Steindammer Church

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Coordinates: 54 ° 43 '10.74 "  N , 20 ° 29' 59.89"  O

Steindammer church from the church square

The Steindammer parish church of St. Nikolaus - also Polish Church - was a hall church in Königsberg (Prussia) .

Building description

The church was a vaulted hall construction with a polygonal choir , west tower and buttresses made of brick in the rising masonry and Gothic bond . The church was 39.2 m long. The choir, vaulted in three bays, was 13.5 m long and 9.1 m wide and was supported on three pillars. There were fish-bubble patterns on the consoles of the choir . The yoke length was different, it was 6.16 m in the east, 7.24 m in the middle and 6.30 m in the west. Not all yokes had the same number of fields, the western yoke had a twelve-field division and the middle one sent out sixteen ribs. On the long sides there were ogival windows, flanked by blinds . There were portals in the south and west . There was a large wheeled window above the south entrance. Its floor was four steps (0.7 m) lower than the pavement of the city, which had increased over the centuries.

Layout

The vault construction consisted of a late Gothic six-pointed star vault from the 14th century.

Apparently there was a grave vault under the church until 1752, accessible at least until 1912. In the destroyed Steindammer church archive, however, there were references and a plan in which the hereditary burials of the 17th century were entered and a note that the grave vaults ... were only buried during the last renovation , which meant the work from 1752.

The narrow and outline loose west tower standing with buttresses in flight of the west wall . It was 4.2 meters long and 5.4 meters wide. Its characteristic roof shape gave the church its name: Hufnagelkirche .

Furnishing

In the church there was a late Gothic baptismal font and as a high altar a triptych with the depiction of the Last Judgment, the resurrection and the eternal damnation by Anton Möller from the time before 1587, on the back there was a crucifixion scene. In 1608 a saying was painted under a painting by Petri Fischzug :

Peter throws himself free into the water,
the Lord gave him a lot of fish afterwards,
Andrew was also fishing,
Peter and Andrew followed the Lord.
Anno 1608

In 1912 the church was painted in the 19th century. The walls of the nave were tinted greenish-yellow, while the vaulted caps were covered with a reddish-brown white. The walls of the choir were painted following the natural ashlar masonry, white joints on a gray background. The cap surfaces of the vaults were painted the same color as those of the nave. The rococo pulpit was from 1760, decorated with four evangelists, the apostles Paul and Martin Luther , underneath it read:

Nobody could be compared to Luther in gigantic spirit,
and I even believe it will not be in the future either.

The parish stalls bore the inscription:

O Lord,
Give us preachers and an eagerness
rather
That we as Your faithful servant
hate liars, so your teaching
falsification and slander your honor.

There were also grave inscriptions on the inner walls for Johann Taubmann, first Protestant book printer in Königsberg, Johann Püls, Caspar Marquardt and the Austrian Georg Wallow von Ritthingen († February 12, 1582). Before the First World War, Rudolf and Otto Linnemann from Frankfurt created 3 glass windows with the depictions: Baptism, Crucifixion and Resurrection as well as 7 windows with ornamental decorations.

Building history

The Steindammer Church in front of the old town of Königsberg was the oldest of the Königsberg churches, originally made of wood and a baptistery for the converted Prussians and at the same time the oldest parish church, and stood on the site of the first settlement of the 13th century, which was built in front of the Teutonic Order Castle. The medieval components were left without a trace during the repair work from 1611 to 1630. It is dated for the first time in 1256 and indirectly mentioned in a document for the first time in 1258 by naming a pastor. The first direct mention in a document comes from 1493. In 1559 the tower roof collapsed. The most extensive construction work took place between 1611 and 1630. In 1624 the church was in danger of collapsing because the vault had moved a pillar behind the altar. The pillar was then secured with iron anchors, which were still visible in 1912. In 1681 the so-called Drässkammer was first mentioned, which was previously used as a small chapel annex or as a sacristy. In 1710 she received the tower with the characteristic "nail tip". The church was completely renovated in 1752. Extensive structural repairs were carried out in 1841 and 1882. The Steindammer Church was destroyed in the Second World War during the Battle of Königsberg :

  • The church roof collapsed due to ground shaking and air blasts as a result of the air raids at the end of August 1944
  • Fire in the church from artillery fire during the April 1945 battle

The tower and part of the nave survived the bombing (aerial photos show no damage after the first attack; on photos taken after the second attack, the church also appears to have been little damaged, although the Dresdner Bank building burned out completely a few meters south of the church ). Already during the fighting in Königsberg / Pr. the documentary film Sturm auf Königsberg was made , with the footage it contained almost nothing of her to be seen, because the vault of the church was secured with booby traps by the SS . Three penetrating Soviet soldiers had triggered this and buried themselves and the entrance. After 1945, the church tower was finally demolished to widen the carriageway of one of today's main streets in Kaliningrad, the Lenin Prospect . Finally the remaining church ruins were finally removed in the 1950s. Only its bell from 1714 survived in the Hamburg bell cemetery. It bears the inscription (from Latin):

I determine the hours by night and by day.
I cry over the bereavement, I call out to the fire and to the highest service.

The bell hangs in Verden Cathedral today .

Parochial history

Even after the reorganization of the Reformation around 1526, the church in the midst of the Protestant parish churches served as a service for non-Germans, mostly Lithuanians and Poles, who had been displaced for the sake of their Protestant faith and immigrated to Prussia . A document dated August 14, 1510 shows that in addition to the altar for the main patron St. Nikolai there were two other side altars, which were dedicated to the Prussian apostle Adalbert and St. Gertrude . The first Polish preacher was Johannes Wnorowius in 1529. Lithuanian was also preached. From 1587 to 1602 Johannes Bretke , son of a Prussian from the Natanger tribe, worked as a Lithuanian pastor at the Steindammer Church. There he wrote the first Lithuanian prayer book and the collection of sermons "Postille" (1591) and translated the New Testament into the Lithuanian language. Poles and Lithuanians constantly fought over the use of the church. In 1634 a Polish church school was set up at the church on the orders of Elector Friedrich Wilhelm (Brandenburg) . As a result of the Seven Years' War , Königsberg was occupied by the Russians and the church was consecrated for Greek worship ( Russian Orthodox ) by the Archimandrite Jefrem in 1760 . During the unsuccessful Napoleonic campaign in Russia in 1813, sick French prisoners of war, "marauders and criminals" were accommodated and when the church was to be prepared for Orthodox worship again in February 1814, the Russian authorities refrained from doing so because they "thought the air was polluted". In 1874 the Polish sermons were stopped. Only for the Masurians there was a service in Polish. But these services also stopped in 1901 because the Masurians had all become linguistically German. Since then there has not been any Polish preaching in Koenigsberg, but the church was still popularly called The Polish . Since the Polish parish also dissolved, a new parish with its own parochial district was formed for the Steindammer Church in 1880 . Parts of the districts of Altstadt, Löbennicht, Tragheim and Neurossgarten were parished together to form a new community. The last parish priest was Pastor Martin Matz. An associated cemetery was on the Veilchenberg.

meaning

The history of the Steindammer Church is inextricably linked with the fate of the German city of Königsberg from the beginning of settlement in 1202 until its fall in 1945. Many Samland churches were built according to this type of a single-nave, star-vaulted hall church. The Gothic knowledge of the architectural design options provided by the inner buttress was exported to the Pruzzenland by the Teutonic order builders. Similar parallels to the late Gothic influences of the Königsberg church can be found in other building concepts

With the construction of the nave in the 15th century, the late Gothic came to an end in East Prussia.

Personalities

The reformer Jan Seklucjan (Sieklucki) (* 1498; † 1578) worked at this church , who first translated the New Testament into Polish there. In 1630 the famous pharmacist and travel writer Reinhold Lubenau (* 1556; † 1631) founded the choir. The famous German composer from Königsberg, Otto Nicolai (* 1810; † 1849), creator of the opera The Merry Wives of Windsor and founder of the Vienna Philharmonic and the “Vienna Philharmonic Concerts” (1841), was baptized here.

See also

Location of the Steindammer Church in July 1995

literature

  • Anatolij Bachtin, Gerhard Doliesen: Forgotten culture. Churches in North East Prussia. A documentation , Husum Verlag, Husum, 1998, ISBN 3-88042-849-2 .
  • Caspar Stein: The old Königsberg. A detailed description of the three cities of Königsberg ... anno 1644. Hamburg, Association for Family Research in East and West Prussia, 1998, ISBN 978-3931577148 .
  • Adolf Boetticher : The architectural and art monuments of the province of East Prussia. Issue 7, Königsberg , Königsberg, Teichert 1897.
  • Robert Albinus: Königsberg Lexicon. Würzburg, 2002, ISBN 3-88189-441-1 .
  • Richard Armstedt: history of the royal. Capital and residence city of Königsberg in Prussia. Reprint of the original edition, Stuttgart 1899.
  • Fritz Gause : The history of the city of Königsberg in Prussia. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne, 1965.
  • Jürgen Manthey : Königsberg - history of a world citizenship republic. Hanser 2005, ISBN 3-446-20619-1 .
  • Gunnar Strunz: Discover Königsberg. Berlin. 2006, ISBN 978-3-89794-071-0 , ( online ) Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  • Baldur Köster: Königsberg. Architecture from the German era. Husum Druck, Husum, 2000, ISBN 3-88042-923-5 .
  • Robert Albinus: Königsberg Lexicon. City and surroundings. Verlagshaus Würzburg, Würzburg, 2002, ISBN 3-88189-441-1 , p. 304.
  • Ronny Kabus: Ruins of Königsberg. Pictures by a Kaliningrad architect. Husum Verlag, Husum, 1992, ISBN 3-88042-610-4 , p. 30.

Web links

Commons : Steindammer Kirche (Kaliningrad)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
  • k. A. The bells of Verden Cathedral. Bell III (Baroque) Online Retrieved on 3 February, 2010.
  • k. A. Information steindamm church with Color online Accessed February 23, 2010

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christofer Hermann: Medieval architecture in Prussia. Investigations into the question of the art landscape and geography. Michael Imhof Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-86568-234-5 , p. 522.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Max Karl: The Steindammer Church in Königsberg i. Pr. Inaugural dissertation to obtain a doctorate at the Philosophical Faculty of the Albertus University of Königsberg i. Pr. Karg & Manneck, Koenigsberg, 1909.
  3. ^ A b Michael Antoni: Dehio - Handbook of Art Monuments West and East Prussia. The former provinces of West and East Prussia (Deutschordensland Prussia) with Bütower and Lauenburger Land. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich, Berlin, 1993, ISBN 3-422-03025-5 , p. 310.
  4. ^ Association for the promotion of tourism in East Prussia (ed.): Guide through Königsberg i. Pr. And surroundings. 1910 Verlag Gerhard Rautenberg (reprint), Leer, 1988, ISBN 3-7921-0384-2 , p. 103.
  5. ↑ a b c d e Fritz Gause: The history of the city of Königsberg in Prussia. 2nd volume. From the foundation of the city to the last Elector Böhlau Verlag Cologne, Graz, 1965, k. A., p. 416.
  6. ↑ a b Anatolij Bachtin, Gerhard Doliesen: Forgotten culture. Churches in North East Prussia. Husum KG, Husum, 1998, ISBN 3-88042-849-2 , p. 147.
  7. ↑ a b c Caspar Stein: The old Königsberg. A detailed description of the three cities of Königsberg including their suburbs and freedoms as they were in 1644. Special publications of the Association for Family Research in East and West Prussia e. V. No. 91 (1911). Reprint, Hamburg, self-published by the association, 1998, ISBN 3-931577-14-7 , p. 23.
  8. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Schubert: For the six hundred year jubilee of the city of Königsberg: historical memories of Königsberg's condition since it was built. Verlag von Schubert and Seidel, Königsberg, 1855, p. 83 online
  9. ^ A b c Robert Albinus: Lexicon of the City of Königsberg / Pr. und Umgebung Verlag Gerhard Rautenberg, Leer, 1985, ISBN 3-7921-0320-6 , p. 304.
  10. ^ Elisabeth Schulz-Semrau : Three chestnuts from Königsberg. Diary of a trip to what is now Kaliningrad. Testimony from Tatjana Burukowski. Mitteldeutscher Verlag Gerhard Rautenberg, Halle and Leipzig, 1990, ISBN 3-7921-0452-0 , p. 174.
  11. ^ Manfred Höhne: Churches and social institutions in Königsberg. Bad Saarow, 3rd 2009, accessed online on 2nd February 2010.
  12. ↑ a b c Fritz Gause: The history of the city of Königsberg in Prussia. 1st volume. From the foundation of the city to the last Elector Böhlau Verlag Cologne, Graz, 1965, k. A., p. 235.
  13. ↑ Algirdas Matulevičius: Students from Little and Greater Lithuania at the University of Königsberg in: Arthur Hermann and Annemarie Lepa (eds.): Yearbook about Annaberger Annalen about Lithuania and German-Lithuanian relations. Bammental, 2005, p. 270. ( online ) Retrieved February 8, 2010.
  14. ^ Herbert Meinhard Mühlpfordt : Königsberg from A to Z. A city dictionary. Aufstieg-Verlag, Munich, 1976, ISBN 3-7612-0092-7 , p. 144.
  15. ↑ Königsberger Verlagsanstalt GmbH (ed.): Königsberg residents' book (Pr). 1941. Königsberger Verlagsanstalt GmbH, Königsberg, ISBN 3-487-05276-8 (Churches - hospitals and clinics) p. 8.
  16. ↑ Peter Hauptmann: Church in the East: Studies on Eastern European Church History and Church Studies. Verlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 1991, ISBN 3-525-56390-6 , p. 43 online. Accessed February 2, 2010.
  17. ↑ Reinhold Lubenau, envoy of the Habsburgs in the 16th century: Description of the journeys of the honorable, well-known and wise Lord Reinholtt Lubenau des Eltter ... so he started in 1573, August 5th and in 1589, happily completed October 17th ... , Heidelberg University, Heidelberg historical holdings - digital (online) Retrieved on February 4, 2010.