St. Nikolaus (Mombach)

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The Roman Catholic Church of St. Nikolaus in Mainz-Mombach in the Diocese of Mainz is a new building that was inaugurated in 1956 and built on the site of a previous building from 1703 . The historic church was so badly damaged by RAF bombers on August 11, 1942 that it was later demolished. The patronage of Nikolaus von Myra was retained as in earlier times a large part of the inhabitants of Mombach were boatmen, ferrymen, raftsmen, sand fishermen and fishermen. The Nikolauskirche is a characteristic example of the modern church building of the 1950s and consistently implements the idea of ​​a central church .

architecture

Church building

The plan of the church is in the shape of a Greek cross . The clear formal language of the interior is determined by the preconciliar expectation of a liturgical reform. The modern designed church building was planned by the Mainz architects Laubach and Lenz with the participation of the pastor and the advisors Father Urban Koch SSCC , Prelate August Schuchert and Heinrich Gruber. The artistic design was in the hands of Heinz Hemrich . The color design of the concrete glass windows on four sides was the responsibility of the young artist Robert Köck .

The most striking feature of the modern church building, in addition to the cross-shaped floor plan, are four mighty polygonal pillars made of gray exposed concrete, which rise up at the corners of the "real crossing " and unite at the apex of the roof. The strong pillars are supposed to symbolize the four evangelists . The ceiling above the community room is lamellar.

There are five bells hanging in the church tower today. Three of them date from 1923. At that time, the renowned Otto bell foundry in Hemelingen / Bremen cast four bronze bells, tuned to the tones c sharp ', e', f sharp ', e', with the following diameters: 1500 mm, 1260 mm, 1120 mm 1030 mm and weights: 2180 kg, 1320 kg, 960 kg, 639 kg. The three larger bells survived the confiscation of bells in World War II. The little bell remained in the tower and, like the church, fell victim to the bombs. At the beginning of the 21st century the peal was supplemented by two new bells.

inner space

According to the period of its construction, the church is very simply designed and equipped. The center of the interior is the sanctuary as the central place of the Holy Mass and liturgical focal point, in accordance with the expected reform of the second Vatican, which should enable the active participation ( Participatio actuosa ) of the assembled people of God. It is set off by a step. The people's altar in this room is oriented to the south-south-west and is raised and raised with three further steps. The organ of the Lübeck company Kemper is also located in this south wing . A tight balancing act had to be mastered when designing the organ prospect. The organ had to fit into the church building and could not obstruct the view of the glazed south wall. It was decided to use two brochures, which were built in front of the side walls of the south wing. The pipes rise linearly and symmetrically leading away from the altar, and then fall back in a short piece just before the south wall. The console is between the organ wings and behind the altar.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c St. Nicholas Church ( Memento from December 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), on the website of the parish of St. Nicholas, accessed on January 1, 2015
  2. ↑ Gerhard Reinhold: Otto Glocken - family and company history of the bell foundry dynasty Otto, self-published, Essen 2019, 588 pages, ISBN 978-3-00-063109-2 , here especially pp. 45, 409, 525
  3. ↑ Gerhard Reinhold: Church bells - Christian world cultural heritage, illustrated using the example of the bell founder Otto, Hemelingen / Bremen. Nijmegen 2019, 556 pages, Diss.Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, nbn: nl: ui: 22-2066 / 204770, here in particular pp. 64, 384, 4876

Coordinates: 50 ° 1 ′ 21.5 ″  N , 8 ° 13 ′ 21.4 ″  E