Unterbarmer main church

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The Unterbarmer main church in winter

The Unterbarmer main church is a Protestant church in Wuppertal - Barmen . The Unterbarmer Church is a monument of particular importance for two reasons : On the one hand, it is the first church building to be built by the architect Heinrich Hübsch , on the other hand, it is one of the earliest known buildings of neo-Romanesque architecture .

history

Unterbarmer main church around 1836 by Peter Wilhelm Kreeft , Barmen in the background

The church building was built in 1828-1832 instead of a provisional predecessor. The manufacturer Friedrich Engels played an important role in this . The Baden architect Heinrich Hübsch had already received the order for the Barmer Church in 1825, for which he delivered the plans in 1826/27. The on-site construction was carried out by the architect Christian Heyden. Hübsch himself only saw the completed church long after it was completed.

Architectural style

Hübsch rejected the classicism that was still prevalent at the time as an unsuitable architectural style for Central Europe and instead propagated it in his book In What Style Should We Build? the round arch style as a suitable architectural style for its time. Hübsch chose a mixture of styles that was based on medieval Romanesque architecture as well as on the forms of early Christian basilicas . At that time, this style was called the "Byzantine style" or the "round arch style". The term neo-Romanesque or neo-Romanesque came up later.

Building description

Two towers with an angular floor plan are placed on the sides of the flat-looking and block-like closed facade. A small vestibule with three arched arcades is open between the tower bases. As the window shape and for the sound holes of the towers, Hübsch used unmistakable round arched windows throughout, above which circular oculi are embedded in the south and north façades and in the tower floors . The wall fields of the outer walls and towers are structured with pilaster strips and are closed at the top by romanizing round arch friezes . The towers were high and pointed spiers , since, according to Pretty flat roofs - which are actually typical of Romanesque churches - the Church's character was missing.

After the destruction in World War II , the interior of the church was simplified and rebuilt completely changed. The exterior has been largely restored, but the replacement of the tall spiers with flat diamond-shaped helmets has significantly changed the proportions of the original facade.

  • View of the south facade with the original spiers shortly after 1842

  • View of the south facade, today's condition with flat diamond helmets after the reconstruction

Urban situation

The building is south-north oriented: the entrance is in the south and the choir in the north. This has urban development reasons, as today's Martin-Luther-Straße, which branches off at a right angle from the road from Elberfeld to Barmen, which was built at the time, leads to the center of the church. This defined a new focus of the settlement, although it was hidden, but then placed very effectively. In terms of urban planning, the Unterbarmer main church plays an important role in the development of the district. In addition to the linear Chaussee, today's Friedrich-Engels-Allee , which was quickly built on, it forms a second focal point. Architecturally, the comparison with the Catholic St. Laurentius Church in Elberfeld, which was built almost at the same time, is extremely exciting. Both are similar in their basic concept, as they form the center of new parts of the city with their forecourt. Both also have a double tower facade. St. Laurentius, however, still shows himself in the tradition of classicism, which is slowly disappearing; The Unterbarmer Church already points to the architecture of the following decades: eclecticism in the second half of the 19th century freely mixed the elements of the architectural styles of previous epochs.

literature

Web links

Commons : Unterbarmer Hauptkirche  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 15 ′ 56 ″  N , 7 ° 10 ′ 50 ″  E