St. Augustine (Berlin)
The Catholic Church of St. Augustine in the Berlin district of Pankow is a late Expressionist building by the architects Josef Bachem and Heinrich Horvatin from the years 1927/28 and is a listed building . Since 2003 it has belonged to the Holy Family parish in Prenzlauer Berg .
location
The church, built in a complex with the rectory, is in the Prenzlauer Berg district at Dänenstrasse 17/18, which runs parallel to the lower-lying railway system and is only built on on one side. The buildings are included in the row of houses. On the courtyard side there is a single-storey community hall and a Catholic kindergarten. The entire church ensemble with the courtyard occupies an area of around 2700 m².
Establishment of the parish of St. Augustine and planning for the church
The history of the St. Augustine congregation began with the establishment of the St. Afra pastoral care office in the northwestern part of the parish Herz Jesu on October 25, 1903 in the St. Afra monastery of the Gray Sisters (Graunstraße). This pastoral care office was initially elevated to a curate in 1909 and was given the name of St. Augustine on July 1, 1918 , three years later the curate became an independent parish.
Problems arose with the rapid growth in parishioners and the need to share the Church of St. Afra. The parish council decided under its first pastor, Carl Pelz, to have its own church built; but the communities still belonged together. The church building association founded to carry out the building plan began to collect money and also sent countless begging letters, even abroad. With the first donations at the beginning of the 1920s, the necessary building plots in the corner of Dänenstrasse and Schivelbeinerstrasse were purchased.
In 1925 an architectural competition was organized, from which the design by Josef Bachem emerged as the winner.
Construction and description of the late expressionist church building
Together with Heinrich Horvatin, Bachem's first draft, which included a symmetrically attached parsonage to the right and left of the church, was revised again. Since both architects were supporters of the modern architectural style, which was based on the Dessau Bauhaus , a building was created with clear forms and sparingly used jewelry, which is assigned to late expressionism .
The slightly recessed entrance area is vaulted by two pointed arch portals, over the apex of which terracotta figures are attached depicting the patron saints St. Monica and St. Augustine. Quotes from the Bible frame the church portals that are visible from the outside. To the right and left of the small vestibule there are stair towers with narrow, articulated windows, and the church tower rises in the middle. At a height of around ten meters, a large rose window - designed with clinker bricks - interrupts the smooth, framed blind wall.
The entire street-side facade of the church is faced with red-colored clinker bricks; the five-storey rectory, which is (now) only connected on one side, takes up the shapes and clinker bricks in the base area and on the first floor, above it was clad with gray high-grade plaster and was therefore probably cheaper than originally thought.
The foundation stone for the construction of the church was ceremonially laid on May 15, 1927. The architects Otto Kutschmar and Günter Majewski directed the construction work.
The architectural style hardly corresponded to the views of a church building at that time, which was usually built in the neo-Gothic or neo-Romanesque style . Archbishop Cardinal Bertram von Breslau refused to inaugurate this modern building when it was completed on September 16, 1928; instead, Bishop Josef Deitmer consecrated the church.
The inner
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The main nave of the church is a large hall with a domed vault and niches with side altars and confessionals in the sloping corners. In the middle of the dome, a skylight ensures sufficient brightness in all parts of the church. The rectangular and barrel-vaulted chancel can be reached in two steps over six and four steps, a large round arch harmoniously connects the two components. Columns arranged on both sides in the chancel create a three-aisled space. Each side has an altar window. The distinctive three-aisled structure of the choir area of St. Augustine could be its architectural model in the Michael Church of the architect Hans Herkommer in Saarbrücken - St. Johann built between 1923–1924 or in the similar choir design of the Heilbronn Augustinus Church (built 1926/1927) by the same architect to have.
The choir is dominated by a high altar with a round arched closed altarpiece, framed by black marble . The altarpiece is a mosaic depicting the adoration of the Crucified by Augustine and Monica. The altar decorations, including the side altars, were designed by Otto Hitzberger , and the work was carried out by the company Puhl & Wagner from Treptow .
The colors originally used in the church interior were silver and light blue; after the renovation, warm tones of beige and brown are now predominant.
With the completion of the church, an organ was inaugurated on a gallery, but it was no longer playable after the Second World War. Therefore, on September 15, 1973, the congregation received a new organ from the Jehmlich company in Dresden . It has 26 registers on two manuals and a pedal .
Tower and bells
A 36 meter high rectangular church tower rises on the south side above the compact structure. It was designed with bevelled corners and a protruding cornice and is finished with a copper-covered pyramid roof. A six meter high gold-plated cross was placed on the roof facing the street.
On December 11, 1927, before the completion of the church, four bronze bells were consecrated in the shell .
| Bell jar | Weight (kg) |
Costs ( marks ) |
inscription |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Augustine | 1600 | 2700 | When you hear his voice today, do not harden your hearts. |
| St. Monica | 900 | 1500 | Come, let us give praise to the Lord, let us praise him as the cornerstone of our salvation. |
| St. Mary Magdalene | 600 | 1000 | The master is there and calls you. |
St. Maria (the smallest bell) was delivered for war purposes around 1943 and was not replaced.
On New Year's Eve 1927, chaplain Walter Adolph rang the bells of the new church for the first time and many residents listened to their sound.
Others
With the construction of the Berlin Wall , the parish of St. Augustine was finally separated from St. Afra (then Wedding district), which now became independent.
During the Advent season up to and including the following month of January, a Christmas crib with various representations from the biblical Christmas story has been presented in the church since 1964 . The life-size figures come from the Berlin painter and sculptor Rudolf Heltzel (1907–2005).
Because of the declining number of parishioners, only one pastor was appointed for St. Augustine and the Holy Family from September 13, 1992 .
A photovoltaic system and a solar thermal system were installed on the roof of the rectory of St. Augustine by December 2001 for 35,000 euros , for which the German Environment Foundation and a bank provided 18,000 euros in funding. Since then, over 3000 kWh have been generated annually and relieve the community's energy costs accordingly.
On November 1st, 2003 the parish of St. Augustine was abolished by Archbishop Georg Cardinal Sterzinsky and assigned to the parish Holy Family (Parish Church Holy Family). Although both municipalities wanted a double name, this was rejected for administrative reasons.
In Berlin-Brandenburg there is no longer a parish with Saint Augustine as patron, but there are three Holy Family parishes (in Prenzlauer Berg , in Lichterfelde and in Rüdersdorf ). But the name St. Augustine is still emblazoned on the building.
In 2007, after extensive interior fittings and a facade renovation, carried out by the architects Krieger and Mielke, the reopening of the church was celebrated. For the repair of a total of five important Berlin buildings, 120,000 euros were raised from private donations and funds from the Glücksspirale lottery , of which the St. Augustine Church received a share of 22,500 euros.
The community is very active: a church day-care center has been running since 1930, there is a church choir and numerous small events such as excursions and celebrations, and organ concerts. A social service is also offered in cooperation with the Caritas Association.
The St. Augustine Church is the seat of the Edith Stein Catholic student community .
literature
- The architectural and art monuments of the GDR , Berlin. Edited by the Institute for Monument Preservation at Henschelverlag, Berlin 1984, pp. 369–370.
Web links
- Website of the church building association St. Augustinus zu Berlin e. V. with detailed representation and pictures of the history, the construction, the bells (including the playable bells) as well as further detailed photos
- Entry in the Berlin State Monument List
- Street of Modernity - Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg | St. Augustine
Individual evidence
- ↑ Adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 9,900 euros
- ↑ Homepage Krieger + Mielke
- ^ Homepage of the German Foundation for Monument Protection ( Memento from March 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Website of the Catholic student community Edith Stein Berlin
Coordinates: 52 ° 33 ′ 0.3 ″ N , 13 ° 24 ′ 24.6 ″ E