Wichernkirche (Heilbronn)

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Wichernkirche in Heilbronn, of the actual church you can only see the roof with ridge turret in the background
Memorial stone at the Wichernkirche
Figure group in front of the Wichernkirche

The Wichernkirche is the church of the Protestant peace parish in Heilbronn . The church with the address Bismarckstraße 71, which has been protected as a historical monument since 1992, is an emergency church in element construction based on plans by the architect Otto Bartning .

history

After the destruction of the Friedenskirche in World War II, the Friedenskirche parish first had to celebrate its services in the crematorium of the main cemetery . The cramped conditions there made a larger room for worship necessary. In 1948 the congregation built the Wichernkirche as the second church in the EKD's emergency church program; a donation from the Lutheran Churches in the US of $ 10,000 made construction possible. At first they thought of the later reconstruction of the old peace church and therefore did not want to use its name for the emergency church. The fact that the church was named after Johann Hinrich Wichern instead should emphasize its provisional character.

Foundations and masonry were created by members of the peace parish themselves in over 5000 hours of voluntary work. The construction management on site was the responsibility of the Heilbronn architect Eugen Dürr. The foundation stone was laid on May 23, 1948 and the topping-out ceremony on August 31 . After seven months of construction, the church was consecrated with a service on December 19, 1948, the fourth Advent.

description

The Wichernkirche corresponds to Bartning's emergency church type B with a walled-in chancel. It contains a separable community hall; In 1956 a kindergarten was added. Both the internal wooden supporting structure in wood glue binder construction and other parts of the church were delivered and come from a "modular system" of prefabricated elements. The interior with walls made of exposed bricks is deliberately kept reformatory and unadorned and is intended to enable concentration on the sermon service; a large cross in the choir characterizes the room. The church bell is housed in a roof turret and is still rung by hand to this day.

literature

  • Richard Mössinger: Wichernkirche Heilbronn . In: The Protestant churches in the Heilbronn church district. Evangelical Church District Heilbronn, Heilbronn 2005. pp. 28–29
  • Julius Fekete, Simon Haag, Adelheid Hanke, Daniela Naumann: Monument topography Baden-Württemberg. Volume I.5: Heilbronn district . Theiss, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1988-3 . P. 78
  • Bernhard Lattner with texts by Joachim J. Hennze: Silent contemporary witnesses. 500 years of Heilbronn architecture . Edition Lattner, Heilbronn 2005, ISBN 3-9807729-6-9 . P. 55
  • Alexander Renz: Chronicle of the city of Heilbronn. Volume VI: 1945-1951 . Heilbronn City Archives, Heilbronn 1995, ISBN 3-928990-55-1 (Publications of the Heilbronn City Archives, 34). Pp. 239, 259 and 290

Web links

Commons : Wichernkirche  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 49 ° 8 ′ 25 ″  N , 9 ° 14 ′ 0.3 ″  E