St. Marien (Berlin-Karlshorst)
| Parish Church of St. Mary | |
|---|---|
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| address | Berlin-Karlshorst, Gundelfinger Strasse |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| local community | Parish of Berlin |
| Current usage | Parish church |
| building | |
| Year of construction (s) | 1935-1937 |
| style | Neo-Romanesque |
The Catholic parish church of St. Marien (Immaculate Conception) is a listed church building in neo-Romanesque forms from the years 1935 to 1937. It served temporarily as a depot after 1945 and has been used again as a place of worship since 1949. The Marienkirche is located on Gundelfinger Straße in the Berlin district of Karlshorst in the Lichtenberg district .
Building history
1900 to 1935
At the end of the 19th century, the population in the then peripheral villages of Berlin grew rapidly and more and more Christians moved to the village of Friedrichsfelde with its Vorwerk (or the Colonie ) Karlshorst. So a regular service had to be organized - under the responsibility of the Curate of St. Mauritius from the Friedrichsberg district of Berlin-Lichtenberg . In Friedrichsfelde there were already Catholic services in a boys' school and from 1906 there was also the Church of the Good Shepherd and the old Protestant village church, so the Karlshorsters either went to Friedrichsfelde or from 1897 they used the imperial pavilion provided by the association for obstacle races in Karlshorst for their Catholic services (alternating with the Protestant Christians of the later community on the good news ).
By 1909, the Catholic community had a four-storey parsonage built on the Gundelfinger Strasse area, previously purchased for 30,000 marks (purchasing power adjusted in today's currency: around 177,000 euros) according to the plans of the Berlin architect August Kaufhold , with a small chapel (facing the courtyard) for church services was grown. After the Protestant parish of Karlshorst was able to move into its own church in 1910 , and the previous Catholic parish of the Good Shepherd was divided in 1922 , the independent Catholic parish of St. Marien was founded in Karlshorst.
1935 until the end of World War II
A church building association, newly established in 1925, collected donations for more than ten years and commissioned the planning of an own church building next to the rectory. According to the designs of the Leipzig architect Clemens Lohmer , the foundation stone was laid on October 27, 1935 for a new building in neo-Romanesque style, the bricks of which were plastered gray and the main facade and tower were clad in white-gray Rüdersdorf limestone . Up to the completion of the building on December 6, 1936, the Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock foundry in Gescher had produced four bronze bells with a particularly pure sound and could be consecrated on August 2, 1936.
The building consists of two structures, one is the simple nave in the form of a medieval basilica with a transept in front (with a wooden flat ceiling and low aisles inside), the other is a 40 meter high rectangular campanile built according to the Italian model .
Above the central portal of the main entrance, a figure of Mary greets the faithful and visitors to the church. Above the rectangular pillars next to the three arched portals are the four evangelist symbols ; all figures were made from shell limestone by the Berlin sculptor Josef Dorls .
The first service in the new house took place on December 6, 1936, and the church was consecrated on June 27, 1937 by Bishop Konrad Graf von Preysing . A first organ was purchased, but not installed until the outbreak of war.
In 1941, during World War II , three of the four bells were melted down to make military equipment.
Shortly before the end of the war, the church and, above all, the rectory offered locals and refugees some protection from persecution and fighting. - In an air raid in January 1944, the earlier colorful altar windows by the artist Egbert Lammers with a depiction of the crucifixion were destroyed.
When the Second World War ended, the victorious Soviet Union had occupied large parts of Karlshorst, expelled the residents and established their military administration in this district. The St. Mary's Church was desecrated and by the military primarily as a furniture warehouse, used as a cowshed and a coal bunker, valuable jewels like the monstrance , the Chalice and many organ pipes disappeared. The stately parsonage was an office building for the SMAD , the chapel officer's mess and cinema, and prison rooms were set up in the basement.
New beginning from 1949
At Christmas 1949, the parish received the church and the rectory back, and both buildings were repaired under the direction of the architect Paul Zeh . On August 8, 1950, a service could be held again in the rectory. But only after two and a half years was the renovation of the church completed, which was celebrated on March 23, 1952 with a consecration service.
The high altar and the silver altar cross were available and could be restored, but the room decorations, church stalls and many organ parts had largely disappeared, so they were donated, purchased or newly made for re-establishment.
From older churches have found space: a wood carving Anna selbdritt (made around 1500) and a female saint (Mother of God) from the end of the 15th century, also a carved figure (carver and earlier locations unknown).
Particularly valuable is a group of figures made of white marble (Noli me tangere) , which had their original place on the high altar in the St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin-Mitte, after 1945 it was moved to the chapel of the Hedwig parish in the cemetery in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen and has been standing here in the church in a small side chapel since 1985. It is a work by the Italian sculptor Giovanni Marchiori from 1750, which depicts a meeting of the risen Jesus with Mary.
The earlier series of paintings by Egbert Lammers , illustrating the stations of the cross, and a small, newly built organ from the Schuke company on the gallery complete the design.
The rectory was largely modernized in 1970, it received central heating, the roof and gutters were renewed, the facade freshly plastered. The garden behind the chapel has been redesigned to resemble a park.
An extensive renovation of the church building took place in 1983, the tower received a new roof and a golden cross and the interior was refreshed.
An altar table and ambo made of cast aluminum were newly made , a work commissioned by the Berlin artist Paul Brandenburg , which was consecrated in 1985 by Joachim Cardinal Meisner .
Finally, in 1991, with the help of a donation, a bell was poured on the basis of the documents still available at the foundry (name: "Maria", weighing around 30 quintals ), hung in the church tower and consecrated on September 1st of that year. Together with the still existing old bell, the ringing is melodically coordinated with the nearby Church of the Good News .
The three-part altar window, which was built in 1993 in preparation for the beatification of Bernhard Lichtenberg, shines in beautiful red, yellow and blue tones . The representation is based on designs by the Berlin artist Helga Lignau-Sachs .
In 1998, extensive renovation work was carried out again in the rectory, but the church was also further decorated: Paul Brandenburg made a candle bench for the chancel, an Easter candlestick and a sideboard, again made of cast aluminum.
On November 19, 2016, Berlin Auxiliary Bishop Wolfgang Weider inaugurated a new organ , which was built in 1972 by the Stockmann Brothers organ building workshop in Werl for the Heilig Kreuz church in Gelsenkirchen-Ückendorf (19 stops , two manuals and pedal ). This church was closed in 2007 and the organ with 19 sounding stops was shut down. In September 2016, the church council sold the instrument to Berlin. It was dismantled and moved to the Marienkirche by the company Sander & Mähnert from Eberswalde .
From community life
The curator Bernhard Lichtenberg played an important role in the life of the Catholic community in Karlshorst . He lived briefly in the rectory before he was appointed to other church offices. A memorial plaque made in the Achim Kühn's blacksmith's workshop, which was ceremoniously unveiled and blessed on November 2, 1996, reminds of his work .
The parishes from Karlshorst and Friedrichsfelde were merged again in 2003 by order of the Archdiocese of Berlin "to simplify administration and to reduce financial problems" to form a parish under the name of the Good Shepherd , the two churches will continue to operate and separate community rooms.
The community's extensive social commitment is a welcome help for children, young people, poor and lonely old people, especially for numerous Polish Catholics who have been unskilled workers in Berlin since the 1960s. A wind ensemble has been delighting with its performances since 1969.
See also
- Church of the Good Shepherd
literature
- 100 years of Catholic parishes in Friedrichsfelde and Karlshorst. 1906-2006 . Ed. Katholische Kirchengemeinde Zum Guten Hirten, Berlin 2006; Festschrift.
- The architectural and art monuments in the GDR, capital Berlin II . Institute for Monument Preservation at Henschelverlag, 1987.
- Jan Feustel : Walks in Lichtenberg . Verlag Haude and Spener, 1996, ISBN 3-7759-0409-3 .
Web links
- History summary homepage of the community
- Entry in the Berlin State Monument List
Individual evidence
- ^ Time travel Karlshorst . District Office Lichtenberg, accessed November 28, 2009
- ^ Homepage of the Karlshorst Citizens' Association , accessed on November 28, 2009.
- ↑ Stockmann organ in St. Marien on www.youtube.com; accessed on December 25, 2019.
- ^ Catholic Church of St. Mary . In: Wochenblatt für Lichtenberg, June 14, 2006
Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 4 ″ N , 13 ° 31 ′ 27 ″ E