St. Petri, Hamburg
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The St. Petri church is the oldest parish church in Hamburg, Germany. It is named after the Christian Apostle Peter, who the Catholic Church believes to be the first Pope. The church is located on Mönckebergstrasse and marks the highest point in Hamburg's Old Town. Its tower rises to a height of 123 meters; there are 544 steps to the top. The parish currently consists of a few hundred members. About 300 persons work there today, as priests, social workers, choir leaders, and craftsmen. The majority of these positions are honorary.
[edit] History
It is believed that since the church is in the original Hammaburg area, and that previous churches existed on the site. St. Petri was built at the start of the 11th century; it was first documented in 1195 as a market church. In about 1310, the church was rebuilt in a Gothic style, and was completed in approximately 1418. The bronze lion head door handles, the oldest work of art of Hamburg, date from the foundation of the tower in 1342.
A second tower, built in 1516, towered above even the Hamburg cathedral. Decay caused it to be torn down between 1804 and 1807, after it had been used by Napoleonic soldiers as a horse stable. The building fell victim to the great fire that swept Hamburg in 1842. Most works of art, such as the lion head door handles, were saved.
Only seven years later, the gothic church was rebuilt by architects Alexis de Chateauneuf and Hermann Felsenfest in its previous location. In 1878, the 132 meter high church tower—its copper spire designed by Johann Maack—was finished.
In the first half of the 20th century, the parish lost many members, as residential neighborhoods were torn down to develop banks and department stores in the city center. The church got through the Second World War relatively intact. In 1962, as a nearby community center was being built, the foundations of a medieval tower, the Bischofsturm (Bishop's Tower") were discovered.
In 1979, nuclear power protesters, including the late pastor Christoph Stoermer, occupied the church. Since 2005, the west and south facades of the church have been hung with giant posters advertising the H&M chain of clothing stores; this provides funding for maintenance of the church and its organ.
[edit] Art
The best known work of art in the St Petri church is the lion's head door handles, located in the left wing of the west portal. However, the church contains many additional works of art.
In the north portion of the church, a gothic mural from approximately 1460 shows the first bishop Ansgar of Bremen, with the words "Apostle of the North". A column in the choir area contains a statue by Bernt Notke, from around 1480-1483, showing Archbishop Ansgar and the Hamburg Marienkirche, which he founded.
From the 17th century, there are two oil paintings by Gottfried Libalt: Jacob's Dream and Christ's Birth. They were damaged by an acid attack in 1977, but were restored in October, 2001, and returned to the church.
The painting Christmas 1813 in St. Petri is on a column in the south part of the church. It shows the Hamburg citizens who, when they did not provide food to Napoleon's occupying troops, were locked in the church by the soldiers. In the front of the church are neo-gothic representations of the evangelists. A modern bronze sculpture by Fritz Fleer shows Dietrich Bonhoeffer dressed as a convict with his hands bound.
