St. Engelbert (Essen)
The St. Engelbert Church is in the southern quarter of the city of Essen . It was designed by the architect Dominikus Böhm and consecrated in 1935 . In 1993 it was placed under monument protection . In 2008 it was profaned .
On September 11, 2011, the church building was given a new use with the opening of the Essen ChorForum.
history
Previous construction
Due to the rapid development of the southern part of the city during the period of industrialization, a church became necessary in this part of the Johannispfarre. The church building board found the property on the corner of Hofstrasse and Kaiserstrasse, on which today's church is located. At that time, today's Kronprinzenstrasse was called Kaiserstrasse at this point, and Gutenbergstrasse was named Hofstrasse. The predecessor of today's church was built in 1896. It was designed by the architect Heinrich Krings and, like the successor building, was named after Cologne's Archbishop Engelbert von Berg . However, the church building association planned from the beginning to build a larger church here later. Among other things, a design by Josef Franke is known. At the beginning of the First World War , plans by the Trier cathedral builder Julius Wirtz were available. However, due to the outbreak of the war and the subsequent inflation, the financial means were insufficient for such a project.
Until World War II
The groundbreaking ceremony for the three-aisled brick basilica according to plans by the church builder Dominikus Böhm took place on July 29, 1934, followed by the laying of the foundation stone on October 14, 1934. The church was consecrated as early as 1935, although it was not completed until 1937. It had a floor plan of 26 by 60 meters and in the west two squat towers, each 37 meters high.
The towers housed a four-part bronze bell ringing (b 0 - c´ - d´ - es´), which was cast by the renowned bell founder Otto from Hemelingen / Bremen in 1934. Three of the bells survived the destruction of the Second World War. In 1955 Otto extended the ringing by two bells to five. After the war, the bells were hung freely in a shield wall. In 1952 Otto had already cast a small bell for the roof turret. Today the two largest bells stand on the church square.
St. Engelbert became, among other things, the venue for youth days, which also took place with the Cologne Cardinal Frings . Until the early 1940s, thousands of Catholic youth came to the Confession Days, which became important counter-events for the Hitler Youth .
In World War II the church building in 1945 down to underground rooms and part of the choir completely destroyed.
From reconstruction to profanation
Between 1953 and 1955 the reconstruction of the St. Engelbert Church took place again according to plans by Dominikus Böhm. For financial reasons, the floor plan was shortened to 45 meters. The western twin tower facade and the southern aisle were not restored either. A larger church forecourt was created for this. The bells were placed in a new shield facade.
The sculptor Ludwig Gies , who among other things also designed the choir windows in the Essen Minster , created a large wooden crucifix in 1956 that was hung in the glazed choir.
After the restructuring of the parishes of the diocese of Essen in 2007, the diocese no longer provided any financial means to maintain the church. The congregation celebrated its last service in St. Engelbert's Church on January 27, 2008. After that, it was profaned.
New use from 2011
When the diocese of Essen decided to close the St. Engelbert Church, they looked for a meaningful and worthy new use of the listed church building. In March 2011, a contract was signed between the St. Gertrud parish in the city center , to whose area St. Engelbert belongs, and the ChorForum Essen association, which was founded in 2006. With this, the church became a culture house with some renovation measures taking into account the monument protection and has been maintained by the ChorForum association since then. The official opening took place on September 11, 2011.
The events also include special exhibitions, such as 2013 100 best posters 12 Germany Austria Switzerland in cooperation with the German Poster Museum in the Folkwang Museum .
See also
literature
- Heinz Dohmen : Parish Church of St. Engelbert, Essen . In the S. (Ed.): Image of the sky. 1000 years of church building in the diocese of Essen . Verlag Hoppe and Werry, Mülheim an der Ruhr 1977, pp. 110-113.
- Heinz Dohmen, Eckehard Sons: Churches, chapels, synagogues in Essen. Nobel-Verlag, Essen 1998, ISBN 3-922785-52-2 .
- Holger Brülls: New Dome. Resumption of Romanesque building forms and anti-modern cultural criticism in church construction during the Weimar Republic and the Nazi era. Verlag Bauwesen, Berlin 1994, ISBN 978-3-345-00560-2 .
Web links
- Extract from the list of monuments of the city of Essen ; accessed on November 12, 2016
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Pehnt : Church death. Germany is razing its churches . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of August 30, 2005, p. 35.
- ↑ Tony Kellen: The industrial city of Essen in words and pictures. History and description of the city of Essen. At the same time a guide through Essen and the surrounding area . Printed and published by Fredebeul & Koenen, Essen-Ruhr 1902, p. 145.
- ↑ Architecture Ruhr - Catholic Parish Church St. Engelbert ( Memento of the original from May 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed January 20, 2015.
- ↑ Gerhard Reinhold: Otto Glocken - family and company history of the Otto bell foundry dynasty, self-published, Essen 2019, 588 pages, ISBN 978-3-00-063109-2 , here in particular pp. 82, 129, 420 to 425.
- ↑ Gerhard Reinhold: Church bells - Christian world cultural heritage, illustrated using the example of the bell founder Otto, Hemelingen / Bremen. Nijmegen 2019, 556 pages, Diss.Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, nbn: nl: ui: 22-2066 / 204770, here in particular pp. 395 to 399.
- ↑ Kai Süselbeck: “ChorForum Essen” opens center in church , WAZ (Essen edition) from September 11, 2011, accessed on January 20, 2015.
- ↑ Dirk Aschendorf: "ChorForum Essen" takes over St. Engelbert Church as a cultural center , WAZ (Essen edition) from March 2, 2011, accessed on January 20, 2015.
Coordinates: 51 ° 26 '42.4 " N , 7 ° 0' 57.6" E