The Große Kirche Aplerbeck is a Protestant church in
Aplerbeck
Aplerbeck is a borough ('' Stadtbezirk'') of the city of Dortmund in the Ruhr district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Since 1929, it has been a suburb of Dortmund, located in the city's south-east. The river Emscher, a tributary of the Ru ...
, now part of
Dortmund
Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...
, Germany. It was built from 1867 to 1869 in
Gothic Revival style
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
, designed by
Christian Heyden
Christian Heyden (baptised 14 August 1803, died 4 November 1869) was a German architect. He is known for Gothic Revival buildings, especially churches, in Westphalia, Germany.
Career
Heyden was the son of the '' Baumeister'' Johann Christian H ...
. A listed monument, it is used by the parish
St. Georg
St. Georg (Sankt Georg; ) is a central quarter in the borough Hamburg-Mitte of Hamburg, Germany. In 2020 the population was 11,349.
History
In 1410 the articles 17 and 18 of a contract (''Rezeß'') between the Senate and the citizens were regula ...
, serving mostly as a concert church.
History
![Innenansicht der Großen Kirche in Aplerbeck um 1967](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Innenansicht_der_Gro%C3%9Fen_Kirche_in_Aplerbeck_um_1967..jpg)
In the 19th century, the population of Aplerbeck increased due to
industrialisation
Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...
. The medieval church
Georgskirche was too small.
The new church, which was left without a name for a long time, was built from 1867 in
Gothic Revival style
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
on a design by
Christian Heyden
Christian Heyden (baptised 14 August 1803, died 4 November 1869) was a German architect. He is known for Gothic Revival buildings, especially churches, in Westphalia, Germany.
Career
Heyden was the son of the '' Baumeister'' Johann Christian H ...
, who built the same church in
Gütersloh
Gütersloh () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the area of Westphalia and the administrative region of Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a district of the same name and has a population of 100,194 peo ...
.
A design for galleries, to increase the space for 1,200 people, was never realised.
The church was inaugurated on 15 December 1869, without giving it a name. Locally, it was called the Protestant church ("Evangelische Kirche"). Another name was Black Church ("Schwarze Kirche") because the paint of the ceiling had darkened.
The church was located in the Kirchstraße (Church Street) until Aplerbeck became part of Dortmund in 1929, and the ambiguous street name was changed to Märtmannstraße.
On 12 April 1945, US troops waited to enter Aplerbeck.
The sexton hoisted a white flag as a sign of capitulation, while another white flag was hoisted at the town hall, which made a peaceful entry possible.
From 1999, the church was mostly used for concerts, and was consistently called "Große Kirche".
Building
The church is a
hall church
A hall church is a church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was invented in the mid-19th century by Wilhelm Lübke, a pioneering German art historian. In contrast to an archi ...
with three naves of five
bays and a prominent
choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...
. The walls are structured by
buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...
es and
tracery
Tracery is an architecture, architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of Molding (decorative), moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the s ...
windows. The interior is structured by slender columns with
leaf capitals, which support a high
rib vault.
Steeple
The high steeple in the west is a landmark, reaching . It has a quadrangle floor, with an
octagon
In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon.
A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...
al upper part and a helmet topped by a
weathercock
A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...
. Four sides of the upper part, those parallel with the lower part, carry high
abat-sons, while the diagonal walls are decorated with
lesene
A lesene, also called a pilaster strip, is an architectural term for a narrow, low-relief vertical pillar on a wall. It resembles a pilaster, but does not have a base or capital. It is typical in Lombardic and Rijnlandish architectural building ...
s. The pointed helmet with copper shingles is framed by
baluster
A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its cons ...
s at the bottom.
Furnishing
The company
Schulze & Söhne from
Paulinzella,
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
, who built the organ,
also installed the altar and the pulpit. The painting on the high altar, showing a Crucifixion scene,
was created in 1885 by .
While many furnishings designed by Heyden were changed over the years, the painting has been returned to the church.
Church music
The
organ was built by Schulze & Söhne. It was inaugurated on 15 December 1869, and approved on 1 October 1870. It was improved in 1935 by
Walcker, adding pipes, installing electrical tracture and changing the
console
Console may refer to:
Computing and video games
* System console, a physical device to operate a computer
** Virtual console, a user interface for multiple computer consoles on one device
** Command-line interface, a method of interacting with ...
. Further improvements by Walcker followed in 1939, such as changing stops.
In 1870 already, people complained about the long reverberation in the building of seven seconds. In 1967, Albert Eisenberg, an international acoustics specialist, recommended new benches with textile cushioning.
From 1999, the church has been used mostly for concerts.
Historic monument
In 1967, the parish requested listing of the building as a historic monument (Denkmal), because it needed major repair which the parish could not afford. It was declared an example of a neo-Gothic hall church of rare unity of style ("ein Beispiel einer neugotischen Hallenkirche von seltener Geschlossenheit" on 6 December 1967.
Siegfried Liesenberg wrote a guide book in 2001, ''Der Zeigefinger Gottes. Zur Geschichte der Großen Kirche Aplerbeck in der Märtmannstraße.'', which translates to ''God's Index Finger'', about the history of the Große Kirche in the Märtmannstraße.
Gallery
Aplerbeck von Feldchenbahnbruecke IMGP2266.jpg, View from the east, 2011
Aplerbeck Grosse Kirche IMGP0450 wp.jpg, Main Entrance from the south
Aplerbeck Grosse Kirche IMGP0479 wp.jpg, The steeple from the north
Aplerbeck Grosse Kirche IMGP0474 wp.jpg, A window
Titelbild des Kirchenführers Der Zeigefinger Gottes von Siegfried Liesenberg..jpg, Title of a guide book, ''God's Index Finger''
Literature
* Ursula Quednau (ed.): '
Deutscher Kunstverlag
The Deutscher Kunstverlag (DKV) is an educational publishing house with offices in Berlin and Munich. The publisher specializes in books about art, cultural history, architecture, and historic preservation.
History
Deutscher Kunstverlag was fo ...
, Berlin / München 2011, , p. 269.
References
External links
*
Große Kirche Aplerbecklight11.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosse Kirche Aplerbeck
Protestant churches in Dortmund
Churches completed in 1869
Gothic Revival church buildings in Germany