The All Saints Church in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

– also ''Church of the Ascension'', ''All Saints' English and American Episcopal Church'', Germanized ''Anglikanische Kirche'' and ''Anglo-Amerikanische Kirche'' – was an

Anglican church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

building in the

Bachviertel The Bachviertel (in English language, English: ''Bach Quarter''), initially called "Viertel am Johannapark", is a Gründerzeit, Wilhelminian-style residential area in the west of Leipzig's borough Mitte in Saxony, Germany. According the Boroughs ...

neighbourhood in the borough of

Leipzig-Mitte Leipzig-Mitte is one of ten boroughs (''Stadtbezirke'') of Leipzig, located in the center of the city. It includes numerous architectural monuments. Most of them are located in the subdivision "Zentrum", which is sited inside the Inner City Ring ...

.Christoph Kühn: Bachstraßenviertel und Musikviertel: eine historische und städtebauliche Studie, im Auftrag des Stadtplanungsamtes hrsg. von Pro Leipzig, Leipzig 1999, S. 14.

History of the church

Anglican community

In the 19th century, a large number of English and American artists, students and business people lived in the cultural and

trade fair A trade show, also known as trade fair, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific Industry (economics), industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest Product (business), products and se ...

city of Leipzig. As a result, the first or regular Anglican services were held for the Anglo-American community as early as 1862/64.Matthias Gretzschel, Hartmut Mai: Kirchen in Leipzig, Schriften des Leipziger Geschichtsvereins N.F./Bd. 2, Sax-Verlag, Beucha 1993, pp. 32 f. Initially, the

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

St. Thomas Church and the University of Music and Theatre were used for this purpose. To remedy this, the Saxon architect Oskar Mothes was commissioned to plan the construction of the church in 1870. His designs for the building project were used for the Anglican St. Luke's Church in the

bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

n town of

Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary (; , formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It is located at the confluence of the Ohře and Teplá (river), Teplá ri ...

, which was built between 1876 and 1877 (as a kind of "twin sister"), which may have delayed the start of construction in Leipzig. The

consecration Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

of the church in Bohemia took place on 24 June 1877. KV-Lukaskirche

In 1883, the city of Leipzig gave the Anglican community building land in Bismarckstrasse (later Ferdinand-Lassalle-Strasse) at the northwest end of Johannapark. However, due to the prestigious location, those responsible swapped the building site a short time later for the site of the nearby Luther Church, which had been built at the same time, on the corner of Sebastian-Bach-Strasse and Schreberstrasse. In May 1884, the ceremonial laying of the

foundation stone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

took place in the presence of the

Anglican Bishop The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. ''Ministry'' commonly refers to the office of ordained clergy: the ''threefold order'' of bishops, priests and deacons. Anglican ministry incl ...

for Northern and Central Europe, Jonathan Titcomb, and prominent representatives of the city. The church was built with the support of the British and US consulates. The consecration of the ''Church of the Ascension'' took place in June 1885, and the name was later changed to ''All Saints Church''. Mothes based his plans on the English early Gothic style. The

floor plan In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensio ...

of the church was similar to a Latin cross. There were side

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

s in the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

. A high

timber roof truss A timber roof truss is a structural framework of timbers designed to bridge the space above a room and to provide support for a roof. Trusses usually occur at regular intervals, linked by longitudinal timbers such as purlins. The space between eac ...

rose above the nave. The front on Sebastian-Bach-Strasse was decorated with a

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' wa ...

, and a long vestibule connected to the entrance area. A church tower in the left entrance area, which had originally been planned, was never built. The Anglo-American Church housed a

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

. From 1894 to 1898, Thomas James Crawford was the organist here. With the outbreak of war in 1914, the active community dissolved.

Subsequent use and war destruction

During the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

, the building was used by a German

free church A free church is any Christian denomination that is intrinsically separate from government (as opposed to a state church). A free church neither defines government policy, nor accept church theology or policy definitions from the government. A f ...

, the Pentecostal congregation "Christliche Gemeinde e. V.". During the Allied air raids on Leipzig on 4 December 1943 and in the spring of 1945, the church, like other buildings of the southern Bachstrasse was badly damaged. After the Second World War, it was briefly used as a material storage facility until it was blown up - so its damage still allowed this type of use. It thus shares the fate of several former churches in Leipzig. It is not known who was the owner of the sacred building at the time the church was blown up.

Present: Forum Thomanum

In the 2000s, the former church grounds were integrated into the educational campus ''

Forum Thomanum The Forum Thomanum (styled forum thomanum) is a music educational campus developed from 2002 in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany, as the new home of the Thomanerchor which was founded in 1212. It was conceived in 2002 by Georg Christoph Biller, then Thoma ...

'': the

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

forum thomanum was built on the site.

Congregation "Leipzig English Church"

Only after the

peaceful revolution The Peaceful Revolution () – also, in German called ' (, "the turning point") – was one of the peaceful revolutions of 1989 at the peak of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s. A process of sociopolitical change that led to, am ...

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

was a new congregation of English-speaking Christians founded in 1995 with the help of the British Missionary SocietyCornelia Kästner: Leipzig English Church feiert 10 Jahre Gemeindeleben und 120 Jahre Existenz an der Pleiße, in:

Leipziger Volkszeitung The ''Leipziger Volkszeitung'' or ''LVZ'' (German language, German for ''Leipzig People's Newspaper'') is a daily regional newspaper in Leipzig and western Saxony, Germany. First published on 1 October 1894, the LVZ was formerly an important pu ...

17 October 2005, S. 16. under the name Leipzig English Church (LEC), which belongs to the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

and is supported by the

Intercontinental Church Society Intercontinental Church Society (ICS) is a global Anglican mission organisation. ICS is a voluntary Evangelical society, a full member of the Partnership for World Mission, and therefore a recognized agency of the Church of England for overseas w ...

. It is also a member of the Association of Anglican-Episcopal Congregations in Germany, the Association of Christian Churches in Germany and the German Evangelical Alliance.Leipzig English Church (Anglican)
www.kirche-leipzig.de, retrieved 14 November 2016. The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

has been holding its services in the parish hall of St. Andrew's Church again since 2012. Since 2014, a German-language service has been held in addition to the English-language service. The driving force behind this was Revd. Canon Martin Reakes-Williams, who was pastor of this parish until November 2021. The Association of Friends of the Anglican Parish in Leipzig e. V. is located at Shakespearestrasse 53, where the parish office is also located.Impressum
www.leipzig-english-church.de, retrieved 17 October 2023.

References

External links

leipzig.english.church/de/
* https://www.kirche-leipzig.de/gemeinde/leipzig-english-church-anglican/ * https://altes-leipzig.net/anglo-amerikanische-kirche/ * {{cite web, access-date=2023-03-19 , author=Holger Zürch , date=2023-03-19 , title=Sonntagskirche № 72: Die verlorene All Saints Church Leipzig , url=https://www.l-iz.de/bildung/zeitreise/2023/03/sonntagskirche-72-verlorene-all-saints-church-leipzig-522077 , website=

Leipziger Internet Zeitung Leipziger Internet Zeitung (also: l-iz or Lizzy) is a daily online newspaper in the greater Leipzig region of Germany. The newspaper reports on events in various areas, such as politics, economics, culture, education, and sports. In addition, it ...

Former Anglican church buildings in Germany 19th-century Anglican church buildings in Germany Churches in Leipzig Gothic Revival church buildings in Germany Churches completed in 1885 Buildings and structures demolished in 1945