St. Nikolai (Spandau)

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View from Carl-Schurz-Strasse

The St. Nikolai Church in the Berlin district of Spandau is a three-aisled Gothic hall church . It was built in the 14th century on the site of a previous church that was first mentioned in a document around 1240 as “ecclesia forensis” (market church).

The church is located at Reformationsplatz 1 in the old town of Spandau and is today the parish church of the Protestant parish of St. Nikolai Berlin-Spandau. The community belongs to the church district Spandau des Sprengels Berlin of the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia .

history

Interior of the Nikolaikirche

middle Ages

The St. Nikolai Church is one of the most important buildings in Spandau's old town. It was the medieval parish church of "Spandow" and is consecrated to the holy bishop Nikolaus von Myra , the patron saint of seafarers, traveling traders and children. In the Middle Ages, St. Nicholas patronage was often found in places of worship in port cities and shopping districts.

The church patronage over St. Nikolai, the right to fill pastoral positions with a priest , was transferred by the Ascanian Margraves Johann I of Brandenburg and Otto III., The pious, to the Benedictine monastery of Spandau , which they founded in 1239 . The citizens of the city of Spandau refused in 1240 to take over the church patronage over St. Nicolai against payment of compensation, so that the parish church remained dependent on the Benedictine nuns until the Reformation . The pastors were employees of the monastery until it was expropriated and closed.

The first church, possibly made of field stones and wood, had apparently become too small in the course of the 14th century. The present church was built on the site from around 1370 and was completed towards the end of the 14th century. The massive late Gothic west tower was built in 1467/1468.

A side church of St. Nikolai was the Moritzkirche , which was taken care of with pastoral care and organization. In the Middle Ages (mention: 1313 with 19 members) there was a Kalandsbruderschaft , a priestly community on St. Nikolai , to which lay people could later belong. She looked after travelers, had a house on Breite Strasse and had the right of patronage over one of the altars in the Nikolaikirche. In 1501, Elector Joachim I and his brother Albrecht were accepted into the Spandauer Kaland. A second brotherhood , the St. Anne's Brotherhood or Guild of Wages, was mentioned in 1312. She looked after "unfortunate" travelers and owned gardens north of the city and in Stresow, there also a farm.

Postage stamp from the Deutsche Bundespost Berlin (1989) : 450 years of the Reformation in the Electorate of Brandenburg

16th to 19th century

From the St. Nicholas Church in Spandau, the spread Reformation in Brandenburg and Berlin. Elector Joachim II converted there on November 1, 1539 to the Protestant creed . His mother Elisabeth, however, is considered to be the actual reformer of Brandenburg, she had already decided in 1527 for the evangelical cause. She had therefore fled the country in 1528 and would not return until she could live her faith here freely according to Lutheran teachings. When she finally saw all the conditions met in 1545, she chose the Palas of the Spandau Citadel as her place of residence for the last ten years of her life . Since the Benedictine monastery became extinct, there were Catholics and Catholic services in Spandau only in the 18th century.

Cannonball in the north facade

At the time of the Napoleonic conquests in Europe, there was some fighting over the church, which a cannonball built into the outer wall of the house in 1839 is supposed to commemorate. As early as 1567, Elector Joachim II had the church tower, which because of its height offered a view of the citadel, shot at from the citadel during a "pleasure battle" between the Spandau residents and the citizens of Berlin. In 1839, under Karl Friedrich Schinkel, a fundamental restoration of the church took place, which was completed on the occasion of the celebrations on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the introduction of the Reformation, at which King Friedrich Wilhelm III. and his family attended.

time of the nationalsocialism

During the time of National Socialism , the Nikolaigemeinde was the scene of bitter differences between the opposition Confessing Church (BK) and the German Christians (DC) loyal to the regime . The pastor of St. Nikolai and Spandau Superintendent Martin Albertz was a key figure in the Confessing Church and a staunch opponent of the regime and its ideology. The pastor Kurt Draeger and Georg Blenn were the Confessing Church near the other two pastor of St. Nicholas Church, Berg and Peter Schletz, and the 3 / 4 -Mehrheit the Parish Church Council were on the opposite side. The dispute revolved around sermon plans, room allocation, and pastors' responsibilities for different parts of the community. The BK pastors were reported and interrogated several times, they had to accept disciplinary measures from both the church leadership and the state authorities, such as occasional dismissal or imprisonment.

The Protestants in Spandau fought over Pastor Albertz for ten years. From 1934 to 1936 and from 1938 to 1945 he was banned from preaching in the Nikolaikirche, so that he and the confessional congregation had to resort to "emergency quarters", and he was continuously relieved of his office as superintendent. DC pastors, “Frauenhilfe” and the parish council called for Albertz to be transferred instead of a mere leave of absence; conversely, the Confessing Christians repeatedly called for his reinstatement with signature lists and petitions. When he was temporarily allowed to serve as pastor again in the spring of 1936 (neither as superintendent nor as managing pastor), 650 to 700 parishioners came to his first service on April 5, 1936.

Construction and equipment

South aisle

The building

The Gothic hall church consists of a four-bay nave with a single - bay choir to the east, which ends in a trapezoidal shape . The central nave is flanked by two narrow, almost equally high aisles, the choir is surrounded by a polygonal ambulatory . At the apex of the ambulatory is a sacrament niche from the pre-Reformation period , in which the holy of holies was kept; it is closed with a Gothic wooden door from the 15th century. Twelve pillars - symbolic of the twelve apostles - carry the ribbed vault , which is differentiated above the choir to form the ribbed vault. The interior has a length of 51.50 meters and a width of 18.50 meters. The central nave is 8.50 meters wide and 13.10 meters high, the side aisles are 12.90 meters high. The profiled parts of the pillars and the cross ribs are made of red bricks in the " monastery format ", the walls and vaults are plastered in white. The windows are divided into three parts by a framework and have diamond-shaped lead glazing.

Side chapels are built on the fourth yoke, which have decorative gables to close off the transverse gable roofs; the south chapel is now used as a sacristy , while the one to the north served the Glienicke line of the von Ribbeck family as a burial place from 1647 to 1774 and is known as the “Ribbeck Chapel”. The 75.5 meter high monumental tower in front to the west, in which the main portal of the church is now also located, has a floor plan of 13.98 × 10.85 meters, the wall thickness on the ground floor is 2.99 meters. An octagonal stair tower is attached to the southwest corner of the nave . The roof has a ridge height of 31.30 meters with an eaves height of 13.30 meters, is covered with beaver tails and uniformly spans the main and side aisles. It has a hexagonal baroque roof turret above the Vorchorjoch and a golden roof cross from 1993 at the eastern end of the ridge.

The church tower, which was given a new baroque top in 1744, four years after the devastating city fire, burned down on October 6, 1944 after being hit by a bomb and was then given a pyramid-shaped emergency roof . During the renovation of the church in 1989, the tower was given its reconstructed baroque dome with Schinkel decorations according to plans from 1839. As a result of the bombing, the organ and organ stage as well as half of the church pews burned, the roof structure was saved. Construction work began in autumn 1946, and on March 27, 1949 the first service after the destruction of the war took place.

The last comprehensive interior and exterior restoration was carried out step by step between 1979 and 1996.

Principals

The following principles in the St. Nikolai Church are worth mentioning:

  • The altar has an eight meter high retable , a back wall in the Renaissance style . It was donated on July 17, 1582 by Count Rochus zu Lynar and his wife Anne and is sculpted from limestone and decorated with stucco. In the middle axis, the Lord's Supper is depicted below in relief and color , above the Last Judgment and at the top in a crowned mandorla Christ on the cross over a globe and the Ark of the Covenant . The lower field with the Last Supper scene has two fixed side wings that are reminiscent of a Gothic winged altar and on which the donor family is shown in a kneeling position. The fields of the retable are structured by allegorical female figures, angels and partially gilded pilasters . The master of the retable is unknown, the painting is by Hieronymus Rosenbaum.
  • The bronze baptismal font - today placed on the left side of the choir between the first pair of northern pillars - is the oldest preserved piece in the church. The date “in the year of the Lord 1398 on the feast of the birth of the glorious Virgin Mary” (September 8th) in Gothic minuscules around the edge of the pool is understood as an indication of the time when the nave was completed. The baptismal font rests on four male figures, the four evangelists , and was given a bronze lid in 1839.
  • The wooden pulpit on the first southern pillar is from the Baroque era. It was created by an unknown master in the last third of the 17th century. The pulpit initially belonged to the chapel of the Potsdam City Palace until it was donated by King Friedrich Wilhelm I to the reformed Johanneskirche in Spandau in 1714 , in which it was then erected in 1751. The Johannes congregation was absorbed into the Nikolai congregation in 1897, and the pulpit was moved to its current location with a new staircase after the Johanneskirche was demolished in 1902/1903 in 1904. Three bear paws form the base of the pulpit; he carries the pulpit and above it the pulpit cover supported by two acanthus-entwined stands. The basket and lid are richly decorated with acanthus leaves set in bronzing green. Three blackened, crouching eagles with golden claws and beaks protrude from the railing of the basket.

Sacred art

The crucifixion group
  • A crucifixion group is now in a niche on the north wall, above the entrance to the Ribbeck Chapel. The larger than life crucifix , carved from linden wood, was created at the end of the 15th century, the statues of Mary (right) and John (left) made of ash wood at the beginning of the 16th century. They were later combined into a group of three. Compared to other representations, the figures in St. Nikolai are reversed. Their place of assembly changed in the church. In the first half of the 20th century it was located on a girder that spanned the central nave at the height of the choir entrance. Because the group had been relocated from March 1944, it remained unharmed by the effects of the war and was temporarily hung up in its previous location in 1949. In 1959 it was decided to place the crucifixion group in its current location. In the same year the pine cross was renewed with a height of four meters and a width of 2.70 meters.
  • On a pillar in the choir on the left, above the baptismal font, a sculpture of the church patron St. Nicholas was unveiled in 2006. It was made by the artist Bernd Gisevius and uses modern design language to depict the saint on the one hand - in the larger lower part - as a dynamic rescuer from distress at sea, on the other hand as a bishop with miter and staff , reciting from the Bible.
  • In the Ribbeck Chapel there is a replica of the “Spandau Madonna”, the original of which was handed over to the Märkisches Museum in 1876 . The Gothic sculpture of the Virgin Mary from 1290 was used for the veneration of the Virgin Mary and may come from the Spandau Benedictine monastery, which had a St. Mary's Church.
  • The church contains numerous epitaphs and paintings from different periods.

organ

The organ prospectus

The organ history of St. Nikolai goes back to the 15th century. In 1734 the organ builder Joachim Wagner , a journeyman of Gottfried Silbermann , built a two-manual work, which Friedrich Ladegast added a third manual in 1880. The organ burned during the Allied air raid on Spandau on October 6, 1944.

In 1956, the Lübeck organ building company Kemper built a new organ with 44 registers. After its completion it was the most important “post-war organ” in Berlin. In 1970 Kemper rebuilt the organ and redesigned the prospectus. In the Gothic church, however, the modern, asymmetrically designed instrument looked like a foreign body. In addition, aural and technical weaknesses increasingly appeared. The community therefore decided to build a new organ. The Kemper organ was given away in 1995 to the Peitz parish church , where it was re-inaugurated in 1996, and its deficits have been gradually remedied since then.

Today's organ was built by the Hermann Eule Orgelbau Bautzen company and inaugurated on October 6, 1996. During the construction of the organ, the aim was to make the organ history of St. Nikolai "tangible" in the modern, contemporary instrument. The conception and the disposition of the main and upper works was largely determined by Joachim Wagner's instrument. The swell is based on organs from the late 18th century. The instrument has 3638 pipes - including 268 wooden pipes - in 51 registers on three manuals and pedal . The playing actions are mechanical. The stop actions are mechanical and electrical. The nine-part, strongly structured and richly ornamented case also takes up a concept by Joachim Wagner.

Disposition:

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
01. Principal 08th'
02. Drone 16 ′
03. Viola di gamba 08th'
04th Hollow flute 08th'
05. Reed flute 08th'
06th Transverse flute 04 ′
07th Pointed flute 04 ′
08th. Octave 04 ′
09. Fifth 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
10. Octave 02 ′
11. Cornett V (from g °) 08th'
12. Mixture V 01 1 ⁄ 3  ′
13. Cimbel III 01'
14th bassoon 16 ′
15th Trumpet 08th'
Tremulant
II upper structure C – g 3
16. Principal 4 ′
17th Transverse flute 8th'
18th Dumped 8th'
19th Quintadena 8th'
20th Reed flute 4 ′
21st Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
22nd octave 2 ′
23. Forest flute 2 ′
24. third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
25th Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
26th Scharff IV 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
27. Vox humana   8th'
Tremulant
III Hinterwerk C – g 3
28. Lovely Gedackt 16 ′
29 Principal 08th'
30th Unda maris 08th'
31. Salicional 08th'
32. Lovely Gedackt 08th'
33. Fugara 08th'
34. Octave 04 ′
35. Nasat 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
36. Flageolet 02 ′
37. Echocornett V (from g °) 08th'
38. Mixture IV 02 ′
39. Trumpet 08th'
40. oboe 08th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
41. Principal 16 ′
42. Sub bass 16 ′
43. Violon 16 ′
44. Octavbass 08th'
45. Gemshorn 08th'
46. Fifth 05 1 ⁄ 3  ′
47. Octave 04 ′
48. Mixture VI 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
49. trombone 16 ′
50. Trumpet 08th'
51. Clairon 04 ′

Bells

The existing church bells also fell victim to the city fire on June 25, 1740 . The community bought new bells in the 18th century. One was melted down during World War I. When the bomb hit in October 1944, a bell was destroyed. The larger one that has survived, cast by Johannes Jacobi in Berlin in 1704 , has been hanging in the roof turret since 1988 and serves as a "signing bell" that is rung when the Lord's Prayer is prayed.

In 1965 the church received two new bells, in 1990 a third one, which was cast on September 14, 1990 and rung for the first time on October 3, 1990, the day of German unity. The three bells were cast by Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock in Gescher and ring for church services in the morning and in the evening and also strike the time during the day . Die Sendung mit der Maus documented the making of the last bell .

No. Surname Casting year Caster Diameter ( cm) Mass (kg) Nominal inscription
1 Thanks bell 1990 Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock 175 3400 b ° Thank the Lord for he is friendly and his kindness lasts forever Psalm 118.1 - Mercy has come to town and country · Our God has reconnected what was separated · AD 1990
2 Traditional bell 1965 Petit et al. Edelbrock brothers 150 2298 of' + O country, country, country, hear the word of the Lord - This is what it said on the old bell that was melted down in World War I - this is how this new bell calls again. Cast in 1965 - 20 years after the end of World War II by Petit u. Gebr. Edelbrock Gescher i./W.
3 Supplication bell 1965 Petit et al. Edelbrock brothers 132.3 1575 it' Serve the divided country, serve the divided city. + Connect what is separate. Have mercy on us, O Lord. Cast in 1965 by Petit u. Gebr. Edelbrock Gescher i./W.
I. Signing bell (in the roof turret
) 		1704 Johannes Jacobi 70 0198 All that breath has praise the Lord Hallelujah · 1704 · Primae meae gentis et profundissima quaeque [“I am the first and deepest of my kind”] Johannes Jacobi poured me

In the vicinity of the church

In front of the main portal of the church stands the monument to Elector Joachim II , which was designed by Erdmann Encke and unveiled in 1889 on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the introduction of the Reformation by Joachim II . On the base of the monument, panels show the elector taking the Lord's Supper and converting to Protestantism. In addition, to the north of the church is the memorial to those who fell in the Wars of Liberation 1813–1815 , designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and inaugurated in 1816.

literature

  • Winfried Augustat: St. Nikolai Church Berlin-Spandau. (Small art guide 591), Schnell & Steiner: 5., new edit. Edition Regensburg 1999, ISBN 3-7954-6081-6 .
  • Parish church council of the St. Nikolai parish (ed.): St. Nikolai zu Spandau - guide through the centuries. (Festschrift for the 450th anniversary of the introduction of the Reformation in the Mark Brandenburg), Berlin 1989.
  • Gunther Jahn: sacred buildings. St. Nikolai, parish church. In: ders .: The buildings and art monuments of Berlin. City and district of Spandau. Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1971, pp. 73–126.
  • Friedrich Weichert: St. Nikolai zu Spandau. A center of Brandenburg church history. Edition St. Nikolai Parish Spandau, Berlin 1982.

Web links

Commons : St. Nikolaikirche (Spandau)  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Joachim Pohl: The Benedictine nunnery of St. Marien zu Spandau and the church institutions of the city of Spandau in the Middle Ages. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-412-03496-7 , p. 92.
  2. ↑ Franz Kohstall: history of the Catholic parish of St. Mary's Spandau. Spandau n.d. (1924); P. 17f.
  3. ^ Winfried Augustat: St. Nikolai Church Berlin-Spandau. (Kleine Kunstführer 591), Schnell & Steiner, 5th edition, Regensburg 1999, ISBN 3-7954-6081-6 , p. 6; Berlin. Sacred Places , Grebennikov-Verlag Berlin 2010; ISBN 978-3-941784-09-3 , p. 11 f.
  4. ^ Lena Krull: Processions in Prussia. Catholic life in Berlin, Breslau, Essen and Münster in the 19th century. (= Religion and Politics Volume 5) Ergon Verlag, Würzburg 2013, ISSN  2195-1306 , ISBN 978-3-89913-991-4 (Therein: 5.4 Berlin: “A masterpiece of young Berlin Catholicism” , pp. 216-251) , here p. 219.
  5. ^ Hans-Rainer Sandvoss : Resistance in Spandau . ( Resistance in Berlin from 1933 to 1945. German Resistance Memorial Center ) Berlin 1988, ISSN 0175-3592, pp. 102–114.
  6. ^ Homepage of the civil engineer Ernst-Jürgen Bachus with technical information on Berlin church towers; accessed April 2, 2010; Augustat p. 9: Height = 77 meters.
  7. ↑ Berlin. Sacred Places , Grebennikov-Verlag Berlin 2010; ISBN 978-3-941784-09-3 , p. 11 f; Winfried Augustat: St. Nikolai Church Berlin-Spandau. (Kleine Kunstführer 591), Schnell & Steiner, 5th edition, Regensburg 1999, ISBN 3-7954-6081-6 , pp. 8-12.
  8. ^ Information sheet The Triumph Cross Group in St. Nikolai in the church; Text: Peter Lietzke, Rainer Paasch, 2008.
  9. ↑ The Kemper Organ at www.peitz.de, accessed on January 22, 2017
  10. ↑ Information on the owl organ ; Winfried Augustat: St. Nikolai Church Berlin-Spandau. (Kleine Kunstführer 591), Schnell & Steiner, 5th edition, Regensburg 1999, ISBN 3-7954-6081-6 , p. 20.
  11. ^ Information sheet The bells of St. Nikolai in the church; Text: Peter Lietzke, Sabine Müller, Rainer Paasch, 2011.
  12. ↑ Die Maus Spezial - Glockengießen (shot in the 1990s by Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock) on YouTube .

Coordinates: 52 ° 32 ′ 18.1 ″  N , 13 ° 12 ′ 19.1 ″  E