Aegidien Church (german: Aegidienkirche, italics=unset, after

Saint Giles Saint Giles (, la, Aegidius, french: Gilles), also known as Giles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lower Rhône most likely in the 6th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly lege ...

to whom the church was dedicated) is a war memorial in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, the capital of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, Germany. A church dating to 1347 when it replaced an older Romanesque church dating to 1163 which in turn replaced an even earlier chapel, Aegidien Church was destroyed during the night beginning 8October 1943 by aerial bombings of Hanover during World War II. In , Aegidien Church became a

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

dedicated to victims of war and of violence.

History

In , the present

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

building was inaugurated as a war memorial, in part reconstructed with

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

from the

Deister The Deister is a chain of hills in the German state of Lower Saxony, about 15 mi (25 km) southwest of the city of Hanover. It runs in a north-westerly direction from Springe in the south to Rodenberg in the north. The next in the chain ...

, a chain of hills situated about southwest of Aegidien Church. Originally completed in 1347 as a church dedicated to Saint Giles, one of the

Fourteen Holy Helpers The Fourteen Holy Helpers (german: Vierzehn Nothelfer, la, Quattuordecim auxiliatores) are a group of saints venerated together by Roman Catholic Christians because their intercession is believed to be particularly effective, especially against ...

, it replaced a Romanesque church built in 1156–63 at the same site situated in the

old town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are ma ...

of Hanover, which replaced an early-Romanesque chapel thought to have been constructed around the turn of the first millennium. In 1703–11, designed the

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 ...

facade with which the steeple was decorated, and in 1826

Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves (17 December 1788 – 30 April 1864) was a German architect, civil engineer and urban planner. Born in Uslar, Lower Saxony, he lived and worked primarily in the city of Hanover and also died there. He was appointed ...

used

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

columns to remodel the interior of the church. Like the other two churches in the old town, Market Church and Church of the Holy Cross, Aegidien Church was destroyed along with most of the old town in 1943. The only two items in its interior that survived destruction are the brass

baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring). ...

dating to 1490 that is now located in the Market Church, and three

chandelier A chandelier (; also known as girandole, candelabra lamp, or least commonly suspended lights) is a branched ornamental light fixture designed to be mounted on ceilings or walls. Chandeliers are often ornate, and normally use incandescent li ...

s that are now located in the Church of the Holy Cross. However, several

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

s are featured on the outer walls. One of these shows Susanna Magdalena Oldekop, who died in 1648 as a child, with an angel. Also featured is a copy of the a relief of seven praying men who, according to legend, died at the defending the town in 1480; the original is now kept in the Hanover Historical Museum. Lehmann Demut

In 1959 designed a monumental sculpture called ''Humility'' () for the interior of Aegidien Church, which became part of the Market Church parish in 1982. Hiroshima-Tag 6

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

, a

twin town A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

of Hanover since 1983, donated the peace bell ( ja,

bonshō , also known as or are large bells found in Buddhist temples throughout Japan, used to summon the monks to prayer and to demarcate periods of time. Rather than containing a clapper, are struck from the outside, using either a handheld mall ...

) close to the tower in 1985. It is used in an annual service on

Hiroshima Day The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the on ...

(6 August).

General references

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References

External links

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Stadthistorie.info
{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1347

Aegidius Aegidius (died 464 or 465) was the ruler of the short-lived Kingdom of Soissons from 461 to 464/465AD. Before his ascension, he became ''magister militum per Gallias'' (Master of the Soldiers for Gaul) serving under Majorian, in 458AD. An arden ...

Destroyed churches in Germany Ruins of churches destroyed during World War II World War II memorials in Germany