St. Hedwig (Dusseldorf)

Former St. Hedwig's Church after being converted into a senior citizen center

St. Hedwig was a Catholic church in the Düsseldorf district of Eller . The church in Eller-Süd existed from 1974 to 2006 as a branch church of St. Gertrud and was converted into the St. Hedwig senior center, which opened in 2009 , after being profaned .

history

In order to take account of the Gertrudis community, which grew strongly after the Second World War, especially in southern Eller, an additional Catholic church was built between the processional cross ostrich cross and cemetery Eller between 1972 and 1974 according to plans by architects Heinz Thoma and Hans Geiser on Werstener Feld Filial church of St. Gertrud. The towerless church was designed as a "tent of God" with a tent roof on a square floor plan and was consecrated on March 17, 1974, the patronage festival of St. Gertrude, by Cologne Auxiliary Bishop Augustinus Frotz . Since many refugees from Silesia had found a new home in Eller after the Second World War , the church was consecrated to the patron saint of Silesia, St. Hedwig von Andechs . A large wooden cross made by Hans Karst with the leaning crucifix made of bronze was set up in front of the church, set back from the street.

After the parish of St. Gertrud gave up the use of its St. Hedwig branch church in 1996 due to declining mass visits, the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Joachim Meisner , allowed the Gerresheim pastor Joachim Zimmermann to celebrate mass there daily in the Tridentine rite , which had previously been in the in the same year closed and demolished church St. Petrus Canisius was home. On April 4, 2006, Cardinal Meisner decided to profanate St. Hedwig for cost reasons, in which the last Holy Mass was celebrated at the end of May 2006. The church was sold to a community of investors who built the St. Hedwig senior citizen center on the site between 2008 and 2009, including the former Hedwig Church. A false ceiling was drawn into the church building and a small Hedwig's chapel was integrated into it. The large cross in front of the church was re-erected in front of the second parish church of St. Augustine in Eller after the profanation . The Tridentine Mass was moved to the Church of St. Dionysius in Düsseldorf-Volmerswerth .

See also

• List of profane churches in the Archdiocese of Cologne
• Hedwig's Church

literature

• Henrichs, Bernard (Ed.): Düsseldorf - Stadt und Kirche , Schwann, Düsseldorf 1982 (1st edition), p. 171.