St. Bonifatius (Wuppertal)
The Roman Catholic Church of St. Bonifatius on the Deutsches Ring in the Varresbeck district of Wuppertal was the city's first new Catholic church after the Second World War .
history
As early as the early 1930s, the parish of St. Remigius established the pastoral care area "Elberfeld-Nordwest" due to the increasing number of Catholics living in the Elberfeld district of Varresbeck. At first, however, they did not want to build their own church for Varresbeck. It was not until the post-war period that the plans for a Varresbeck church became more specific again, among other things, in order to distinguish itself from the newly built Evangelical Michael’s Church, which was not far away . In 1953, the city of Wuppertal acquired an undeveloped plot of around 4250 square meters on a hillside between Deutsches Ring and Varresbecker Straße in Varresbeck, which was already largely built-up at that time . The boundaries of the new parish were determined by assignments from the parishes of Sankt Remigius in Sonnborn , St. Laurentius in the Elberfelder Zentrum and St. Joseph am Nützenberg . The Wuppertal architect Günter Ständer was entrusted with the planning of the first new Catholic church since the end of the war.
The foundation stone was laid on June 20, 1954. On the enclosed in certificate documenting the verse is 1 Corinthians 3:11 "For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid: Jesus Christ ." When construction for the then very modern hall was chosen the unusual design of a market-hall-like frame construction with walled up spaces. Originally, a church tower was planned above the sacristy . On June 12, 1955 the church was consecrated to Saint Boniface by the then city dean Meiß , and on January 10, 1957 the Archdiocese of Cologne certified the establishment of the Catholic parish of Saint Boniface. The liturgical consecration of the church took place on May 26, 1963 by missionary bishop Franz Esser (1908-1966), the then bishop of Keimoes-Upington in South Africa , a friend of the parish priest Bernhard Krechel, who was introduced in 1955. In the same year a church building association was founded to design the interior, from then on the parishioners had to pay church taxes as well as a small monthly contribution to the church building association. The monthly collection was also used to design the interior. In 1968 the organ gallery was built, which in 1969 was equipped with an electronic organ loaned from the archbishopric. The church only got its first pipe organ in 2010, which, however, could not be placed on the organ loft due to static reasons. It was placed in a wall niche on the north wall.
The church was extensively rebuilt in 1973 and adapted to the requirements of the Second Vatican Council relatively late . The altar was moved to the center of the choir area and the originally central entrance walled up.
Building description
The church is a hall church with the choir facing northeast , which is based on the design of a basilica . The nave is a total of 38 meters long and 23 meters wide and is accessed from the west through two side doors, an originally central entrance was later walled up. The west side has a generously designed gable window which, together with the large floor-to-ceiling window on the south side of the choir, accounts for a large part of the light in the interior. On each side the church is structured by six exposed ribs, the spaces between which are walled up with bricks . Each of these areas has only one narrow, unadorned window. On the north side of the choir there is a flat sacristy extension, above which a small church tower was originally planned. These plans were dropped not least for cost reasons.
The outside of the building, like the parish and parish houses, is completely clad with artificial slate, which defines the appearance of the church.
inner space
Behind the entrance is a small foyer with the holy water font and the baptismal font . The church entirely follows the character of a typical path church with a wide, long central aisle with a central view of the altar, which is raised by three steps. A box with relics of Saint Ursula and Saint Gereon of Cologne is set in a stone arch . The stone altar table is decorated with several artistic chisel work, of which the crosses in the four corners and in the middle of the table are to be emphasized, which are supposed to represent a reference to the wounds of Christ. The tabernacle is to the left of the altar on a trachyte stele . It was made by Wilhelm Polders (1914–1992) and the workshops for church goldsmithing in Kevelaer . It is double-leafed, with fittings and side parts made of red enamel , the frames and dividers are hard-gloss gold-plated . Six lead crystals adorn the door panels, framed by additional crystals.
On the wall behind the altar is an approximately four-meter-high body of Christ made of forged tubular steel, designed by the Hilden painter Leonhard Nienartowicz (1924–1995) and manufactured in the Wehler art forge. It is all about the outlines of the suffering Christ, the cross itself is missing and is only formed by the outlines of the dying man. On the front wall of the right aisle there is a carved protective mantle Madonna made of linden wood , raised on the side altar . The Way of the Cross, created in 1963 by Olaf Höhnen (1933–2009), which consists of relief-like bronze panels, begins there .
literature
- Catholic parish association Wuppertaler Westen, R. Mues, M. Vogt: Church leader Wuppertaler Westen - St. Bonifatius , Wuppertal 2015
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gerda Schreiber: The story of St. Bonifatius. In: Chronicle of the community of St. Boniface. Parish community Wuppertal west. On Gemeinde.Erzbistum-Koeln.de, accessed on November 27, 2019.
Coordinates: 51 ° 14 ′ 57 ″ N , 7 ° 6 ′ 7 ″ E