Protestant Cemetery Church, Wuppertal, Protestant church in Elberfeld, Wuppertal, Germany.
The Friedhofskirche is a grey stone church built on a Greek cross plan, with four short arms and four square stair towers filling the corners. Behind the roofs rises a 64-metre octagonal central tower topped by a pyramidal spire, with a clock face and arched windows. The walls are mostly greywacke, the mouldings light sandstone; the main facade has a large rose window and a smaller round window above it.
Construction began in May 1894 and was completed in 1898 following designs by architect Johannes Otzen in late Romanesque style. The building was erected during a period of significant industrial transformation in Wuppertal.
The church was built as a preaching church: the pulpit stands behind the altar in a wall niche that also served as a sounding board, with the presbytery seated on the organ gallery opposite. The ground-floor pews curve in concentric segments around pulpit and altar, and three connected galleries above provided space for the choir.
The building is easily accessible from street level and the octagonal tower is visible from several directions across the city. Visitors should keep in mind that services and events may occasionally restrict access to the interior.
The church survived the Second World War almost undamaged apart from its windows, so its interior largely keeps the original 1898 furnishings. The Sauer organ, installed that year as Opus 731, still stands behind the nine-axis facade that Johannes Otzen designed himself, framed by three tall round towers.
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