Memorial Church Protestations

In the second half of the 19th century, relations between the Protestant authorities of Germany and Catholics sharply escalated. This process is called Kulturkampf . As one way to show the Catholics who in Germany has real power, there was a project to build a huge Protestant church in one of the most pro-Papal-minded lands in memory of the event that took place here in the 16th century - the Speyer Protest (from which the word Protestantism came).

Including this was a reaction to the restoration of Johann von Straudolph Speyer Cathedral in 1846-1856. Initially, it was planned to renovate the Trinity baroque church, located near the cathedral, but then it was decided to build a new building on this site. Nevertheless, almost 35 years have passed from the project to the start of construction.

Initially, the building was planned to be built on the ruins of the Retscher estate, where, as was believed, a meeting of Protestants took place in 1529. For the construction of the building in 1857, with the permission of the Bavarian king Maximilian II , a building union was created. Since at the same time the Protestants financed the creation of the Luther Monument in Worms, the initial donations were very scarce. This monument was opened in 1868 in the presence of the Prussian King William I and the Crown Prince, who later became Emperor Frederick III . The Speyer parish used this event to make contact with the Prussian royal house, which later turned out to be very important for the project.

After it became known that the Sejm of 1529 was not held in this estate, the place for the new construction was no longer associated with the Old Town. In 1883, the "Association for the Construction of the Church in Memory of the Protest of 1529" decided on the current location of the church. The announcement of the papal infallibility dogma breathed new life into the project in 1870, especially since in 1871 the German Empire was founded. It was decided that the new church should not resemble Speyer Catholic Cathedral. A competition was announced in which 45 architects from all over the German Empire took part. As a result, it was decided to build a building in the Neo-Gothic style, designed by Julius Flugge and Karl Nordmann from Essen.

Since there were not enough funds for construction, in 1890 the association turned to Emperor Wilhelm II, who promised to finance the construction. Another major philanthropist of the building was Henry Willard, a native of the Palatinate. The foundation laying took place on August 24, 1893. Eleven years later, the monument church was consecrated (August 31, 1904).

Dimensions

• The total length of the church and the tower: 72 meters
• Total length of the church inside: 51 meters
• Nave Width: 24 Meters
• Transept width: 45 meters
• Inside Area: 1,200 square meters
• Arch height of the central nave: 22 meters
• 100 meters high tower

Materials and Design

Material for construction was chosen with particular care. The red sandstone from the Weidenhal quarry, used for the foundation, could not be used for further work, since it had many inclusions of pebble stones, and therefore it was unsuitable for sculptural work. In addition, there was concern that red sandstone would darken due to weathering, while the white-gray sandstone from the Vogesen quarry should retain its pale color. In total, 6.622 cubic meters of quarry stone and 1.935 cubic meters of stone for walls were used.

The roof was created from glazed tiles fixed with copper wire. Nave slabs are made of artificial tuff due to its light weight.

Memorial Hall

The memorial hall is located on the ground floor of the tower. Like a tower, it has a hexagonal shape. The hall is located in front of the main entrance, as this is the only place where visitors can see the protesters, since their statues are not allowed to be placed in the interior of the church.

In the center of the room is a bronze statue of Martin Luther on a pedestal made of Swedish granite. This is a gift from American Lutherans of German descent. Luther holds an open Bible in his left hand, and his right hand is clenched into a fist. With his right foot he tramples on the papal bull for excommunication. On the mosaic floor in front of the statue is laid out the famous phrase of the reformer: German. Hier stehe ich, ich kann nicht anders, Gott helfe mir. Amen! “ I stand on that, I cannot do otherwise, and may God help me.” Amen .

Around are statues of six princes who were present at the protest on April 19, 1529:

• Elector of Saxony Johann the Hard
• Ernest I, Duke of Braunschweig-Luneburg
• Franz, Duke of Braunschweig-Luneburg
• Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt
• Georg, Margrave Brandenburg-Ansbach
• Philip I , Landgrave of Hesse

At the intersections of arches are the coats of arms of 14 imperial cities that supported the protest: Strasbourg , Augsburg , Ulm , Konstanz , Lindau , Memmingen , Kempten , Nördlingen , Heilbronn , Reutlingen , Isni , St. Gallen , Weissenburg , Nuremberg and Bad Windsheim .

Main Portal

The portal consists of two parts, separated in the middle by a column of sandstone, on which is a statue of King David with a harp in his right hand and a scroll in his left. The scroll says it. Der Herr behüte deinen Ausgang u. Eingang von nun an bis in Ewigkeit (The Lord will guard your coming out and your coming in now and forever. Psalm 120: 8 )

On the inside of the portal is a statue of an angel with an open book, which says: him. Selig, die Gottes Wort hören u. bewahren .

Building Interior

Inside the church there are oak benches decorated with the arms of benefactors. The total capacity of the building is 1800 places.

36 windows

The building has 36 stained glass windows, created in the style of historicism.

The main window in the apse was donated by the last German imperial couple, William II and his wife Augusta Victoria, so it is called the imperial choirs. The heads of the seven angels in the middle third of the window are written from the children of the emperor. Wilhelm II had this to say about this: German. Früher war'n dat mal sieben Bengelchen, heute sind es Engelchen ( Formerly these were seven little villains, today they are angels ).

Ground floor

Lobby

Galleries

Bells

The original bells were cast by Franz Schilling in Apold in 1900-1903. The main bell - a gift from the emperor, weighing 9,150 kilograms, was destroyed at de: Glockenfriedhof in 1942 in Hamburg. The remaining four bells returned to the church after the war, but after testing their quality was found to be unsatisfactory. The new bells were cast by the Bahert brothers from Karlsruhe in 1959.

Authority

The original organ was not preserved. It was created in 1900 in Stuttgart by CF Weigle, the final work was carried out by Öttingen Firm Steinmeyer in 1902. He had 65 sounding registers, divided into four manuals and a pedal. This body was dismantled during the reconstruction in 1938-39. The modern tool was created in the workshop of D. Kleuker in Bielefeld in 1979. Its 97 registers allow it to be considered the largest authority in the southwestern part of Germany.

• Protestantische gedächtniskirchengemeinde
• Speyer.de Gedächtniskirche (German)
• Bauverein Gedächtniskirche e. V. (German)
• Monika Beck: Die Glasfenster der Gedächtniskirche zu Speyer (Magisterarbeit) (German)
• Deutsche Post Sondermarke: 100 Jahre Gedächtniskirche Speyer (German)
• Für Videoaufnahme der Glocken der Gedächtniskirche, Wort Glocken anklicken. (German)