Holy Cross Church, Frankfurt-Bornheim
| Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche Holy Cross Church |
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|---|---|
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| Location | Frankfurt-Bornheim |
| Country | Germany |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| History | |
| Dedication | Holy Cross |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Martin Weber |
| Style | Bauhaus |
| Groundbreaking | 1928 |
| Completed | 25 August 1929 |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 53.20 metres (174.5 ft) |
| Width | 18.52 metres (60.8 ft) |
| Height | 15.50 metres (50.9 ft) |
| Spire height | 25.00 metres (82.02 ft) |
| Administration | |
| Parish | St. Josef |
| Diocese | Diocese of Limburg |
The Holy Cross Church (German: Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche) is a Catholic church in the Bornheim district of Frankfurt am Main (Germany). It is similar in design to the Frauenfriedenskirche (=Women's Peace Church) in Frankfurt-Bockenheim. It was built by Martin Weber from 1928 to 1929, on a rise then known as Bornheimer Hang. The church is an unusual example of interwar modernism as sacred Bauhaus architecture.
The church was finally completed on 25 August 1929 and handed to the Catholic congregation of Bornheim. It was damaged in the Second World War, and afterwards rebuilt with money donated for this purpose.
It is branch church of the parish St. Josef and is part of the Diocese of Limburg. The diocese dedicated it from 1 August 2007 as the location of a Centre for Christian Meditation and Spirituality, which is led by the Franciscan Helmut Schlegel. During the period of renovation of the St. Leonhard's Church in Frankfurt-Altstadt it has also been home to the St. Leonhard's International English-Speaking Catholic Parish from 7 May 2011.
The Holy Cross church was built in 1929 from the master of church building Martin Weber and is at the edge of the housing development at the Bornheimer Hang. Martin Weber built also the churches St. Bonifatius in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen in 1927 and Heilig-Geist (=Holy Spirit) in Frankfurt-Riederwald in 1931. The planned community center at the end of the Wittelsbacher Allee was not built so there was enough space for building the new church. The Holy Cross Church was the second catholic church in Frankfurt-Bornheim. The parish was an outsourcing of the later neighbour fold St. Josef, the first catholic church in Bornheim. Reason was the expansion of the quarter Bornheim eastward at the Bornheimer Hang with the new settlement of the town planner Ernst May who built many new apartment buildings. This caused a growing number of Catholics who were living in the quarter. On 3 August 1927 a jury decided in a competition for the draft with the name slope crown from the master of church building Martin Weber. The three other participators of the competition were Hans and Christoph Rummel (Frankfurt), Richard Steidle (Munich) and Robert B. Witte (Dresden). There were several specifications for the architects like for example the front of the steeple at the Wittelsbacher Allee, between 700 and 800 seats, a high altar and two side altars and an organ loft for 150 people. The building model was called by Martin Weber slope crown, since the church should crown the Bornheimer Hang (slope). On 19 February 1928 the construction work began with the first cut of the spade. The 18. March 1928 was the day of the laying of the foundation stone. The topping-out ceremony was celebrated on 14 September 1928. On 25 August 1929 the church was inaugurated by Ludwig Maria Hugo, the Bishop of the Diocese of Mainz. The name was selected, since medieval Frankfurt possessed several the holy cross dedicated places. One of it was the chapel of the hospital to the holy cross which was donated in 1343 by Wicker Frosch. It formed with the chapel of the cloister of St. Katharinen which was built in 1354 a small double church, the predecessor building of the today's Evangelical-Lutheran Katharinen church. Until 1950 were the Holy Cross parish financially still a part of the St. Josef parish with which it has a common church executive committee.
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