Zion's Church (german: link=no, Zionskirche,

Low Saxon Low Saxon, also known as West Low German ( nds, Nedersassisch, Nedersaksies; nl, Nedersaksisch) are a group of Low German dialects spoken in parts of the Netherlands, northwestern Germany and southern Denmark (in North Schleswig by parts of th ...

: ''Zionskark'') is a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

parish church in Worpswede, Lower Saxony, Germany. The church is used and owned by the Lutheran Congregation of Worpswede within the

Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Hanover The Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover (german: Evangelisch-lutherische Landeskirche Hannovers) is a Lutheran church body ''( Landeskirche)'' in the northern German state of Lower Saxony and the city of Bremerhaven covering the territory of t ...

. It was completed in 1759 and forms a landmark located on top of the

Weyerberg The Weyerberg is a sandy geest island, high, in the Teufelsmoor ("Devil's Bog") in Northern Germany. It is located near its main settlement of Worpswede in the district of Osterholz in Lower Saxony. Its name means something like 'wooded hill'. I ...

hill.

Church building and furnishings

Moor Moor or Moors may refer to: Nature and ecology * Moorland, a habitat characterized by low-growing vegetation and acidic soils. Ethnic and religious groups * Moors, Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta during ...

commissioner carried out the construction of the church building,Hans-Christoph Hoffmann, "Die Kunstlandschaft zwischen Elbe und Weser vom frühen Mittelalter bis zur Neuzeit", in: ''Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser'': 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.), Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995; ), vol. II 'Mittelalter (einschl. Kunstgeschichte)' (1995; ), vol. III 'Neuzeit' (2008; ), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. II: pp. 389–517, here p. 487. following the plans by , Electoral Hanoverian court architect of King and Elector George II Augustus of Great Britain and Hanover. As ''summus episcopus'', i.e. the supreme governor of the Lutheran State Church of Hanover, he provided financial support for the construction of the church. The church was built between 1757 and 1759 during the wearisome

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

, which had its American version as the Anglo-

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

. The brick

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 ...

is not

oriented In mathematics, orientability is a property of some topological spaces such as real vector spaces, Euclidean spaces, surfaces, and more generally manifolds that allows a consistent definition of "clockwise" and "counterclockwise". A space is ...

, but directed on a southwest–northeast axis. Its else rather modest interior is beautified by a typical Protestant ''Kanzelaltar'', combining pulpit and altar table, created in

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

forms. The

pulpit altar A pulpit altar or pulpit-altar is an altar in a church that is built together with a pulpit that is designed as an extension above the altar, so the pulpit, altar, and altarpiece form one unit. This type of altar is typical in a Baroque style church ...

is structured by columns and pilasters, in their midst the pulpit. It bears the

Tetragrammaton The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew language, Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', ''he (l ...

''יהוה'' in a top auriole and to the left of the pulpit the king's

rocaille Rocaille ( , ) was a French style of exuberant decoration, with an abundance of curves, counter-curves, undulations and elements modeled on nature, that appeared in furniture and interior decoration during the early reign of Louis XV of France. ...

-ornamented initials ''GR'' (Georgius Rex, hidden on the photo by a painting of a temporary exhibition).

Lofts A loft is a building's upper storey or elevated area in a room directly under the roof (American usage), or just an attic: a storage space under the roof usually accessed by a ladder (primarily British usage). A loft apartment refers to large ...

(or matronea) span between the outer walls and the columns of Tuscan style.Hans-Christoph Hoffmann, "Die Kunstlandschaft zwischen Elbe und Weser vom frühen Mittelalter bis zur Neuzeit", in: ''Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser'': 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.), Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995; ), vol. II 'Mittelalter (einschl. Kunstgeschichte)' (1995; ), vol. III 'Neuzeit' (2008; ), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. II: pp. 389–517, here p. 488. The structure of the lofts and the columns carrying them show already clear classical influence. In typical classical manner the ceiling was originally completely flat, until in 1898 the central section was changed to

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

. Due to the loft columns connecting to the flat ceiling only the central section could be changed to barrel vault, disturbing the classical appearance of the hall, giving the impression of a three-nave structure. There are heads of

cherub A cherub (; plural cherubim; he, כְּרוּב ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'', likely borrowed from a derived form of akk, 𒅗𒊏𒁍 ''karabu'' "to bless" such as ''karibu'', "one who blesses", a name for the lamassu) is one of the u ...

im by

Clara Westhoff Clara Westhoff (21 September 1878 in Bremen – 9 March 1954 in Fischerhude), also known as ''Clara Rilke'' or ''Clara Rilke-Westhoff'' was a pioneer German sculptor and artist. She was the wife of poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Early life At 17, W ...

and floral ornaments by Paula Becker at the

pendentive In architecture, a pendentive is a constructional device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or of an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to points ...

s and the columns, connecting to the ceiling. After in 1900 Westhoff and Becker, both then members of the

artists' colony An art colony, also known as an artists' colony, can be defined two ways. Its most liberal description refers to the organic congregation of artists in towns, villages and rural areas, often drawn by areas of natural beauty, the prior existence o ...

in Worpswede and still students, had rung the church bells for fun, which was generally understood as a fire alarm, they were fined. They could not pay and were allowed to perform instead by way of offering these decorative elements to the church. The church tower with its

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

forms had been added at the northeastern end of the actual church building only in 1798. Zion's Church is located on the

hill, and with its tower it is a landmark, often used as subject of paintings by the artists.

The organ

In 1763 created the first organ, which is not preserved. Deteriorating over many years, several times repaired, it went out of order in the 1890s."Worpswede, Zionskirche: Orgel der Firma Jürgen Ahrend Orgelbau (2012)"
, on
''Norddeutsche Orgelmusikkultur in Niedersachsen und Europa'' (Nomine)
. Retrieved 6 November 2012. A new organ by the Peternell Brothers turned out too prone to repairs and was replaced in 1959. That organ by underwent the same fate so that the presbytery of the congregation voted for a new organ in 2004. On 4 March 2012 this new organ by Hendrik Ahrend was inaugurated.''Die neue Orgel''
. Retrieved 6 November 2012. Following traditions of

Arp Schnitger Arp Schnitger (2 July 164828 July 1719 (buried)) was an influential Northern German organ builder. Considered the most paramount manufacturer of his time, Schnitger built or rebuilt over 150 organs. He was primarily active in Northern Europe, es ...

and his disciple , Ahrend designed an instrument resembling in its disposition to Gloger's organ, the disposition of which had been recorded."Die Orgel"
, on
''Die neue Orgel''
. Retrieved 6 November 2012.

The churchyard

The cemetery is a churchyard, thus it actually spreads around the church building. It was designed after plans of Findorff and attracts many visitors because of its elevated location on the

and due to the graves preserved there. Among these are those of 80 known painters, authors, musicians and artisans, many of whom were members of the Worpswede Artists' Colony.

List of performers of arts and crafts buried in Worpswede

* Ludwig Ahner; 1911–1979, sculptor and stone chiseller * Karl Arste; 1899–1942, painter and author * ; 1897–1979), author * ; 1873–1953, painter * Annemarie Bertelsmann; 1913–1997, painter * Erna Bertelsmann, née Lundbeck; 1880-1956, sculptor and painter * ; 1913–1942, painter * ; 1877–1963, painter and graphic artist * Sophie Böltjer-Mallet; 1887–1966, painter * Willy Dammasch; 1887–1982, painter and graphic artist * ; 1889–1981, painter and lyricist * ; 1917–1992, photographer *

Hans am Ende Hans am Ende (31 December 1864, Trier – 9 July 1918, Stettin) was a German Impressionism, Impressionist painter. In 1889 he co-founded the artists' colony in Worpswede with Fritz Overbeck, Otto Modersohn, and Heinrich Vogeler. In 1895 this g ...

; 1864–1918, painter * ; 1915–1992, painter * Martin Goldyga; 1894–1956, gallery owner * ; aka Benny; 1895–1973, painter * Herbert Jaeckel; 1904–1981, copperplate engraver * ; 1896–1980, publisher * ; 1915–2007, graphic artist and painter * ; 1883–1960, author * ; 1866–1955, painter and author * ; 1920–1964, sculptor * ; 1921–1995, sculptor * ; 1892–1965, composer *

Fritz Mackensen Fritz Mackensen (born 8 April 1866 in Greene, near Kreiensen, Duchy of Brunswick – 12 May 1953 in Bremen) was a German painter of the Düsseldorf school of painting and Art Nouveau. He was a friend of Otto Modersohn and Hans am Ende, and w ...

; 1866–1953, painter * ; 1903–1996, ceramic artist * Willy Meyer-Osburg; 1934–2005, painter *

Leberecht Migge Leberecht Migge (March 30, 1881 in Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) – May 30, 1935 in Worpswede) was a German landscape architect, regional planner and polemical writer, best known for the incorporation of social gardening principles in the ''Siedlu ...

; 1881–1935, landscape architect, regional planner and protagonist of the life reform movement *

Paula Modersohn-Becker Paula Modersohn-Becker (8 February 1876 – 20 November 1907) was a German Expressionist painter of the late 19th and early 20th century. Her work is noted for its intensity and its blunt, unapologetic humanity, and for the many self-portraits the ...

, 1876–1907, painter * Walter Müller, aka Müller-Worpswede; 1901–1975, graphic artist and interior architect * Bettina Müller-Vogeler; 1903–2001, handloom weaver and tapestry weaver * Friedrich Netzel, aka Fritz; 1891–1945, gallery owner and art merchant * Friedrich Netzel jun.; 1929–1994, gallery owner and art merchant * Friedrich Netzel sen.; 1854–1931, merchant and bookbinder * ; 1915–1986, painter and graphic artist * Willy Ohler; 1888–1975, ceramic artist and painter *

Lisel Oppel Anna Amalie Elisabeth "Lisel" Oppel (14 October 1897 – 11 July 1960) was a German painter. Sixty years after her death, she remains one of the better remembered representatives of the Worpswede Artists' Colony.Christine Krause: ''Die Bilderw ...

; 1897–1960, painter * ; 1884–1964, painter * ; 1939–1993, illustrator * Albert Peter Rehberg, 1895–1956, sculptor * ; aka Tüt; 1906–1990, painter and photographer * Eugenie Saebens, née von Garvens; 1881–1964, author * ; 1895–1969, photographer, graphic artist and painter *

Agnes Sander-Plump Agnes Sander-Plump (born Agnes Plump: 1 May 1888 – 23 December 1980) was a German painter. She was a member of the "Worpswede artists' colony". Biography One of six siblings, Agnes Plump grew up in Bremen where, it was said, the Plumps ...

; 1888–1980, painter * ; 1875–1950, author and novelist * ; 1883–1937, painter * Max Karl Schwarz; 1895–1963, landscape architect * ; 1890–1966, painter * Lore Uphoff-Schill; 1890–1968, painter * ; 1923–2005, philosopher and professor of Lomonosov University * , née Schröder; 1879–1961, painter and tapestry weaver * Martha Vogeler-Schnaars, aka Mascha; 1905–1993, weaver * Heide Weichberger; 1922–1980, ceramic artist * ; 1951–1998, painter, etcher and illustrator * ; 1894–1971, painter and graphic artist * ; 1918–2004, painter and illustrator * ; 1889–1943, painter and sculptor * Sergius Žurek, cabinet maker * Charlotte Žurek-Schenk; 1910–1971, painter

Notes

External links

{{Authority control Worpswede

Worpswede Worpswede (Northern Low Saxon: ''Worpsweed'') is a municipality in the Osterholz-Scharmbeck, district of Osterholz, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the Teufelsmoor, northeast of Bremen (city), Bremen. The small town itself is located n ...