The Große Kirche Aplerbeck is a Protestant church in Aplerbeck, now part of

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

, Germany. It was built from 1867 to 1869 in Gothic Revival style, designed by Christian Heyden. A listed monument, it is used by the parish St. Georg, serving mostly as a concert church.

History

In the 19th century, the population of Aplerbeck increased due to

industrialisation Industrialisation ( UK) or industrialization ( US) 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 reorganisation of an economy for th ...

. 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 on a design by Christian Heyden, who built the same church in

Gütersloh Gütersloh () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe and the administrative region of Detmold (administrative region), Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a Gütersloh (distric ...

. 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 (building), church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height. In England, Flanders and the Netherlands, it is covered by parallel roofs, typically, one for each vessel, whereas in Germany there is often one s ...

with three naves of five bays and a prominent

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

. 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 (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es and

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support th ...

windows. The interior is structured by slender columns with leaf capitals, which support a high

rib vault A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic a ...

Steeple

The high steeple in the west is a landmark, reaching . It has a quadrangle floor, with an

octagon In geometry, an octagon () 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, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

al upper part and a helmet topped by a weathercock. Four sides of the upper part, those parallel with the lower part, carry high abat-sons, while the diagonal walls are decorated with lesenes. 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 ...

s at the bottom.

Furnishing

The company Schulze & Söhne from Paulinzella,

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

, 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 Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

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 Architecture is the art and technique of designing and bu ...

, Berlin / München 2011, , p. 269.

References

External links

*
Große Kirche Aplerbeck
light11.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Grosse Kirche Aplerbeck Protestant churches in Dortmund Churches completed in 1869 Gothic Revival church buildings in Germany