St. Peter and Paul (Kesternich)

St. Peter and Paul in Kesternich

St. Peter and Paul is the Roman Catholic parish church of the Simmerath district of Kesternich in the city ​​region of Aachen in North Rhine-Westphalia .

Nave with a view of the altar

north side of the window with stations of the cross

Chancel with an old cross

The church is dedicated to St. Apostle Peter and St. Paul and entered under No. 17 in the list of architectural monuments in Simmerath .

location

The church building is located in the center of Kesternich on the federal road (L 166). There is a small forecourt in front of the parish church (south side). To the north of the parish church is the cemetery and to the west is the kindergarten.

General

Kesternich used to belong to the Simmerath parish and did not have its own church. At the beginning of the 18th century, the inhabitants of the village tried to get a building permit for their own church. Martin Stollenwerk donated a piece of land for the construction of the church and the creation of a cemetery. The Vicariate General of the Archdiocese of Cologne , to which Kesternich belonged at that time, gave the approval, but the collator of the parish Simmerath, the Aachen collegiate chapter , did not agree. Nevertheless, the Kesternicher built their own church from 1718 to 1719. This was not until 1721 benediziert after the sovereign, the Vicar General and the pin chapter had agreed. However, Kersternich initially remained as a branch at Simmerath, but received his own vicar . Kersternich finally became an independent parish in 1804 in the course of parish registrations during the French period .

Building history

The church from 1718/19 was the first church building in Kersternich. It was a single-nave hall church made of quarry stone in Baroque shapes . Due to the strong increase in population at the end of the 19th century, this church became too small and demolished around 1900.

In the two years 1899 and 1900, today's parish church was built as a three-aisled hall church according to plans by Aachen's master builder Heinrich van Kann in the neo-Gothic style.

During the Second World War , the parish church was blown up by German troops on September 19, 1944. Only the outer walls of the nave, choir and sacristy remained, the bell tower was completely destroyed like the vaults , the arcades between the main and side aisles and the roof.

The reconstruction took place from 1951 to 1952. The plans for this came from the Kesternich architect Carl Hermes , who, due to his age, handed over the construction management to the architect Josef Klinkenberg from Aachen. Klinkenberg and Hermes included the preserved outer walls in their plans. A barrel vault was inserted in the nave , which was unusual for that time. The solemn consecration was carried out by the Aachen Bishop Johannes Joseph van der Velden on April 27, 1952.

Building description

St. Peter and Paul is a single-nave, four-bay hall church made of quarry stone with a single-bay, three-sided choir in the east, to which the two sacristies are connected to the left and right. These components are neo-Gothic. The bell tower is built in front of the nave in the west, has three floors and was built in modern designs . The nave is spanned by a barrel vault and the choir with a groin vault. These vaults were drawn in during the reconstruction in 1951/52. Before the war, the church had ribbed vaults . The windows are ogival but have no tracery since 1944 . The faithful are offered 170 seats.

Furnishing

The original neo-Gothic furnishings were completely destroyed in the 1944 demolition. Only the altar cross could be saved by a US sergeant who initially took it to the USA . In 1983 he returned it to the parish. It has been back in the church ever since. Otherwise the church has modern equipment. The stained glass windows in the nave are works by the Düren glass painter Hermann Gottfried from 1963. The windows are free compositions. The two choir windows were created by an unknown artist around 1955. They depict the parish and church patrons Peter and Paul.

Bells

In the bell tower there is a five-part bronze bell from the bell foundry Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock from Gescher in Westphalia . The consecration of bells took place on May 1, 1955.

No.	Surname	Diameter (mm)	Mass (kg, approx.)	Percussive ( HT - 1 / 16 )	Caster	Casting year
1	Sorrowful mother	1,250	1,185	e '	Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock, Gescher	1954
2	Catherine	920	444	a '	Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock, Gescher	1954
3	Peter and Paul	810	310	h '	Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock, Gescher	1954
4th	Joseph	710	210	cis "	Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock, Gescher	1954
5	Peter and Paul	670	180	d "	Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock, Gescher	1954

Pastor

The following pastors have been pastors to St. Peter and Paul:

from ... to	Surname
1804-1824	Antonius Rösseler
1928-1958	Heinrich Denis
1958-1975	Heinrich Nießen
1976-2010	Hermann van Gorp
Since 2010	Michael Stoffels

Web links

Commons : Saints Peter and Paul Church (Kesternich)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Handbook of the Diocese of Aachen 3rd edition, published by the Episcopal General Vicariate, Aachen 1994, p. 604 f.
2. ↑ Handbook of the Diocese of Aachen 3rd edition, published by the Episcopal General Vicariate, Aachen 1994, p. 605.
3. ↑ Church. In: Website Heimatverein Kesternich. Retrieved October 18, 2017 . 
4. ↑ Simmerath-Kesternich, Catholic Church of St. Peter and Paul. In: Forschungsstelle Glasmalerei des 20. Jahrhundert eV Accessed on October 18, 2017 . 
5. ↑ The bells and their inscriptions. In: Website Heimatverein Kesternich. Retrieved October 18, 2017 . 

Coordinates: 50 ° 36 ′ 26 "  N , 6 ° 19 ′ 43.3"  E