Tragheim Church

Tragheim Church (German: Tragheimer Kirche) was a Protestant church in the Tragheim quarter of Königsberg, Germany.

Tragheim Church, c.1930

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 Jacob Heinrich Ohlius (1650-1725) 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 architect Joachim Ludwig Schultheiss von Unfriedt (1678-1753), with 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 von Unfriedt's original design, under the direction of Johann Samuel Lilienthal (1724-1799)[3] and Johann Ernst Jester.[4] Its tented roof steeple was incomplete at that time, however.[2]

Ehregott Andreas Christoph Wasianski (July 3, 1755 - April 17, 1831) - a secretary (amanuensis), confidante, and biographer[5] of the great German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) - became the pastor of Tragheim Church in 1808.

Richard Wagner married Minna Planer (Christine Wilhelmine Planer) in Tragheim Church on 26 November 1836.

The church was heavily damaged in the Bombing of Königsberg (1944) and in the Battle of Königsberg (April 6–9, 1945).

The last pastors of the Tragheim Church were Schwandt, Friedrich Werner, Eduard Korallus[6] (pastor from 1900 to 1933), and Paul Knapp[7] (pastor from 1933 to 1944).[2]

The remnants of the church were demolished by the Soviet administration in Kaliningrad, Russia during the 1950s.

Sights

The church contained a Rococo chancellery and pulpit with beautiful carvings made in 1784 by tischlermeister (master carpenter) Carl Johann Grabowski of Königsberg. The neoclassical altarpiece was created by the wood-carver Christian Benjamin Schultz from Heilsberg, and donated to the church by the apothecary Johann Sigismund Tiepolt and his wife Susanne (née Bulle), who both died in 1800. The organ was designed in 1793/1794 by orgelbaumeister (master organ-builder) Christoph Wilhelm Braveleit (1751-1796). The church also contained an oil painting of E. A. C. Wasianski by Johann Friedrich Andreas Knorre (1763 - May 11, 1841), a distinguished portrait painter who was Director of the Provinzial-Kunst-und Zeichenschule (Provincial Art and Drawing School) in Königsberg from 1800 to 1841.[2] Knorre also held the position of Professor of Drawing at the School.

  • Tragheim Church, ca. 1908
    Tragheim Church, ca. 1908
  • Tragheim Church, ca. 1908
    Tragheim Church, ca. 1908
  • Exterior and interior
    Exterior and interior

Notes
  1. Gause I, p. 411
  2. Albinus, p. 318
  3. Johann Samuel Lilienthal (October 25, 1724 - November 7, 1799) was born and died in Königsberg. He was an Oberbaudirektor (Senior Building Director) and a Kriegs- und Domänenrat (War and Domains Councillor).
  4. Johann Ernst Jester was a Prussian architect and surveyor. His most important publication is titled Praktische Abhandlungen zur Civil-Baukunst: oder aus Erfahrungen und Gründen gesammelte Anweisungen, welche bey allen bürgerlichen Baulen als nothwendige und unentbehrliche Kenntnisse im Bauwesen und im gemeinen Leben vorkommen (Königsberg in Preussen: Gottlieb Leberecht Hartung, 1785) (440 p.) (Practical Treatises on Civil Architecture: or, Instructions Based on Experience and Reason, Applicable to All Civil Buildings as Necessary and Indispensable Knowledge in Construction and in Common Life)
  5. Wasianski's biography of Kant is titled Immanuel Kant in seinen letzten Lebensjahren, ein Beytrag zur Kenntniss seines Charakters und seines häuslichen Lebens aus dem täglichen Umgange mit ihm (Königsberg: F. Nicolovius, 1804) (224 p.) (Immanuel Kant in his Last Years of Life, a Contribution to the Knowledge of his Character and of his Domestic Life, based on Daily Interaction with Him)
  6. Eduard Gottfried Emil Korallus (1861-1945) - for additional details see: de: Eduard Korallus.
  7. Paul Knapp (1880 - April 1946) - for additional details see: de: Paul Knapp (Königsberg)

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.

54°43′04″N 20°30′29″E

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