St. Johannis (Braunschweig)

The Johanniskirche in 1905

100 years later

Layout

The Johanniskirche is a Protestant church in Braunschweig . It is the first Protestant church in the city to be built since the Reformation .

history

Emergence

The reason for this new church building was the strong population growth in Braunschweig at the end of the 19th century. The resulting new community, which until then had been divided into the inner city churches of St. Magni and St. Katharinen , which came from the Middle Ages, was to have its own house of worship, as the premises and "spiritual care" provided by the first two had long been insufficient.

The first discussions about a new foundation began as early as 1883. August 10, 1894 is considered to be the founding day of the community through a decree by Prince Albrecht of Prussia , who in 1895 brought the community of St. Johannis into being; at that time it comprised around 13,000 members. By the same decree, a second community was founded in Braunschweig, namely the Pauli community on what was then Kaiser-Wilhelm-Strasse, today 's Jasperallee .

architecture

A plot of land for the new building was soon found at the corner of Leonhardstrasse and Kapellenstrasse. The church building, a central building in the neo-Gothic style with the approximate shape of a Greek cross , was designed by city building officer and church builder Ludwig Winter . The excavation work began on May 3, 1901.

The external construction work was completed on August 2, 1903 with the consecration of the tower, with a corresponding certificate being deposited in the button of the tower. In the spring of 1904 the pulpit was erected , the cross vault was painted, sculptural work was carried out and the choir windows were decorated with glass paintings. At the end of 1904, three bells were completed by the Apolda bell foundry and will ring for the first time on January 25, 1905.

The church has a floor area of ​​853.3 m², the central nave is 13.5 m wide and 26.5 m long, the transept measures 25 m, the height of the tower to the top was originally 65 m. The tower had eight corners and also had four small corner turrets. Its special position is striking. This is instead, as is usually the case, on the west side, opposite the altar on the northeast corner. This is due to the fact that several streets meet there and thus point to the church tower.

St John's Church was founded on June 25, 1905 consecrated . It got its name based on the St. John's Chapel, which was demolished in 1784 in the old town of Braunschweig . In 1905 the community had around 15,000 members.

World War II and post-war period

During the Second World War , the tower and roof of the nave were destroyed and wall paintings were damaged. The church tower was restored in the style of the 1950s with a much flatter square top with a weather vane. The church interior also received a flatter roof than before. The interiors were simply painted in 1955; wall paintings were dispensed with.

The Johanniskirche is located in the south-eastern outskirts of the city center and belongs to the Viewegs Garten-Bebelhof district .

organ

Organ from 1905

Console of the organ in St. Johannis

Today's organ was built in 1905 by P. Furtwängler & Hammer in the late romantic tradition. The neo-Gothic prospect is dominated by two side towers with pointed arched pipe fields between corner pilasters. A low flat field reveals the rose window. The towers have triangular gables with quatrefoil and are decorated with pinnacles and crowning angel figures. The instrument with pneumatic cone chests has largely been preserved and has 38  registers , which are divided into three manuals and pedal . In the course of a restoration in 2005, a new electric console with a modern setting system was installed, and in 2013 the manual range was expanded to five octaves. The disposition of the monument organ is as follows:

I Manual C-c 4 Principal 16 ′ Major principal 8th' Gamba 8th' Double flute 8th' Dumped 8th' octave 4 ′ Reed flute 4 ′ octave 2 ′ Mixture III-V 2 ′ Trumpet 8th'

II Manual C – c 4 Drone 16 ′ Minor principal 8th' Concert flute 8th' Salizional 8th' Lovely Gedackt 8th' Gemshorn 4 ′ Harmony flute 4 ′ Cornett III-IV 4 ′ Clarinet 8th' Tremulant

III Manual C – c 4 Lovely Gedackt 16 ′ Flute Principal 8th' Drone 8th' Quintatön 8th' viola 8th' Aeoline 8th' Vox Coelestis 8th' Fugara 4 ′ Soft flute 4 ′ Harmonia Aetheria III – IV oboe 8th'

Pedal C – f 1 Principal bass 16 ′ Violonbass 16 ′ Sub-bass 16 ′ Thought bass 16 ′ Octave bass 8th' cello 8th' Flute bass 8th' trombone 16 ′

literature

• Ev.-luth. Parish St. Johannis, Braunschweig (ed.): The ev.-luth. Parish of St. Johannis in Braunschweig. Festschrift for the 75th anniversary of the consecration, June 24 and 25, 1980 , Borek printing works, Braunschweig 1980.
• Wolfgang A. Jünke: St. Johannis , In: Luitgard Camerer , Manfred Garzmann , Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf (Hrsg.): Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon . Joh. Heinr. Meyer Verlag, Braunschweig 1992, ISBN 3-926701-14-5 , p. 117 .
• R. Gerlich: Festschrift for the inauguration of the St. Johanniskirche in Braunschweig. Brunswick 1905.
• Karl-Heinz Löffelsend: 100 years of St. Johannis Braunschweig. The history of the community and church building from 1894–2003 , Oeding printing house, Braunschweig 2003, ISBN 3-00-011095-X .

Web links

• St. John's Parish

Individual evidence

1. ^ History of the Johanniskirche on braunschweig.de
2. ↑ History overview  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on johannis-bs.de  
3. ↑ Disposition of the organ , accessed on March 7, 2014.

Coordinates: 52 ° 15 ′ 30 ″  N , 10 ° 32 ′ 38 ″  E