St. Nicolai (Helgoland)
The Evangelical Lutheran St. Nicolai Church is one of the two churches on the North Sea island of Heligoland , along with the Roman Catholic St. Michaels Church . The church takes its name from St. Nicholas of Myra , the patron saint of seafarers and merchants.
The church is located in a residential area in the Oberland and has the address Schulweg 648. The parish belongs to the parish of Dithmarschen in the Schleswig and Holstein district of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany .
history
Previous buildings
A first description of a church on Heligoland was made at the beginning of the 17th century by Neocorus : "de Norder Sidt (the church) lift de Hillige Lander, de Suder Hellfte de Bremer buwen laten". It is possible that this church had two parallel gable roofs. This church is said to have been located on the eastern corner of the Oberland and was replaced in 1609 by a new one further inland due to the risk of falling. As early as 1685 this was canceled due to insufficient size. The new church, consecrated to St. Nicolaus , was built between 1685 and 1687. The first turretless church was a single-nave brick building with polygonal 5 / 15- choir circuit .
From 1704 to 1706 a west tower with a square floor plan and high, curved dome was built from brick . This tower was demolished in 1878 because it was in disrepair and replaced by a new one in 1885. The interior of the church was covered with a flat wooden barrel painted with ornaments, into which light shafts cut. At the base of the barrel, tie beams painted white ran across the church. The stalls were divided into three blocks and there was a gallery all around . Most of the furnishings were destroyed in a heavy bombing attack on April 18, 1945, including the mahogany pulpit altar from 1821. The bronze baptismal font from the first half of the 14th century survived the attack, but fell victim to scrap collectors in the post-war period . A gilded communion chalice with a medieval base and ornaments, made in Friedrichstadt in 1705, has been preserved.
New building
After Heligoland was resettled in 1952, today's church was built on the same site. It was inaugurated on November 29, 1959; the architects were Peter Huebotter , Rolf Romero and Bert Ledeboer from Hanover, who had jointly won the nationwide architectural competition for the new church in 1956. The outdoor facilities with the cemetery were designed by Wilhelm Hübotter . The church was renewed in 1969 due to structural damage. The equipment comes in part from the previous church. The wind direction indicator on the bronze steeple represents a sloop . The church has the status of a cultural monument of special importance .
The baptismal font and the bronze portal were made by the sculptor Fritz Fleer . The large church organ is from 1970, the smaller Paschen organ in the chancel is from 1972. A steel bell (strike note c 1 ) was donated in 1952, and in 1959 five bronze bells (strike note sequence g 1 –a 1 –c 2 –d 2 –e 2 ) added. Two altar candlesticks, a chandelier and a baptismal font from 1783 survived the bombing of the previous church and are now part of the interior of the church.
Renovation work was due in 2017. The concrete of the Dall glass windows showed strong signs of weathering, because the iron reinforcements that were introduced corroded in the salty air. This was followed by work on the south facade.
With 711 parishioners (early 2014), the parish of St. Nicolai belongs to around half of the population.
Organs
Main organ
The main organ of the church was built in 1970 by Alfred Führer . It has 24 registers , which are divided between two manuals and a pedal . The instrument has fully mechanical slide chests. The disposition is as follows:
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- Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
- Playing aids : 2 free combinations, tutti, hand register off
Choir organ
The smaller choir organ was built in 1972 by Hinrich Otto Paschen . It has eight registers on a manual and pedal and, like the main organ, is fully mechanically built on slider chests. The disposition is as follows:
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- Pairing : I / P
Web links
Internet presence of the Evangelical Lutheran parish of Helgoland
Individual evidence
- ↑ Evangelical Lutheran. Parish Helgoland - St. Nicolai , www.kirche-helgoland.de, Parish ( Memento from January 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Address of the church ( Memento of January 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Wolfgang Teuchert , Arnold Lühning: The art monuments of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Pinneberg district. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 1961, p. 195 ff
- ↑ Alfred Simon, Georg Wellhausen : Reconstruction of the island of Helgoland . In: Bund Deutscher Architekten BDA (ed.): Der architekt . Issues 2 and 3. Vulkan-Verlag Dr. W. Classen, Essen 1961, p. 25-27 .
- ↑ Wilhelm Hübotter: Everything is different on Heligoland . In: German Society for Garden Art and Land Care eV (Hrsg.): Garden and landscape . September 1963, no. 9 . Georg DW Callwey, Munich 1963, p. 275-280 .
- ↑ Partial description of the church tower ( Memento from August 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ List of cultural monuments in the Pinneberg district ( Memento from December 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Description of the church ( Memento of October 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Text about Nicolaikirche
- ↑ Christiane Rossner: Like a phoenix from the ashes. In restauro: The Nicolaikirche on Heligoland . In: German Foundation for Monument Protection (Hrsg.): Monuments. Magazine for monument culture in Germany . No. 6 . Monuments publications, 2017, ISSN 0941-7125 , p. 30, 31 .
- ↑ Information on the main organ
- ↑ Information on the choir organ
Coordinates: 54 ° 10 '58.9 " N , 7 ° 53' 5.1" E