreas to Braunschweig. In: Braunschweiger workpieces. Series A, Volume 112. Hahn, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-7752-8802-6 .
  • Elmar Arnhold: St. Andreas - parish church of the new town. In: Medieval metropolis Braunschweig. Architecture and urban architecture from the 11th to 15th centuries. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2018, ISBN 978-3-944939-36-0 , pp. 126-133.
  • Luitgard Camerer, Manfred RW Garzmann (eds.), Norman-Mathias Pingel, Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf: Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon. Meyer, Braunschweig 1992, ISBN 3-926701-14-5 .
  • Reinhard Dorn : St. Andreas in Braunschweig. ( Great architectural monuments . Issue 277). Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 1974.
  • Reinhard Dorn: Medieval churches in Braunschweig. Niemeyer, Hameln 1978, ISBN 3-87585-043-2 .
  • Evangelical Lutheran St. Andreas Church Braunschweig-Wollmarkt. (A parish book on the occasion of the festive reopening of the church on April 23, 1965). Braunschweig 1965.
  • Robert Slawski: St.Andreas - Neustadt - Braunschweig. Church council of the St. Andreas parish in Braunschweig, Braunschweig 1996, ISBN 3-9805173-0-6 .
  • Gerd Spies (Ed.): Braunschweig - The image of the city in 900 years. History and views. 2 volumes. Braunschweig Municipal Museum, Braunschweig 1985.

Web links

Commons : St. Andreas (Braunschweig)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Audio file of the full bells of the Andreaskirche ( plenary ; MP3; 1.6 MB)
  2. ^ Bettina Habermann: St. Andreas: After more than 60 years war damage is repaired. In: Paul-Josef Raue (Ed.): Newsclick.de. Braunschweiger Zeitungsverlag, Braunschweig 2006.
  3. ^ Ann Claire Richter: Cathedral helps St. Andreas with renovation. In: Paul-Josef Raue (Ed.): Newsclick.de. Braunschweiger Zeitungsverlag, Braunschweig 2007.
  4. ↑ Information on the history of the organs in St. Andreas.
  5. ↑ Information about the bells on the municipality's website
  6. ↑ Hermann Herbst: The library of the Andreas Church in Braunschweig. in: Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen. Vol. 58, issue 9/10, Sept./Oct. 1941, p. 305.
  7. ↑ Hermann Herbst: The library of the Andreas Church in Braunschweig. in: Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen. Vol. 58, issue 9/10, Sept./Oct. 1941, pp. 306f.
  8. ↑ Hermann Herbst: The library of the Andreas Church in Braunschweig. in: Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen. Vol. 58, issue 9/10, Sept./Oct. 1941, pp. 308f.
  9. ^ A b Hermann Herbst: The library of the Andreas Church in Braunschweig. in: Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen. Vol. 58, issue 9/10, Sept./Oct. 1941, p. 309.
  10. ^ Heinrich Dürre: History of the city of Braunschweig in the Middle Ages. Braunschweig 1861, p. 472.
  11. ^ Calvör, Casp. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 5, Leipzig 1733, column 331 f.
  12. ^ Paul Zimmermann: Letters from the last years of the University of Helmstedt. In: Yearbook of the history association for the Duchy of Braunschweig. 1911, p. 99 , accessed September 19, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon. 19th and 20th centuries. Hanover 1996, p. 359.

Coordinates: 52 ° 16 ′ 4.38 "  N , 10 ° 31 ′ 11.4"  E