St. Gabriel (Duisburg)

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Exterior view as seen from Gabrielkirchplatz

The Roman Catholic Church of St. Gabriel in Duisburg-Neudorf was built between 1910 and 1912 in the style of a neo-Gothic basilica on a heath area ("op de Heid") and was consecrated to the Holy Archangel Gabriel .

location

The Gabriel Church, including the streets surrounding it today, was built on an open field. The choir of the Gabriel Church faces east . In postal terms, the main entrance is on Gneisenaustrasse (house number 265), it is encompassed in the north and northwest by Gabrielkirchplatz, and in the longitudinal direction of the nave is Gabrielstrasse in the west and east.

history

The laying of the foundation stone took place on March 26, 1911, the parish fair was on September 15, 1912. Designed for 1,400 believers, it was initially erected without the last vault and the church tower . The church building was completed with the mighty tower , which took up the entire width of the nave , from 1936 to 1937. The originally planned, more filigree design in the style of the tower of the mother parish of St. Ludger at that time was no longer implemented for cost reasons.

The church was only slightly damaged during the Second World War .

After the Second Vatican Council , the chancel was redesigned from 1966 by the architect Karl-Heinz Funke and the sculptor Heinz Oliberius , including two communion benches and the choir grille.

Due to damage to the vault, the church was extensively renovated in the 1980s and redesigned in several places on this occasion, among other things it was redesigned in color, the position of the main altar, ambo , tabernacle and baptismal font were changed.

construction

The floor plan of the church corresponds to that of a basilica with a large central nave and two side aisles about half as wide , all with ribbed vaults . The building is a total of 48 meters long, 22 meters wide, the central nave has a ceiling height of 19.50 meters, the side aisles are each 5.50 meters wide and 7.50 meters high.

Central nave

In the east-facing chancel with a stepped design there are several artworks by Heinz Oliberius . These include, in particular, the stone high altar from 1966 (stylized representation of wheat fields or a bull's head), the bronze ambo from 1967 (broken cross) and six likewise bronze candle holders on the pillars of the choir. The tabernacle in the form of a gold star created by Oliberius in 1986 replaced the original tabernacle made of patinated bronze, which was also designed by him and was intended to represent the Burning Bush , but always looked rather dark and threatening instead of auspicious.

On the pillar in front of the right aisle choir stands the figure of the Madonna of the Crescent Moon , so named after the hem of the robe of Mary. The time of origin is unclear, but is probably in the 20th century.

The twelve pillars of the main nave carry candlesticks that are dedicated to the eleven apostles and Paul, each candlestick is individually designed with symbols:

At the west end of the nave is the organ gallery with a rose window and the church tower , which takes up the entire width of the central nave. In the tower room above the church vault there is a five-part bell in a steel frame. The tower room can only be reached via a boardwalk above the church vault. The ascent is in a stair tower with a narrow spiral staircase on the left outside of the choir room.

Left aisle

The baptistery is located in the choir of the left aisle. The baptismal font , created in 1953 by the Oberhausen artist Leo Strehl , depicts the Lamb of God and the lid is decorated with a dove .

The choir room itself was designed in 1999 by the Hattingen artist Egon Stratmann with a representation of the flood tale in predominantly blue tones .

In the left aisle there is a confessional from the early days. The former, initially foldable pews were completely removed in the early 2000s and replaced by upholstered individual seating in the front area.

Right aisle

In the choir of the right aisle, next to the ceremonial exit of the sacristy, there is the altar for the weekday services. Above the side altar is a stone relief about two meters by one meter with the title "Triumphal Cross", which the sculptor Heinz Oliberius created in 1969. It shows Jesus Christ as ruler in glory and is to be understood as the fifteenth station of the cross, which is attached along the outer wall on the long side of the aisle.

The Way of the Cross consists of fourteen rectangular stone refliefs, which were also created by Heinz Oliberius in 1968. At the end of the 1990s, the Way of the Cross was supplemented by two more stone reliefs, one with a motto, the other with the image of the seven-armed chandelier .

Furthermore, there are several sculptures in the right aisle, a figure of Francis of Assisi created by a Croatian artist in 1992 , a figure of Elisabeth of Thuringia , and a Pietà that was created in Kevelaer as early as 1917 . On the wall behind the depiction of the mourning Mother of God Mary with Jesus taken from the cross, Heinz Dohmen designed a picture cycle of seven circular pictures with stations from the life of Jesus, which are called "The Seven Sorrows of Mary" .

window

For reasons of cost it was decided to use simple window glass when building the church.

In the 1950s, the Duisburg artist Gertrud "Trude" Josefine Dinnendahl-Benning was commissioned to design the church windows.

In the choir of the main nave there are four lancet windows with arched tracery 1.80 meters wide and 10 meters high. The theme of the central window in the middle shows the Annunciation of Mary by the Archangel Gabriel in the upper part and the crucifixion of Jesus in the lower part . The three other themed windows are the lily window (ten lilies) and the crown window (ten crowns) to the right and left of the central window, as well as the angel window on the left side of the choir room. Below the window gallery there are colored concrete glass windows in the shape of portholes.

In the front wall opposite the choir there is a large rose window with twelve angels and a stylized flower in the middle above the organ gallery and below the church tower .

In the choir of the left aisle, two windows show the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian on the one hand, and Salome with the severed head of John the Baptist on the other .

In the choir of the right aisle there is only one window that depicts the Archangel Gabriel with a censer .

Bells

After the original bells had been melted down during the World War, the five-part chimes that still exist today were cast by Karl Czudnochowsky from the Bachmeyr bell foundry in Erding and inaugurated on December 8, 1957.

The bells are named Marienglocke, Raphaelglocke, Gabrielglocke, Michaelglocke and Franziskusglocke.

organ

The church was equipped with an organ right from the start. The provisional arrangement ended in 1937 with the addition of the tower including the organ gallery and a church organ with 16 registers. But in 1942 the organ was destroyed in an air raid.

In 1951 the company Orgelbau Romanus Seifert & Sohn from Kevelaer delivered a new organ with 13 registers, which was installed on the right side of the choir on a small gallery above the sacristy. It turned out to have several serious drawbacks. For one thing, the main nave was no longer exposed to frontal sound, which was detrimental to the sound. On the other hand, joint concerts by the church choir and organ were no longer possible, for this purpose there was an "emergency organ" in the old organ gallery.

Not least on the initiative of the church choir of St. Gabriel, the organ was moved back to its original place in the organ gallery below the church tower in 1983 and expanded to 16 registers on this occasion. In 1996 the organ was finally expanded again to the scope of 20 registers and 1350 pipes that is still available today.

literature

  • Anke Wolf: Where heaven and earth meet . Discover a church - St. Gabriel in Duisburg-Neudorf. Aschendorff-Verlag, Münster 2010, ISBN 978-3-402-12840-4 .
  • Catholic parishes of St. Ludger and St. Gabriel in Duisburg-Neudorf (ed.): 100 years of St. Gabriel . Festschrift 1912–2012. Basis Druck GmbH, Duisburg September 2012.

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Coordinates: 51 ° 25 ′ 16 ″  N , 6 ° 47 ′ 15 ″  E