Reconciliation Church (Völklingen)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Church of Reconciliation
Tower front of the church
Old Martinskirche, exterior, around 1900
Old Martinskirche, interior, around 1900
Reconciliation Church, view from the gallery
Reconciliation Church, view inside the church
Reconciliation Church, ceiling painting "Victory Power of the Cross and Gospel" by Waldemar Kolmsperger d. J.

The Church of Reconciliation is the parish church of the Evangelical congregation Völklingen Reconciliation in Saarland Völklingen in the church district Saar-West of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland . Since the congregation was the only Protestant parish in Völklingen for years, the church was initially simply called the city ​​church , but was officially called the “Church of the Redeemer”. According to a survey of the members of the community, the church was renamed the Church of Reconciliation in 1968 . This was done in order to differentiate between newly established Protestant churches in other parts of the city of Völklingen. In the list of monuments of the Saarland, the church is a single monument listed.

history

On February 12, 1922, the then Protestant church in Völklingen, the Martinskirche, was destroyed in a fire. The old building was a baroque hall church , which was built between 1737 and 1738. Until its own Catholic church was opened in 1848, the Völklingen St. Eligius Church , which was demolished in 1912 , the Martinskirche served as a simultaneous church for Evangelical and Catholic Christians in Völklingen. After 1848, the Martinskirche was only used by the Protestant community. In 1882 the three-axle nave, to which a medieval tower was presented, was expanded to include a sweeping transept and a new polygonal choir in neo-Romanesque style . After the fire of 1922, the old Martinskirche was demolished in the 1930s.

The Protestant parish of Völklingen then decided to build a new church building in the city center, which was largely financed by Hermann Röchling . He gave a loan of 250,000 Reichsmarks , to which 150,000 Reichsmarks of the international government commission of the League of Nations were added. As part of a church building bazaar, additional funds were raised by the population. At Hermann Röchling's request, the new building was to be built in the style of the "Rhenish-Franconian Baroque". The neo-baroque experienced its last renaissance in the 1920s, especially in southern Germany. The Völklingen presbytery also joined Röchling's wish for a historical design of the church building . In 1925 an architectural competition was announced and 164 designs were received.

The final design for the church building came from the Heidelberg architect Franz Sales Kuhn , who, however, was not awarded a prize in the competition for formal reasons. When it came to the exterior design, Kuhn was guided by the building tradition of the Saarbrücken Ludwigskirche and other Saarbrücken stem buildings . Kuhn's urban planning solution created an architectural focal point for the Völklingen community.

The architects Hans Heinlein and Franz Wagner from Völklingen were in charge of construction on site . The designs for the sculptural work come from the sculptor W. Rahtz in Heidelberg. The groundbreaking ceremony was on May 10, 1926, the foundation stone was laid on July 4, 1926 and the completed church was inaugurated on May 13, 1928.

architecture

The broad, neo-baroque transept hall is a central building . The exterior of the sacred building consists of a transverse rectangle, on whose long sides the high square tower and the also rectangular choir are built. Inside, the room is designed as a transverse oval with oval pillars and a circumferential gallery. In the rectangular gores stairwells are to Empore housed. The interior is covered by a coffered flat dome, the center of which is a large oval mirror field with a ceiling painting.

The exterior of the church is two-story and thus relates to the structure of the interior. The wall surfaces of the exterior building are plastered and painted white. The base zone, the dividing elements, the door and window reveals are made of high-quality, light-colored stone made of Ettringer tuff and left stone-transparent. The heavily windowed upper floor rises above the high basement made up of large blocks of houses, which formally also includes the entrance areas. The high arched windows have ears . Flat, wide pilasters optically underline the height of the building. Further pilasters accompany the rounded edges of the main building as well as those of the tower and choir. A "frieze cornice" is cranked below the roof approach around the pilasters and connects the components with one another. The resulting frieze zone is not structured and plastered white.

The choir, designed as a central risalit, which houses the baptistery and baptistery as well as the sacristy , is divided into three parts by broad, flat pilasters and closes with a triangular gable that is blown down . The two outer wall panels each subdivide two figure niches. There are iron figures by Victor Funk in the niches. The sculptures represent personifications of love in the form of mother with child, mercy in the figure of the nurse, loyalty in the group of figures of the soldier protecting his comrades and a Völklingen iron caster. The middle, wider wall area is characterized by a small balcony with a balustrade above the base area. The gable cornice is interrupted by the large relief image below a round arch , which symbolizes the Trinity of God. God the Father, God Son and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove bless the cosmos in the form of a sphere with the signs of the zodiac and other stars. God the Father holds the cross-crowned globe in his left hand. Below the dove of the Holy Spirit is a Bible with a sacrament chalice above it. A putti halo surrounds the trinity. Above the round arch, two putti indicate a banderole that indicates the construction time.

A two-flight staircase with a balustrade opens up the tower facade that defines the cityscape. The high tower also serves as a portal vestibule. The two lower free floors have pilaster-flanked edge bars. The bell storey is drawn in over a balustrade. The edges are heavily beveled and also emphasized by pilasters with ionizing capitals . Blasted gables, segmental arches and “frieze cornices” are recorded analogously to the main building. A copper onion dome crowns the representative tower structure. The vigorously worked, blasted gable is finely architraved and covers the portal as a segmented arch.

The architect's freer use of neo-baroque forms is evident in the southern side portal. The peculiar column shafts consist of alternating thicker and thinner drums . The capital zone does not unload, but the last drum jumps back again and takes on a round cover plate and a narrow square frame . The high cornice of the blasted gable is segmental arch-shaped and cranked sideways with the concave pilasters. With this interpretation, which reduces details, the advanced solution from historicism becomes apparent, while the neo-baroque design and the choice of a cross-shaped central area on the outside refer to the Ludwigskirche in Saarbrücken. The cross-oval Völklingen interior organization and its design, however, do not go back to this historical model.

In 1953, 1961, 1973, 1984–85 and 1997 the church was restored . In 2003, outdoor lighting was installed as part of the “Light Master Plan”, which Andreas Thiel and Peter Schütz from the Office for Lighting Design (Saarbrücken) were responsible for. Under the direction of the architect Hans-Jürgen Stein (Kasel / Trier), the church was restored from 2006 to 2008.

Construction equipment

The interior of the church

The eye-catcher inside the church is the elliptical fresco ceiling painting with the title “Victory Power of the Cross and Gospel”, which was created between 1935 and 1937. It is the work of the Munich painter Waldemar Kolmsperger the Elder. J. (1881–1954) and depicts a traditional Christian motif with additional elements: the day of the Last Judgment with Christ in the middle, surrounded by the Völklingen industrial landscape with smoking factory chimneys , the deceased members of the Röchling family, one of them stripping off his fetters Freedom aspiring eagle as an allegorical reference to the reorganization of the Saar area into the German Reich in 1935 and the group of those who were responsible for the construction (architects, pastors, church masters), together with a small model of the church. This latter group is iconographically based on medieval images of noble church donors. Reference for the dome painting of the Völklingen Reconciliation Church by Kolmsperger could be the elaborate and extensive neo-baroque vault painting of the former abbey church of St. Nabor in nearby St. Avold in Lorraine in the years 1910 to 1911 by his father, Waldemar Kolmsperger the Elder. Ä. , have been.

The Völklingen dome painting depicts the builder of the church, the architect Franz Kuhn, as well as the interior designer of the church, the Völklinger Hans Heinlein, in the group of people around the church model. In addition, you can see the Völklingen pastors Gustav Zillessen, Max Lentze and Pastor Rolle in regalia as well as the church masters Ludwig Sattler and Georg Braun. The donor of the painting had set the stipulation that no people living at the time of completion should be shown. Painter Kolmsperger nevertheless portrayed the architects who were still living at the time, as he was of the opinion that as architects they should definitely be part of the picture. The upper of the two large angels under the outstretched hand of Christ represents Ilse Rupp, whose father was treasurer of the parish and who was heavily involved in the planning of the church. With regard to the Röchling family, the following people are represented: Karl Röchling with a roll of paper in his hand, on his left shoulder his brother Theodor Röchling (1823–1885). Both had acquired the Völklingen ironworks in 1881 and raised it to a new size. Richard Röchling and Christian Röchling are depicted under the outstretched hand of Karl Röchling. In front of Karl Röchling sits his son Louis Röchling (1863–1926) with his arms crossed. The clergyman with a wig on Louis' left shoulder is Johann Friedrich Röchling (1836–1814), pastor and inspector of the Protestant churches in Saarbrücken, and his father, the Chamber Councilor Johann Gottfried Röchling (1703–1780). The other people shown have no specific role models in Völklingen community life.

The pulpit and altar come from Marmorindustrie Kiefer AG ( Kiefersfelden / Upper Bavaria ) . On the front of the pulpit there are relief images that symbolically represent the 4 evangelists . The altar bible was donated by Reich President Paul von Hindenburg for the dedication of the church and contains a handwritten dedication .

For the cassettes of the domed ceiling, Wittner & Cie. ( Saarlouis ), responsible for the marble work Jakob Biegel (Völklingen) and the United Stonemason and Sculpture Workshop Saarbrücken and for the windows M. Angel & Cie. (Saarbrücken).

  • Altar with angel sculptures

  • Pulpit with the evangelist symbols

  • Baptismal font with the relief of the baptism of Jesus

  • Wedding chapel

  • Two-story tower gallery

The exterior of the church

  • Façade sculptures of the Church of Reconciliation

  • Facade sculpture "work"

  • Facade sculpture "Mercy"

  • Facade sculpture "love"

  • Façade sculpture "Loyalty"

  • Gable relief "The Trinity blesses the universe"

The models for all sculptural work come from the Heidelberg sculptor Wilhelm Rahtz and were executed by A. Kuhn (Saarbrücken). These works include the semicircular relief on the gable on the west side, which shows the Trinity of God protecting the universe in a circle of praising angels and in the center the representations of the Bible and chalice as symbols of word and sacrament . The relief thematizes the Lutheran theology of salvation, according to which man receives news of God's will to redeem God solely through biblical scripture ("sola scriptura", Latin "only through scripture"), through Christ's death on the cross ("solus Christ", Latin "alone through Christ ”) is redeemed when he trusts himself (“ sola fide ”, Latin“ solely through faith ”) to divine grace (“ sola gratia ”, Latin“ solely through grace ”).

The tower capitals were made by the sculptor Lorscheider ( Schiffweiler ).

Sculptor Viktor Funk ( Munich ) designed four cast iron figures that were cast in the Völklinger Hütte in 1935 . They were a foundation of the Röchling family and are arranged symmetrically to the right and left of the central axis of the semicircular relief on the gable on the west side . They depict allegories of work ( iron caster ), love (mother with child), mercy ( nurse ) and loyalty ( soldier with hand grenade , protecting a wounded comrade ). The latter figure has been controversial since 1945. In 1984 the hand grenade was sawed off during a restoration, but soon welded on again by decision of the presbytery in 1985. Since then it has remained the subject of heated discussions.

There is a statue of Martin Luther in a niche in the tower . As decoration on all inputs are Luther roses attached.

The grave monuments of Leopoldina Dorothea van den Broek (1819) and Matthias Raspiller (1832), which are listed as historical monuments , can be found in the Bürgerpark today.

organ

Organ prospectus

The organ of the church was built in 1930 by the organ building workshop EF Walcker & Cie. ( Ludwigsburg ) built as opus 2257. The church music director at the time, Karl Rahner , spoke of a “role model” and “pointing the way for organ building throughout the Saarland” with reference to the adaptation of the Alsatian organ reform and “Walker's Freiburg Praetorius organ”. The technical equipment of the instrument was found to be very prone to failure and soon showed defects. In the 1970s the organ finally became unplayable, so that in 1979 it was restored by the organ building workshop Karl Schuke ( Berlin ). During the restoration work, the pipe material and the sound concept, which was based on the romantic tradition, remained largely untouched, but the technical system was modernized. Instead of the original pocket drawer and electro-pneumatic action , the organ was equipped with sliding drawers with a mechanical action mechanism and an electric stop action mechanism.

The organ has 54 stops , distributed over three manuals and pedal, and is divided into a monumental main organ that covers the entire width of the church and a back positive .

I Rückpositiv C – g 3
01. Principal 8th'
02. Tube bare 8th'
03. Quintadena 8th'
04th octave 4 ′
05. recorder 4 ′
06th Schwegel 2 ′
07th Sesquialtera II 0
08th. Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
09. Scharff III-V
10. Cymbel III
11. Krummhorn 8th'
12. shelf 4 ′
Tremulant
II Hauptwerk C – g 3
13. Night horn 16 ′
14th Principal 08th'
15th Drone 08th'
16. Flûte harmonique 08th'
17th Gemshorn 08th'
18th octave 04 ′
19th flute 04 ′
20th Fifth 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
21st octave 02 ′
22nd Cornett III-IV (from c 2 ) 0
23. Mixture IV-VI
24. Scharff IV
25th bassoon 16 ′
26th Trumpet 08th'
III Swell C – g 3
27. Dumped 16 ′
28. Principal 08th'
29 Transverse flute 08th'
30th Salizional 08th'
31. Voix Celeste 0 08th'
32. octave 04 ′
33. Night horn 04 ′
34. Quintadena 04 ′
35. Fifth 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
36. Forest flute 02 ′
37. third 01 3 ⁄ 5  ′
38. Sif flute 01'
39. Mixture V-VII
40. oboe 08th'
41. shawm 04 ′
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
42. Pedestal 32 ′
43. Principal 16 ′
44. double bass 0 16 ′
45. Sub bass 16 ′
46. octave 08th'
47. Bass flute 08th'
48. octave 04 ′
49. Night horn 02 ′
50. Mixture VI
51. trombone 16 ′
52. Trumpet 08th'
53. Klairon 04 ′
54. Cornett 02 ′
  • Coupling : I / II, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P
  • Playing aids : hand register, 3 free combinations, crescendo roller, tutti, general coupling, hand register off, roller off, tongues off, 32 '+ 16' + undercoupling off, normal coupling out of the roller, tongues out of the roller, pedal register off, rocker III

literature

  • Ruth Bauer: Studies on neo-baroque architecture in Saarland. unpublished master's thesis, Saarbrücken University, 1989, pp. 148–150.
  • Citizens' Initiative Alter Brühl e. V. (Ed.): Contributions to the history of Völklingen and its Martinskirche, issue 1. Völklingen 2006.
  • Joachim Conrad (ed.): Cradle of a city. Research on Martinskirche in Alten Brühl von Völklingen. Saarbrücken 2010.
  • Hans Caspary et al. a. (Ed.): Dehio Handbook of German Art Monuments, Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland. 2nd edition, Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 1984, p. 1098.
  • Sabine Donié: The Martinskirche in Völklingen. Birth and baptism certificate of our hometown. Results of the 1st excavation period 2001. Völklingen 2001.
  • Philipp de Lorenzi: Contributions to the history of all parishes in the Diocese of Trier. Trier 1887, p. 525 f.
  • Parish Völklingen (Ed.): Consecration of the new Reconciliation Church. Völklingen 1928.
  • The Protestant Reconciliation Church in Völklingen on the occasion of the 60th anniversary. Völklingen 1988.
  • Carmen Löw, Jan Selmer: The Martinskirche in Völklingen. Birth and baptism certificate of our hometown. Results of the 2nd excavation period 2002. Völklingen 2003.
  • Kristine Marschall: Sacred buildings of classicism and historicism in Saarland. (= Publications of the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland , Volume 40), Saarbrücken 2002, pp. 355–356, pp. 594–596.
  • Jan Selmer: The Martinskirche and Völklingen. Small historical summary. Völklingen 2004.

Web links

Commons : Church of Reconciliation (Völklingen)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Church districts of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland . At: www.ekir.de, accessed on September 4, 2012
  2. ↑ parishes . On: www.evks-data.de ( Evangelisch im Saarland ), accessed on September 4, 2012
  3. ↑ a b c d e Gerhild Krebs - Reconciliation Church, Völklingen . At: www.memotransfront.uni-saarland.de, accessed on September 4, 2012
  4. ↑ a b List of monuments of the Saarland, sub-monuments list Mittelstadt Völklingen (PDF; 419 kB), accessed on September 4, 2012
  5. ↑ Kristine Marschall: Sacred buildings of classicism and historicism in Saarland. (= Publications of the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland , Volume 40.) Saarbrücken 2002, pp. 354–355, pp. 593–594, p. 632.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h Information on the Völklingen Church of Reconciliation . At: www.kunstlexikonsaar.de, accessed on September 4, 2012
  7. ^ André Pichler et Pascal Flaus: Histoire des Saint-Avold par ses monuments religieux (Societé d´Histoire du Pays Naborien), Merzig 2015, pp. 110–114.
  8. ^ Church of Reconciliation - The Church of the Evangelical Parish of Völklingens . At: www.voelklingen-im-wandel.de, accessed on September 7, 2012
  9. ↑ oA: Ludwig Boslet. Six organ sonatas. (Booklet accompanying the CD, Gema - Querstand) 2010, p. 14
  10. ↑ www.festivaldorgues.org Organ: the Church of Reconciliation in Völklingen , accessed on September 4, 2012
  11. ^ Church of Reconciliation - The Church of the Evangelical Parish of Völklingens . At: www.voelklingen-im-wandel.de, accessed on September 4, 2012

Coordinates: 49 ° 15 '8.5 "  N , 6 ° 51' 19.7"  E