St. Gereon (Berkum)

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St. Gereon

Berkum St. Gereon 277.JPG

Denomination : Evangelical Lutheran (1981-2016)

Roman Catholic (until 1971)

Patronage : St. Gereon
Consecration year : 1783
Rank: Roman Catholic parish church until 1971

Coordinates: 50 ° 37 ′ 31.2 ″  N , 7 ° 8 ′ 5.4 ″  E

The old church of St. Gereon is in the village of Berkum in the municipality of Wachtberg in the Rhein-Sieg district ( North Rhine-Westphalia ). It was used as a place of worship by the Protestant parish of Wachtberg until December 31, 2016 . Until 1971, the church, consecrated on St. Gereon , was the parish church of the Roman Catholic parish of the same name . The owner is the Catholic parish of St. Marien Wachtberg .

The church stands as a monument under monument protection and is under number 121 list of monuments in Wachtberg entered.

Previous buildings

In 1956 and 1966, during construction work in the immediate vicinity of today's St. Gereon Church, skeletal remains and fragments from the 2nd – 3rd centuries. Century found, which indicate a Roman burial place with a sanctuary. Probably in the 12th century the matron shrine was replaced by a chapel. The chapel was a branch of St. Gereon from Niederbachem . A church was probably built at the same place later, which in turn was replaced from 1770 by today's church of St. Gereon. The tower of the new church was completed in 1783.

Interior

pulpit

The interior was changed several times. The oldest original fittings are the pulpit and some figures. The current baroque high altar was given to the parish in 1962. It is an old side altar from the church of Euskirchen - Palmersheim .

Church window

The ten windows are from the Schneider and Schmolz workshop for glass painting from Cologne-Lindenthal . The two windows in the chancel show a large-format representation of the birth of Christ and the coronation of Mary. St. Gereon is depicted in the top of the window in the sacristy. The windows were installed in 1898.

Organs

The first known organ dates from 1854. The organ builder was Franz Wilhelm Sonreck . The organ had 13 registers. It was replaced in 1923 by a new organ from the organ building company Klais from Bonn . In 1967 the Klais organ was dismantled and again replaced by a new Klais organ. Parts of the old Klais organ could still be used. After the completion of the new parish church St. Maria Rosenkranzkönigin in 1971, she was moved there. With the use of the church by the Protestant parish, an organ was purchased from the organ builder Paul Ott from 1949. This organ had to be disposed of due to mold growth in 2015/2016.

Peal

The oldest bell that peals is the Christ bell. It was cast around 1300 and, due to its monumental status, was not confiscated during World War II. The Gereon and Barbara bells were confiscated, removed and taken away for war purposes. The special artistic value only became apparent later and both bells were preserved. In 1947 they were returned.

No. Surname Casting year Foundry,
casting location 		Nominal Weight
(kg) 		Diameter
(mm)
1 Gereon bell 1681 Laurentius Wickrath, Cologne b 1 +8 400 893
2 Barbara bell 1719 Engelbert Cremel, Mayen of 2 +8 225 720
3 Christ bell around 1300 e 1 +4 115 552

The sound of the ringing was assessed in 1961:

“The bells are matched to the motif of the minor triad. Bell II is a molecular octave construction that is good except for the high sub-octave and prime, while the other two are inharmonious and have very strong dissonances, which give the bell its unmistakably unique, bitter character. "

- Jakob Schaeben, 1961 : Gerhard Hoffs, Achim Bursch: Bells in the Meckenheim / Rheinbach dean's office. P. 133.

The bell is used by the parish church of St. Maria Rosary Queen via a technical system . No bells are installed in St. Mary of the Rosary Queen.

Former parish of St. Gereon Berkum

Sculpture of St. Gereon

In the 9th or 10th century, the St. Gereon Abbey in Cologne built a Fronhof with a chapel on the lower reaches of the Mehlemer Bach, in the area of ​​today's Niederbachem. In Berkum, the monastery later, probably in the 12th century, established a dependent branch of St. Gereon Niederbachem. St. Gereon Berkum was an independent parish by 1498 at the latest. The parish included the villages of Pissenheim (today Werthhoven ) and Züllighoven . For a limited period of time, the village of Gimmersdorf belonged to St. Gereon Berkum (place of baptism) and the Holy Three Kings in Oberbachem (place of burial).

Church buildings in the parish were the parish churches of St. Gereon and, since 1971, St. Maria Rosenkranzkönigin, the St. Jakobus chapel in Werthhoven, the St. Pius chapel in Züllighoven, built in 1978, and the St. Elisabeth chapel in the Limbach convent in Berkum. On January 1st, 2010 the parish of St. Gereon was merged into the newly founded Catholic parish of St. Marien, Wachtberg .

  • St. Maria Rosary Queen in Berkum

  • St. Jakobus in Werthhoven

Pastor

From 1833 to 1839 the theologian and orientalist Franz Karl Movers was pastor in Berkum. Heinrich Steden (1976–2006) and Hermann Josef Zeyen (2006–2009) were the last pastors in the parish of St. Gereon.

Use by the Protestant parish of Wachtberg

The Evangelical Heiland parish of Bad Godesberg, which is responsible for some of Wachtberg's localities, rented the vacant church in 1981 and held regular services there. In 1996 the Protestant parish of Wachtberg was founded. The municipality includes the towns of Berkum, Gimmersdorf, Holzem , Ließem , Niederbach, Oberbachem, Pech , Villip , Werthhoven and Züllighoven. Until the end of 2016, St. Gereon was one of four church buildings in the Wachtberg parish (Gnadenkirche, Pech; Haus Helvetia, Berkum; parish hall, Niederbachem). The parish terminated the lease for St. Gereon at the end of 2016 due to the poor condition of the church and the interior.

literature

  • Franz Müller: Life around the Wachtberg. A journey through time through 30,000 years of history in a Rhenish landscape. Wachtberg 1993.

Web links

Commons : Old Church of St. Gereon (Berkum)  - Collection of images
  • 20th Century Research Center for Stained Glass Foundation: Old St. Gereon's Church with window images and descriptions.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Franz Müller: Life around the Wachtberg. A journey through time through 30,000 years of history in a Rhenish landscape . Wachtberg 1993, ISBN 3-925551-60-3 , pp. 114-118; 190,193 .
  2. ↑ a b Frank Hüllen: Evangelical congregation moves out of St. Gereon. Sankt Gereon in Wachtberg. General-Anzeiger , January 10, 2017, accessed March 11, 2017 .
  3. ^ Foundation Research Center for Stained Glass in the 20th Century: Wachtberg-Berkum, Old Church of St. Gereon
  4. ↑ Alte Kirche (Berkum), organ from 1854. Orgeldatabase, accessed on March 11, 2017.
  5. ↑ Alte Kirche (Berkum), organ from 1923. Orgeldatabase, accessed on March 11, 2017.
  6. ↑ Alte Kirche (Berkum), Ott organ from 1949. Orgeldatabase, accessed on March 11, 2017.
  7. ^ A b Leonard Wagner: Protestants give up St. Gereon. Church in Berkum. In: General-Anzeiger . October 8, 2016, accessed March 11, 2017 .
  8. ^ A b Gerhard Hoffs, Achim Bursch: Bells in the deanery Meckenheim / Rheinbach . 2014, p. 179–184 ( glockenbuecherebk.de ( memento from October 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF]).
  9. ^ Official Journal of the Archdiocese of Cologne. Piece 1, January 1, 2010, No. 37 (PDF).
  10. ^ History of our church. Ev. Wachtberg parish, 2015, accessed March 11, 2017 .