St. Barbara (Mellen)
The Catholic Church of St. Barbara is a characteristic church building in Mellen , a district of Balve in the Märkisches Kreis ( North Rhine-Westphalia ).
History and architecture
Predecessor chapel
In the middle of the village, where the parish house was built, there used to be a chapel dedicated to St. Barbara was consecrated. It was plundered and partially destroyed by Swedish and Danish mercenaries during the Truchsesschen War and also in the Thirty Years' War . The Paderborn auxiliary bishop Bernhard Frick consecrated the chapel on July 4, 1647. As a reminder of this, the so-called Dedication Day took place every year on July 4th . The altar was renewed in 1740 and the chapel was rebuilt in 1774. A new altar was installed in 1911, and a pulpit and organ stage were installed in 1926. Extensive renovations were carried out in 1942 and 1948. Due to the increase in the number of Catholic parishioners, a new building became necessary after the Second World War . The chapel was briefly used as a youth home, then demolished and a parish hall was built in its place.
New Church
According to plans by the architect Freckmann from Arnsberg, the new building was completed in 1957 and the foundation stone was laid in 1954. The cathedral capitular Hennecke consecrated the church on June 17, 1956. Extensive renovations and adjustments to the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council were made in 1973, from 1978 to 1979 and 1981. Another extensive renovation took place in 2002 under the direction of the Simon architectural office from Menden. Auxiliary Bishop Paul Consbruch consecrated the altar on October 20, 2002.
The visible side of the building is related to the central street crossing nearby. It is determined by the gable of the nave, the flanking tower and a canopy resting on pillars.
In the interior, belt arches divide the barrel vault into five bays . They rest on pillars with simple capitals . The arches are connected to one another with blind arches. The organ gallery stands on two round supports in the back yoke. The narrow, raised choir consists of the choir bay and a polygonal apse . The windows in the nave were made in the workshop of Otto Peters in 1955.
tower
The tower stands on a square floor plan and merges into an octagon on the bell floor. There it is structured by arched sound windows and crowned with a tent roof. The other wall sides show semicircular windows in plastered surfaces.
Furnishing
- The steel bells were hung in the tower in 1965; they are named Maria, Hubert and Barbara.
- The altar and the pews were taken over from the old chapel. The neo-baroque retable was created in 1910 by Peter Schneider from Eslohe.
literature
- Heinrich Otten: Church building in the Archdiocese of Paderborn 1930 to 1975 . Bonifatius Verlag, Paderborn 2009, ISBN 978-3-89710-403-7
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 19 ′ 45 ″ N , 7 ° 54 ′ 12.6 ″ E