Titus Brandsma Memorial Church
The Titus Brandsma Memorial Church ( Dutch Titus Brandsma Gedachteniskerk ) is a Roman Catholic church building in the Dutch city of Nijmegen , which has been dedicated to the memory of Blessed Titus Brandsma since 2004 . The church, built in 1908/09, previously bore the patronage of St. Joseph . In many cases it is still called Sint-Jozefkerk .
history
Around 1880 Nijmegen lost its status as a fortress city . The fortifications were razed, new streets and squares were created - including the star-shaped Kaiser-Karls-Platz ( Keizer Karelplein ), in the area of which a new Catholic parish church was to be built. In 1888 an emergency church was built, and twenty years later the representative St. Joseph's Church was built according to plans by Bernardus Johannes Claase . The emergency church was converted into a parish hall in 1923.
During the Second World War, Nijmegen suffered severe damage. St. Josef was one of the few buildings that remained undamaged. The nearby historic Jesuit Church of St. Petrus Canisius on Molenstraat was also destroyed. Instead of rebuilding, the Jesuits moved to St. Joseph's Church and took over the parish at the same time.
The following decades saw rapid erosion of the parish and the Jesuit convent, which was eventually dissolved. A Carmelite convent was established at the church . The parish church was converted into a spiritual memorial for Titus Brandsma, who was himself a Carmelite and taught in the immediate vicinity at the Catholic University of Nijmegen for almost 20 years until his deportation to the concentration camp .
Architecture and equipment
The Titus Brandsma Memorial Church is a spacious three-nave brick - Basilica to cross floor plan in Romanesque Revival , also Byzantine reminiscent models forms. The wall surfaces are structured with narrow arched windows, pilaster strips and arched friezes. The choir opens into a high semicircular apse, which is flanked by two smaller apses. The portal front on the north side facing Karlsplatz is highlighted with an ornamental gable and a rose window , but above all with two slender square corner towers. The most striking building element is the wide octagonal crossing tower . Its eight wall surfaces are designed with three windows and one gable each; above is the tent roof . This tower, resembling a dome, gives the church the effect of a central building .
Inside, white plastered wall surfaces contrast with the brick-covered pillars and arches. Especially in the main apse, which is equipped with a two-storey gallery , parts of the neo-Romanesque painting have been preserved. The colored stained glass windows are also part of the original equipment .
The interior of the church was completely redesigned in 2004 for its new purpose. A simple table altar and a wooden ambo stand in the center under the crossing tower, surrounded by a few rows of chairs. A row of showcases contains objects from the life of Titus Brandsma. His urn is placed in a side apse in front of his portrait.
organ
The organ was built in 1920 by the organ builder Elbert. The instrument has 29 registers on two manuals and a pedal .
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- Coupling : II / I (also as sub-octave coupling), I / P, II / P
Web links
- Church website (Dutch)
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 51 ° 50 ′ 26.4 " N , 5 ° 51 ′ 31.7" E