St. Johannis Harvestehude Hamburg

St. Johannis-Harvestehude (St. John-Harvestehude), Hamburg, is a neo-gothic Protestant church built between 1880 and 1882, considered one of the best-preserved turn-of-the-century monuments of Hamburg. Other than the name suggests, the church is located in the Rotherbaum quarter of Hamburg, between the streets of Turmweg and Mittelweg, near the Außenalster.

The parish of St. John-Harvestehude was founded on the 27th of January, 1879. The first parish council, presided by the future mayor Dr. Mönckeberg, selected the design of the architect Wilhelm Hauers out of seven proposals. The "provisorial committee for the construction of a church in front of the Dammthor" had already settled issues of property with the town and could provide capital, so that the works could swiftly be carried out within the years 1880 to 1882.

The architect Hauers designed the church in the spirit of the "Eisenacher Regulativ" of 1861. The result is an architectural composition that is nearly complete in its neogothical sense of art. The pews, chairs and lecterns may be counted among this, as well as the organ prospectus, the terrazzo-floor and the fresci. The spires of St. John are clearly visible, in particular at night, from various parts of the town.

St. John is entirely focused on Jesus and the Altar, which is wood-carved and gold-plated. The latter, a work of the Hamburg sculptor Neuber, shows the Lord three times:

In the window above, Jesus is shown as the Lord, wearing a red toga, caring the keys in the left and the Book of Life in the right.

The designs for the glass paintings, that have been manufactured in a workshop in Innsbruck, Austria, derive from artists belonging to the renowned "Nazarene" group circling Schnoor von Carolsfeld. They still do radiate as brilliantly as they used to a hundred years ago, which is due to the protective windshields that have prevented any decay through environmental erosion. They do show a coherent biblical cycle, beginning on the main entrance's left with three depictions of the Old Testament, proceeding with the "Christmas window" at the crossing, the images of Christ in the Choir, the "Pentecostal window" and, eventually, three pictures dealing with subjects of the New Testament.

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Wikipedia