Vortrag: Die Stahlkirche in Essen-Holsterhausen – Erinnerung an einen weltberühmten Kirchenbau und ihren Architekten Otto Bartning

Some buildings stand for centuries and yet fall into oblivion. Others stand for less than thirteen years and leave an indelible mark on a city’s memory. Otto Bartning’s Steel Church belongs to the second category. Built in 1930 on Holsterhauser Platz as the Melanchthon Church and destroyed by bombs in 1942, it is now, alongside the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex, one of Essen’s most famous examples of New Building architecture worldwide. In his lecture, Robert Welzel of the Essen Historical Society traces the history of this church’s creation. Bartning designed the church on commission from the “Evangelischer Volksdienst” as an exhibit for the 1928 Cologne Pressa, an international press exhibition that drew an audience of millions. Steel and glass formed the basic framework; the entire structure was designed to be dismantled and transported. Sacred architecture as an industrial product: in 1928, that was a provocation. After the Pressa ended, the presbytery of the Evangelical Parish of Essen-West negotiated tenaciously and successfully until the “Pressa Church” found its way to Essen. Free admission. Register at www.vhs-essen.de using course number 262.1B002N.