Saint Pancras, Parish church in Neuenfelde, Germany.
St. Pankratius is a brick hall church with a three-sided east end, built in Neuenfelde in 1682–1687 to plans by Matthias Wedel of Stade. The interior has seven bays, entrances on the west and on the cross axis, and a two-storey west gallery; the tower on the west front, just under 40 metres high, dates from 1841. The flat ceiling is a painted barrel vault 14 metres wide.
After the Thirty Years' War, Neuenfelde's economic upturn prompted the replacement of its small predecessor church. Provost Johann Hinrich von Finckh organised the project; the foundation stone was laid on 13 May 1682 and the church was consecrated on 3 December 1682. Builder Matthias Wedel of Stade ran four firms simultaneously to shorten construction. The old tower stood until lightning destroyed it in 1786; the present nearly 40-metre tower was added to the west front in 1841.
The church is named after Saint Pancras, a Roman martyr. Arp Schnitger is buried here with his wife and daughter; a floor slab marks the grave, and his church pew stands south of the pulpit. The pulpit altar, carved in 1688 by Christian Precht, shows the coats of arms of Count Otto Wilhelm von Königsmarck and his wife Catharina Charlotta De la Gardie, donors to the building.
The church stands in Neuenfelde, in Hamburg's Harburg borough, at the western edge of the Altes Land fruit-growing region. The two bronze bells hang in the roughly 40-metre tower added to the west front in 1841. The organ, with 34 stops of which about half are original, is being restored in stages by the organ builder Wegschneider from 2015.
Arp Schnitger is buried inside the church; a floor slab marks the grave, and his preserved church pew stands south of the pulpit basket. The pulpit altar itself was built on Schnitger's own proposal after provost Johann Hinrich von Finckh could not find a suitable pulpit.
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