St. Johannis (Altona)

The tower of St. Johannis

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Johannis in Hamburg-Altona is a neo-Gothic church from 1873. It belongs to the Altona-Ost parish and also serves as a cultural church.

St. Johannis Church in Altona

In the course of the northern expansion of Altona in the second half of the 19th century, church buildings were required in the new residential areas. Both for Hamburg and for Altona , which at that time was still an independent city ​​that belonged to Schleswig-Holstein , Johannes Otzen was hired as the executive architect for many of the new buildings, which subsequently shaped entire city districts with its red brick churches.

Despite the strong increase in population, for centuries Altona only had the Holy Spirit Church at the poor house in addition to the Trinity Church. The congregation has long wanted another church. In 1855, when Altona already had more than 40,000 mostly Evangelical Lutheran inhabitants, the royal ministry of the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg asked the visitors of the Altona Provost to share the parish . In 1862 it was decided to separate the Norderkirchspiel. Execution was delayed until after the German-Danish war . In 1866, Henning Dohrn, the first pastor, was appointed. In 1867 a competition for the design of the new church was announced, for which 33 plans were submitted. The commission decided in favor of Johannes Otzen's design , even though it significantly exceeded the specified construction costs. Otzen's draft largely corresponded to the Eisenach regulative .

In 1868, the construction of the new “Norderkirche” next to the Norderreihe cemetery (now Wohlerspark) on the avenue (now Max-Brauer-Allee) began. The municipality had already bought this property in 1831. A simpler, less expensive form of Otzen's original design was built. The church was consecrated on April 3, 1873.

View from the "avenue" over the roofs of houses to the church tower, around 1900

The neo-Gothic church is made of the yellow, glazed brick typical of the Hamburg and Altona church buildings of the Wilhelminian era as a basilica with very low and narrow side aisles and a large, central crossing . The interior is mainly structured through the use of brick in different colors and can accommodate up to 600 people. The original inventory was designed to match the building. Michael Welter designed the church windows and paintings . The picture program represented the history of salvation. In keeping with the taste of the times, the overall impression was relatively gloomy.

The slim, 83-meter-high tower was the tallest building in the Altona city area. The brick spire had to be demolished and replaced in 1885 due to serious construction defects. In 1909 the first major renovation took place under the direction of Otzen. The painting was renewed and partly changed.

The Johanniskirche was the parish church of the population, but also a garrison church. During the Third Reich , the German Christians gathered here because the pastor and Altona provost Peter Schütt, who was appointed in 1933, was a staunch Nazi. Although he denounced Jews and Jehovah's Witnesses, he stayed at St. John's Church until 1946. By moving to Bargteheide, he was able to avoid denazification . The church suffered damage during World War II . The glass windows were completely destroyed. Repairs in the post-war years led to a sober redesign of the interior. These changes were later largely reversed and the church now appears brick-faced again as it did when it was built. The renovation work and the conversion to the cultural church took place from 1993 to 1998 under the direction of the architect Joachim Reinig. The painting from 1909 was partially exposed again. The old church windows were not restored; today's modern windows from 1997 were designed by the South Korean artist Eun Nim Ro from Hamburg .

During the construction work on August 21, 1994, the tower, nave and organ were seriously damaged or destroyed by arson by a schoolboy. The joint work of people of different nationalities and religions during the after the arson was an impetus for a broad, new understanding of the community for the future use of their church: They decided to use the building in two ways. The church continued to be a place of worship, church music and other parish events. Since then, the newly founded Kulturkirche Altona GmbH has been renting out the Johanniskirche building as a cooperation partner of the parish for cultural and commercial events, such as B. concerts, readings, private parties, photo shoots and filming. This rental generates income that contributes to the maintenance of the building and relieves the municipal budget and leaves financial space for social and charitable community projects.

St. Johannis, view of the church to the altar

Since January 2011, the Kulturkirche Altona GmbH has also held its own events (classical, jazz, world music, readings) in the church. Profits are transferred to a foundation. This helps needy and homeless people to find and find housing.

12,000 people live in the residential area of ​​the community of St. Johannis; about 3300 belong to the community. The church is also open to visitors on Sundays after the service. Since 2007 the parish of St. Johannis has belonged to the new parish of Altona-Ost , along with the Christophorus Church and the Friedenskirche .

organ

The new organ was inaugurated in 1998. The three-manual instrument was built by the Swiss company Th. Kuhn in the French-symphonic style of Cavaillé-Coll . The organ is therefore a special feature of the Hamburg organ landscape and is often used for concerts. The instrument has 48 registers on slider drawers. The key actions are mechanical, the stop actions are electrical.

I Grand Orgue C-g 3 1. Montre 16 ′ 2. Montre 8th' 3. Flûte harm. 8th' 4th Viol 8th' 5. Bourdon 8th' 6th Prestant 4 ′ 7th Flute 4 ′ 8th. Duplicate 2 ′ 9. Fittings V. 2 ′ 10. Cornet V (from f 0 ) 8th' 11. Trumpets 8th' 12. Clairon 4 ′

II positive C-g 3 13. Bourdon 16 ′ 14th Montre 8th' 15th Salicional 8th' 16. Flute 8th' 17th Bourdon 8th' 18th Prestant 4 ′ 19th Flute 4 ′ 20th Nazard 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ 21st Duplicate 2 ′ 22nd Tierce 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′ 23. Plein Jeu IV 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ 24. Trumpets 8th' 25th Cromorne 8th' Tremblant

III Récit C – g 3 26th Quintaton 16 ′ 27. Flûte trav. 8th' 28. Viole de Gambe 8th' 29 Bourdon 8th' 30th Voix céleste (from c 0 ) 8th' 31. Flûte octav. 4 ′ 32. Octavine 2 ′ 33. Plein Jeu V 2 ′ 34. Basson 16 ′ 35. Trumpet harm. 8th' 36. Hautbois 8th' 37. Voix humaine 8th' 38. Clairon harm. 4 ′ Tremblant

Pedale C – f 1 39. Soubasse 32 ′ 40. Montre 16 ′ 41. Soubasse 16 ′ 42. Violon 16 ′ 43. Flute 8th' 44. Violoncello 8th' 45. Flute 4 ′ 46. Bombard 16 ′ 47. Trumpets 8th' 48. Clairon 4 ′

• Pairing :
  • Normal coupling: II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
  • Super octave coupling: III / P
  • Sub-octave coupling: III / I
• Playing aids : 256-fold setting system

Memorial and counter-monument

War memorial

St. Johannis was the garrison church of the infantry regiment "Graf Bose" (1st Thuringian) No. 31 , which was dissolved after the First World War . One for the fallen was on the forecourt monument erected and inaugurated on October 4, 1925, a 8.5 meter high stele of the architects Esselmann & Gerntke of brick and colored glazed terracotta pieces in the style of the Hamburg Brick Expressionism and warrior sculptures by heroically depicted August Henneberger ; John Kriegeris was responsible for the construction. The dedication inscription

"The fallen as a grateful memory, the living as a warning, the coming generations to emulate"

follows - as with countless war memorials of the 19th and 20th centuries - that of the national monument on Berlin's Kreuzberg.

In 1996 the St. Johannis parish added a counter monument to the stele in collaboration with a student project from the Design Department at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences . It consists of three large, glass panels by the Altona artist Rainer Tiedje, which show emaciated, suffering figures. A broken board was replaced in 2009 by the Schleswig-Holstein artist Wiebke Logemann. The monument was given a new content.

literature

• F. Grundmann, T. Helms: When stones preach - Hamburg's churches from the Middle Ages to the present , Medien Verlag Schubert, Hamburg 1993, ISBN 978-3-929229-14-1
• Andreas von Rauch, Ulrike Wendland: The St. Johannis Church in Hamburg-Altona. An evangelical-Lutheran church building from the 19th century , series of historical monuments of the Hamburg cultural authority, 1995 ( https://www.gemeinde-altona-ost.de/images/downloads/Die-Kirche-small.pdf pdf) (accessed on 25. November 2018)
• Kulturkirche Hamburg GmbH (ed.) With the collaboration of Jürgen Franzke, Ulrich Hentschel, Joachim Reinig, Ilse Rüttgerodt-Riechmann: "... so that my house will be full" Kulturkirche St.Johannis in Hamburg-Altona. Open church - create profile , Lutherische Verlagsgesellschaft, Kiel 2012, ISBN 978-3-87503-153-9

Web links

Commons : St. Johannis Church (Altona)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Altona Ost community
• Altona cultural church
• Choir St. Johannis Altona
• Organ of the St. Johannis Church on Organ City Hamburg

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Andreas von Rauch, Ulrike Wendland: The Church of St. Johannis in Hamburg-Altona. An Evangelical-Lutheran church building from the 19th century , series of publications on preservation of monuments by the Hamburg cultural authority, 1995, p. 12
2. ↑ Andreas von Rauch, Ulrike Wendland: The Church of St. Johannis in Hamburg-Altona. An Evangelical-Lutheran church building from the 19th century , series of publications on preservation of monuments by the Hamburg cultural authority, 1995, p. 15
3. ↑ Andreas von Rauch, Ulrike Wendland: The Church of St. Johannis in Hamburg-Altona. A Protestant-Lutheran church building of the 19th century , series of publications on preservation of monuments by the Hamburg cultural authority, 1995, p. 50f
4. ↑ Andreas von Rauch, Ulrike Wendland: The Church of St. Johannis in Hamburg-Altona. An evangelical-Lutheran church building from the 19th century , series of monuments conservation of the Hamburg cultural authority, 1995, p. 13f
5. ↑ Andreas von Rauch, Ulrike Wendland: The Church of St. Johannis in Hamburg-Altona. A Protestant-Lutheran church building from the 19th century , series of publications on preservation of monuments by the Hamburg cultural authority, 1995, p. 32
6. ↑ Andreas von Rauch, Ulrike Wendland: The Church of St. Johannis in Hamburg-Altona. A Protestant-Lutheran church building from the 19th century , series of publications on preservation of monuments by the Hamburg cultural authority, 1995, p. 32
7. ↑ History of the Johanniskirche
8. ^ Benjamin Hein: Peter Schütt
9. ↑ Realty Wesnigk, Hartmut IMBT, Lüder Schmidt, Friedrich Jakob, Hans-Peter Keller, Wolfgang Zerer, Fulbert Steffensky: The Kuhn organ in the St. John's Church Altona. Festschrift. Hamburg-Altona 1998.
10. ↑ Monument project: St. Johannis Altona war memorial
11. ↑ August Boeckh wrote the inscription there : "The fallen in memory, the living in recognition, the future generations to emulate". luise-berlin.de , parlament-berlin.de ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
12. ↑ einbildweiter ( memento of the original dated November 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed March 9, 2011) 
13. ↑ Guide to places of remembrance of the years 1933 to 1945 ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. updated second edition 2008, accessed October 15, 2010  

Coordinates: 53 ° 33 '35 "  N , 9 ° 57' 11"  E