Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche, Gothic church in Bardewisch, Lemwerder, Germany.
Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche is a brick Gothic hall church built in the first half of the 14th century in Bardewisch, now part of Lemwerder. Its nearly square, three-bay nave is covered by nine cross-ribbed vaults, with a polygonal choir and a squat west tower. Both side aisles have convex curved outer walls, and the nave and aisles are each covered by a single longitudinal roof.
A church in Bardewisch was first mentioned in 1245, and a cemetery belonging to it in 1324. The present brick hall church was built in the first half of the 14th century following Westphalian models. The Holy Cross patronage is documented only from the 14th century, and the church belonged to the Berne send court, where the Bremen cathedral provost held jurisdiction.
The parish belongs to the Wesermarsch church district of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg. The church's Holy Cross patronage is documented only from the 14th century, and the building formerly fell under the jurisdiction of the Bremen cathedral provost. Late Gothic wall paintings from around 1500, including a Saint Christopher, survive in the interior.
The church stands in Bardewisch, part of the municipality of Lemwerder in the Wesermarsch district. The west tower is squat and the nave is entered through the two side portals in the westernmost bay, one on the north and one on the south side. A round window sits above each portal; the apparent second south portal at the western choir bay gives no access to the interior. The building reopened on the First Sunday of Advent 2017 after renovation from August 2016 to September 2017.
The nave and both side aisles each have their own lengthwise roof, a covering rare in Germany but common in Flanders and the Netherlands. The side aisles also have convex curved outer walls, comparable to several churches in East Frisia, most notably the Romanesque-Gothic church of Eilsum.
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