Evangelisch-lutherische Marienkirche, Gothic church in Bremerhaven, Germany.
The Evangelisch-lutherische Marienkirche is a red brick church in Geestemünde, built in monastery-format brick, with a single-nave long house and a narrower choir, both under cross-ribbed vaults. Its squat, nearly square tower rests on the west gable and carries a pyramidal spire; large fieldstones form its base. The nave has pointed-arch windows with tracery and a pointed-arch entrance, and a wooden notice board stands in front.
A chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary is thought to have been built by local farmers in the early 13th century in Geestendorf, first mentioned in 1139. A 1436 indulgence of Pope Eugenius IV calls it a ruin, and the nave was then enlarged or rebuilt. After damage in the Thirty Years' War it was restored in 1663, and Conrad Wilhelm Hase led a major restoration in 1872–1875. The church burned out in the air raid of 18 September 1944; it was re-roofed by the end of 1951 and reopened on 7 March 1954.
The church is one of the two preaching churches of the superintendent of the Bremerhaven church district, alongside the Christuskirche in the same Geestemünde district. Its name refers to the Virgin Mary, to whom the farmers of Geestendorf are said to have dedicated a chapel at the start of the 13th century. Above the church door, a bronze relief by Karl-Henning Seemann shows Noah's Ark with the dove of peace.
The church stands in Geestemünde, a district of Bremerhaven; the tower base is built of large fieldstones visible at the bottom. The main portal and most windows received new arch surrounds in the 1872–1875 restoration by Conrad Wilhelm Hase. A sundial was added to the south side in 1742, and a bronze relief of Noah's Ark with the dove sits above the church door.
The tower's foundation is made of large glacial erratic boulders, visible at its base. Above the tower entrance, iron wall anchors bear the year 1663, marking the rebuilding after damage in the Thirty Years' War. The bronze relief in the arch above the church door shows Noah's Ark with the dove of peace, made by Karl-Henning Seemann of Stuttgart.
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