St. Georg is a church and Protestant parish in

Aplerbeck Aplerbeck is a borough ('' Stadtbezirk'') of the city of Dortmund in the Ruhr district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Since 1929, it has been a suburb of Dortmund, located in the city's south-east. The river Emscher, a tributary of the Ruh ...

, 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 ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, Germany. It is a Romanesque cross basilica (Kreuzbasilika) from the 12th century. The only building in Dortmund of its kind, it is a listed monument. In the 19th century when the town grew 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 ...

, a larger church was built, and St. Georg fell into disrepair. It served as a community hall from 1926, and was restored as a church from 1963. It is again the parish church, while the larger church has been mostly used for concerts since 1999.

History

A church in Aplerbeck was first mentioned in a document of 899. Remnants of an early church were found when the present building was restored in 1963. The present Georgskirche is dated between 1150 and 1160. The church became Lutheran with the

Confessio Augustana The Augsburg Confession (), also known as the Augustan Confession or the Augustana from its Latin name, ''Confessio Augustana'', is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Protestant ...

of 1612. Due to

in the 19th century, a new church was built in Aplerbeck, which was later called

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

, dedicated in 1869. The Georgskirche fell into disrepair. It was struck by lightning in 1872, but not restored. In 1894, a plan to demolish the ruin was not supported by the Prussian government. The street on which it was located was eventually named Ruinenstraße (ruin street) because of the condition of the church. The church was a ruin until 1926. A plan to make it the centre of a community hall with a restaurant, or a museum, was declined by the conservator (Landeskonservator) Johannes Körner, who demanded that the Romanesque building should be restored without alterations. He could not prevent the building of a war memorial with a sculpture of

Michael the archangel Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

next to the steeple, which led to the name "Michaelisbau". The church was used as a hall for Nazi assemblies, and also after World War II. In 1963 finally, the church was restored to its former appearance and was called Georgskirche again. It serves as the main parish church, after declining attendance failed to fill the Große Kirche for regular services.

Literature

References

External links

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850 Jahre Georgskirche / Festwoche vom 12. bis 18. September
Georgsgemeinde 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Georg, St Dortmund-Aplerbeck Protestant churches in Dortmund Romanesque architecture in Germany 8th-century churches in Germany