St. Andreas (Chemnitz-Gablenz)
The Evangelical Lutheran parish church of St. Andreas in the Gablenz district of the Saxon city of Chemnitz was built for the then working class suburb in 1889, the population of which had grown significantly. It was incorporated into Chemnitz in 1890. The building is a neo-Gothic brick building with a steep west tower in a dominant position on a small elevation; Together with the upstream staircase and the church square, it is a protected cultural monument with the file number 09203919 of the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Saxony .
history
Like many other district churches in Chemnitz, St. Andreas also has a typical history of origins, construction and reconstruction. This was due to the development of the small pre-industrial village of Gablenz into a densely populated district of Chemnitz.
Reason to build
The Waldhufendorf Gablenz - named after the river on which it lies - was characterized purely by agriculture until the 19th century. Due to the population growth in Chemnitz and the surrounding area through industrialization, more churches were needed. Gablenz belonged to the Johannis parish of Chemnitz until November 27, 1874, when it became an independent parish and building sites and funds for the construction of a new church had to be procured. On May 14, 1888, the foundation stone for the neo-Gothic church was laid according to the design by the architect Hermann Knothe-Seeck . The church was consecrated on December 1, 1889 after the organ had been installed by the Kreutzbach company from Borna .
particularities
Contrary to the usual practice, the tower does not have a square floor plan, but a rectangular one. This rectangular shape is retained up to the pointed roof above the bell tower. Only there does the tower open out into a square floor plan, on which the tip, which is peculiar to the church, is built. The wood barrel vault , the recovered gallery parapet paintings, the pulpit and the organ prospect are relics from the construction period. In 1899 the Royal Ministry donated two larger than life figures of the apostles Peter and Paul , which were placed on either side above the main portal.
Naming
Because of the incorporation of the village of Gablenz into the city of Chemnitz on April 1, 1900, it became necessary to give the Gablenz church a name. Since there was already a Petri and a Pauli church in the city, it could not get the name of one of the donated figures of the apostles. It was agreed on the name of St. Andrew's Church.
Damage and restorations
During the bombing of Chemnitz on March 5, 1945, the church was badly damaged by an air mine . The altar wall of the apse had completely collapsed.
Restorations
As early as 1948 the congregation began to rebuild the sanctuary. For lack of money, the angled form of the apse was abandoned and a straight wall was added as a conclusion. The graphic artist Heinz Dörjer was commissioned to decorate this mighty new wall with a carpet of letters. The artist chose Jesus' Sermon on the Mount for this . To do this, he painted 12,000 free-hand letters on the wall in 120 lines of 100 letters each six centimeters high. The basic tone of the letters is kept in a warm, dark brown tone, the key words are highlighted in dark red. The re-inauguration took place on October 17, 1948. Since then, the community celebrates the 3rd Sunday in October as a parish festival.
On July 22nd, 1956, the current high-carbon steel bells were consecrated with the tones f ', as' and b'. The previous bronze bells - as in most parishes - had to be handed in for melting down as war material in the First and Second World Wars.
In 1972 and 1976 the four transverse roofs were dismantled because damage was incurred in the valleys between the main and transverse roofs almost every year during the snow and frost periods, which resulted in high costs and was often repaired very poorly in the GDR era due to a lack of material could. The somewhat blocky shape became lighter and livelier.
organ
The organ had also suffered from the effects of the war. First attempts at repair had to be limited to the most necessary work because of the currency reform. Comprehensive repairs could only be carried out in the 1950s, although this did not repair all damage and required extensive care and maintenance in the following years. In 1979 the rebuilding of the instrument was planned, which included the entire renewal of the wind chests. Due to the monetary union in 1990, the start of the work was delayed. The order could only be placed in 1995.
On October 5, 1997, the organ was re-inaugurated after a rebuilding by A. Schuster & Sohn, Zittau : 37 registers with the possibilities of 40 registers can be played on 4 sub-movements (main movement, Rückpositiv , breast movement, pedal movement) . The instrument has 2,700 pipes , of which the largest is over 5 m long (with a foot), the smallest only a few millimeters.
Centenary
Before the centenary of St. Andrew's Church, the interior was thoroughly renovated. The black overpainting on the galleries and the stalls was removed, the writing pad on the wall behind the altar was freshened up and heating was installed.
From 1998 there were further repairs and renewals, in particular the tower was secured. In 2000 a wheelchair access was created.
The given saints
The tower seen from the side
Exterior wall design
Full size tower
Clock and spire
Listed staircase with church square
Apse back wall - hallmarks of restoration
literature
- Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments. Saxony II. Administrative districts Leipzig and Chemnitz. Edited by Barbara Bechter, Wiebke Fastenrath, Heinrich Magirius et al. Munich, Berlin 1998.
Web links
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 50 ° 49 ′ 51.3 " N , 12 ° 57 ′ 12.1" E