St. Nikolai (Pritzwalk)
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The Protestant parish church Sankt Nikolai in Pritzwalk has been the focus of church life in the city for over 750 years. There are regular invitations to church services, at times of prayer and silence, as well as to church music events. Located in the city center, it shapes the cityscape.
Building history
The construction of the town church St. Nicolai began in 1256, when Pritzwalk also received town charter. The main church of the city of Pritzwalk was dedicated to St. Nicholas and subsequently to St. Mary .
After fires that often destroyed or devastated the previous church, probably a cruciform basement with a western transverse tower, the church was rebuilt or expanded. Thus the shape of the building has changed several times over the centuries. Only the tower with the Romanesque west facade made of neatly square stone masonry always remained in the same place. After a conflagration in 1501, the reconstruction of the parish church, which became necessary, essentially gave the shape that is visible today. On November 1st, 1821, the church was destroyed by another large city fire. The reconstruction took place until 1828, but initially without a high tower. This was only rebuilt from 1880 to 1882 in neo-Gothic brick shapes according to plans by the Berlin architect Friedrich Adler . The tower was damaged in World War II. In the 1970s, defective, filigree decorative elements such as pegs, parapet arches and cornices had to be demolished extensively. In 1999/2000 the tower was reconstructed according to the old plans. The renovation comprised the restoration of missing masonry elements, the facade renovation including the field stone base, the redesign of the tower drainage, the new roofing of the tower transepts, the renovation of windows and the wooden staircase.
Outer shape
The 72 m high neo-Gothic tower, made of fired bricks and shaped stones, is characteristic of the cityscape.
In its present form, the parish church of St. Nikolai is a late Gothic hall church with three naves of equal height, a polygonal choir in the east and the tower in the west. It contains the early Gothic basilica from the 13th century. The masonry consisted exclusively of carefully worked, almost evenly large and very regularly layered field stones. Parts of the former transept and the substructure of the tower have been preserved from the original cross-shaped stone building from the 13th century. On the south side of the nave there is a two-story chapel ( baptistery on the lower floor) from the 2nd half of the 15th century.
Furnishing
The vault of the nave is supported by round pillars (in the choir with brick inscriptions). The buttresses are drawn inwards. The choir and the aisles are spanned by busted ribbed vaults, while the central nave, the south chapel ( baptistery ) and the tower hall have star vaults.
The valuable late Gothic winged altar from 1520, which shows St. Anna as the central figure, comes from the former pilgrimage church of Alt Krüssow, 5 km east of Pritzwalk (loan since 1976).
The altar set is a Berlin cast iron based on designs by Karl Friedrich Schinkel . The rest of the interior of the church is from the Neo-Gothic period (around 1882).
In the baptistery - used as a winter church - a glass art window (design: Ilse Fischer (painter) , 1953; execution: Katharina Peschel, Berlin-Mahlsdorf) shows the crucified Christ , his mother Mary and the disciple Johannes . A remarkable detail of the medieval building equipment of the baptistery are the figurative glazed corner consoles that support the star vault. It shows grotesque creatures with long ears and stuck tongues. The north chapel of the Alt Krüssow pilgrimage church , which was also built in the early 16th century and has a similar gable design, has very similar consoles .
Church history
The foundation of the church was around the year 1230. The choir with high altar was consecrated in 1441 by the bishop of Havelberg , Konrad von Lintorff . When the Lutheran Reformation reached Pritzwalk in 1539 , what had been a Catholic church was now a Protestant church. Today the parish church belongs to the Evangelical Church District Havelberg-Pritzwalk.
Church music
The organ was manufactured in 1956/58 by the Schuke company (Potsdam) . It was the first major new organ built by this organ building company after the Second World War.
The slider chest instrument has 2,664 pipes on three manuals and pedal . The following is the disposition :
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- Coupling : I / II, III / II, I / P, II / P., III / P.
In the baptistery there is a one-manual Zuberbier organ with 294 pipes and the following disposition:
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This small organ was built by Johann Friedrich Leberecht Zuberbier in 1784. The organ in the baptistery is used for church services during the cold season and for chamber music events throughout the year.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Alt-Krüssow pilgrimage church
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from August 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
Web links
- Entry in the monument database of the State of Brandenburg
- St. Nikolai Church - Pritzwalk parish
- Church of St. Nikolai - Stadt Pritzwalk
- Romanesque routes in Berlin and Brandenburg - St. Nikolaikirche, Pritzwalk
Coordinates: 53 ° 9 ′ 0.8 ″ N , 12 ° 10 ′ 34 ″ E