St. Konrad (Neuss)

St. Konrad seen from the north

St. Konrad is a parish church in Neuss - Gnadental . Their patron saint is Konrad von Parzham (1818-1894), who was canonized in 1934 .

Origin of the community

In the 1930s the Gnadental district grew significantly, so that in 1938 the St. Konrad Rectorate, which was dependent on the Epiphany Parish, was founded as a new pastoral care unit. The district already had three churches or worship rooms: the institutional church of the St. Alexian Monastery, the church of the St. Joseph Monastery and the worship room in the Immaculata Monastery. After the reconstruction of the district after the Second World War, there was a desire in Gnadental to have its own parish church.

The church

On March 14, 1954, the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of today's St. Konrad Church took place. The church was built according to plans by the architect Gottfried Böhm in the middle of the green meadow. The foundation stone was laid on October 22, 1955. The foundation stone also served as the keystone. Cardinal Josef Frings consecrated the church on April 20, 1958.

One of the reasons why the decision was made in favor of a design by Böhm was that the new beginning after the Second World War was to be staged architecturally. Rectorate pastor Peter Richrath wanted “the courage to do something new” and had therefore chosen Böhm, who was to build the church in a modern architectural language.

The church building is supported by a reinforced concrete skeleton. The almost square main nave is surmounted by four concrete frames. The choir apse, cast from exposed concrete, is inserted like a canopy.

The concrete frames are lined with bricks. Other walls are filled with large glass windows. The designs for the glass windows come from Gottfried Böhm.

Furnishing

The entrance to the church is a narrow corridor lined with glass windows, at one end of which is the circular baptistery, vaulted by a conical roof. The passage into the church leads from the baptismal font - as the beginning of Christian life - over a holy water font in the middle of the passage into the church. The white marble baptismal font from 1840 was a gift from the parish of Quirinus Minster in 1938. It was here that Josef Cardinal Frings received the sacrament of baptism. Presumably it was created according to designs by the Cologne cathedral builder Ernst Friedrich Zwirner .

The patron saint

Saint Konrad von Parzham was chosen as the patron saint : "With the Capuchin brother from the Marian pilgrimage site Altötting, who was canonized in 1934, the modesty and willingness of a cloister porter to counteract the manhood addiction of a bygone era."