St. Helena and Andreas (Ludwigslust)

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Church of St. Helena and St. Andreas in the Ludwigslust Palace Park

St. Helena and Andreas is a Roman Catholic church in Ludwigslust . It is located west of Ludwigslust Palace in the palace park on an artificial island .

Construction and equipment

The small brick church is a pure example of early neo-Gothic with its romantic return to the seemingly timeless forms of the Middle Ages. The moat and bridge underline this feature. The portal front is reminiscent of a city gate from the North German brick Gothic era . The nave , a three-aisled hall with two central bays , a west bay that tapers towards the entrance and a polygonal apse , resembles a ship. The structure is made up of buttresses with pointed arched windows. The main cornice has a classicistic design. The facade is richly decorated with a rectangular gable.

The tower with the bells is on the other side of the moat on the "mainland".

In the vaulted porch there are relief figures: Saints Andrew and Peter as well as John and Paul. Inside, the view falls on the high altar structure, rich in branches ; it is originally a 15th century carving from the Doberaner Munster ( Levite stalls ), presumably a three seat , with three image fields, two of which show paintings of Saint Helena and Saint Cäcilia by Rudolph Suhrlandt . The tabernacle and organ front are neo-Gothic paintings and carvings. In contrast, the images of the apostles in the choir windows are glass paintings from the 15th century. They come from the Hamburg Cathedral, which was demolished in 1805 . The slender, octagonal, partly blue glazed columns carry a star vault .

  • Sanctuary

  • Inside to the west, organ

  • Vault

  • Separate bell tower

history

From the middle of the 18th century, the dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin expanded Ludwigslust into their residence. The representative castle, the Protestant court church and an extensive complex of residential and farm buildings were completed before the French Revolution in the late baroque- classicist style. Romanticism came under Friedrich Franz I. Although he remained a Protestant, he sympathized with the Catholic Church and commissioned the construction of the church for the small Catholic community at court and in the city in 1803. It was the first neo-Gothic church and is the second oldest Roman Catholic church in Mecklenburg after St. Anna zu Schwerin.

The design was created by the court architect Johann Christoph Heinrich von Seydewitz . Delayed by the turmoil of the war, the church consecration took place on September 30, 1809 . The furnishings were completed by Johann Georg Barca , and the bell tower, which stood apart, was added in 1817.

The patronage of Saint Helena commemorates Hereditary Princess Helena Paulowna , Friedrich Franz's daughter-in-law, who died young in 1803. The minor patronage of the Russian national saint Andrew indicates their origin.

The new Catholic parish was established on St. Andrea's Day 1809 as a mission parish. It has been a parish since 1868 .

In 1821, Duke Adolf Friedrich zu Mecklenburg, who had converted to Catholicism, was buried here in a burial chapel to the right of the church entrance. At the request of the then Duke Regent Johann Albrecht, his bones were transferred to the local Louisen mausoleum on November 9, 1899 .

During the renovation in 1985–1988, a sacristy was added and some of the furnishings were renewed. From 2007 to 2008, the second major, quite elaborate restoration of the church took place, which gave the building its special charm. The restoration of the tower was completed in November 2009.

literature

  • Friedrich Schlie : Art and historical monuments of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg. Volume 3. Schwerin 1899, pp. 258-265.
  • Heinrich Theissing Institute Schwerin (ed.): Small church in a large park - Festschrift for the 200th anniversary of the consecration of St. Helena / St.Andreas zu Ludwigslust. Schwerin 2009, ISBN 978-3-9810169-8-7 .

Web links

Commons : St. Helena and Andreas  - Collection of images, videos and audio files


Coordinates: 53 ° 19 ′ 29.4 ″  N , 11 ° 29 ′ 5.8 ″  E