Aegidienkirche

The Aegidienkirche was a church in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony, Germany. It was one of three churches in the Old Town, the others being the Marktkirche and the Kreuzkirche. It was destroyed in World War II, and was left in ruins as a war memorial.

History

The church was built in the 14th century in the centre of Hanover, succeeding a chapel, and a Romanesque church built in 1163. The western wall of that church is partly extant. The church was dedicated to Saint Giles, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. The present Gothic building was built in 1347 of sandstone from the Deister. The Reformation in Hanover began in this church. The steeple was decorated with a Baroque facade in 1703 to 1711, designed by Sudfeld Vick [de]. The interior of the church was remodeled in 1826 by Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves who used columns from cast iron.

Demutby Kurt Lehmann

The church was destroyed in a 1943 air-raid on the city, as was most of the old town, including the other two churches. It was left in ruins as a war memorial. A monumental sculpture in the interior was designed in 1959 by Kurt Lehmann [de] and called Demut (Humility). Several Baroque epitaphs are featured on the outer walls. One of them, for Susanna Magdalena Oldekop, who died in 1648 as a child, shows her with an angel. The Siebenmännerstein [de] shows a relief of seven praying men who, according to legend, sacrificed themselves at the Döhren Tower [de] to rescue the town. The epitaph at the church is a copy of the original which is held by the Historisches Museum am Hohen Ufer [de]. The Aegidienkirche has belonged to the Marktkirche parish from 1982.

In 1985, the Japanese sister city of Hanover, Hiroshima, donated a peace bell (bonshō) which is installed close to the tower. It is used in an annual service on Hiroshima Day, 6 August.

Text imported from Wikipedia article "Aegidienkirche, Hanover" and modified on July 23, 2019 according to the CC-BY-SA 4.0 International license.