Holy Cross Church, Frankfurt-Bornheim
Encyclopedia
| Holy Cross Church Frankfurt am Main-Bornheim |
|
|---|---|
 |
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| Length | 53.20 meters |
| Width | 18.52 meters |
| Height | 15.50 meters |
| Steeple height | 25.00 meters |
| Steeple crosses height | 6.00 meters |
| Steeple crosses width | 1.50 meters |
The Holy Cross Church (German: Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche) is a Roman Catholic church in the district Bornheim
Bornheim (Frankfurt am Main)
Bornheim is a district or Stadtteil of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, with approximately 25,861 inhabitants. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Innenstadt IV, and is subdivided into 5 Stadtbezirke....
of Frankfurt am Main (Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
). It was built by Martin Weber
Martin Weber (architect)
Martin Weber was a German architect who designed Catholic churches.-Life and work:After training in construction, he went to the building and art school in Offenbach am Main...
from 1928 to 1929, on a rise then known as Bornheimer Hang. The church is an unusual example of interwar modernist as sacred architecture of Bauhaus architecture.
The church was finally completed on 25 August 1929 and handed to the Catholic congregation of Bornheim. It was damaged in the Second World War, and afterwards rebuilt with money donated for the purpose.
It is branch church of the parish St. Josef and lies in the Diocese Limburg
Roman Catholic Diocese of Limburg
The Diocese of Limburg is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany.It was erected in 1821 from the Diocese of Trier and is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Cologne. The Holy Cross Church in Bornheim, Frankfurt am Main, is a part of the diocese...
. The diocese gave a new regulation to the church from 1 August 2007 and settled in it the center for Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
and spirituality
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
. During a 18-month period of renovation of the St. Leonhard's Church in the city center it is also home of the St. Leonhard's International English-Speaking Catholic Parish.
Foundation
The Holy Cross church was built in 1929 from the master of church building Martin Weber and is at the edge of the housing development at the Bornheimer Hang. The planned community center at the end of the Wittelsbacher Allee wasn't built so there was enough space for building the new church. The Holy Cross Church was the second catholic church in Frankfurt-Bornheim. The parish
Parish (Catholic Church)
In the Roman Catholic Church, a parish is the lowest ecclesiastical geographical subdivision: from ecclesiastical province to diocese to deanery to parish.-Requirements:A parish needs two things under common law to become a parish...
was an outsourcing of the later neighbour fold St. Josef, the first catholic church in Bornheim. Reason was the expansion of the quarter Bornheim eastward at the Bornheimer Hang with the new settlement of the town planner Ernst May who built many new apartment buildings. This caused a growing number of Catholics who were living in the quarter. On 3 August 1927 a jury decided in a competition for the draft with the name slope crown from the master of church building Martin Weber. The three other participators of the competition were Hans and Christoph Rummel (Frankfurt), Richard Steidle (Munich) and Robert B. Witte (Dresden). There were several specifications for the architects like for example the front of the steeple
Steeple (architecture)
A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure...
at the Wittelsbacher Allee, between 700 to 800 seats, a high altar and two side altars and a organ loft for 150 people. The building model was called by Martin Weber slope crown, since the church should crown the Bornheimer Hang (slope). On 19 February 1928 the construction work began with the first cut of the spade. The 18. March 1928 was the day of the laying of the foundation stone. The topping-out ceremony was celebrated on 14 September 1928. On 25 August 1929 the church was inaugurated by Ludwig Maria Hugo, the Bishop of Diocese Mainz. The name was selected, since medieval Frankfurt possessed several the holy cross
Christian cross
The Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity...
dedicated places. One of it was the chapel of the hospital to the holy cross which was donated in 1343 by Wicker Frosch. It formed with the chapel of the Katharinenkloster which was built in 1354 a small double church, the predecessor building of the today's Evangelical-Lutheran Katharinen church. Until 1950 were the Holy Cross parish financially still a part of the St. Josef parish with which it has a common church executive committee.
War
In the time starting from 1933 also the Holy Cross parish was under suppression by the National SocialistsNazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
(“Nazis”) and from 1939 has also lost fold members in the Second World War. The windows at the west side of the church were destroyed on 4 October 1943 by parts of an attack, which should meet the water works near the cemetery of Bornheim. During the first large-scale attack on Frankfurt in the evening of the same day also the windows of the eastern side and the parsonage building were destroyed by a bomb
Bomb
A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
row, which came down in the garden plots at the Bornheimer Hang. With the next large attack on the city on 29 January 1944 parsonage building was heavily met. At the night from the 18. to the 19. March 1944 the church was hit by several incendiary bombs
Incendiary device
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices or incendiary bombs are bombs designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using materials such as napalm, thermite, chlorine trifluoride, or white phosphorus....
, which pierced the roof timberwork. The bombs could extinguished inside the church. On 11 December 1944 the church was hit by three bombs, which tore the large outside staircase at the west side of the steeple and the auxiliary chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
in the steeple hall. Now a large hole was into the west side of the nave. The services had to be held thereafter in the heating plant room underneath the steeple.
Post-war period
The heating plant room underneath the steeple was used until 1. July 1946 as church. During the time of the reconstruction starting from 26 September 1948 the parish hall which is under the church was used as a church beneath the church. 1950 Holy Cross became its own parish with its own church executive committee. 1951 the order for the re-establishment of the church could be given. 1952 the inside of the church were restored. The church windows were glazed new by the glass painter Lorenz Matheis with stained glass windowStained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
in white and golden yellow colours. The walls and the ceiling were painted in a single-coloured finish. 1957 the kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
in the west of the church was built. In 1965 a stage for events was built in the parish hall under the church ship during a renovation. In 1968 the altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
area was transformed, a consequence of the liturgy reformation by the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
. The altar was shifted, so that the priest could celebrate the service turned to the fold. A stone lectern replaced the torn off pulpit. The old altar was replaced by the baptismal font. In 1969 the first election of the parish council took place. In 1975 the board of directors elected by the parish council replaced the church executive committee. In 1990 a further transformation of the altar was executed. The baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
al font now was located in the entrance hall of the church. It was replaced by a sacramential altar at the place of the old high altar was built and the tabernacle
Church tabernacle
A tabernacle is the fixed, locked box in which, in some Christian churches, the Eucharist is "reserved" . A less obvious container, set into the wall, is called an aumbry....
was placed on it. Starting from 1991 the minister of the fold was also simultaneous ministers of the parish Maria Rosenkranz in Frankfurt-Seckbach
Seckbach (Frankfurt am Main)
Seckbach is a district or Stadtteil of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Ost....
. 1992 the church interior was restored to the original condition with the walls in a checkerboard
Checkerboard
A checkerboard or chequerboard is a board of chequered pattern on which English draughts is played. It is an 8×8 board and the 64 squares are of alternating dark and light color, often red and black....
pattern in light and dark red colours.
Present
At 1. August 2007 the diocese Limburg intended the church on instruction of former bishop Franz Kamphaus to the center for Christian meditation and spirituality. The center is a pastorale institution of the diocese and is subordinate to the departmental head for pastoral services of the episcopalian chair. In the center services, meditation courses, meditation days, religious accompanying discussions and other meetings are offered. A padre of the FranciscanFranciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
takes the responsibility for the offers [6] (director/conductor of the center), as well as of two mission-medical sisters. The target group are mainly Christians, addresses themselves however to humans of all denominations, world views and cultures. The team publishes regularly a program. With the mechanism of the center the Holy Cross church lost its past role as a parish church. Today the past Gemeindegebiet belongs of holy cross again to the parish pc. Josef from that the fold had once come out. The two catholic Bornheimer municipalities were united, with a part of the Gemeindegebietes of the past parish St. Michael, to the new parish St. Josef. Together with its mother fold St. Josef in fount home and the neighbour parish Maria Rosenkranz in Seckbach forms a common pastoral area in which an intensified co-operation is to take place. Approximately 10,000 fold members count to the unified new parish. This is thereby the largest church fold in the diocese Limburg. For the first half of the 2010s a unification of the pastoral area Frankfurt-Bornheim and the parishes Heilig-Geist in Frankfurt-Riederwald
Riederwald (Frankfurt am Main)
Riederwald is a district or Stadtteil of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Ost. It is one of the smallest Frankfurt districts...
and and St. Hildegard in Frankfurt-Fechenheim
Fechenheim
Fechenheim is a district of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Ost, and is subdivided into the Stadtbezirke Fechenheim-Nord and Fechenheim-Süd....
is planned.
The building
The church with a gableGable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
roof is an advancement of the sketch of the Bonifatius church in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen (Frankfurt am Main)
Sachsenhausen is a part of the city of Frankfurt, Germany. Composed of two districts: Sachsenhausen-Nord and Sachsenhausen-Süd, it is part of the Ortsbezirk Süd. It is located on the South bank of the Main river, right in the city center, opposite the Old Town.Sachsenhausen was founded as...
. The architect Martin Weber designed the church in iron concrete skeleton
Steel frame
Steel frame usually refers to a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal -beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame...
building method. The church ship is aligned in north south direction. The altar area is at the north end. After its inauguration the interior was first red-pink-cross-hatched painted. The original church windows were bearing bis letters which were readable from inside. They formed a translation in German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
of the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
Vexilla Regis
Vexilla Regis
The "Vexilla Regis" is a Latin hymn by the Christian poet Venantius Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers. It takes its title from its opening stanza:...
(Des Kreuzes Zeichen zieht einher) (=doth flash the wonder of the cross). At day the letters appeared dark before the light shining through the windows. At night the letters were glowing because they were reflecting the light of the lamps inside the church. The steeple crosses are shaped in width to height proportions typical for Martin Weber 1:4 (1,50 x 6,00 meters).
In the Second World War the church and the adjacent parsonage building in the Kettelerallee were damaged by several bomb hits. The windows of the church were destroyed 1943 by the pressure waves of bomb explosions in the proximity. The large main stairs at the steeple were destroyed 1944 by a bomb hit and the church roof was stoken through by incendiary bombs. After the reconstruction in 1951 the church interior has a white painting at the walls with an orange cover. The new church windows were again glassed in a yellowish colour. 1990 was begun extensive renovation work, during which the altar area was transformed. In 1992 for reasons of monument protection the interior got back its original painting. The church possesses a three voices peal of bells. Under the church is the crypt
Crypt
In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics....
, which was submitted on the occasion of the establishment of the center for Christian meditation and spirituality of a basiclying renovation and transformation. Beside the crypt is a large meeting hall, the parish hall of the former Holy Cross fold. Inside the basis of the steeple is in addition the steeple hall, which is also used by the new St. Josef fold. At the walls in the rear part of the church inside and the external walls of the side courses is a painted cross way of the artist George Poppe. Also the Pietà
Pietà
The Pietà is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ...
of the sculptor Arnold Hensler forms a part of the cross way. At the altar side is a large cross transformed in the reconstruction 1952. The painting on it shows the ressurecting Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
. Up to the war two large painted angels were on the left and on the right beside the cross at the wall. At the southern external wall of the steeple ends the bell chair basic bar in four winged animal figures with the heads of a human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
, a lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
, a bull
Bull
Bull usually refers to an uncastrated adult male bovine.Bull may also refer to:-Entertainment:* Bull , an original show on the TNT Network* "Bull" , an episode of television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation...
and an eagle
Eagle
Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...
. They symbolize the four evangelist
Four Evangelists
In Christian tradition the Four Evangelists are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four Gospel accounts in the New Testament that bear the following titles:*Gospel according to Matthew*Gospel according to Mark...
s Matthew, Mark
Mark the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist is the traditional author of the Gospel of Mark. He is one of the Seventy Disciples of Christ, and the founder of the Church of Alexandria, one of the original four main sees of Christianity....
, Luke
Luke the Evangelist
Luke the Evangelist was an Early Christian writer whom Church Fathers such as Jerome and Eusebius said was the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles...
and John
John the Evangelist
Saint John the Evangelist is the conventional name for the author of the Gospel of John...
. On the four girder
Girder
A girder is a support beam used in construction. Girders often have an I-beam cross section for strength, but may also have a box shape, Z shape or other forms. Girder is the term used to denote the main horizontal support of a structure which supports smaller beams...
s is an inscription with a text from the First Epistle to the Corinthians
First Epistle to the Corinthians
The first epistle of Paul the apostle to the Corinthians, often referred to as First Corinthians , is the seventh book of the New Testament of the Bible...
(1 Corinthians 1, 23-24): Wir aber predigen Christus den Gekreuzigten, Christus Kraft und Gottes Weisheit (=But we preach Christ crucified, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God). Below the four animal figures is a plaster
Plaster
Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
of the Veil of Veronica
Veil of Veronica
The Veil of Veronica, or Sudarium , often called simply "The Veronica" and known in Italian as the Volto Santo or Holy Face is a Catholic relic, which, according to legend, bears the likeness of the Face of Jesus not made by human hand The Veil of Veronica, or Sudarium (Latin for sweat-cloth),...
. The relief was created by the sculptor Arnold Hensler from Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
. At the western and the eastern side of the bell steeple are each with a turret clock
Turret clock
A Turret clock is a clock mounted in a tower or turret, usually to show the current time on a dial with hand or to announce the time by strike, or both. It can also have more than one dial to show days, moon phases, and other astronomical data.-Sundials:...
without cyphers. On property are in addition the 1957 established kindergarten, a parsonage building with a parish office and dwellings, a building with group and club areas, as well as a football pitch used by young people.
Trivia
Beneath the Bornheimer Hang at the eastern side of the church a branch of the German Way of St. JamesWay of St. James
The Way of St. James or St. James' Way is the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried....
runs along. The route is based on the ancient trade route from Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
to Frankfurt am Main (Des Reiches Straße).
Literature
- Kath. Pfarramt Heilig Kreuz (issuer): 30 Jahre Heilig Kreuz-parish Frankfurt a. M. Oktober 1959, Heilig Kreuz, Frankfurt am Main 1959
- Pfarrgemeinderat Heilig Kreuz (issuer): 50 Jahre Heilig Kreuz in Frankfurt 1929-1979, Heilig Kreuz, Frankfurt am Main 1979
- Heike Risse: Frühe Moderne in Frankfurt am Main. 1920–1933. Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt 1984, ISBN 3-7973-0422-6
- Paul Bachmann, Anja Haag, Ingeborg Lüddecke (editorial staff): Festschrift zum 75. Jubiläum der Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche Frankfurt-Bornheim 1929–2004, parish council Heilig Kreuz, Frankfurt am Main 2004
- Franz Manneck, Anneliese Hollerbach: Kreuzweg Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche Frankfurt am Main-Bornheim, Sachausschuss Liturgie und Katechese Heilig Kreuz, Frankfurt am Main 2004
- Dr. Hermann Gille, P. Helmut Schlegel: Katholische Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche Frankfurt-Bornheim, Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7954-6808-8
- Helen Barr, Ulrike May, Rahel Welsen: Das Neue Frankfurt - Spaziergänge durch die Siedlungen Ernst Mays und die Architektur seiner Zeit, B3 Verlag, Frankfurt 2007, ISBN 978-3-938783-20-7