St. Ludwig (Berlin-Wilmersdorf)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Church of St. Ludwig in Berlin-Wilmersdorf

The Catholic St. Ludwig's Church in the Berlin district of Wilmersdorf on Ludwigkirchplatz (until 1895: Straßburger Platz ) was built between 1895 and 1897 by the architect August Menken . The church building in the style of the north German brick Gothic is also called "Ludwig Windthorst Memorial Church". She is dedicated to the holy King Louis IX. consecrated by France and has been cared for by the Franciscans since 1986 .

history

Today's district of Wilmersdorf has been developing at a rapid pace since the mid-1880s into an independent, middle-class city. When the empire was founded in 1871, Wilmersdorf was still a village, and in 1890 it only had 5,000 inhabitants. As a result it grew rapidly, and with it the Catholic community. It broke away from the Teltow district , received town charter in 1906 , and finally had almost 140,000 inhabitants when it was incorporated into Greater Berlin in 1920 .

When the Ludwigskirche was built, there were still large areas of undeveloped arable land all around. In addition to the church, there were predominantly upper-class, four- and five-storey tenement houses with richly ornamented facades and elegant apartments that still largely shape the immediate vicinity of the sacred building today.

At that time, as everywhere in the newly emerging suburbs, including in Wilmersdorf, a so-called “Kirchennoth” prevailed. Before the Menkenschen Ludwigskirche was built, there was only one medieval village church in the Catholic churches in Schmargendorf, which is adjacent to the south . Menkens Ludwigskirche was the first large Catholic church to be built in southwest Berlin. At the same time, the Auenkirche was built as a neo-Gothic brick church by Max Spitta , which was also called "Christ Church" , as the first large Protestant church in Wilmersdorf in place of the old Protestant village church built in 1772 . The decisive factor for the building of the new church in 1890 was the donation of the building site by Wilmersdorfer Terrain-Aktien-Gesellschaft . The prince-bishop's delegate, Prelate Joseph Jahnel , as a representative of the prince-bishopric of Breslau, had received the Strasbourg square , later renamed Ludwigskirchplatz, as a gift to alleviate the church hardship in Wilmersdorf .

However, the donation was tied to the condition of building a monumental church, as Pastor Carl Milz reported in the church chronicle of the Ludwigskirche. Although there was a lack of money and, in the short term, also a lack of community members, the monumental building idea actually prevailed. As on 14 March 1891, the Center Party politician and lawyer Ludwig Windthorst died, the opportunity was taken to set up in his honor, a memorial church, according to the nearby example of a freestanding, monumental Memorial Church as about the same time in Charlottenburg after a design by Franz Schwechten honor Emperor I. Wilhelm was born.

From 1871 Ludwig Windthorst had been the spokesman for the Catholic Center Party for 20 years and during the Kulturkampf (1871–1887), d. H. at the time of anti-Catholic legislation, as the most important parliamentary opponent of Otto von Bismarck, stood up for the rights of Catholics. From 1866 Windthorst worked alternately as legal advisor to the dethroned King George V in Hanover and as a member of parliament in Berlin with a second residence in Wilmersdorf. Understandably, the Wilmersdorf Catholics felt a great need to create a place of remembrance for their spokesman in his former place of residence.

competition

In January 1893, two architects, August Menken and another Catholic architect who was not named, were asked to enter into a closer competition to submit preliminary designs for a new memorial church for the recently deceased Ludwig Windthorst. The initiative came from Prelate Jahnel, provost of the Catholic St. Hedwig's Cathedral , as well as from the two chairmen of the center parliamentary group , Franz von Ballestrem and Clemens Heereman von Zuydwyck . Due to a lack of money, initially only the provisional "construction of a church worth at least 60,000  marks " (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 417,000 euros) was planned, which "although intended as an interim construction, but to be dignified and equipped with a tower" should. Nevertheless, August Menken seems to have presented the jury with the design for a large, monumental church by the end of March 1893.

The competition designs have not been preserved, but contemporary magazine articles provide some clues. All that is known about the competitor is that he adhered to the specifications of the tender and designed a financially favorable interim building “with a tower and dignified furnishings”.

Menken won the competition because his design of an imposing, monumental church convinced the judging committee and corresponded to the wish for a venerable building for Ludwig Windthorst. His church building was also designed provisionally to be supplemented by further building sections, but Menken will have already exceeded the minimum construction cost of 60,000 marks many times over at that time, which can be concluded from the fact that he was firstly forced by the jury to make cost-reducing changes and secondly, that the construction costs at the time of completion were 280,000 marks. His designs for the Ludwigskirche were publicly exhibited in the same year at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition of 1893. It was particularly emphasized that the Catholic Ludwigskirche was an early Gothic stone building with a cloverleaf choir and a striking crossing tower .

planning

The planning phase from 1893 to 1895 can no longer be reconstructed in detail, as the plan drawings of the building files still preserved today are undated. Apart from Menken's signature, there are no official stamps, signatures or dates on the plans. This can be explained by the loss of the building file during the examination procedure towards the end of 1895.

Two cost-reducing changes that Menken made to his original competition design have come down to us from written sources. Firstly, in the case of the Ludwigskirche, which is eastward, as in the case of the Garrison Church , the imposing west facade with the flanking west towers was omitted and the nave was shortened to three bays . Second, for financial reasons, the idea of ​​building the church as a stone building with facades in sandstone had to be given up. Instead, a brick building was built. For structural reasons, sandstone was only used in the interior, such as for the nave and especially the crossing piers, which had to carry the enormous weight of the 70 meter high crossing tower.

architecture

The Ludwigskirche shortly after completion; the picture shows the partially undeveloped area.

The floor plan of the Ludwigskirche shows a three-aisled, cross-shaped, structure approximated to the Greek cross with massive bundled crossing pillars and a staggered three apse choir. On the north side there are two different sized, long rectangular sacristy and parament rooms, of which the larger room is accentuated on its narrow side by a round stair tower. Menken emphasized the cruciform floor plan of the Ludwigskirche with a centralized crossing area, as in the case of the previously built Catholic St. John's Basilica .

The exterior of the Ludwigskirche is built as a brick church in the style of the north German brick Gothic, according to its building material . However, Menken only partially took up these stylistic elements of the early Gothic building tradition in the Brandenburg region . It can be clearly seen that it owes its stylistic and structural design to its original planning, namely the model of Rhenish-early Gothic stone churches.

Upon entering the Ludwigskirche, a wide, cross-shaped, central nave-high interior opens up. The elevation of the nave and fore choir is two-zone. Pointed, pear-shaped arcade arches are supported by sturdy round pillars with high-relief leaf capitals. In the commemorative publication for the opening ceremony in 1897, it was raved about:

"The whole formal language of the church belongs to the middle of the 13th century, namely the capitals, which are adorned with German foliage and were modeled and executed by the sculptor Junkersdorf according to specifications and drawings by the architect August Menken, deserve special attention."

Apart from the pulpit, which Max Hasak made , the interior was designed by August Menken. As in the Catholic garrison church, columns made of black marble were presented to the stone altar and the reredos consisted of two wood-carved, relief housings, each with three staggered eyelash gables , which centered a tabernacle with a tabernacle structure. In order to give the Ludwig Windthorst Memorial Church the higher honor of a “royal church”, sculptures of canonized kings, queens and princes were placed on the crossing pillar. Charlemagne , Holy Landgrave Elisabeth of Thuringia , Emperor Heinrich II were depicted . and his wife Kunigunde . Because of their early Gothic style, which was modeled on the Naumburg donor figures, the figures modeled by the sculptor Fink and made by the company Zeyer & Co. in Berlin were highly praised. The glazing in the lower two lattice windows of the choir depicted the life of St. Ludwig. Otherwise, the glazing was based on medieval ornamental glazing. The floor was made of Mettlach tiles made of high-contrast, alternating light and dark square panels in large and small diamond patterns.

Urban significance

Site plan of the garden from 1906

The Ludwigskirche, which is free-standing on all sides, is a special urban development feature. The central positioning of a church in a vacant space was increasingly difficult, especially in Berlin in the late 19th century, as the building boom meant that no central plaza were available or because the property prices were too high due to widespread property speculation. So it was that many churches, especially Catholic churches around the turn of the century in Berlin in the street line were built, so what was not related to a religious discrimination, but often with a poor financial situation of the municipalities.

The Ludwigskirche is highlighted in the urban space both by its free-standing location and by the elaborate park design with a fountain in front of the west facade.

Construction work and further history

The newly emerging Ludwigsgemeinde was able to finance its church building as well as the interior design of the new church for the most part from donations. After an appeal for donations that was sent across the country to numerous Catholic associations, clubs and members of parliament, 200,000 marks were collected for the memory of the well-known and esteemed center politician  . The foundation stone was therefore laid on June 29, 1895 and construction work began. Exactly two years later, on June 29, 1897, after a brisk construction period, the Ludwigskirche was inaugurated “as a structural and cultural center”.

In 1913, a closer competition was held among nine invited Catholic architects for an extension of the church, as Menken's plans did not provide any more precise information about the extension he originally intended. The Mainz cathedral builder Ludwig Becker received the 1st prize, the Berlin architect Engelbert Seibertz the 2nd prize . In autumn 1913, Ludwig Becker and his office partner Anton Falkowski were commissioned with the implementation planning, but the construction did not take place - the construction project was probably abandoned after the outbreak of war in the summer of 1914 at the latest.

The church was damaged in the Second World War in 1943 and restored in 1955 and 1961.

Due to the expansion planned by Menken by adding further yokes to the west, the church had no vestibule - this was added in the post-war years in a modern form made of glass with red window profiles and a protruding roof. In 1983/1984 the vestibule adapted to the neo-Gothic style of the church was added (recognizable by the joints).

organ

organ

The organ of the church was built in 1970 by the Stockmann brothers' organ building workshop . It has 46 stops on three manuals and a pedal . The disposition is as follows:

I Rückpositiv C – a 3
1. Reed flute 08th'
2. Praestant 04 ′
3. Dumped 04 ′
4th octave 02 ′
5. Pipe whistle 02 ′
6th Fifth 01 1 ⁄ 3  ′
7th Zimbel III 01'
8th. Krummhorn 08th'
9. Vox Humana 08th'
Tremulant
II main work C – a 3
10. Pommer 16 ′
11. Principal 08th'
12. Gemshorn 08th'
13. octave 04 ′
14th Reed flute 04 ′
15th Nasat 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
16. octave 02 ′
17th Flat flute 02 ′
18th Cornett V (from f) 08th'
19th Mixture V-VI 02 ′
20th bassoon 16 ′
21st Trumpet 08th'
III Swell C – a 3
22nd Quintad 16 ′
23. Hollow flute 08th'
24. Tube bare 08th'
25th Beat 08th'
26th Praestant 04 ′
27. Soft flute 04 ′
28. Quintad 04 ′
29 Forest flute 02 ′
30th Sesquialtera II 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
31. Scharff V 01 1 ⁄ 3  ′
32. Dulcian 16 ′
33. Hautbois 08th'
34. Clairon 04 ′
Tremulant
Pedal C – g 1
35. Principal 16 ′
36. Sub bass 16 ′
37. Fifth 10 2 ⁄ 3  ′
38. Octave bass 08th'
39. Dacked bass 08th'
40. Choral bass 04 ′
41. Pipe whistle 04 ′
42. Peasant flute 02 ′
43. Bassesquialtera II 05 1 ⁄ 3  ′ + 3 1 ⁄ 5  ′
44. Back set IV 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
45. trombone 16 ′
46. Trumpet 08th'
  • Coupling : I / II, III / II, III / I, I / P, II / P, III / P, 5 octave coupling
  • Playing aids : 10,000 typesetting combinations

literature

Web links

Commons : St. Ludwig Church (Berlin-Wilmersdorf)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  • For Menken, the draft presented to the jury at the end of March 1893: Draft drawing of the main entrance with relief arch, signed "Menken, Berlin, March 22nd 1893", District Office Wilmersdorf, St. Ludwigskirche, Vol. I from May 3rd, 1893 to June 20th, 1927, Pagination 79.
  • On Menkens plan drawings and planning phase from 1893 to 1895: District Office Wilmersdorf, Ludwigskirchplatz, generally Vol. I – III, here: Vol. I from May 3, 1893 to June 20, 1927.
  • On the disappearance of the building files: District Office Wilmersdorf, November 9, 1895, pagination 80.
  • On the use of solid sandstone in the interior: Festschrift 1897, rite of the inauguration of the new St. Ludwigskirche (Windthorst Memorial Church) in Wilmersdorf-Berlin on June 29, 1897, p. 2.
  • Menkens quote on the interior of the church about the formal language of the church: Festschrift 1897, p. 3. / Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , 17th year 1897, No. 27 of 3rd July 1897, p. 300. / Berliner Architekturwelt , 2nd year 1899 / 1900, No. 9 (December 1899), p. 325.
  • On the “royal” furnishings of the church: Festschrift 1897 , p. 4. / Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , 17th year 1897, no. 27 of 3rd July 1897, p. 300. / Berliner Architekturwelt , 2nd year 1899/1900 , No. 9, December 1899, p. 325.
  • On the enormous amount of donations for building the church: Milz 1922, p. 2.
  • August Menken obtained from the responsible building authority (under Otto Herrnring ) that the municipality was waived the administrative fees of 123.77 marks: District Office Wilmersdorf, letter from Menken 1897, p. 92.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The houses of the Franciscans: Berlin Wilmersdorf (St. Ludwig) - Capital Parish and City Pastoral Care , accessed on March 7, 2020.
  2. ↑ Diözesanarchiv Berlin (Ed.): Bonifacius Calendar 1899. P. 99.
    Deutsche Bauzeitung , 24th year 1890, No. 27 of April 2, 1890, P. 163.
    Carl Milz: Career of the parish of St. Ludwig in Berlin-Wilmersdorf from June 29, 1895 to June 29, 1922. (printed and typewritten version) o. O. (Berlin) o. J. (1922), p. 1.
  3. ↑ Berliner Architekturwelt , 2nd year 1899/1900, issue 9 from December 1899, p. 325.
  4. ^ Hossfeld: The architecture at this year's Berlin art exhibition. In: Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , Volume 13, 1893, No. 24 of June 17, 1893, p. 253 f.
  5. ↑ Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , Volume 17, 1897, No. 27 of July 3, 1897, p. 300.
  6. ^ The competition of the Berlin Architects' Association for designs for a pulpit for St. Ludwig's Church in Wilmersdorf. In: Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , 21st year 1901, No. 38 of 15 May 1901, p. 239. (1st prize to Hasak)
  7. ^ Gebhard Streicher, Erika Drave: Berlin, city and church. Berlin 1980, p. 286, col. 1.
  8. ^ Peter Bloch: Berlin. Neo-Gothic buildings. (Ed. by Richard Schneider) Berlin 1984, p. 23.
  9. ↑ Deutsche Bauzeitung , Volume 47, 1913, No. 47 of June 11, 1913, p. 435 f.
  10. ↑ Berliner Architekturwelt , 16th year 1913/1914, issue 7 from October 1913, p. 302.
  11. ↑ Disposition of the organ in Berlin (Wilmersdorf), St. Ludwig. In: die-Orgelseite.de. Retrieved October 12, 2013 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 51.2 ″  N , 13 ° 19 ′ 18.5 ″  E