Tragheim Church
Tragheim Church (German: Tragheimer Kirche) was a Protestant church in the Tragheim quarter of Königsberg, Germany.
History
At the beginning of the 17th century the Lutheran residents of Tragheim attended Löbenicht Church and were buried in Steindamm's cemetery.[1] Because Löbenicht Church was too small for the growing community, Duke George William sold to Tragheim a square containing an old brick or tile manufactory on 23 May 1624. The Tragheimers moved their cemetery to their new square and constructed a small chapel from 1626 to 1632.
The new church was dedicated in 1632[1] and received its own pastor in 1636.[2] The first five pastors of the church were non-Prussians: Johann Benedikt Reinhardi was from Erfurt, Mauritius Karoli was from Brandenburg, Wolfgang Springer was from Holstein, Daniel Erasmi was from Frankfurt (Oder), and Thomas Masecovius was from Königsberg in der Neumark. In 1696 Jakob Heinrich Ohlius became the first native of Prussia to be pastor in Tragheim.[1]
Because the original church collapsed in 1707, a new church was constructed from 1708 to 1710 according to designs by Joachim Ludwig Schultheiß von Unfried and patronage from Friedrich Kupner. Its Baroque steeple was completed in 1723. When Tragheim Church burned down after a lightning strike in 1783, it was rebuilt the following year according to Schultheiß's previous design under the direction of Theodor Ernst Jester and Johann Samuel Lilienthal. Its tented roof steeple was incomplete at that time, however.[2]
Ehregott Andreas Wasianski, biographer and confident of Immanuel Kant, became the church's pastor in 1808. Richard Wagner married Minna Planer in Tragheim Church on 26 November 1836.
The church was heavily damaged by the 1944 Bombing of Königsberg and 1945 Battle of Königsberg. The last pastors were D. Korallus, Schwandt, Paul Knapp, and Friedrich Werner.[2] The remnants of the church were demolished by the Soviet administration in Kaliningrad, Russia, during the 1950s.
Sights
The church contained a Rococo pulpit with beautiful carvings by the master Grabowski. The neoclassical retable was created by the wood carver Christian B. Schulz from Heilsberg and donated by the apothecary couple Tiepolt, who both died in 1800. The organ was designed by Christoph Braveleit in 1793. The church also contained an oil painting of Wasianski by Andreas Knorre.[2]
Gallery
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Tragheim Church, ca. 1908
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Tragheim Church, ca. 1908
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Exterior and interior
Notes
References
- Albinus, Robert (1985). Lexikon der Stadt Königsberg Pr. und Umgebung (in German). Leer: Verlag Gerhard Rautenberg. p. 371. ISBN 3-7921-0320-6.
- Dehio, Georg (1993). Antoni, Michael, ed. Dehio-Handbuch der Kunstdenkmäler: West- und Ostpreußen (in German). München: Deutscher Kunstverlag. p. 718. ISBN 3-422-03025-5.
- Gause, Fritz (1965). Die Geschichte der Stadt Königsberg. Band I: Von der Gründung der Stadt bis zum letzten Kurfürsten (in German). Köln: Böhlau Verlag. p. 571.
- Mühlpfordt, Herbert Meinhard (1972). Königsberg von A bis Z (in German). München: Aufstieg-Verlag. p. 168. ISBN 3-7612-0092-7.
Coordinates: 54°43′04″N 20°30′29″E / 54.71778°N 20.50806°E