Alte Kirche Wupperfeld, Baroque church in Wuppertal, Germany.
The Alte Kirche Wupperfeld is a former Lutheran church in Wuppertal-Barmen, built of limestone rubble with sandstone detailing. Its square tower, topped by a baroque hood with lantern, cross-star and swan, stands before the south entrance. The barrel-vaulted single-nave hall is lit by five tall round-arched windows on each side.
The Lutheran congregation of Wupperfeld was approved for church construction by Elector Karl Theodor on 16 May 1777, after diplomacy with Prussia's Frederick II. A provisional wooden church, a Tente for about 900 people, was consecrated that July. The stone church's foundation stone was laid on 24 March 1779, and it was consecrated on 10 July 1785. Bombed on 30 May 1943, it was rebuilt and reconsecrated on 21 June 1953.
Pastor Emil Frommel founded the Wupperfeld choir in 1866, one of the first mixed church choirs in the German-speaking world. The Wupperfelder Abendmusiken, started by Winfried Pesch, gave over 500 concerts heard by more than 100,000 people. Between 1970 and 1990, over 250 church musicians trained here.
The building is no longer open for public worship as it was deconsecrated in 2017 and is now privately owned. Check in advance whether interior visits are possible, as the structure is now in private hands.
The tower is crowned by a baroque hood with a lantern, a three-dimensional cross-star and a swan. The swan refers to Jan Hus, who is said to have declared on his way to the stake that a goose would be roasted but a swan would rise from the ashes; later generations applied this to Martin Luther.
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