St. Andrew's Church, Lübbecke
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The present-day
Evangelical-Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...
parish church of St. Andrew (''St. Andreas'') in
Lübbecke Lübbecke (; ) is a town in northeast North Rhine-Westphalia in north Germany. This former county town lies on the northern slopes of the Wiehen Hills (''Wiehengebirge'') and has around 26,000 inhabitants. The town is part of district of Minden- ...
is one of the ancient parishes (''Urpfarreien'') of the
Bishopric of Minden The Prince-Bishopric of Minden () was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. It was progressively secularized following the Protestant Reformation when it came under the rule of Protestant rulers, and by the Peace of Westphal ...
.


Construction history

The originally single-nave, cross-shaped building with a west tower was built, probably from 1160 to 1180, in the Romanesque style. In 1350 it was converted into a Gothic hall church by the addition of two side aisles. This change of style can still be clearly recognised in the interior of the church. As the inscribed stone dating to 1350 states in Latin ''"In the year 1350, when the plague came, when the Geisler was carried out and the Jews were killed, this church was extended."'' During restoration work in 1959–62 the remains of wall and ceiling paintings inside the church were uncovered, some of which dated to as early as the 13th century. The church's fittings include a cup-shaped Gothic baptismal font, a lifesize Christ on the cross made around 1200, and an organ casing from 1628, that was modified in 1642. In addition, a large number of epitaphs have been preserved. The tower is almost 70 metres high, making it one of the highest church towers in a town anywhere in Germany.


History

The
collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...
of St. Andrew in Lübbecke had been founded as a chapter of St. John (''Johanneskapital'') at
Ahlden Ahlden is a municipality in the Heidekreis district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Aller, approx. 15 km southwest of Bad Fallingbostel, and 30 km southeast of Verden. Ahlden is located in the Samtgemeinde ("coll ...
on the Aller, before it moved to Lübbecke in 1295. In 1280 it was at first moved to Neustadt am Rübenberge and in 1295, for security reasons, to Lübbecke. The Church of St. Andrew in Lübbecke was elevated to a collegiate church. In 1550
the Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...
was introduced at St. Andrew's and the church became a Lutheran parish church. In 1624 there were five Lutheran and a Roman Catholic canon. The collegiate chapter was not abolished until 1810 by the French government in Kassel (
Kingdom of Westphalia The Kingdom of Westphalia was a client state of First French Empire, France in present-day Germany that existed from 1807 to 1813. While formally independent, it was ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte. It was named after Westphalia, ...
). The stone of the former castle of '' Meeseburg'' on the summit of the
Meesenkopf The Meesenkopf, also called the ''Mesenkopf'', is a hill in the Wiehen Hills, Wiehen range, south of the town of Lübbecke in Northern Germany. Whilst not particularly prominent, the hill is historically significant as the site of a medieval ca ...
in the Wiehen Hills was supposed to have been used to build the church.


Oberbauerschaft dependency

Until the construction of the church in Oberbauerschaft in 1899 the inhabitants of that village, which lies to the south on the other side of the
Wiehen The Wiehen HillsElkins, T.H. (1972). ''Germany'' (3rd ed.). London: Chatto & Windus, 1972. . (, , also locally, just ''Wiehen'') are a hill range in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony in Germany. The hills run from west to east like a long f ...
ridge, had to make their way to Lübbecke if they wished to attend services. A forest track to Lübbecke, the ''Alte Kirchweg'' ("Old Church Way") and a separate entrance door on the north side of St Andrew's are witness to this historical situation.Officially, Oberbauerschaft did not become independent of the parish of Lübbecke until 1 January 1971. Until then its services were taken by a priest from Lübbecke; the building only having the status of a chapel. Since the end of 2008 the tower of the church has been externally lit at night by floodlights. File:Lübbecke St Andreas1.jpg, 1907 floor plan File:Lübbecke St Andreas2.jpg, Side and end views in 1907 File:Lübbbecke St Andreas3.jpg, St. Andrew's in 1904


Literature

* Helmut Hüffmann: ''Die St. Andreas-Kirche in Lübbecke.'' Lübbecke 1990. * Maria Spahn: ''Das Kollegiatstift St. Andreas zu Lübbecke. Ein Beitrag zur Stadtgeschichte''. In: ''Mindener Beiträge 17''. Minden 1980. * ''Westfälisches Klosterbuch''. Band 1, S. 546–550.


References


External links


Website of the Ev.-Luth. church parish of Lübbecke
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lubbecke, Andreas Lubbecke Lubbecke Lubbecke Lubbecke
Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...