St. Nicolai (Lemgo)
St. Nicolai is the older of the two Evangelical Lutheran parish churches in the Lippe town of Lemgo in North Rhine-Westphalia . It is located not far from the market square on the east side of the town hall and south of Mittelstrasse, which crosses the old town of Lemgo from west to east. In the north and south the church is surrounded by tree-lined green spaces.
Construction and building history
A few years after the city was founded (around 1190), construction began on the first church, which was initially a cruciform basilica in the Romanesque style . As was customary in a Hanseatic city , it was subordinated to the patronage of Nikolaus von Myra , who is considered the patron saint of seafarers and long-distance traders. The Romanesque church was finished after around 50 years of construction. It was much smaller than today's church: how low and narrow its aisles were can still be seen in the tower area, and its length extended to the step that is still preserved today behind the altar. Around 1300 it was decided to demolish the narrow aisles and build new aisles almost as high and as wide as the central nave. This created a hall church , in the Gothic style ; only in the area of the towers was the Romanesque part preserved. From the late Romanesque predecessor building, there is also a very beautiful transept portal, which shows that the Romanesque round arch merges into the Gothic pointed arch. The style elements of the Gothic building such as B. the domical vault come from the Anjou , a duchy with the center Angers on the Loire . Obviously Bernhard II. Zur Lippe , the founder of the city of Lemgo, had brought a construction works from there; it is believed that he stayed there for some time. In 1375 the church took on its present form. The choir room was supposed to get bigger, but this project was not carried out because an epidemic of the plague put an end to construction activity.
The double tower front, which is unusual for a city church, shows that the Lords of Lippe wanted to document their claim to power with this church. However, only the southern tower, where the bells hang, is owned by the church. The spire was blown away by a tornado in 1660 and destroyed parts of the roof at that time. It was decided three years later to give the tower a twisted helmet that is less sensitive to wind. The tower helmet was made by Salomon Möller from Hildesheim and covered with 17 tons of lead. Such twisted spire helmets are particularly common in France, where they are called clocher tors . The north tower is owned by the city; it contains the guard's room with fireplace, living room and lookout, which was inhabited until 1854. The carillon sounds every two hours during the day.
Furnishing
Equipment from the pre-Reformation period
The oldest piece of equipment is an altarpiece from around 1280, which is walled into the north wall. It shows in three pictures the Annunciation to Mary, the birth of Christ and the resurrection of Christ with the guardians of the grave. It is noteworthy that Joseph in the Jewish hat - it was decided in the 4th Lateran Council in 1215 that Jews must be identified by different clothing - hides under the bed; for, according to the Christian view, he is not considered the physical father of Jesus Christ. The tympanum in the west high wall of the south aisle comes from around the same time : It shows Christ elevated between Mary and John. The angels on the ledge of the north wall and the Christophorus figure on the column opposite the north portal date from after 1300 . Anyone who looked at this figure and crossed himself was considered blessed for that day. The frescoes on the east and south walls were created around 1370. On the east wall are James the Elder and John on the left, Paul and Peter on the right; the crosses in the circles below are the consecration crosses. On the south wall, James and Johannes, Bartholomäus and Thomas stand individually in tall, narrow housings under towers; They hold banners with the Latin text of the Creed in their hands.
The large crucifix above the altar was made between 1470 and 1480; It hangs there where, until 1853, the rood screen separated the choir, which until the Reformation only priests were allowed to enter, from the church for the community. On the north wall there is an important work of stonemasonry, the sacrament house from 1477. The iconoclasts of the Reformation era cut off the figures from this precious structure in 1531; only the pelican at the head, the symbol of Christ's self-sacrificing love, remained.
Equipment after the Reformation
In 1533 the magistrate of the city of Lemgo introduced the Braunschweig church order by Johannes Bugenhagen : Lemgo became Lutheran and remained so when Count Simon VI. was reformed in 1604 (Calvinist), appointed exclusively Calvinist pastors and in the rest of the county filled all pastoral positions with Calvinist pastors. This unruly attitude of the Lemgoers angered the count; Because of this, his son moved the seat of government from Lemgo to Detmold. The principle laid down in the Augsburg Religious Peace that the sovereign could determine the denomination of the country ( cuius regio, eius religio ) initially only applied to Catholics and Lutherans; It was not until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 that the Reformed (Calvinist) denomination also included.
pulpit
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The pulpit, which was built shortly after 1600, is particularly richly decorated; this shows that the sermon has a special meaning in Lutheran worship. In addition to pictures, there are also writings in German on the pulpit. The two intertwined Greek letters X (Chi) and P (Rho) on the door are the first letters of the Greek word ΧPHΣTOΣ (Christ). The pulpit lid, which is also richly decorated, with the dove, which symbolically represents the Holy Spirit, dates from around 1630. The five cardinal virtues are in the figure niches . On the banister of the stairs it says: "The gospel of Christ is a power of God that makes all who believe in it happy." On the pulpit itself is a text from the letter to the Romans in Low German: DE GELOVE KVMBT // FROM THE Sermon // DAT Sermon BUT // DORCH IS THE WORD OF GOD.
baptism
The baptismal font in the east of the south aisle was created in 1597 by the Lemgo sculptor Georg Crosman. He carried out an order from the “Templars” (i.e. pastors) Johan Cothman and Hans Seiler “for God's honor and the ornament of the church”, as it says on the inside of the door frame. The baptismal font with rich decoration bears a Latin inscription (Mark 16:16); translated it reads: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; but whoever does not believe will be condemned. ”On the movable cover, which is hung on a chain, is shown how Christ is baptized by John the Baptist. The four evangelists stand in the corners of the canopy . The parapet with fittings, lion heads, diamond blocks and fruit hangings is a typical work of the Weser Renaissance . The gable tops contain sayings from the New Testament that refer to baptism. The door is decorated with columns on the side and has two high relief figures at the top: Christ stands on the left as ruler of the world and on the right John the Baptist with the Lamb of God. At the top of the portal you can see Peter and Paul, in between on the top Christ with two children and the reference to Mark 10:14: "Let the little children come to me and do not prevent them, for such is the kingdom of heaven."
In 1863 the baptismal font was moved in front of the Kerssenbrock epitaph in the southeast choir and lost one side of the border. The large picture with the figure of John the Baptist, painted in 1598, which formerly belonged to the baptismal complex, now hangs in the north-west of the church.
High altar
The emergence of the early Baroque high altar in the chancel of the church is connected with a prehistory: During the Thirty Years War, a group of Swedish soldiers managed to penetrate the city on September 12, 1636, after which a large occupation command moved in and thoroughly plundered the city for two days . After the Swedes withdrew, the crew of the tower where the Swedes had invaded should be held responsible. However, the carver Hermann Voss managed to escape to Hameln before his arrest. There and in the surrounding area he worked as a picture carver (at that time they said: Schattilier) and earned so much money that he could pay the city of Lemgo's fine for his misconduct. On September 24, 1641, Voss sent a request to the city council to allow him and his wife to be admitted to the “Brothers' Monastery in front of St. Johannispforten”, because his father's house in Lemgo was so badly damaged by the war that it was more serious Would have needed funds to repair it. In this letter Voss offered to cede his father's house to the city and "to venerate a beautiful altar 32 feet high and 12 feet wide ... in the local old city churches". The city council accepted this offer and so in 1643 the high altar with the auricle and cartilage shapes was built. Berent Woltemate painted the pictures: The upper picture shows the Ascension of Christ and the lower one shows the Last Supper with the disciples. This representation is particularly important in the Protestant understanding, since the distribution of the Lord's Supper "under both forms", that is with bread and wine, was one of the central demands and achievements of the Reformation.
Epitaphs
Franz von Kerssenbrock
Behind the baptismal font is the epitaph for the knight Franz von Kerssenbrock († 1576). The work of the Lemgo architect and sculptor Hermann Wulff from 1578 shows the deceased in full armor in front of the crucifix, framed by a pillar housing with a coat of arms. The half-length figure of God the Father giving blessings appears in the attached part, surrounded by Fides, Spes and Caritas (faith, hope and love).
Translation of the Latin inscription:
- Here I rest, Franz, after my death, a knight born from the blood of the famous Kerssenbrock family. I am noble because I come from a noble and old family, but I am called nobler because of my sincere piety. With a pure spirit I worshiped God, promoted the common good, the rest of my life was devoted to striving for my own. And yet because of this I am not aware of my good works and enjoy them, so that I deserve poor man to be a guilty sinner to a lesser extent. To have nothing on your conscience, not to have to fear any guilt, that is only Christ's glory, not that of men. Just the belief that the cross of Jesus alone protects people. As long as the panting soul looks at this, it has nothing to fear. Under his guidance, I have now overcome the persistent torments of death and live in heaven with my better part. But you too go the ways of your father, you children of my flesh. Your first concern be God, the second your mother, the third - more important than private affairs - the community, this should be the goal of your knightly class. And I know that my Savior Jesus himself lives, and when I rise again I will be surrounded with this flesh of mine.
Moritz Piderit
Moritz Piderit was born in Lemgo in 1497 as the son of Hermann Piderit and Geyse Kulrave. On April 30, 1516 he enrolled at the University of Cologne, where he acquired the title of Baccalaureus the following summer. He was then appointed rector of St. Nikolai in Lemgo, but expelled from there in 1528 because he hesitated to take over Lutheran teaching. He then went to Lieme, later to Brake, and finally turned to Protestantism. In 1532 he returned to Lemgo and since then has been active as a Protestant pastor at St. Nikolai. In 1542 he took over the office of church visitator. In protest against the Augsburg interim , Piderit temporarily resigned from office until 1551 in 1548. In 1556 he took over the office of superintendent. After his death on May 10, 1576, he was buried in the choir of St. Nikolai.
The light sandstone epitaph of Moritz Piderit hangs on the east wall in the south choir. The Latin text is translated:
- In the year 1576 on May 10th, the venerable Mr. Moritz Piderit, faithful pastor of this church, his age 79 years, 49 years pastor, fell asleep gently in the Lord.
Moritz von Donop
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The Rittmeister Moritz von Donop (1543–1585) fought in 1574 in the battle of the Mooker Heide with the Dutch against the Spaniards. This battle was won by the Spaniards, who had only 150 dead, while more than 3000 soldiers were killed on the Dutch side. Moritz von Donop was Drost in the Lippe region and ran his estates in Papenhausen near Lemgo until he died in 1585 as a result of his war injuries. He was buried in St. Nicolai.
The epitaph of the Lemgo artist Georg Crosman from 1587, which is attached to the column between the main nave and the south aisle, is based on a woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder : a tree whose branches are dead on the left and greened on the right, divides the main field into two parts. The left part is assigned to the Old and the right to the New Testament.
In the center on the left is Moses , who was depicted with two bull horns until the 17th century, which can be traced back to a translation error. In the Old Testament (Numbers 21) it is told that the people of Israel were plagued by poisonous snakes when they fled Egypt, and many died from their bites. At God's command, Moses raised a brazen serpent high on a pole and the miracle happened: If someone bit a serpent and he looked at the brazen serpent, he was alive. This scene is contrasted with the crucifixion of Christ on the right . According to the Evangelist John, Jesus referred to this story and interpreted it as a reference to his death on the cross: “As Moses lifted up the brazen serpent in the desert, so the Son of man (namely Jesus Christ on the cross) must be lifted up so that all who believe in him will not be lost, but have eternal life ”(John 3:14).
Moritz von Donop and his wife Christina pray under the cross. The parrot on the left, bare side of the tree is the symbol of Mary; it indicates that those who pray are Lutheran and no longer turn to Mary in prayer . The parrot actually stands for the untouched, because supposedly its plumage does not get wet in the rain; in addition, its sounds are interpreted as "Ave". Around 1530, a group of Flemish painters began to put a parrot next to pictures of Mary with the baby Jesus, to indicate that Mary was a virgin . And in the religious wars after the Reformation, strangers were not asked whether they were Roman Catholic or Lutheran; one asked rather: “Do you pray to Mary?” Those who answered in the affirmative were considered to be Roman Catholic; if he said no, he was considered Lutheran.
The main field of the Donop epitaph contains a large number of other scenes, with the Old and New Testaments juxtaposed. The Last Judgment is shown above the main field . These fields are supplemented by coats of arms of noble families and many decorative elements of the Weser Renaissance . Below is a poem in Latin in which Moritz von Donop is praised.
Married couple Kerssenbrock
The epitaph for Raban von Kerssenbrock († 1615) and his wife Elisabeth von Donop († 1611) next to the south door was made in 1617 in a Magdeburg workshop. The large middle field is occupied by a figure-rich calvary . On both sides there are family portraits of the Kerssenbrocks. Above is the resurrection of Christ. Of the original three figures, only Caritas and Fides (faith and love) have survived, the Spes (hope) that was once on the right has been lost.
Translation of the Latin inscription: To the testimony of filial love, to the happy and guilty memory of the noble and particularly capable man Raban von Kerssenbrock, hereditary resident in Barntrup, Wierborn and landowner in Helbra, who was 45 years old on October 19 in the year of Christ 1615 died prematurely, but nevertheless piously and gently, not without the sadness of many. Likewise, the most noble and honorable Lady Elisabeth von Donop, who fell asleep piously in Christ on January 24th in the year of our Savior 1611, her beloved parents, the sons left behind, the biological brothers Franz Christoph and Philipp von Kerssenbrock, set this monument in the Year 1617.
During the renovation of the church (see 8.) the epitaph was removed and a fresco was shown on the wall depicting Christ praying in the garden of Gethsemane . A photo of this fresco hangs on the opposite column.
Johann Cothmann
→ Main article: Epitaph for Johann Cothmann
The epitaph of Mayor Johann Cothmann made of reddish sandstone hangs inside on the north wall west of the north portal. The upper part of the Latin text is translated:
- Epitaph of the famous and very clever man Mr. Johannes Cothmann, Mayor of Lemgo, highly deserved for the Church of God and the whole community, who passed away peacefully on March 16, 1604, with pious prayers and in the embrace of his own people.
Monuments
Catharina von Waldeck
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The coat of arms of Catharina von Waldeck (1612–1649) hangs on the pillar opposite the pulpit. She was the wife of Count Simon Ludwig zur Lippe-Detmold , who died of smallpox in 1636 . Although she was not of legal age at that time (according to the legal situation at the time, one did not come of age until the age of 25), she managed to maintain the guardianship of her children and to take power as regent of the state of Lippe-Detmold. Catharina immediately appointed a Lutheran government and celebrated Lutheran services in Detmold Castle . The plans to reintroduce the Lutheran denomination in the rest of Lippe (only the city of Lemgo remained Lutheran) could not be implemented during the war (the Thirty Years War lasted until 1648).
In 1643 Catharina married the city commander of Lemgo, Duke Philipp Ludwig of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Wiesenburg (1620–1689). Lemgo had a committed advocate in the Lutheran Catharina who tried to alleviate the burdens of the Thirty Years' War. Catharina died in childbed in Cologne in 1649. Since she was refused burial in the Blomberg family crypt, she found her final resting place in St. Nicolai in 1652.
Andreas Koch
A memorial stone that Dorsten Diekmann from Lemgo created in 1999 hangs on the pillar in the northwest . It is reminiscent of Andreas Koch , who was pastor at St. Nicolai from 1647 to 1665.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, 254 women and men were accused of witchcraft, tried, tortured and murdered in Lemgo. Andreas Koch stood up for those affected by the witch hunt in Lemgo , was charged, tortured and convicted himself, but not burned alive as usual, but pardoned to death by the sword.
The stone contains as an inscription a sentence that Andreas Koch formulated at the time of his torture: “God will finally raise my head and honor me again” (after Psalm 3: 4). Inscription: During the time of the witch trials he raised his voice against the blindness of the rulers and urged them to be moderate and careful. The search for truth and justice, the warning of false charges, and the rescue of the innocent, which for him were among the most distinguished duties of a preacher, earned him persecution. Suspected of being a "member of the devil", he was removed from his pastoral office, charged with witchcraft and executed on June 2, 1666, the Saturday before Pentecost, at the age of 47.
Engelbert Kaempfer
Under the organ hangs a memorial stone for Engelbert Kaempfer , who was born in 1651 in what is now the parish hall next to the church; he was the nephew of Andreas Koch. Carolin Engels from Lemgo designed this memorial stone in 2009. It bears the inscription:
- We humans all see a sun, we all step on the earth, we all breathe air, no limits of nature, no laws of the Creator separate us from one another / Engelbert Kaempfer / Scholar and explorer through Sweden, Russia, Persia, India, Ceylon, Java and South Africa / Author of an important work on Japan at the time / Doctor of Medicine in Leiden and personal physician to the Count of Lippe / Born on September 16, 1651 in Lemgo. Died on November 2, 1716 in Lieme. Buried on November 15, 1716 in St. Nicolai under the organ in the north choir.
Cross of nails
On the pillar in front of the organ hangs a replica of the cross of nails that Helmut Begemann (1928–2013), who was pastor at St. Nicolai from 1988 to 1993, brought back from Coventry in 1989. St. Nicolai in Lemgo has been a cross-nails center since 1989 and belongs to the Cross-Nails Association Germany e. V. at. The atonement prayer is printed under the cross of nails:
"All have sinned and lack the glory that they should have with God" (Romans 3:23). Therefore we pray: The hatred that separates race from race, people from people, class from class: FATHER, FORGIVE! The greedy striving of people and peoples to own what is not theirs: FATHER, FORGIVE! The greed that takes advantage of human labor and ravages the earth. FATHER FORGIVE! Our envy of the well-being and happiness of others: FATHER, FORGIVE! Our lack of participation in the plight of the homeless and refugees: FATHER, FORGIVE! The addiction to the intoxication that destroys life and limb: FATHER, FORGIVE! The arrogance that leads us to trust in ourselves and not in God: FATHER, FORGIVE! “Be kind and warm to one another and forgive one another, just as God forgave you in Christ” (Ephesians 4:32). AMEN.
Below is the following text:
After the destruction of Coventry Cathedral (England) in November 1940 by the German Air Force, the provost at the time Richard Howard appealed not to give room to hatred, but to advocate forgiveness and reconciliation. In doing so, he created the basis for a worldwide movement of reconciliation, which also included German communities after the war. The symbol of the reconciliation movement is the cross of nails, formed from the nails of the destroyed church.
Stele of Hope
On the north side in the outer area, the "Stele of Hope" suggested by Andreas Lange (theologian) by Dorsten Diekmann has been a reminder that the St. Nicolai church square was the cemetery of the old town of Lemgo from the 13th century to 1820. In its base it says:
“I know that my Redeemer lives” (Job 19:25).
Inscriptions
In the vault of the central nave there are four inscriptions in Low German.
East:
DE DAR SALICH MAKET ALL DE DAR AN GELOVEN
South:
DIN WORD OPENBAR WERT, SO FROVIHET IDT
VND MAKET WISS DE EINTFOLDIGEN
West:
WARLIKEN WARLIKEN SEGGE ICK JVW SO JEMANT
MIN WORD WERT HOLDEN DE WERT DEN DODT
NOT SEEN EWICHLICK
North:
SALICH SINT DE DAT WORDT GODES
HOREN VND BEWAR
window
The oldest window is the coat of arms window in the south-east of the church: The coats of arms were put together in 1863 from the remains of older windows; they name the names of the founders of earlier windows. In some cases, however, names and coats of arms are combined that do not belong together. The ornaments in the upper part are ingredients from around 1863.
The windows on the north side and in the angel choir above the sacristy and in the choir room were created in the late Art Nouveau style by Franz Lauterbach (1865–1933) from Hanover between 1922 and 1924. Many of these windows are foundations of Lemgo families. Two windows remind of Pastor Holzapfel, who worked in St. Nicolai from 1809 to 1853 during the period of rationalism. The window in the east of the south aisle, which shows the risen Christ in the ray mandorla, was also made by Franz Lauterbach. The three central choir windows depict scenes from the Revelation of John. The window in the northwest shows Jesus with Mary and Martha, while the Emmaus story is depicted in the window between the sacrament house and the organ. The windows of the angel choir, which are mostly covered by the organ, are mainly ornamental.
The window in the middle of the south side, which was designed in 1965 by Erhardt Klonk (1898–1984) from Marburg, is very modern and brightly colored . In the middle the Last Supper is shown and the other pictures show scenes on the subject of sacrifice. In 1964, this Bible window replaced a window with depictions of Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon, which the congregation had installed on November 10, 1883 for Luther's 400th birthday.
The arrangement of the window group on the west side dates from the time the church was built. The lower six windows stand for the six days of creation and thus for the created world. The three upper windows symbolize the Trinity and thus the spiritual and divine world that stands above the created world (literature: Rohr / Ebert, Das Enneagramm, page 27). The glazing was designed by Paul Weigmann (1923–2009) from Leverkusen in 1992: the disorder of the created world is represented by partially twisted squares, while order prevails in the divine world, as the straight squares show. With a first look at this group of windows, one could think that the two levels, i.e. the kingdom of God and the created earth, are unrelated to each other. But if you also take the size of the windows into account, it is initially clear that the middle window in the top row is larger than the other two, but this is due to the shape of the overall arrangement. Only when you take a closer look you can see that the two middle windows in the lower row are slightly higher and wider than the other windows in the lower row. These three windows differing in shape represent an independent group for which the symbol number 3 also applies. It could be assigned to the trinity through which the kingdom of God is connected to the created earth.
organ
In 1958 the planning for the new organ began .
In 1941 the church received a new organ that was placed on the west side of the north aisle. Because of the shortage of raw materials during World War II, inferior materials were used, which impaired the sound. The substructure had become unstable and worms had destroyed pipes and wooden parts. Therefore, in 1958, planning for a new instrument began. After much back and forth, the decision was made in favor of a design by the architect Peter Groote, which envisaged installation in the angel choir. The Gustav Steinmann company in Vlotho received the construction contract for the new organ with 40 stops on three manuals and pedal . In 1968 the organ was inaugurated with a gala concert.
In 2009, the instrument as part of the church renovation of which was Fa. Schuke (Berlin) revised. The “Tonus fabri” in the main work was reversibly exchanged for a “Viola di gamba 8 '” and the organ was expanded to include a Zimbelstern . In addition, a new electronic setting system was built. The Spieltrakturen are mechanically, the Registertrakturen electrically.
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- Coupling : I / II, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
- Playing aids : electronic typesetting system
- annotation
- (n) = added later (2009)
Bells
Chime bells
In the south tower (church tower) hang three medieval bells . Because of their beautiful sound, the two larger bells, with the bell in the Blunt Tower of St. Johann, are among the most valuable monuments of their kind in Westphalia and among the most beautiful pairs of bells of the 13th century.
They are completely unadorned and without any inscriptions and were probably cast in connection with the construction of the two west towers, as they were too large to be transported through the sound openings, which also saved them from being destroyed in the two world wars of the 20th century. The massive wooden bell cage bears the dates 1681 and 1758. Before the electric bell drive was installed, the bells were set in motion with the help of step boards, one of which is on the yoke of the prayer bell . The two bells are the remnants of what is probably a four-part ring. A third bell from the 14th century hung in the north tower until 1860 and was destroyed in the First World War. It was supposedly the work of the master Grawick, who was to be found in Lippe. The fourth bell is still there. The small bell was once there with the construction of the tower helm - retrofitting would have been impossible due to its relative size - and since the installation of the tower clock, which was first mentioned in 1577 after a repair, it has acted as an hour- long bell. The fact that the bell must be much older was shown by its wear on the inner brass knuckles; it served as a bell in front of the tower clock.
After its restoration, it was in the South Tower - one floor below the bells chair of prayer bell and fire bell - hanged, to supplement the existing bells torso. In the course of the renovation, the two large bells received new clappers. A new ringing order was also designed. On the 3rd Sunday in Advent 2008 at 9:35 a.m., all three bells rang out together for the first time. To replace the bell that was transferred, the Rudolf Perner bell foundry in Passau cast a new clock bell. It hangs rigidly in the beams of the north tower lantern and shows the full hours. Her inscription reads: “Time is running out - I will strike the hour for you. Old Hanseatic City of Lemgo - Alt Lemgo Association ” .
Overview of the three bells of the south tower.
|
No. |
Surname |
Casting year |
Caster |
Diameter (mm) |
Mass (kg) |
Percussive ( HT - 1 / 16 ) |
Belfry |
| 1 | Prayer bell | 13th century | unknown | 1,382 | 1,715 | it 1 +3 | South Tower, above |
| 2 | Fire bell | 13th century | unknown | 1,364 | 1,860 | ges 1 −3 | South Tower, above |
| 3 | former clock bell | 13./14. Century | unknown | 970 | 660 | as 1 +7 | South tower, center |
Carillon
In the north tower ("play tower") hangs a carillon which is owned by the city. The carillon, cast in Sinn by the Rincker bell foundry in the 1930s, was expanded to 17 bells by the same foundry in 1948. The stop was made electromagnetically using punched tape. Every day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. - every two hours - it plays melodies that are adapted to the season. Today 22 bells are installed. If necessary, these could be controlled via a gaming table that was located next to the automatic system in the neighboring ballroom. As the old technology became very dilapidated and some punched tape could no longer be used, the playing technology was upgraded to a new technical standard in 2013. Most of the existing songs were replayed on computer control. Many more new songs now expand the repertoire, which is adapted to the seasons. A small keyboard (MIDI keyboard) replaces the old console and now enables manual operation of the glockenspiel.
renovation
From 2006 to 2011 the church and the church square were renovated for a total of 4.5 million euros. The main problem were the towers, which had leaned away from the nave for a long time and had to be rebuilt: For this purpose, the ground under the towers was dug up piece by piece and concrete pillars were inserted, which were then braced.
In total, several hundred tons of rubble that was lying on the vault were removed and the walls were then stabilized with stainless steel rods. Only two of these bars are visible in the interior, the others are attached above the vault. A lot has also been renovated and improved in the interior, e.g. B. the flooring. The new lights, each of which can be adjusted in terms of brightness, are particularly important.
The top of the north tower was removed and the bell was taken out, which now, after being repaired, completes the ringing in the south tower as the third bell (see 7.).
The entrance area was separated from the rest of the church by glass panels, which is protected from drafts. A guest and intercession book is available in this area. The DKV art guide No. 396, which can be purchased and which contains many high-quality illustrations, has been updated. There is also a short guide that is available in German and numerous other languages.
Outside, the accessible areas were paved and the lawns re-sown. An apple tree has stood between the south tower and Papenstrasse since 2011, which is intended to commemorate the Reformation with a view of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017. It is related to the Luther Garden in Wittenberg; 500 trees have been planted there, one for each year after the Reformation. In 2008, Superintendent Andreas Lange planted a Lippe tree there.
Pastors and cantors at St. Nicolai from the 20th century
Parish office 1
- Albert Hettling (1882–1967): 1910–1949 pastor at St. Nicolai
- Karl Stolz (1908–1990): 1949–1965 pastor at St. Nicolai - then District 3
- Wolf-Dieter Schmelter (born 1937): 1965–1980 pastor at St. Nicolai
- Christof Baum (born 1939): 1980–1998 pastor at St. Nicolai
- Michael Wendtland: 1999–2001 pastor at St. Nicolai
- Maren Krüger (born 1969): 2001–2014 pastor at St. Nicolai
- subsequently no more occupation of the pastor's position
Parish office 2
- Friedrich Gehrmann (1909–1992): 1951–1957 pastor at St. Nicolai
- Helmut Rodewald (1912–2012): 1957–1976 pastor at St. Nicolai
- Hans Wilhelm Rieke (1935–2017): 1976–1987 pastor at St. Nicolai
- Helmut Begemann: 1988–1993 pastor at St. Nicolai
- Rolf-Joachim Krohn-Grimberghe (born 1950): 1993–2015 pastor at St. Nicolai
- Ulf Zastrow (born 1965): 2015–2020 pastor at St. Nicolai
Parish office 3
- Karl Stolz (1908–1990): 1965–1970 pastor at St. Nicolai and Lutheran Church Council of the Lippe Regional Church
- from 1970 to 1992 the parish 3 was vacant
- Andreas Lange (born 1964): Pastor at St. Nicolai since 1992 and Lutheran Superintendent of the Lippe Regional Church since 2005
Pastor at St. Nicolai from the foundation around 1190 to 1910 see Butterweck, pp. 482–497
Cantors and organists at St. Nicolai from 1900
- Heinrich Mertens: 1900-1911
- Friedrich Sauerländer: 1911–1942
- Luise Köster: 1943–1948
- Karl Brenker: 1949–1957
- Paul-Heinz Brede: 1957–1958
- Church music director Jobst Hermann Koch (born 1935): 1958–2003
- Church music director Friedemann Engelbert (born 1969): 2003–2019
- Cantor Frank Schreiber (born 1981): since 2019
literature
- Marianne Bonney: The high altar of St. Nicolai . Lemgo booklet No. 24/83.
- Heiner Borggrefe: Georg and Ernst Crossmann . Heimatland Lippe, magazine of the Lippischen Heimatbund and the Landesverband Lippe, August 2013.
- G. Ulrich Großmann: Eastern Westphalia. Cologne [1983] 2nd edition 1984. (DuMont Art Travel Guide), p. 261, figs. 115–117, 119; Color plates 24, 26.
- Joachim Huppelsberg : Lemgoer churches ( Lippe sights , booklet 4). Lemgo 1977, pp. 4-16.
- Holger Kempkens: The St. Nicolaikirche in Lemgo - its late Romanesque foundation building and its Gothic modifications . Lippische Mitteilungen 80/2011, publishing house for regional history Bielefeld.
- Manuela Kramp: St. Nicolai in Lemgo, construction and history . Dissertation at the Faculty of Architecture at the Bauhaus University Weimar. BuchWerk Haberbeck, location 2013
- Andreas Lange (Ed.): DKV Art Guide , No. 396 . 4th edition 2010. Deutscher Kunstverlag GmbH, Munich.
- Andreas Lange , Lena Krull and Jürgen Scheffler (eds.): "Belief, Law & Freedom. Lutherans and Reformed in Lippe", 2017, Publishing House for Regional History, Bielefeld.
- Andreas Lange : »A fresh, happy community life« Inner mission and association as factors of church change in the Lutheran city of Lemgo between 1844 and 1886, Bielefeld 2018 ( ISBN 978-3-7395-1091-0 )
- Wolfgang Nerreter: Short Guide St. Nicolai , 2013.
- Richard Rohr, Andreas Ebert: "The Enneagram", Claudius Verlag Munich 2004
- Karl Stolz: The Donop epitaph in the Church of St. Nikolai in Lemgo . Lemgo booklet No. 12/80.
- Christina Warneke: "Siste parum - viator". The epitaph for Moritz von Donop in Lemgo in the context of Lutheran confessionalization . Master thesis. GRIN-Verlag, Munich 2008.
- Gisela Wilbertz : ... there was no Savior ... Ed. By Andreas Lange . Lemgo 1999.
- Gisela Wilbertz: Engelbert Kaempfer's grave and his memorial stone in the Lemgoer church St. Nicolai . Lippische Mitteilungen 80/2011, Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, Bielefeld.
Individual evidence
- ↑ More information on the history of the St. Nicolai organ
- ↑ Information on the organ
- ↑ Claus Peter: The German bell landscapes. Westphalia. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1989, p. 40.
- ↑ Compare with the small bell from 1398 in the Stumpfen Turm of St. Johann.
- ↑ Claus Peter: The clock tower of St. Nicolai zu Lemgo and its restoration . In: Westphalian Office for the Preservation of Monuments (ed.): Preservation of monuments in Westphalia-Lippe. Issue 1/04, 2004, pp. 10–15 ( PDF; 1.8 MB ).
- ↑ Lippe-News.de (October 21, 2008)
- ↑ a b Claus Peter: Three bells of the 13th century reunited. For the restoration of the bells of the Nikolaikirche in Lemgo. In: LWL Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Westphalia on behalf of the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe (Ed.): Preservation of monuments in Westphalia-Lippe. Buildings from the 1920s to 1950s. 16th year, issue 2/10, Ardey-Verlag, Münster 2010, p. 75.
- ^ Wilhelm Butterweck: The history of the Lippische Landeskirche . Fritz Dröge, Schötmar, Schötmar 1926, p. 639 .
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 1 ′ 39.7 ″ N , 8 ° 54 ′ 8.3 ″ E