Katharinenkirche, Frankfurt
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St. Catherine's Church () is the largest Protestant church in
Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
, Germany. It is a parish church in the old city centre near one of the most famous city squares, the Hauptwache. The church is dedicated to the
martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...
ed early Christian saint
Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria, also spelled Katherine, was, according to tradition, a Christian saint and Virginity, virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a ...
. The building was completed in 1681 in a
Baroque style The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (i ...
. After being heavily damaged in 1944 during allied air raids in World War II, the church was rebuilt in the 1950s in a simpler style. More detailed restorations of the exterior and interior, including original baroque paintings that survived the war, were completed between 1978 and 2005. The steeple and roof were fully restored in 2011. St. Catherine's has a long tradition as a centre of
church music Church music is a genre of Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian musi ...
, starting from the days when
Georg Philipp Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving works. Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to b ...
was director of the city's music. It hosts a regular concert series around the Rieger organ, installed in 1990.


History


Middle Ages and Reformation

In 1343, ,
cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...
of
Frankfurt Cathedral Frankfurt Cathedral (), officially Imperial Dome of Saint Bartholomew (), is a Roman Catholic Gothic church located in the heart of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is dedicated to Saint Bartholomew. It is the largest religious building in the c ...
, received land in front of the Bockenheimer Tor of the Staufenmauer to build a hospice centre for the sick and poor. Two years later Frosch secured a foundation that guaranteed the financing of the hospital, and expanded it in 1354 with a patrician
convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
dedicated to Saints
Catherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...
and Barbara, organized on the Rule of the Teutonic Knights for Women.
Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
adopted the
Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
in 1533 and unilaterally appropriated all religious buildings within its old city centre. In 1526 the medieval convents were secularized, but the White Ladies Convent (Weißfrauenklosters) continued to operate as a shelter for windows, orphans and other dependents. On 8 March 1554 the convents were given to the Reformed French community in Frankfurt, officially founding that community in the city. Saint Catherine's Church had had protestant preachers beginning in 1522, as it was a pulpit for in 1522, whose preaching there sparked controversy in Frankfurt, for and finally for of
Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...
.


Baroque

The church was built by Melchior Heßler between 1678 and 1681 in the
Baroque style The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (i ...
and stands in height. While the exterior of the building was kept modest, the interior was a lavish Baroque installation. Three sides (west, north and east) had a double gallery. A cycle of paintings on the galleries dominated the space. On the lower level were 41 paintings which depicted biblical scenes, one for each book from the
Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
, and for several books from the
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
. The upper level held 42 paintings with matching topics from the bible or
allegories As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughou ...
. The altar was installed in the East, as usual, but the pulpit was in the south wall. The wooden construction of the ceiling was reminiscent of a late-Gothic rib vault. It held a painting of biblical scenes which was not restored after World War II. The German writer, artist, and politician
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
(1749–1832) was baptized in this church in 1749. The church's status was fixed in 1830 by the ''deeds of dotation'' contracts, which made the church one of the city's nine dotation churches left for eternal usage by a Protestant congregation.


Rebuilding

On 22 March 1944, an air raid destroyed much of the
Altstadt ''Altstadt'' () is the German language word for "old town", and generally refers to the historical town or city centre within the old town or city wall, in contrast to younger suburbs outside. '' Neustadt'' (new town), the logical opposite of ...
, including St. Catherine's, whose clock froze at 09:43 local time. The city of Frankfurt decided to rebuild the church, keeping the interior simple. The rebuilding began at Pentecost 1950 and was completed in October 1954. The architects were Theo Kellner and . The exterior was restored similar to the previous appearance. The interior was the subject of long debates. The wooden ceiling was reconstructed, while the ceiling of the nearby church Liebfrauen was not restored to its Gothic vaults. The multiple Baroque galleries on three sides were not restored, but replaced by a single simple gallery in the west which became the place for the organ. Below the gallery, a hall for meetings and one for weddings were installed. The main entrance was changed from the north to the west. The walls were kept plain white, and furnishing such as altar, benches and lighting were kept intentionally simple, in keeping with the mood of the 1950s. The main decoration of the church are 17 stained windows created by
Charles Crodel Charles Crodel (September 16, 1894 – November 11, 1973) was a German Painting, painter and stained glass artist. Life Crodel was born in Marseille, he studied in 1914 with Richard Riemerschmid, one of the founders of the Deutscher Werkbund, ...
. After restoration, the church was reopened with a service on 24 October 1954. When a U-Bahn was built in the 1960s, it was difficult to enter the church. Exterior restoration was completed in 1978. Several paintings that had decorated the Baroque galleries survived the war. They were restored, and eight of them installed at the new gallery in 1990, including ''Die Predigt des Hosea'' (''Hosea's Sermon''). Another interior restoration began in 2001 and was completed in 2005. The complete set of more than 80 Baroque paintings was shown in 2005 in an exhibition in memory of the 300th anniversary of the death of Spener, in the Franckesche Stiftungen in
Halle (Saale) Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (), is the second largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is the sixth-most populous city in the area of former East Germany after (East Berlin, East) Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Chem ...
. 22 of the paintings were shown in the Katharinenkirche, in addition to the eight permanently there, from 10 October to 31 December 2006. The steeple was restored again in 2011, with a new roof and a colour of the walls matching historic models. The cross on top was also restored. The Protestant congregation enjoys
usufruct Usufruct () is a limited real right (or ''in rem'' right) found in civil law and mixed jurisdictions that unites the two property interests of ''usus'' and ''fructus'': * ''Usus'' (''use'', as in usage of or access to) is the right to use or en ...
of the building. It is a member of the
Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau The Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau (, EKHN) is a United Protestant church body in the German federal states of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate. There is no bishop and therefore no cathedral. One of its most prominent churches is Katharinen ...
.


Music

The Katharinenkirche has been a centre of church music in Frankfurt through history. The first director of church music was Laurentius Erhardi (1598–1669), from 1625 when the church had its first organ. He was at the same time cantor at the municipal gymnasium, which supplied a choir for congregational singing in the church. Erhardi had a little instrumental group of four musicians.
Georg Philipp Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving works. Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to b ...
was from 1712 to 1721 director if music in Frankfurt, which included the church music at the Katharinenkirche. Only then was it customary, according to the chronicler , to accompany the congregation by the organ. In 1718, Telemann appointed Johann Balthasar König as the ''
Kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...
'' at the Katharinenkirche. They were friends, even after Telemann moved on to
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
. König was promoted to municipal director of music in 1727 and held the position until his death in 1758. He was succeeded by Johann Andreas Bismann, who held the office until 1797, succeeded by Nikolaus Woralek, as the last church musician financed by the town. On a private initiative, a ''Kirchlicher Gesangverein'' was founded in 1835, which performed regularly in several churches and halls of Frankfurt. The Katharinenkirche had for a long period no cantor, but only an organist, from 1897 to the destruction in 1944 . When the church was restored in 1954, a new organ was built by Walcker, an instrument with four manuals and 55 stops in mechanical traction. It followed the ideals of the ''Orgelbewegung'' (Organ movement), neglecting the needs of romantic literature. The organ was built on a high level, where the air from the heating system led to pipes getting out of tune. Ingrid Stieber (1918–2005) was appointed organist and founded in 1956 the ''Kantorei St. Katharinen'' (St. Catherine's Chorale). She developed the choir to a quality presented on concert tours and on radio. From 1983, the organist has been Martin Lücker, who was also a professor of organ pedagogy at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst. In the late 1980s, the city commissioned a new organ from the Austrian organ builder Rieger Orgelbau. Completed in 1990, it has 3 manuals, 54 stops, and serves both Baroque and romantic music. Lücker recorded organ music, for example the complete works by
Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...
, and began a concert series in 1983, playing twice per week free concerts of organ music, ''30 Minuten Orgelmusik''. The 3,000th concert was played on 3 July 2014. In 2004 Lücker and
Martin Lutz Martin Lutz (born 19 May 1950) is a German musicologist, conductor and harpsichordist. He was the musical director of the concert choir Schiersteiner Kantorei in Wiesbaden from 1972 to 2017, and founded the biennial festival Wiesbadener Bachwochen ...
began a joined venture to present Bach's church cantatas in ''Bachvespern'' (Bach Vespers) in their liturgical context: a lecture concert is followed by a service with a cantata related to the occasion, ten times per year, performed in Frankfurt and also in
Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...
, in the Marktkirche or the Christophoruskirche.


In popular culture

Although the church is not specifically mentioned either in the novel or in the cartoon, it appears in chapter 22 of the animated television series ''
Heidi, Girl of the Alps is an animated television series produced by Zuiyo Eizo and the series itself based on the novel '' Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning'' by Johanna Spyri (1880). It was directed by Isao Takahata and features contributions by numer ...
''.


References


Bibliography


German

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English

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External links

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Die Katharinenkirche in Frankfurt / vor 1944 / heute
behnelux.de {{Authority control
Catherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...
Frankfurt Main Catherine Churches completed in 1681 Frankfurt-Altstadt