St. Peter and Paul (Cologne)

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Exterior view from the west with the entrance area

St. Petrus und Paulus, originally the abbey church Vom Guten Hirten is a Syrian Orthodox church in the Cologne district of Lindenthal , which was built between 1962 and 1964 according to plans by the architect Fritz Schaller and consecrated in December 1964. The church was originally designed as a monastery church for the order of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd .

In 1991 the latter sold the church to the archdiocese, which in turn rented it to the Syrian Orthodox community, which has used it to the present day (as of 2020). However, the lease expires in 2021 and demolition is under discussion.

Prehistory and construction

View from the south

The religious order had set itself the task of allowing women and girls to be admitted in emergency situations. A house that they had operated in Cologne since 1863 was destroyed by air raids in 1944, and from 1958 - apart from other monastery buildings - planning for the church began. In addition to a ship for the sisters, the church should also offer a special area for the women ("asylum seekers") and one for guests. For financial reasons, the further planning dragged on until the end of 1962, when the order for the implementation of a final design went to the architect Schaller. After construction began in May 1963, the topping-out ceremony was held on January 22, 1964. The consecration took place on December 8, 1964 with the Sorrowful Mother Mary as the church patroness.

Since 1991 the Syrian Orthodox community has been using the church under the patronage of St. Peter and Paul. A continuation of this use beyond the year 2021 is not yet certain, nor is the existence of the church building itself.

Building description

The church building connects to older remains of the monastery building. The bell tower does not belong to the church.

The church building is open on three sides in a park-like setting, on the narrow side it connects to a multi-storey wing remnant of the former monastery building. It shows itself closed on the outside and on the inside as a protective cover. Two larger structures are arranged in a T-shape to one another - the actual church building with a high, tiled hipped roof and the narrower and slightly higher nurses' choir , which is covered with three small gables. Both structures are only one story. A continuous ribbon of windows runs around both parts of the building at eaves height , a second one illuminates the church further up in the roof area.

Inside the church, which can be entered through an anteroom at an angle between the two structures, columns all around demarcate a narrow corridor with a flat ceiling. The gable or the dark wooden ceiling opens above the interior space - starting from a base running at the same angle as the sloping roof.

The crypt or confessional chapel was located under the nurses' choir, which was slightly elevated from the church, the entrance of which lay directly at the interface between the two structures and supported the tabernacle on a column, illuminated from above with a round window. A raised altar stood at the intersection of the two longitudinal axes of the nun's choir and church interior.

This original room layout does not correspond to today's orthodox use - meanwhile only the main church room is used for liturgical purposes, but the changes are all reversible. An iconostasis designed by Fritz Schaller in 1992 for this conversion was not implemented in favor of an artisanal solution.

Furnishing

Gable with window

The windows of the church all come from Franz Pauli and are considered to be his "colorful main work". The surrounding ribbon of windows composes scenes from the Old and New Testament as well as scenes from the Revelation of John . In addition, there are the windows of the crypt, another strip of light and triangular windows in all the gable tops, one of which has the dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit as a motif.

Karl Matthäus Winter created the altars, the tabernacle and the eternal light from the original furnishings . The Way of the Cross was designed by Hildegard Domizlaff .

Since there was no bell tower in the design, there is also no bell . No organ is known.

Web links

Commons : Church of the Good Shepherd (Cologne-Lindenthal)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Emanuel Gebauer: Fritz Schaller: the architect and his contribution to sacred buildings in the 20th century . Editor: Ulrich Krings. Ed .: The Lord Mayor / City Conservator (=  Stadtspuren . Volume 28 ). Bachem, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-7616-1355-5 , p. 287-293 .
  2. ↑ Karin Berkemann: Cologne-Lindenthal: Fritz Schaller Church before the end? In: ModerneREGIONAL. April 12, 2020, accessed April 23, 2020 .
  3. ↑ The church has to move: Syrian Orthodox community is looking for a new home. In: rheinische-verbindungenblaetter.de. July 4, 2019, accessed April 25, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b c d Helmut Fußbroich, Dierk Holthausen: Architectural Guide Cologne: Sacred Buildings after 1900 . 1st edition. Bachem, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-7616-1683-X , p. 194-195 .
  5. ↑ Ira Scheibe: From the Good Shepherd. In: koelnarchitektur.de. April 29, 2020, accessed April 29, 2020 .
  6. ^ Cologne-Lindenthal, Syrian Orthodox Church of St. Petrus and Paulus. In: glasmalerei-ev.net. Forschungsstelle Glasmalerei des 20 Jahrhundert eV, July 8, 2008, accessed on April 10, 2020 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 3.2 ″  N , 6 ° 54 ′ 51.2 ″  E