St. Mary's Cathedral, Fürstenwalde Explained

Fürstenwalde Cathedral
Fullname:St. Mary's Cathedral
Native Name:Dom St. Marien
Dom zu Fürstenwalde
Pushpin Map:Germany Brandenburg#Germany
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Coordinates:52.3581°N 14.0653°W
Location:Fürstenwalde upon Spree
Country:Germany
Previous Denomination:Lutheran before 1817
Roman Catholic before 11 April 1557
Membership:3,500
Website:Website
Former Name:Town Church of St. Mary's
Stadtkirche Sankt Marien
Bull Date:1385 (as cathedral)
Dedicated Date:31 October 1995 (reconstr.)
Consecrated Date:1470 (2nd bldg)
Status:proto-cathedral
Functional Status:parish church
Style:Gothic architecture
Groundbreaking:12 April 1446 (2nd bldg)
Completed Date:1230 (1st bldg)
1475 (2nd bldg)
Demolished Date:1432 (1st bldg)
16-18 April 1945 (2nd bldg)
Height Nave:38m (125feet)
Spire Height:68m (223feet)
Materials:brick
Bells:3
Bells Hung:1 of 1774, 2 of 1956
Parish:St. Marien-Domgemeinde
Synod:Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia
Deanery:Fürstenwalde-Strausberg
Dean:Superintendent Frank Schürer-Behrmann
Seniorpastor:Martin Haupt (presbyterial executive)
Pastor:Jörg Hemmerling
Musicgroup:Domkantorei

St. Mary's Cathedral is a United Protestant church in the town of Fürstenwalde upon Spree, Brandenburg, Germany. It was formerly the cathedral of the Bishopric of Lebus, which was a Catholic diocese before the Protestant Reformation.

The building is owned and used by the United Protestant St. Mary's Cathedral Congregation which forms a parish within the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia, an umbrella comprising mostly Lutheran, but also Calvinist and united Protestant congregations.

History

In 1373 Fürstenwalde upon Spree became the new seat of the cathedral of the see of Lebus, one of the three medieval dioceses of the March of Brandenburg. The cathedral, which is dedicated to Our Lady, was raised to cathedral of the diocese. In 1446, the cathedral was ransacked by Hussites. The attack was aimed at bishop, a strong critic of Jan Hus. After the Hussites laid the cathedral to waste, work began on building it anew.

In 1517, bishop Dietrich von Bülow commissioned the sculptor to build a sacrament house (Sakramentshaus), a type of freestanding tabernacle that emerged from the German Gothic architecture of the late 14th to early 15th century.[1] This part of the cathedral's history is controversial, as some believe that Maidburg did not work on this cathedral.

The cathedral weathered another attack during World War II, when it was almost completely destroyed. However, the church was not left completely at the mercy of the War's bombing. Foresight and precaution had prevailed, and the sacrament house and numerous grave-slabs had been walled in to protect them in 1942. This precautionary measure saved these structures from facing the same fate as the main church. The sacrament house and the grave-slabs thus protected survive to this day.[1]

Post-war reconstruction

A full-scale reconstruction of the exterior of the cathedral had been completed by 1995, but the interior was redesigned in a postmodern style in order to commemorate the cathedral's destruction and to accommodate a new parish centre as well as other facilities. Steel-framed glass walls separate the newly created rooms underneath the organ gallery from the nave of the cathedral.

The original pulpit altar which had been destroyed in 1945 was replaced by an early eighteenth-century altar (on permanent loan from a church in Jüterbog). The cathedral's Gothic vaulting was only partially reconstructed and supplemented by a plain wooden ceiling.

Cathedral organ

After the reconstruction of the cathedral a 1967 pipe organ by Alexander Schuke, which had originally been built for St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, was transferred to Fürstenwalde. The rebuilt and enlarged instrument with four manuals and 64 speaking stops was installed in 2005.[2] The cathedral is regularly used for concerts and hosts an international recital series.

Burials

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kollmorgen. Gregor. Sacrament Houses: Fürstenwalde Cathedral. New Liturgical Movement. 22 October 2013.
  2. Web site: History and Specification of the Cathedral Organ. Organ Index. 25 January 2019.